Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 vs HD 6950

Place in the ranking	561	373
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.11	no data
Power efficiency	2.32	14.70
Architecture	TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)	Vega (2017−2020)
GPU code name	Cayman	Vega Kaby Lake-G
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	14 December 2010 (14 years ago)	7 January 2018 (6 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	1280
Core clock speed	no data	931 MHz
Boost clock speed	800 MHz	1011 MHz
Number of transistors	2,640 million	no data
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	500 Watt	65 Watt
Texture fill rate	70.40	no data
Floating-point processing power	2.253 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	32	no data
TMUs	88	no data

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	medium sized
Bus support	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
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	HBM2
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	no data
Memory clock speed	1250 MHz	no data
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 data
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	12_1
Shader Model	5.0	no data
OpenGL	4.4	no data
OpenCL	1.2	no data

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 6.76

RX Vega M GL / 870 13.95
+106%

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 Vega M GL / 870 7329
+127%

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	18−21 −133%	42 +133%
1440p	12−14 −133%	28 +133%
4K	6−7 −133%	14 +133%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	16.61	no data
1440p	24.92	no data
4K	49.83	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

21−24

+0%

21−24

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	47 +0%	47 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Battlefield 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	33 +0%	33 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Hitman 3	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Metro Exodus	53 +0%	53 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	48 +0%	48 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Battlefield 5	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30 +0%	30 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	35−40 +0%	35−40 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Hitman 3	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Metro Exodus	41 +0%	41 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	37 +0%	37 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	23 +0%	23 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	20 +0%	20 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	90−95 +0%	90−95 +0%
Hitman 3	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24 +0%	24 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	17 +0%	17 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12 +0%	12 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Hitman 3	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Metro Exodus	27 +0%	27 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Hitman 3	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	70−75 +0%	70−75 +0%
Metro Exodus	15 +0%	15 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14 +0%	14 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	11 +0%	11 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	4 +0%	4 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Far Cry 5	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

+0%

This is how HD 6950 and RX Vega M GL / 870 compete in popular games:

RX Vega M GL / 870 is 133% faster in 1080p
RX Vega M GL / 870 is 133% faster in 1440p
RX Vega M GL / 870 is 133% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	6.76	13.95
Recency	14 December 2010	7 January 2018
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	4 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	14 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	500 Watt	65 Watt

RX Vega M GL / 870 has a 106.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 7 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 185.7% more advanced lithography process, and 669.2% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6950 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6950 is a desktop card while Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 is a notebook one.

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