Radeon HD 6970 vs GeForce GTX 680

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 6970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 680
2012
2048 MB GDDR5, 195 Watt
14.50
+97%

GTX 680 outperforms HD 6970 by an impressive 97% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking367546
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.071.07
Power efficiency5.112.02
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)
GPU code nameGK104Cayman
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date22 March 2012 (12 years ago)14 December 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499 $369

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

GTX 680 has 187% better value for money than HD 6970.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores15361536
Core clock speed1006 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1058 MHz880 MHz
Number of transistors3,540 million2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)195 Watt550 Watt
Texture fill rate135.484.48
Floating-point processing power3.25 TFLOPS2.703 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs12896

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.0PCIe 2.0 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length254 mm267 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2048 MB2 GB
Memory bus width256-bit GDDR5256 Bit
Memory clock speed1502 MHz1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth192.2 GB/sno data
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
Eyefinity-+
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire-+

API and SDK compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (11_0)DirectX® 11
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.24.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.126-
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score.

GTX 680 14.50
+97%
HD 6970 7.36

  • Other tests
    • Passmark
    • 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 680 5587
+97.1%
HD 6970 2834

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 680 7587
+119%
HD 6970 3470

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p45
+114%
21−24
−114%
Full HD75
+114%
35−40
−114%
4K25
+108%
12−14
−108%

Cost per frame, $

1080p6.65
+58.5%
10.54
−58.5%
4K19.96
+54.1%
30.75
−54.1%
  • GTX 680 has 58% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • GTX 680 has 54% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

  • Full HD
    Low Preset
  • Full HD
    Medium Preset
  • Full HD
    High Preset
  • Full HD
    Ultra Preset
  • Full HD
    Epic Preset
  • 1440p
    High Preset
  • 1440p
    Ultra Preset
  • 1440p
    Epic Preset
  • 4K
    High Preset
  • 4K
    Ultra Preset
  • 4K
    Epic Preset
Atomic Heart 35−40
+106%
16−18
−106%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+100%
14−16
−100%
Atomic Heart 35−40
+106%
16−18
−106%
Battlefield 5 55−60
+96.7%
30−33
−96.7%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+100%
14−16
−100%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+109%
21−24
−109%
Fortnite 75−80
+85.7%
40−45
−85.7%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+83.9%
30−35
−83.9%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+118%
16−18
−118%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+96%
24−27
−96%
Valorant 110−120
+55.4%
70−75
−55.4%
Atomic Heart 35−40
+106%
16−18
−106%
Battlefield 5 55−60
+96.7%
30−33
−96.7%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 224
+100%
110−120
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+100%
14−16
−100%
Dota 2 85−90
+63%
50−55
−63%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+109%
21−24
−109%
Fortnite 75−80
+85.7%
40−45
−85.7%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+83.9%
30−35
−83.9%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+118%
16−18
−118%
Grand Theft Auto V 56
+124%
24−27
−124%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+115%
12−14
−115%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+96%
24−27
−96%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 42
+133%
18−20
−133%
Valorant 110−120
+55.4%
70−75
−55.4%
Battlefield 5 55−60
+96.7%
30−33
−96.7%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+100%
14−16
−100%
Dota 2 85−90
+63%
50−55
−63%
Far Cry 5 45−50
+109%
21−24
−109%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+83.9%
30−35
−83.9%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+118%
16−18
−118%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+96%
24−27
−96%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 22
+22.2%
18−20
−22.2%
Valorant 110−120
+55.4%
70−75
−55.4%
Fortnite 75−80
+85.7%
40−45
−85.7%
Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+70%
10−11
−70%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 100−110
+92.5%
50−55
−92.5%
Grand Theft Auto V 21−24
+133%
9−10
−133%
Metro Exodus 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 120−130
+221%
35−40
−221%
Valorant 140−150
+83.3%
75−80
−83.3%
Battlefield 5 35−40
+192%
12−14
−192%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+100%
6−7
−100%
Far Cry 5 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+106%
16−18
−106%
Forza Horizon 5 24−27
+100%
12−14
−100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+90.9%
10−12
−90.9%
Fortnite 30−33
+114%
14−16
−114%
Atomic Heart 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Counter-Strike 2 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Grand Theft Auto V 21
+16.7%
18−20
−16.7%
Metro Exodus 10−11
+400%
2−3
−400%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16
+220%
5−6
−220%
Valorant 70−75
+111%
35−40
−111%
Battlefield 5 18−20
+217%
6−7
−217%
Counter-Strike 2 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Dota 2 45−50
+96%
24−27
−96%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+100%
7−8
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+118%
10−12
−118%
Forza Horizon 5 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
+85.7%
7−8
−85.7%
Fortnite 12−14
+85.7%
7−8
−85.7%

This is how GTX 680 and HD 6970 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 680 is 114% faster in 900p
  • GTX 680 is 114% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 680 is 108% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 680 is 500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 680 surpassed HD 6970 in all 67 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.50 7.36
Recency 22 March 2012 14 December 2010
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 195 Watt 550 Watt

GTX 680 has a 97% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 182.1% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 680 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970 in performance tests.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
GeForce GTX 680
AMD Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 6970

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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3.8
598 votes

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3.7
157 votes

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