AMD Radeon HD 6950M vs Intel Iris Graphics 550

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Combined performance score

Iris Graphics 550
3.58
+1.4%

Iris Graphics 550 outperforms Radeon HD 6950M by 1% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking676679
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for moneyno data0.49
ArchitectureGen. 9 Skylake (2015−2016)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameSkylake GT3eBlackcomb Pro
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 September 2015 (8 years old)6 January 2011 (13 years old)
Current priceno data$338
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Technical specs

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 cores48960
Core clock speed300 MHz580 MHz
Boost clock speed1100 MHzno data
Number of transistors189 million1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology14 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)15 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rate52.8027.84
Floating-point performanceno data1,113.6 gflops

Size and compatibility

Information on Iris Graphics 550 and Radeon HD 6950M compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. 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 sizeno datalarge
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x1MXM-B (3.0)

Memory

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 typeeDRAMGDDR5
Maximum RAM amount64 MB2 GB
Memory bus widtheDRAM + 64/128 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speedSystem Shared900 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data115.2 GB/s
Shared memory+-

Video outputs and ports

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 ConnectorsNo outputsNo outputs

Technologies

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

Quick Sync+no data

API support

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

DirectX12 (12_1)11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model6.45.0
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL2.11.2
Vulkan1.1.97N/A

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.

Iris Graphics 550 3.58
+1.4%
HD 6950M 3.53

Iris Graphics 550 outperforms Radeon HD 6950M by 1% in our combined benchmark results.


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%

Iris Graphics 550 9761
HD 6950M 10122
+3.7%

Radeon HD 6950M outperforms Iris Graphics 550 by 4% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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%

Iris Graphics 550 2534
+3.3%
HD 6950M 2452

Iris Graphics 550 outperforms Radeon HD 6950M by 3% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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:

Full HD19
+5.6%
18−20
−5.6%
1440p28
+3.7%
27−30
−3.7%
4K50
+11.1%
45−50
−11.1%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Hitman 3 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Hitman 3 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Metro Exodus 3
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8
+0%
8−9
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Battlefield 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Hitman 3 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Hitman 3 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 0−1 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 1−2 0−1

This is how Iris Graphics 550 and HD 6950M compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • Iris Graphics 550 is 5.6% faster than HD 6950M

1440p resolution:

  • Iris Graphics 550 is 3.7% faster than HD 6950M

4K resolution:

  • Iris Graphics 550 is 11.1% faster than HD 6950M

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

  • in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the Iris Graphics 550 is 14.3% faster than the HD 6950M.
  • in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the HD 6950M is 66.7% faster than the Iris Graphics 550.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Iris Graphics 550 is ahead in 1 test (2%)
  • HD 6950M is ahead in 1 test (2%)
  • there's a draw in 56 tests (97%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 3.58 3.53
Recency 1 September 2015 6 January 2011
Maximum RAM amount 64 MB 2 GB
Chip lithography 14 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 15 Watt 50 Watt

We couldn't decide between Iris Graphics 550 and Radeon HD 6950M. The differences in performance seem too small.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


Intel Iris Graphics 550
Iris Graphics 550
AMD Radeon HD 6950M
Radeon HD 6950M

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Questions and comments

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