NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 vs AMD Radeon HD 6970

#ad
Buy
VS

Combined performance score

HD 6970
7.32

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 6970 by 1266% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking5011
Place by popularitynot in top-1007
Value for money1.0410.69
ArchitectureTerascale 2 (2009−2015)Ada Lovelace
GPU code nameCaymanAD102-300-A1
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (13 years old)20 September 2022 (1 year old)
Launch price (MSRP)$369 $1,599
Current price$189 (0.5x MSRP)$1756 (1.1x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 4090 has 928% better value for money than HD 6970.

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 cores153616384
Core clock speedno data2235 MHz
Boost clock speed880 MHz2520 MHz
Number of transistors2,640 million76,300 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)550 Watt450 Watt
Texture fill rate84.481,290
Floating-point performance2,703.4 gflopsno 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 supportPCIe 2.0 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length267 mm304 mm
Width2-slot3-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 16-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 typeDDR5GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount2 GB24 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed1375 MHz21000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data1,008 GB/s
Shared memoryno 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Eyefinity1no data
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
CrossFire1no 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.

DirectXDirectX® 1112 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.06.6
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkanno data1.3
Mantle-no data
CUDAno data8.9

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 6970 7.32
RTX 4090 100.00
+1266%

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 6970 by 1266% in our combined 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 6970 2836
RTX 4090 38762
+1267%

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 6970 by 1267% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

HD 6970 3470
RTX 4090 73174
+2009%

GeForce RTX 4090 outperforms Radeon HD 6970 by 2009% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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
−1372%
265
+1372%
1440p14−16
−1414%
212
+1414%
4K10−12
−1400%
150
+1400%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1775%
225
+1775%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−1467%
235
+1467%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−2770%
287
+2770%
Battlefield 5 24−27
−704%
190−200
+704%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
−748%
170−180
+748%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1750%
222
+1750%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−1129%
209
+1129%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
−889%
178
+889%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
−1140%
300−350
+1140%
Hitman 3 18−20
−1117%
210−220
+1117%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
−1733%
275
+1733%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−1308%
180−190
+1308%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
−1738%
294
+1738%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
−1467%
188
+1467%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−1373%
221
+1373%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−2380%
248
+2380%
Battlefield 5 24−27
−704%
190−200
+704%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
−748%
170−180
+748%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1683%
214
+1683%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−1082%
201
+1082%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
−850%
171
+850%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
−1140%
300−350
+1140%
Hitman 3 18−20
−1117%
210−220
+1117%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
−1567%
250
+1567%
Metro Exodus 10−12
−1955%
226
+1955%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−1308%
180−190
+1308%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
−1700%
288
+1700%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−3720%
573
+3720%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
−1342%
173
+1342%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−1093%
179
+1093%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−2100%
220
+2100%
Battlefield 5 24−27
−704%
190−200
+704%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1650%
210
+1650%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−1000%
187
+1000%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
−756%
154
+756%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
−1140%
300−350
+1140%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−1933%
305
+1933%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
−1175%
153
+1175%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
−1255%
140−150
+1255%
Hitman 3 12−14
−1675%
210−220
+1675%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
−1723%
237
+1723%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−3440%
177
+3440%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
−1760%
90−95
+1760%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
−2610%
271
+2610%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
−2483%
155
+2483%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
−9050%
183
+9050%
Battlefield 5 8−9
−2350%
190−200
+2350%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−5033%
154
+5033%
Far Cry 5 10−12
−1591%
186
+1591%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−1420%
152
+1420%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
−2250%
280−290
+2250%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7−8
−3729%
268
+3729%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−7500%
152
+7500%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−1820%
95−100
+1820%
Hitman 3 7−8
−1729%
120−130
+1729%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−2238%
187
+2238%
Metro Exodus 1−2
−13600%
137
+13600%
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
−1500%
60−65
+1500%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 3−4
−6100%
186
+6100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
−6900%
280
+6900%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
−2900%
120
+2900%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
−3900%
120
+3900%
Battlefield 5 4−5
−3300%
130−140
+3300%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−7900%
80
+7900%
Far Cry 5 6−7
−2783%
173
+2783%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
−1511%
145
+1511%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−3063%
250−260
+3063%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−5750%
117
+5750%

This is how HD 6970 and RTX 4090 compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • RTX 4090 is 1372% faster than HD 6970

1440p resolution:

  • RTX 4090 is 1414% faster than HD 6970

4K resolution:

  • RTX 4090 is 1400% faster than HD 6970

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Metro Exodus, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 4090 is 13600% faster than the HD 6970.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RTX 4090 surpassed HD 6970 in all 68 of our tests.

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 7.32 100.00
Recency 14 December 2010 20 September 2022
Cost $369 $1599
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 24 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 550 Watt 450 Watt

The GeForce RTX 4090 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970 in performance tests.


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

User ratings

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 6970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
GeForce RTX 4090

Similar GPU comparisons

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

User ratings: view and submit

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


3.7 148 votes

Rate AMD Radeon HD 6970 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.7 10630 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.