Radeon RX 6900 vs HD 6950M

Place in the ranking	721	21
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	4.89	18.67
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Blackcomb	Navi 21
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	4 January 2011 (13 years ago)	28 October 2020 (4 years ago)

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	960	4608
Core clock speed	580 MHz	no data
Boost clock speed	no data	2105 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	23,000 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	255 Watt
Texture fill rate	27.84	606.2
Floating-point processing power	1.114 TFLOPS	19.4 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	64
TMUs	48	288

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	large	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	PCIe 4.0 x16
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	2x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	16 GB/s
Memory bandwidth	115.2 GB/s	512.0 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 Connectors	No outputs	1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI	-	+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.5
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.2

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

6−7
−1733%

110−120

+1733%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −1800%	190−200 +1800%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%
Battlefield 5	7−8 −1757%	130−140 +1757%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −1775%	150−160 +1775%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −1733%	110−120 +1733%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −1757%	130−140 +1757%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −1800%	190−200 +1800%
Forza Horizon 4	20−22 −1650%	350−400 +1650%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1789%	170−180 +1789%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −1700%	450−500 +1700%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −1733%	110−120 +1733%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −1789%	170−180 +1789%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1829%	270−280 +1829%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −1729%	750−800 +1729%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −1800%	190−200 +1800%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%
Battlefield 5	7−8 −1757%	130−140 +1757%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −1775%	150−160 +1775%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −1733%	110−120 +1733%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −1757%	130−140 +1757%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −1800%	190−200 +1800%
Forza Horizon 4	20−22 −1650%	350−400 +1650%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1789%	170−180 +1789%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −1700%	450−500 +1700%
Metro Exodus	6−7 −1733%	110−120 +1733%
Red Dead Redemption 2	9−10 −1789%	170−180 +1789%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1829%	270−280 +1829%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −1833%	290−300 +1833%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −1729%	750−800 +1729%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	10−11 −1800%	190−200 +1800%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 −1775%	150−160 +1775%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −1733%	110−120 +1733%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −1757%	130−140 +1757%
Forza Horizon 4	20−22 −1650%	350−400 +1650%
Hitman 3	9−10 −1789%	170−180 +1789%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 −1700%	450−500 +1700%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	14−16 −1829%	270−280 +1829%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −1833%	290−300 +1833%
Watch Dogs: Legion	40−45 −1729%	750−800 +1729%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

9−10
−1789%

170−180

+1789%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	6−7 −1733%	110−120 +1733%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 −1800%	95−100 +1800%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −1733%	55−60 +1733%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 −1733%	55−60 +1733%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −1775%	75−80 +1775%
Forza Horizon 4	1−2 −1700%	18−20 +1700%
Hitman 3	8−9 −1775%	150−160 +1775%
Horizon Zero Dawn	9−10 −1789%	170−180 +1789%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	3−4 −1733%	55−60 +1733%
Watch Dogs: Legion	21−24 −1718%	400−450 +1718%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

7−8
−1757%

130−140

+1757%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%
Far Cry New Dawn	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −1700%	18−20 +1700%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	1−2 −1700%	18−20 +1700%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	0−1
Far Cry 5	2−3 −1650%	35−40 +1650%
Forza Horizon 4	1−2 −1700%	18−20 +1700%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 −1700%	18−20 +1700%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

4−5

−1775%

75−80
+1775%

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.57	69.46
Recency	4 January 2011	28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	255 Watt

HD 6950M has 410% lower power consumption.

RX 6900, on the other hand, has a 1845.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 471.4% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6900 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6950M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6950M is a notebook card while Radeon RX 6900 is a desktop one.

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