GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB vs Radeon HD 6850

Place in performance ranking	590	20
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.54	19.33
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	Ampere (2020−2022)
GPU code name	Barts	Ampere GA102
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	21 October 2010 (13 years ago)	11 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$179	$799
Current price	$177 (1x MSRP)	$1053 (1.3x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3080 12 GB has 3480% better value for money than HD 6850.

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	960	8960
Boost clock speed	no data	1260 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	127 Watt	350 Watt
Texture fill rate	37.20	478.8
Floating-point performance	1,488.0 gflops	no data

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 support	AGP	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	198 mm	285 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	1x 12-pin

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	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	12 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	no data	1710 MHz
Memory bandwidth	128.0 GB/s	912.4 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity	1	no data
HDMI	+	+
DisplayPort support	-	no data

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration	-	no data
CrossFire	1	no data
Enduro	-	no data
HD3D	-	no data
PowerTune	-	no data
TrueAudio	-	no data
ZeroCore	-	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.6
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	3.0
Vulkan	no data	1.3
Mantle	-	no data
CUDA	no data	8.6

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.

HD 6850 5.10

RTX 3080 12 GB 69.07
+1254%

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB outperforms Radeon HD 6850 by 1254% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

HD 6850 1971

RTX 3080 12 GB 26673
+1253%

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB outperforms Radeon HD 6850 by 1253% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

HD 6850 2460

RTX 3080 12 GB 35922
+1360%

GeForce RTX 3080 12 GB outperforms Radeon HD 6850 by 1360% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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	12−14 −1392%	179 +1392%
1440p	8−9 −1400%	120 +1400%
4K	6−7 −1333%	86 +1333%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

130−140

−1243%

1800−1850
+1243%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	110−120 −1218%	1450−1500 +1218%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	120−130 −1222%	1600−1650 +1222%
Battlefield 5	220−230 −1235%	2950−3000 +1235%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 −1245%	1600−1650 +1245%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 −1243%	1800−1850 +1243%
Far Cry 5	110−120 −1225%	1550−1600 +1225%
Far Cry New Dawn	160−170 −1231%	2250−2300 +1231%
Forza Horizon 4	210−220 −1243%	2900−2950 +1243%
Hitman 3	120−130 −1252%	1650−1700 +1252%
Horizon Zero Dawn	351 −1253%	4750−4800 +1253%
Metro Exodus	140−150 −1229%	1900−1950 +1229%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 −1231%	1650−1700 +1231%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	422 −1251%	5700−5750 +1251%
Watch Dogs: Legion	118 −1214%	1550−1600 +1214%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	110−120 −1218%	1450−1500 +1218%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	120−130 −1222%	1600−1650 +1222%
Battlefield 5	220−230 −1235%	2950−3000 +1235%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 −1245%	1600−1650 +1245%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 −1243%	1800−1850 +1243%
Far Cry 5	110−120 −1225%	1550−1600 +1225%
Far Cry New Dawn	160−170 −1231%	2250−2300 +1231%
Forza Horizon 4	210−220 −1243%	2900−2950 +1243%
Hitman 3	65 −1208%	850−900 +1208%
Horizon Zero Dawn	290−300 −1253%	3950−4000 +1253%
Metro Exodus	66 −1188%	850−900 +1188%
Red Dead Redemption 2	120−130 −1231%	1650−1700 +1231%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	356 −1248%	4800−4850 +1248%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	321 −1240%	4300−4350 +1240%
Watch Dogs: Legion	130−140 −1243%	1800−1850 +1243%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	110−120 −1218%	1450−1500 +1218%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	120−130 −1222%	1600−1650 +1222%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	110−120 −1245%	1600−1650 +1245%
Cyberpunk 2077	130−140 −1243%	1800−1850 +1243%
Far Cry 5	110−120 −1225%	1550−1600 +1225%
Forza Horizon 4	210−220 −1243%	2900−2950 +1243%
Horizon Zero Dawn	263 −1250%	3550−3600 +1250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	314 −1254%	4250−4300 +1254%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	165 −1233%	2200−2250 +1233%
Watch Dogs: Legion	95 −1216%	1250−1300 +1216%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

120−130

−1231%

1650−1700
+1231%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	160−170 −1233%	2200−2250 +1233%
Far Cry New Dawn	140−150 −1254%	1950−2000 +1254%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	80−85 −1196%	1050−1100 +1196%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	85−90 −1237%	1150−1200 +1237%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	100−110 −1221%	1400−1450 +1221%
Cyberpunk 2077	70−75 −1201%	950−1000 +1201%
Far Cry 5	147 −1227%	1950−2000 +1227%
Forza Horizon 4	160−170 −1225%	2200−2250 +1225%
Hitman 3	100−110 −1237%	1350−1400 +1237%
Horizon Zero Dawn	206 −1235%	2750−2800 +1235%
Metro Exodus	116 −1236%	1550−1600 +1236%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	236 −1235%	3150−3200 +1235%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	120−130 −1220%	1650−1700 +1220%
Watch Dogs: Legion	84 −1210%	1100−1150 +1210%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

110−120

−1216%

1500−1550
+1216%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 −1222%	1150−1200 +1222%
Far Cry New Dawn	65−70 −1204%	900−950 +1204%
Hitman 3	78 −1246%	1050−1100 +1246%
Horizon Zero Dawn	100−110 −1221%	1400−1450 +1221%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	83 −1225%	1100−1150 +1225%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	132 −1226%	1750−1800 +1226%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	55−60 −1216%	750−800 +1216%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	50−55 −1196%	700−750 +1196%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55 −1175%	650−700 +1175%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−35 −1224%	450−500 +1224%
Far Cry 5	50−55 −1200%	650−700 +1200%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 −1245%	1600−1650 +1245%
Horizon Zero Dawn	125 −1220%	1650−1700 +1220%
Metro Exodus	98 −1227%	1300−1350 +1227%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55 −1173%	700−750 +1173%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

70−75
−1251%

1000−1050

+1251%

This is how HD 6850 and RTX 3080 12 GB compete in popular games:

RTX 3080 12 GB is 1392% faster in 1080p
RTX 3080 12 GB is 1400% faster in 1440p
RTX 3080 12 GB is 1333% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.10	69.07
Recency	21 October 2010	11 January 2022
Cost	$179	$799
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	12 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	127 Watt	350 Watt