Radeon RX 6900 XT vs HD 6950

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6950 and Radeon RX 6900 XT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6950
2010
2 GB GDDR5, 500 Watt
6.77

RX 6900 XT outperforms HD 6950 by a whopping 926% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking56122
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.1129.91
Power efficiency2.3215.89
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code nameCaymanNavi 21
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (14 years ago)28 October 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6900 XT has 2595% better value for money than HD 6950.

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 cores14085120
Core clock speedno data1825 MHz
Boost clock speed800 MHz2250 MHz
Number of transistors2,640 million26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)500 Watt300 Watt
Texture fill rate70.40720.0
Floating-point processing power2.253 TFLOPS23.04 TFLOPS
ROPs32128
TMUs88320
Ray Tracing Coresno data80

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 supportPCIe 2.0 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length267 mm267 mm
Width2-slot3-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount2 GB16 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz2000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data512.0 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
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.

DirectXDirectX® 1112 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.06.5
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.22.1
Vulkan-1.2

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 6950 6.77
RX 6900 XT 69.48
+926%

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 6950 2608
RX 6900 XT 26777
+927%

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.

HD 6950 3230
RX 6900 XT 50587
+1466%

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 HD18−20
−989%
196
+989%
1440p12−14
−983%
130
+983%
4K7−8
−1057%
81
+1057%

Cost per frame, $

1080p16.615.10
1440p24.927.68
4K42.7112.33

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 117
+0%
117
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 169
+0%
169
+0%
Battlefield 5 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 250−260
+0%
250−260
+0%
Metro Exodus 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 290−300
+0%
290−300
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 279
+0%
279
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 142
+0%
142
+0%
Battlefield 5 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 250−260
+0%
250−260
+0%
Metro Exodus 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 290−300
+0%
290−300
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 140−150
+0%
140−150
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 98
+0%
98
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 137
+0%
137
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Far Cry 5 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 248
+0%
248
+0%
Hitman 3 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 283
+0%
283
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 290−300
+0%
290−300
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 164
+0%
164
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 121
+0%
121
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 99
+0%
99
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 109
+0%
109
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%
Hitman 3 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 224
+0%
224
+0%
Metro Exodus 117
+0%
117
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Hitman 3 83
+0%
83
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 220−230
+0%
220−230
+0%
Metro Exodus 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 122
+0%
122
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 68
+0%
68
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 66
+0%
66
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 162
+0%
162
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 54
+0%
54
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

This is how HD 6950 and RX 6900 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 6900 XT is 989% faster in 1080p
  • RX 6900 XT is 983% faster in 1440p
  • RX 6900 XT is 1057% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 6.77 69.48
Recency 14 December 2010 28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 500 Watt 300 Watt

RX 6900 XT has a 926.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 471.4% more advanced lithography process, and 66.7% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 6900 XT 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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AMD Radeon HD 6950
Radeon HD 6950
AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT
Radeon RX 6900 XT

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.7 222 votes

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Questions & comments

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