Garry's Mod on Radeon HD 7870

Meets minimumEstimate · medium confidence, ±20%

Yes, at lower settings. The Radeon HD 7870 meets Garry's Mod's minimum spec but not the recommended one. We estimate ~45 fps at 1080p high (range 36–54, medium confidence, ±20%), GPU-limited. For 60 fps at 1080p, use the low preset. Its 2 GB of video memory is below the 4 GB the game recommends. The cheapest current card for 60 fps at 1080p high is the Radeon RX 6400 (~60 fps). Model estimate, not measured; data updated 2026-09-24.

Estimated FPS by preset

Preset	1080p	1440p	4K
low	77	54	32
medium	59	41	25
high	45	31	19
ultra	36	25	15

Estimate · medium confidence, ±20%

Estimated FPS from our model (v0), based on the game's published requirements and relative GPU/CPU performance. Not measured. Real results vary with drivers, patches, and scenes. Values above 300 fps show as 300+. Data updated 2026-09-24.

Best settings

60 fps at 1080p: low preset
60 fps at 1440p: not reachable
144 fps at 1080p: not reachable

AMD card: use FSR in quality mode before dropping the preset (XeSS also works). DLSS is not available on Radeon.

What limits performance

Estimates above: GPU-limited, assuming a processor fast enough not to hold the Radeon HD 7870 back.
Processor needed for ~45 fps: Core i3-9100F or faster (slowest current desktop CPU our model expects to keep up).
With the recommended CPU: still GPU-limited at 1080p high, ~45 fps.

Video memory

Radeon HD 7870: 2 GB
Minimum spec: 1 GB (+1 GB headroom)
Recommended spec: 4 GB (2 GB short)

Cheapest upgrade for each target

1080p, 60 fps, High

Radeon RX 6400

~60 fps vs 45 now (est.)

+33% GPU performance

1440p, 60 fps, High

GeForce RTX 3050 6GB

~61 fps vs 31 now (est.)

+93% GPU performance

4K, 60 fps, High

GeForce RTX 3060 12GB

~63 fps vs 19 now (est.)

+233% GPU performance

Slowest current desktop card (2020+) that reaches each target in Garry's Mod; usually the cheapest.

Garry's Mod on popular graphics cards (high preset)

Graphics card	1080p	1440p	vs Radeon HD 7870
Radeon HD 7870	45	31	—
GeForce GTX 1650	60	42	+33%
GeForce GTX 1060 6GB	84	59	+87%
GeForce RTX 2060 6GB	126	88	+180%
Radeon RX 6600	138	97	+207%
GeForce RTX 3060 12GB	150	105	+233%
GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU	156	109	+247%
Radeon RX 7600	174	122	+287%
GeForce RTX 4060	177	124	+293%
GeForce RTX 3070	207	145	+360%
GeForce RTX 4070	261	183	+480%
Radeon RX 7800 XT	291	204	+547%
GeForce RTX 5070	300	210	+567%
Radeon RX 9070 XT	300+	273	+767%
GeForce RTX 4080	300+	284	+800%
GeForce RTX 5090	300+	300+	+1333%