ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT vs HD 6870

Place in the ranking	595	927
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.93	0.04
Power efficiency	2.65	0.55
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	Barts	R600
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	21 October 2010 (14 years ago)	14 May 2007 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$239	$399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 6870 has 2225% better value for money than ATI HD 2900 XT.

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	1120	320
Core clock speed	no data	743 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	1,700 million	720 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	215 Watt
Texture fill rate	50.40	11.89
Floating-point processing power	2.016 TFLOPS	0.4755 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	16
TMUs	56	16

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	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 1.0 x16
Length	220 mm	241 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-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	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	512 Bit
Memory clock speed	1050 MHz	828 MHz
Memory bandwidth	134.4 GB/s	106.0 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x S-Video
Eyefinity	+	-
HDMI	+	-

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	10.0 (10_0)
Shader Model	5.0	4.0
OpenGL	4.4	3.3
OpenCL	1.2	N/A
Vulkan	-	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 6870 5.75
+236%

ATI HD 2900 XT 1.71

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 6870 2217
+236%

ATI HD 2900 XT 659

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	61 +239%	18−20 −239%
Full HD	62 +244%	18−20 −244%
1200p	39 +290%	10−12 −290%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

3.85

22.17

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10
+350%

2−3

−350%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +275%	4−5 −275%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Battlefield 5	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 +300%	3−4 −300%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +270%	10−11 −270%
Hitman 3	12−14 +300%	3−4 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 +260%	10−11 −260%
Metro Exodus	14−16 +275%	4−5 −275%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 +300%	5−6 −300%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +250%	14−16 −250%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +275%	4−5 −275%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Battlefield 5	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 +300%	3−4 −300%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +270%	10−11 −270%
Hitman 3	12−14 +300%	3−4 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 +260%	10−11 −260%
Metro Exodus	14−16 +275%	4−5 −275%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 +300%	5−6 −300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +280%	5−6 −280%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +250%	14−16 −250%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 +275%	4−5 −275%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 +300%	3−4 −300%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +270%	10−11 −270%
Hitman 3	12−14 +300%	3−4 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 +260%	10−11 −260%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 +300%	5−6 −300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +280%	5−6 −280%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +250%	14−16 −250%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

+300%

4−5
−300%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 +267%	3−4 −267%
Far Cry New Dawn	9−10 +350%	2−3 −350%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4	0−1
Far Cry 5	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 +300%	4−5 −300%
Hitman 3	10−11 +400%	2−3 −400%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
Metro Exodus	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	1−2	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 +260%	10−11 −260%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

+400%

2−3
−400%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Hitman 3	2−3	0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
Metro Exodus	3−4	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3	0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4	0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	3−4	0−1
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3	0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7
+500%

1−2

−500%

This is how HD 6870 and ATI HD 2900 XT compete in popular games:

HD 6870 is 239% faster in 900p
HD 6870 is 244% faster in 1080p
HD 6870 is 290% faster in 1200p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.75	1.71
Recency	21 October 2010	14 May 2007
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	40 nm	80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	215 Watt

HD 6870 has a 236.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 100% more advanced lithography process, and 42.4% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6870 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 2900 XT in performance tests.

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