GeForce 6500 vs Radeon HD 6290

Place in the ranking	1348	1450
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	0.97	no data
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	Curie (2003−2013)
GPU code name	Cedar	NV44 A2
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	4 December 2011 (13 years ago)	1 October 2005 (19 years ago)

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	80	no data
Core clock speed	650 MHz	400 MHz
Boost clock speed	400 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	292 million	75 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	110 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	19 Watt	no data
Texture fill rate	5.200	1.600
Floating-point processing power	0.104 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	4	2
TMUs	8	4

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).

Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 1.0 x16
Length	168 mm	no data
Width	1-slot	1-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	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	DDR2
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	128 MB
Memory bus width	64 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	266 MHz
Memory bandwidth	12.8 GB/s	8.512 GB/s
Shared memory	-	no data

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	1x DVI, 1x HDMI	1x DVI, 1x VGA, 1x S-Video
HDMI	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	9.0c (9_3)
Shader Model	5.0	3.0
OpenGL	4.4	2.1
OpenCL	1.2	N/A
Vulkan	N/A	N/A

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. 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.

HD 6290 0.27
+170%

GeForce 6500 0.10

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.

HD 6290 104
+174%

GeForce 6500 38

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 HD

6
+200%

2−3

−200%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

2−3

0−1

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3	0−1
Hitman 3	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 +180%	10−11 −180%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3	0−1
Hitman 3	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 +180%	10−11 −180%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3	0−1
Hitman 3	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 +180%	10−11 −180%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Hitman 3	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
Horizon Zero Dawn	2−3	0−1

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	1−2	0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

2−3

0−1

This is how HD 6290 and GeForce 6500 compete in popular games:

HD 6290 is 200% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	0.27	0.10
Recency	4 December 2011	1 October 2005
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	128 MB
Chip lithography	40 nm	110 nm

HD 6290 has a 170% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 175% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 6290 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 6500 in performance tests.

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