Radeon HD 7870 vs HD 6950
Aggregated performance score
HD 7870 outperforms HD 6950 by 78% based on our aggregated benchmark results.
General info
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 525 | 373 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Value for money | 0.52 | 2.73 |
| Architecture | TeraScale 3 (2010−2013) | GCN (2011−2017) |
| GPU code name | Cayman | Pitcairn XT |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Design | reference | no data |
| Release date | 14 December 2010 (13 years old) | 5 March 2012 (12 years old) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $299 | $412.83 |
| Current price | $320 (1.1x MSRP) | $200 (0.5x MSRP) |
Value for money
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
HD 7870 has 425% better value for money than HD 6950.
Technical specs
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 | 1408 | 1280 |
| Core clock speed | no data | 1000 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 800 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 2,640 million | 2800 Million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 500 Watt | 175 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 70.40 | 80.00 |
| Floating-point performance | 2,252.8 gflops | no data |
Size and 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 3.0 x16 |
| Length | 267 mm | 241 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 2x 6-pin | 2x 6-pin |
Memory
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 | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1250 MHz | 4800 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | no data | 153.6 GB/s |
| Shared memory | no data | - |
Video outputs and ports
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 | + |
| HDMI | + | + |
| DisplayPort support | - | no data |
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 support
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | DirectX® 11 | 12 (11_1) |
| Shader Model | 5.0 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Vulkan | no data | 1.2.131 |
| Mantle | - | no data |
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 7870 outperforms HD 6950 by 78% 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 7870 outperforms HD 6950 by 77% in Passmark.
Unigine Heaven 4.0
This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.
Benchmark coverage: 1%
HD 7870 outperforms HD 6950 by 71% in Unigine Heaven 4.0.
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 | 45−50
−86.7%
| 84
+86.7%
|
| Full HD | 35−40
−88.6%
| 66
+88.6%
|
Advantages and disadvantages
| Performance score | 6.74 | 11.97 |
| Recency | 14 December 2010 | 5 March 2012 |
| Cost | $299 | $412.83 |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 500 Watt | 175 Watt |
The Radeon HD 7870 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6950 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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