Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire vs Radeon E8870PCIe

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire

2010Core: 700 MHz
Similar parts
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VS
AMD

Radeon E8870PCIe

2014Core: 575 MHzBoost: 625 MHz
Similar parts
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Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire vs Radeon E8870PCIe Performance Spectrum

About G3D Mark

G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire vs Radeon E8870PCIe: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire

2010

Why buy it

  • Competitive enough if your priority is price, power, or specific feature preference.

Trade-offs

  • 2010 hardware with 2 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.
  • 220% HIGHER MSRP
    $800 MSRPvs$250 MSRP
  • Lower G3D Mark per dollar, at 4.1 vs 13.5 G3D/$ ($800 MSRP vs $250 MSRP).
  • 224.3% higher power demand at 120W vs 37W.

Radeon E8870PCIe

2014

Why buy it

  • Costs $550 less on MSRP ($250 MSRP vs $800 MSRP).
  • Delivers 225.5% more G3D Mark for each dollar spent, at 13.5 vs 4.1 G3D/$ ($250 MSRP vs $800 MSRP).
  • Draws 37W instead of 120W, a 83W reduction.

Trade-offs

  • 2014 hardware with 2 GB of VRAM is already well past its comfortable zone for modern gaming, so it is hard to recommend now.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?
Radeon E8870PCIe is the faster gaming card right now based on the synthetic data we have. It leads by 1.7% in PassMark G3D (3,368 vs 3,311), which is the best performance signal available in this matchup.
Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?
Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond because it comes out ahead on the available hardware-headroom signals for this matchup.
Which GPU is the better buy today?
Radeon E8870PCIe makes the most sense to buy today. It is $550 cheaper on MSRP at $250 vs $800, and it leads G3D-per-dollar by 225.5% (13.5 vs 4.1), so the value case lines up with the gaming result. If you are mainly targeting 1080p and some 1440p, Radeon E8870PCIe is the easier value choice. If you care more about 1080p and some 1440p headroom, Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire has the stronger long-term case.

Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire vs Radeon E8870PCIe Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

AMD

Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire

The Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 7 2010. It features the Terascale 2 architecture. The core clock speed is 700 MHz. It has 1600 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 120W. Manufactured using 40 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 3,311 points.

AMD

Radeon E8870PCIe

The Radeon E8870PCIe is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 25 2014. It features the GCN 1.0 architecture. The core clock ranges from 575 MHz to 625 MHz. It has 640 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 37W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 3,368 points.

Graphics Performance

The Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire scores 3,311 and the Radeon E8870PCIe reaches 3,368 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 1.7% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire is built on Terascale 2 while the Radeon E8870PCIe uses GCN 1.0, both on 40 nm vs 28 nm. Shader units: 1,600 (Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire) vs 640 (Radeon E8870PCIe).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossfireRadeon E8870PCIe
G3D Mark Score
3,311
3,368+2%
Architecture
Terascale 2
GCN 1.0
Process Node
40 nm
28 nm
Shading Units
1600+150%
640
Frame Generation
FSR upscaling
FSR upscaling

Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossfireRadeon E8870PCIe
Upscaling Tech
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
FSR Upscaling / FSR 4
Frame Generation
Not Supported
Not Supported
Ray Reconstruction
No
No
Low Latency
AMD Anti-Lag
AMD Anti-Lag
💾

Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 2 GB of GDDR5. Memory bus width is 128-bit on the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire and 64-bit on the Radeon E8870PCIe.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossfireRadeon E8870PCIe
VRAM Capacity
2 GB
2 GB
Memory Type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Bus Width
128-bit+100%
64-bit
🔌

Power & Dimensions

The Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire draws 120W versus the Radeon E8870PCIe's 37W — a 105.7% difference. The Radeon E8870PCIe is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire) vs 350W (Radeon E8870PCIe). Power connectors: PCIe-powered vs PCIe-powered.

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossfireRadeon E8870PCIe
TDP
120W
37W-69%
Recommended PSU
350W
350W
Power Connector
PCIe-powered
PCIe-powered
Temp (Load)
95°C
Perf/Watt
27.6
91.0+230%
💰

Value Analysis

At launch, the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire came in at $800, while the Radeon E8870PCIe launched at $250. On MSRP, Radeon E8870PCIe was 68.8% cheaper ($550 less). Performance per dollar on MSRP (G3D Mark / MSRP): 4.1 (Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire) vs 13.5 (Radeon E8870PCIe) — the Radeon E8870PCIe offers 229.3% better value. The newer card here is Radeon E8870PCIe (2014 vs 2010).

FeatureMobility Radeon HD 5870 CrossfireRadeon E8870PCIe
MSRP
$800
$250-69%
Performance per Dollar
4.1
13.5+229%
Codename
Broadway-XT
Venus
Release
January 7 2010
January 25 2014
Ranking
#688
#734

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