Radeon HD 6990M vs GeForce GTX 970

Place in performance ranking	200	582
Place by popularity	56	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	23.64	2.12
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2018)	Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code name	GM204	Blackcomb XTX
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	19 September 2014 (9 years ago)	12 July 2011 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$329	no data
Current price	$105 (0.3x MSRP)	$190

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 970 has 1015% better value for money than HD 6990M.

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	1664	1120
CUDA cores	1664	no data
Core clock speed	1050 MHz	715 MHz
Boost clock speed	1178 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,200 million	1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	145 Watt	100 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	98 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	109 billion/sec	40.04
Floating-point performance	3,920 gflops	1,601.6 gflops

Form factor & compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 970 and Radeon HD 6990M compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop size	no data	large
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	MXM-B (3.0)
Length	10.5" (26.7 cm)	no data
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Recommended system power (PSU)	500 Watt	no data
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pins	None
SLI options	+	no data

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 type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	224 GB/s	115.2 GB/s
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 Connectors	Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2	No outputs
Multi monitor support	4 displays	no data
HDMI	+	no data
HDCP	+	no data
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
G-SYNC support	+	no data
Audio input for HDMI	Internal	no data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream	+	no data
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	no data
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model	6.4	5.0
OpenGL	4.4	4.4
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan	1.1.126	N/A
CUDA	+	no data

Synthetic benchmark performance

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

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 970 24.97
+377%

HD 6990M 5.23

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon HD 6990M by 377% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GTX 970 16033
+397%

HD 6990M 3227

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon HD 6990M by 397% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GTX 970 42263
+180%

HD 6990M 15113

GeForce GTX 970 outperforms Radeon HD 6990M by 180% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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:

900p	250−260 +363%	54 −363%
Full HD	83 +38.3%	60 −38.3%
1440p	59 +392%	12−14 −392%
4K	40 +400%	8−9 −400%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

40−45
+356%

9−10

−356%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 +336%	10−12 −336%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	40−45 +760%	5−6 −760%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +486%	14−16 −486%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 +364%	10−12 −364%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +356%	9−10 −356%
Far Cry 5	55−60 +418%	10−12 −418%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 +333%	14−16 −333%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 +332%	24−27 −332%
Hitman 3	50−55 +400%	10−11 −400%
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100 +281%	24−27 −281%
Metro Exodus	80−85 +636%	10−12 −636%
Red Dead Redemption 2	65−70 +371%	14−16 −371%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	85−90 +378%	18−20 −378%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +209%	21−24 −209%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 +336%	10−12 −336%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	40−45 +760%	5−6 −760%
Battlefield 5	80−85 +486%	14−16 −486%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	52 +373%	10−12 −373%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +356%	9−10 −356%
Far Cry 5	55−60 +418%	10−12 −418%
Far Cry New Dawn	29 +93.3%	14−16 −93.3%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 +332%	24−27 −332%
Hitman 3	50−55 +400%	10−11 −400%
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100 +281%	24−27 −281%
Metro Exodus	35 +218%	10−12 −218%
Red Dead Redemption 2	65−70 +371%	14−16 −371%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	85−90 +378%	18−20 −378%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	81 +636%	10−12 −636%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +209%	21−24 −209%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 +336%	10−12 −336%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	40−45 +760%	5−6 −760%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	36 +227%	10−12 −227%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 +356%	9−10 −356%
Far Cry 5	55−60 +418%	10−12 −418%
Forza Horizon 4	100−110 +332%	24−27 −332%
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100 +281%	24−27 −281%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	85−90 +378%	18−20 −378%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	43 +291%	10−12 −291%
Watch Dogs: Legion	70−75 +209%	21−24 −209%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

65−70
+371%

14−16

−371%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 +370%	10−11 −370%
Far Cry New Dawn	46 +557%	7−8 −557%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	24−27 +420%	5−6 −420%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +400%	5−6 −400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−35 +386%	7−8 −386%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 +700%	2−3 −700%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +438%	8−9 −438%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 +456%	9−10 −456%
Hitman 3	30−33 +233%	9−10 −233%
Horizon Zero Dawn	50−55 +333%	12−14 −333%
Metro Exodus	45−50 +1467%	3−4 −1467%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	55−60 +450%	10−11 −450%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +675%	4−5 −675%
Watch Dogs: Legion	18−20 +850%	2−3 −850%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

40−45
+367%

9−10

−367%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +525%	4−5 −525%
Far Cry New Dawn	20 +567%	3−4 −567%
Hitman 3	20−22 +1900%	1−2 −1900%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +480%	5−6 −480%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	18−20 +1700%	1−2 −1700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	29 +2800%	1−2 −2800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +400%	3−4 −400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	14−16 +600%	2−3 −600%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +600%	2−3 −600%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7	0−1
Far Cry 5	14−16 +367%	3−4 −367%
Forza Horizon 4	30−35 +580%	5−6 −580%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +480%	5−6 −480%
Metro Exodus	24−27 +243%	7−8 −243%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−12 +1000%	1−2 −1000%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

21−24
+267%

6−7

−267%

This is how GTX 970 and HD 6990M compete in popular games:

GTX 970 is 363% faster in 900p
GTX 970 is 38% faster in 1080p
GTX 970 is 392% faster in 1440p
GTX 970 is 400% faster in 4K

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

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 970 is 2800% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, GTX 970 surpassed HD 6990M in all 69 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	24.97	5.23
Recency	19 September 2014	12 July 2011
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	145 Watt	100 Watt