GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile vs Radeon HD 6850M

Place in the ranking	887	170
Place by popularity	not in top-100	69
Power efficiency	2.81	28.09
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Granville	GA106
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	4 January 2011 (14 years ago)	12 January 2021 (4 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	800	3840
Core clock speed	675 MHz	900 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1425 MHz
Number of transistors	1,040 million	13,250 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	80 Watt
Texture fill rate	27.00	171.0
Floating-point processing power	1.08 TFLOPS	10.94 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	48
TMUs	40	120
Tensor Cores	no data	120
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	30

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	large	large
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16

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	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	6 GB
Memory bus width	128 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	800 MHz	1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth	25.6 GB/s	336.0 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

No outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.5
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.2
CUDA	-	8.6

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 6850M 2.04

RTX 3060 Mobile 32.65
+1500%

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.

HD 6850M 1470

RTX 3060 Mobile 27419
+1766%

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.

HD 6850M 6246

RTX 3060 Mobile 57333
+818%

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	20 −1400%	300−350 +1400%
Full HD	24 −308%	98 +308%
1440p	4−5 −1525%	65 +1525%
4K	2−3 −2000%	42 +2000%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −550%	65−70 +550%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −1960%	103 +1960%
Elden Ring	3−4 −3600%	110−120 +3600%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −2225%	90−95 +2225%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −550%	65−70 +550%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −1520%	81 +1520%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −1673%	195 +1673%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −4600%	94 +4600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −738%	65−70 +738%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −2225%	90−95 +2225%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −550%	65−70 +550%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −1240%	67 +1240%
Dota 2	4−5 −3000%	124 +3000%
Elden Ring	3−4 −4933%	151 +4933%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −515%	80 +515%
Fortnite	10−11 −1410%	150−160 +1410%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −1336%	158 +1336%
Grand Theft Auto V	4−5 −2925%	121 +2925%
Metro Exodus	2−3 −3800%	78 +3800%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	20−22 −820%	180−190 +820%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 −600%	56 +600%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 −1133%	110−120 +1133%
World of Tanks	35−40 −610%	270−280 +610%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −2225%	90−95 +2225%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 −510%	61 +510%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −1080%	59 +1080%
Dota 2	4−5 −3000%	124 +3000%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −585%	85−90 +585%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 −1173%	140 +1173%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	20−22 −820%	180−190 +820%

1440p
High Preset

Elden Ring	1−2 −8000%	81 +8000%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	14−16 −1150%	170−180 +1150%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −3900%	40 +3900%
World of Tanks	12−14 −1515%	210−220 +1515%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	0−1	60−65
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 −233%	30−33 +233%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1133%	37 +1133%
Far Cry 5	6−7 −1917%	121 +1917%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 −1667%	50−55 +1667%
Valorant	8−9 −1663%	141 +1663%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −356%	73 +356%
Elden Ring	0−1	42
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 −387%	73 +387%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	6−7 −1617%	100−110 +1617%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 −2100%	22 +2100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −387%	73 +387%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −1700%	35−40 +1700%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1500%	16 +1500%
Dota 2	16−18 −494%	95 +494%
Far Cry 5	2−3 −2200%	45−50 +2200%
Fortnite	0−1	40−45
Valorant	2−3 −3000%	62 +3000%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Valorant

130−140

+0%

130−140

+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Valorant

101

+0%

101

+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Valorant

172

+0%

172

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	75 +0%	75 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	75 +0%	75 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Forza Horizon 4	101 +0%	101 +0%
Metro Exodus	85 +0%	85 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Metro Exodus	31 +0%	31 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	60 +0%	60 +0%

This is how HD 6850M and RTX 3060 Mobile compete in popular games:

RTX 3060 Mobile is 1400% faster in 900p
RTX 3060 Mobile is 308% faster in 1080p
RTX 3060 Mobile is 1525% faster in 1440p
RTX 3060 Mobile is 2000% faster in 4K

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

in Elden Ring, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 3060 Mobile is 8000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 3060 Mobile is ahead in 49 tests (82%)
there's a draw in 11 tests (18%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	2.04	32.65
Recency	4 January 2011	12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	6 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	80 Watt

HD 6850M has 60% lower power consumption.

RTX 3060 Mobile, on the other hand, has a 1500.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 400% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6850M in performance tests.

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