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AMD Radeon HD 8790M

AMD Radeon HD 8790M

The AMD Radeon HD 8790M (sometimes known as the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 8790) is a DirectX 11.1 graphics card for laptops. It is based on the Mars chip (28nm GCN architecture) with 384 shader cores, 24 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The core is clocked at 850 MHz (900 MHz Boost) with GDDR5 VRAM at 1125 MHz (4500 MHz effective).

The performance of the Radeon HD 8790M is similar to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M or GT 750M and therefore in the upper mid-range category. Most games of 2013 can be played fluently in medium or high details and the WXGA resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.

The 384 shaders can be used with OpenCL 1.2 for general-purpose calculations (as 6 compute units). Compared to old TeraScale 2 chips, the GCN-based Mars architecture offers improved performance in this framework.

Features of the 8790M include video decoding via UVD3 for decoding MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, and Flash directly from the AMD GPU. Multi-View Codec (MVC) and MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX, xVid) HD videos are now compatible as well.

The 8700M series also supports automatic graphics switching between the integrated GPU and discrete GPU. Called Enduro, the technology supersedes AMD's Dynamic Switchable Graphics and is similar to Nvidia's Optimus. Furthermore, the 8790M can directly support up to 2 connected monitors using Eyefinity Technology if Enduro is disabled.

Other features of the 8700M series include ZeroCore for reducing power consumption when the display is turned off and Power Gating to power down areas of the chip that are not used. PowerTune allows automatic overclocking and underclocking of the graphics card as long as the GPU is within its TDP limit. For example, the chip may be underclocked when running FurMark and OCCT, but will overclock in certain games like Lost Planet, Crysis or Resident Evil 5.

The integrated HD audio processor is able to transmit HD Audio (TrueHD or DTS Master Audio) over HDMI and DisplayPort (e.g., for Blu-Ray videos). Additionally, it now allows audio to output simultaneously and in parallel to multiple devices with the new Discrete Digital Multipoint Audio (DDMA) feature.

The power consumption should be slightly higher than the previous 7690M chip when under load (2 Watt difference according to the desktop setup from Techreport). However, the 8790M can potentially draw less power when idle (if not disabled by Enduro). Overall, the 8790M is best suited for 15-inch notebooks or bigger.

Radeon HD 8700M Series

Radeon HD 8790M 384 @ 0.85 GHz128 Bit @ 4500 MHz
Radeon HD 8770M compare 384 @ 0.78 GHz128 Bit @ 4500 MHz
Radeon HD 8550G + HD 8750M Dual Graphics compare 640 @ 0.72 GHz128 Bit @ 1800 MHz
Radeon HD 8750M compare 384 @ 0.62 - 0.78 GHz128 Bit @ 2000 - 4000 MHz
Radeon HD 8730M compare 384 @ 0.65 GHz128 Bit @ 2000 MHz
CodenameMars XTX
ArchitectureGCN
Pipelines384 - unified
Core Speed850 MHz
Memory Speed4500 MHz
Memory Bus Width128 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory2048 MB
Shared Memoryno
APIDirectX 11.1, Shader 5.0
Transistor Count900 Million
technology28 nm
Notebook Sizemedium sized
Date of Announcement16.11.2012
Link to Manufacturer Pagewww.amd.com

Benchmarks

Performance Rating - 3DMark 11 + Fire Strike + Time Spy
0.8 pt (2%)
3DMark Vantage
3DM Vant. Perf. total +
3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX +
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 +
SPECviewperf 11
specvp11 snx-01 +
specvp11 tcvis-02 +
specvp11 sw-02 +
specvp11 proe-05 +
specvp11 maya-03 +
specvp11 lightwave-01 +
specvp11 ensight-04 +
specvp11 catia-03 +
Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) +
Cinebench R11.5 Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit +
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

low 1024x768
38.9  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
30.7  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
17.2  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
12.5  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings low.
GRID 2

GRID 2

2013
low 1024x768
110  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
85  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
59  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
19  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
low 1024x768
56  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
40  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
22.7  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
11.7  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
low 1280x720
113  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
55  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
47  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
15.6  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
SimCity

SimCity

2013
low 1024x768
93  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
38  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
29  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
16  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
low 1024x768
127  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
57  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
42.5  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
19.7  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis 3

Crysis 3

2013
low 1024x768
103  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
66  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
42  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
16  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
low 1024x768
188  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
80  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
58  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
36  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3

2012
low 1024x768
65  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
46  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
18  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
med. 1366x768
37  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
32  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
11  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
low 1024x768
49  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
44  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
25  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
10  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
low 1024x768
109  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
82  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
43  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
27.9  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
low 1024x768
85  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
75  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
67  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
44  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Fifa 13

Fifa 13

2012
low 1024x768
367  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
209  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
180  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
120  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
F1 2012

F1 2012

2012
low 1024x768
112  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
75  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
69  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
34  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
med. 1366x768
149  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
116  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
73  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 1024x768
82  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
47  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
27  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
19  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
low 1024x768
97  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
70  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
61  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
37  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
low 1024x768
70  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
46  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
31  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
15  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Anno 2070

Anno 2070

2011
low 1024x768
148  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
68  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
42  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
19  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
low 1024x768
78  fps    + Compare
med. 1366x768
53  fps    + Compare
high 1366x768
41  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
16  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
lowmed.highultraQHD4K
Company of Heroes 238.930.6717.212.52
GRID 2110855919
Metro: Last Light564022.711.7
BioShock Infinite113554715.6
SimCity93382916
Tomb Raider1275742.519.7
Crysis 3103664216
Dead Space 3188805836
Far Cry 36546188
Assassin´s Creed III373211
Hitman: Absolution49442510
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2109824327.9
Dishonored85756744
Fifa 13367209180120
F1 2012112756934
Counter-Strike: GO14911673
Dirt Showdown82472719
Diablo III97706137
Risen 2: Dark Waters70463115
Anno 2070148684219
Battlefield 378534116
< 30 fps
< 60 fps
< 120 fps
≥ 120 fps

3
12
4

11
8
2
6
10
4
1
15
4
1
1






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Class 1

Class 2

Radeon PRO W6600M *

Class 3

UHD Graphics 32EUs
UHD Graphics 750

Class 4

Class 5

* Approximate position of the graphics adapter