ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4870 vs HD 6950

Place in the ranking	563	871
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.09	no data
Power efficiency	2.33	no data
Architecture	TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)	TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code name	Cayman	M98
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	14 December 2010 (14 years ago)	9 January 2009 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$299	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	1408	800
Core clock speed	no data	550 MHz
Boost clock speed	800 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	2,640 million	956 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	500 Watt	no data
Texture fill rate	70.40	22.00
Floating-point processing power	2.253 TFLOPS	0.88 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	16
TMUs	88	40

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	no data	large
Bus support	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	267 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	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	GDDR5	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	512 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1250 MHz	888 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	56.83 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	No outputs
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	10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model	5.0	4.1
OpenGL	4.4	3.3
OpenCL	1.2	1.1
Vulkan	-	N/A

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

80−85
+208%

−208%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

3.74

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Elden Ring	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Dota 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Elden Ring	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Far Cry 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Fortnite	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Metro Exodus	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
World of Tanks	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Dota 2	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Far Cry 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Elden Ring	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
World of Tanks	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 +0%	9−10 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Far Cry 5	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Valorant	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Elden Ring	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Dota 2	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Far Cry 5	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Fortnite	0−1	0−1
Valorant	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%

This is how HD 6950 and ATI Mobility HD 4870 compete in popular games:

HD 6950 is 208% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 51 test (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	6.77	2.14
Recency	14 December 2010	9 January 2009
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	512 MB
Chip lithography	40 nm	55 nm

HD 6950 has a 216.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 37.5% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon HD 6950 is our recommended choice as it beats the Mobility Radeon HD 4870 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6950 is a desktop card while Mobility Radeon HD 4870 is a notebook one.

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