Radeon HD 6730M vs ATI HD 3870 X2

Place in the ranking	920	1014
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.05	no data
Power efficiency	0.76	2.70
Architecture	TeraScale (2005−2013)	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code name	R680	Whistler
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Release date	26 January 2008 (16 years ago)	4 January 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$449	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores	320	480
Core clock speed	825 MHz	725 MHz
Number of transistors	666 million	716 million
Manufacturing process technology	55 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	165 Watt	35 Watt
Texture fill rate	13.20	17.40
Floating-point processing power	0.528 TFLOPS	0.696 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	8
TMUs	16	24

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).

Laptop size	no data	medium sized
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	MXM-A (3.0)
Length	267 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	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	GDDR3	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	1 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	901 MHz	800 MHz
Memory bandwidth	57.66 GB/s	25.6 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

2x DVI, 1x S-Video

No outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX	10.1 (10_1)	11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model	4.1	5.0
OpenGL	3.3	4.4
OpenCL	N/A	1.2
Vulkan	N/A	N/A

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	21−24 +23.5%	17 −23.5%
Full HD	30−35 +30.4%	23 −30.4%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

14.97

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

4−5

+0%

4−5

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Hitman 3	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Hitman 3	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Hitman 3	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

+0%

2−3

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Hitman 3	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

+0%

4−5

+0%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry New Dawn

0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

3−4

+0%

3−4

+0%

This is how ATI HD 3870 X2 and HD 6730M compete in popular games:

ATI HD 3870 X2 is 24% faster in 900p
ATI HD 3870 X2 is 30% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 48 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	1.84	1.38
Recency	26 January 2008	4 January 2011
Maximum RAM amount	512 MB	1 GB
Chip lithography	55 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	165 Watt	35 Watt

ATI HD 3870 X2 has a 33.3% higher aggregate performance score.

HD 6730M, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 37.5% more advanced lithography process, and 371.4% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 3870 X2 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6730M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 3870 X2 is a desktop card while Radeon HD 6730M is a notebook one.

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