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Gaming Performance Comparison

In terms of overall gaming performance, the graphical capabilities of the AMD Radeon HD 7850 are significantly better than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 768MB.

The Radeon HD 7850 has a 185 MHz higher core clock speed and 8 more Texture Mapping Units than the GTX 460. This results in the Radeon HD 7850 providing 17.2 GTexel/s better texturing performance. This still holds weight but shader performance is generally more relevant, particularly since both of these GPUs support at least DirectX 10.

The Radeon HD 7850 has a 185 MHz higher core clock speed than the GTX 460 and the same number of Render Output Units. This results in the Radeon HD 7850 providing 5.9 GPixel/s better pixeling performance. However, both GPUs support DirectX 9 or above, and pixeling performance is only really relevant when comparing older cards.

The Radeon HD 7850 was released over a year more recently than the GTX 460, and so the Radeon HD 7850 is likely to have better driver support, meaning it will be more optimized for running the latest games.

The Radeon HD 7850 has 1280 MB more video memory than the GTX 460, so is likely to be much better at displaying game textures at higher resolutions. This is supported by the fact that the Radeon HD 7850 also has superior memory performance overall.

The Radeon HD 7850 has 67.2 GB/sec greater memory bandwidth than the GTX 460, which means that the memory performance of the Radeon HD 7850 is much better than the GTX 460.

The Radeon HD 7850 has 1024 Shader Processing Units and the GeForce GTX 460 768MB has 336. However, the actual shader performance of the Radeon HD 7850 is 793 and the actual shader performance of the GTX 460 is 454. The Radeon HD 7850 having 339 better shader performance and an altogether better performance when taking into account other relevant data means that the Radeon HD 7850 delivers a massively smoother and more efficient experience when processing graphical data than the GTX 460.

The Radeon HD 7850 transistor size technology is 12 nm (nanometers) smaller than the GTX 460. This means that the Radeon HD 7850 is expected to run slightly cooler and achieve higher clock frequencies than the GTX 460.

The Radeon HD 7850 requires 130 Watts to run and the GeForce GTX 460 768MB requires 150 Watts. We would recommend a PSU with at least 500 Watts for the Radeon HD 7850 and a PSU with at least 450 Watts for the GTX 460. The GTX 460 requires 20 Watts more than the Radeon HD 7850 to run. The difference is not significant enough for the GTX 460 to have a noticeably larger impact on your yearly electricity bills than the Radeon HD 7850.

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GPU Core Details

Core Speed860 MHzvs675 MHz
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 Pitcairn PROFermi GF104-300-KD-A1
Notebook GPUnono
SLI/Crossfireyesvsyes
Dedicatedyesvsyes
Release Date19 Mar 201212 Jul 2010
GPU LinkGD LinkGD Link
Approved
Comparison

GPU Memory

Memory2048 MBvs768 MB
Memory Speed1200 MHzvs900 MHz
Memory Bus256 Bitvs192 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5vsGDDR5
Memory Bandwidth153.6GB/secvs86.4GB/sec
L2 Cache 512 KB green tick vs 384 KB
Comparison

GPU Display

Shader Processing Units1024vs336
Actual Shader Performance793vs454
Technology28nmvs40nm
Texture Mapping Units64vs56
Texture Rate55 GTexel/svs37.8 GTexel/s
Render Output Units32vs32
Pixel Rate27.5 GPixel/svs21.6 GPixel/s
Comparison

GPU Display Tech

DirectX11.1vs11
Shader Model5.0vs5.0
Open GL4.2vs4.1
Max Resolution (WxH)4096x2160vs2560x1600
VGA Connections0vs0
DVI Connections1vs2
HDMI Connections1vs1
Comparison

GPU Power Requirements

Max Power130 Wattsvs150 Watts

GPU Supporting Hardware

Recommended RAM8 GBvs8 GB
Recommended Screen Size1920x10801920x1080
Recommended PSU500 Watts & 20 Ampsvs450 Watts & 26 Amps

Gaming Performance Value

Battlefield 3vs
Performance Value

GPU Mini Review

Mini ReviewRadeon HD 7850 is a high-end GPU based on 28nm GCN architecture.
It's based on the Pitcairn Core (Pro variant) and therefore offers 1024 Shader Processing Units, 64 TMUs and 32 ROPs on a 256-bit interface of fast GDDR5. The central unit is clocked at 860MHz while the memory clock operates at 1200MHZ.
It offers great performance, almost on level with previously acclaimed Radeon HD 6970. Therefore, most demanding games are playable at the highest settings with fluent frame rates, using a 1080p resolution.
Radeon HD 7850 was elected the best GPU of 2012 by the GD community, thanks to its accessible price and outstanding performance.
GeForce GTX 460 768MB is a high-end GPU based on the 40nm Fermi architecture.
It's based on the Fermi GF104 Core and offers 336 Shader Processing Units, 56 TMUs and 32 ROPs, on 192-bit memory interface of fast GDDR5. The central unit runs at 675MHz and the memory clock operates at 900MHz.
Compared to the reference GeForce GTX 460, it offers less memory bandwidth and a smaller frame buffer. Benchmarks indicate that its performance might be up to 8% worse than the standard version.
Most modern demanding games will run at the highest settings using a 1080p resolution. However, some will require reduced settings to be played optimally.
Recommended CPUAMD Opteron 8389
AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition
Intel Core i3-530 2.9GHz
AMD Phenom II X3 715
AMD Phenom II X3 720
Intel Core i5-4570T 2.9GHz
Intel Core i3-4370 3.8GHz
AMD Phenom II X4 980
Intel Core i5-2405S 2.5GHz
Intel Core i5-2400S 2.5GHz
Possible GPU UpgradesRadeon R9 280X Sapphire Toxic 3GB OC Edition
GeForce GTX 770
Radeon R9 280X XFX Double D Black Edition
Radeon R9 280X Matrix Platinum 3GB Edition
Radeon R9 280X DirectCU II TOP 3GB Edition
GeForce GTX 660 Galaxy GC Edition
GeForce GTX 660 Zotac Synergy Edition
GeForce GTX 660 Zotac Edition
GeForce GTX 660 EVGA OC 2GB Edition
GeForce GTX 570 Gigabyte SO Edition
GPU VariantsRadeon HD 7850 Club3D royalQueen Edition
Radeon HD 7850 1GB Sapphire Edition
Radeon HD 7850 XFX Core Edition
Radeon HD 7850 Club3D royalQueen 1GB Edition
Radeon HD 7850 2GB Sapphire Edition
Radeon HD 7850 2GB PowerColor v2 Edition
Radeon HD 7850 XFX Core 2GB Edition
Radeon HD 7850 Direct CU II
Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC 1GB Edition
Radeon HD 7850 Club3D royalKing Edition
Radeon HD 7850 Twin Frozr III OC
Radeon HD 7850 MSI OC 1GB Edition
Radeon HD 7850 Sapphire OC Edition
Radeon HD 7850 Gigabyte OC Edition
Radeon HD 7850 MSI Power Edition 2GB OC
Radeon HD 7850 XFX Ultra OC Edition
Radeon HD 7850 Direct CU II TOP
Radeon HD 7850 Club3D royalAce Edition
Radeon HD 7850 XFX DD Black Edition
Radeon HD 7850 HIS IceQ 2GB Turbo Edition
Radeon HD 7850 VTX3D X-Edition
Radeon HD 7850 PowerColor PCS+ 2GB Edition
Radeon HD 7850 HIS IceQ X Turbo X Edition
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