Radeon R7 250X vs HD 6870

Place in performance ranking	561	557
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation	0.36	0.60
Architecture	Terascale 2 (2009−2015)	GCN 1.0 (2012−2020)
GPU code name	RV940 Barts	Cape Verde
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	reference
Release date	22 October 2010 (13 years ago)	13 February 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$239	$99
Current price	$332 (1.4x MSRP)	$207 (2.1x MSRP)

Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R7 250X has 67% better value for money than HD 6870.

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	1120	640
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	1000 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	80 Watt
Texture fill rate	50.40	38.00
Floating-point performance	2,016.0 gflops	1,216 gflops

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	PCIe 3.0
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	220 mm	210 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1 x 6-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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	1050 MHz	1625 MHz
Memory bandwidth	134.4 GB/s	96 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 DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity	1	1
HDMI	+	+
DisplayPort support	-	-

Supported GPU Technologies

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

AppAcceleration	-	-
CrossFire	1	1
Enduro	-	-
FreeSync	no data	1
HD3D	-	-
PowerTune	-	-
TrueAudio	-	-
ZeroCore	-	-
DDMA audio	no data	+

API Compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	DirectX® 12
Shader Model	5.0	5.1
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Mantle	-	-

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 6870 5.73

R7 250X 5.86
+2.3%

R7 250X outperforms HD 6870 by 2% based on our aggregated 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 6870 2219

R7 250X 2268
+2.2%

R7 250X outperforms HD 6870 by 2% 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 6870 3141
+9.8%

R7 250X 2860

HD 6870 outperforms R7 250X by 10% 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:

900p	57 +3.6%	55−60 −3.6%
Full HD	63 +5%	60−65 −5%
1200p	39 +11.4%	35−40 −11.4%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10

+0%

9−10
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Battlefield 5	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Forza Horizon 4	18−20 +5.6%	18−20 −5.6%
Hitman 3	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Battlefield 5	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Forza Horizon 4	18−20 +5.6%	18−20 −5.6%
Hitman 3	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Metro Exodus	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−12 +10%	10−11 −10%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Battlefield 5	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry 5	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14 +8.3%	12−14 −8.3%
Forza Horizon 4	18−20 +5.6%	18−20 −5.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Hitman 3	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Metro Exodus	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	0−1	0−1
Battlefield 5	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Far Cry 5	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Hitman 3	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Metro Exodus	0−1	0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Battlefield 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%

This is how HD 6870 and R7 250X compete in popular games:

HD 6870 is 3.6% faster than R7 250X in 900p
HD 6870 is 5% faster than R7 250X in 1080p
HD 6870 is 11.4% faster than R7 250X in 1200p

Pros & Cons Summary

Performance score	5.73	5.86
Recency	22 October 2010	13 February 2014
Cost	$239	$99
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	80 Watt