GeForce RTX 5090 vs Radeon HD 6970
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon HD 6970 and GeForce RTX 5090, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
RTX 5090 outperforms HD 6970 by a whopping 1320% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 542 | 1 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 59 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 1.02 | 11.28 |
| Power efficiency | 2.03 | 12.54 |
| Architecture | TeraScale 3 (2010−2013) | Blackwell 2.0 (2025) |
| GPU code name | Cayman | GB202 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Design | reference | no data |
| Release date | 14 December 2010 (14 years ago) | 30 January 2025 (recently) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $369 | $1,999 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
RTX 5090 has 1006% better value for money than HD 6970.
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 | 1536 | 21760 |
| Core clock speed | no data | 2017 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 880 MHz | 2407 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 2,640 million | 92,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 40 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 550 Watt | 575 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 84.48 | 1,637 |
| Floating-point processing power | 2.703 TFLOPS | 104.8 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 176 |
| TMUs | 96 | 680 |
| Tensor Cores | no data | 680 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | no data | 170 |
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 support | PCIe 2.0 x16 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 5.0 x16 |
| Length | 267 mm | 304 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 1x 16-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 | GDDR7 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 32 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 512 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1375 MHz | 1750 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | no data | 1.79 TB/s |
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 | 1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b |
| 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 Ultimate (12_2) |
| Shader Model | 5.0 | 6.8 |
| OpenGL | 4.4 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 3.0 |
| Vulkan | - | 1.4 |
| CUDA | - | 10.1 |
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.
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.
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 | 14−16
−1379%
| 207
+1379%
|
| 1440p | 12−14
−1433%
| 184
+1433%
|
| 4K | 9−10
−1467%
| 141
+1467%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 26.36
−173%
| 9.66
+173%
|
| 1440p | 30.75
−183%
| 10.86
+183%
|
| 4K | 41.00
−189%
| 14.18
+189%
|
- RTX 5090 has 173% lower cost per frame in 1080p
- RTX 5090 has 183% lower cost per frame in 1440p
- RTX 5090 has 189% lower cost per frame in 4K
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 14−16
−1279%
|
190−200
+1279%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
−1300%
|
210−220
+1300%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 21−24
−409%
|
110−120
+409%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 14−16
−1279%
|
190−200
+1279%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
−1300%
|
210−220
+1300%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 30−33
−1233%
|
400−450
+1233%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 16−18
−1235%
|
220−230
+1235%
|
| Metro Exodus | 18−20
−753%
|
160−170
+753%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 21−24
−643%
|
150−160
+643%
|
| Valorant | 24−27
−1835%
|
500−550
+1835%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 21−24
−409%
|
110−120
+409%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 14−16
−1279%
|
190−200
+1279%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
−1300%
|
210−220
+1300%
|
| Dota 2 | 24−27
−569%
|
170−180
+569%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 30−35
−397%
|
159
+397%
|
| Fortnite | 40−45
−600%
|
300−350
+600%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 30−33
−1233%
|
400−450
+1233%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 16−18
−1235%
|
220−230
+1235%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 24−27
−1246%
|
350−400
+1246%
|
| Metro Exodus | 18−20
−753%
|
160−170
+753%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 60−65
−258%
|
210−220
+258%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 21−24
−643%
|
150−160
+643%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 21−24
−657%
|
170−180
+657%
|
| Valorant | 24−27
−1835%
|
500−550
+1835%
|
| World of Tanks | 110−120
−147%
|
270−280
+147%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 21−24
−409%
|
110−120
+409%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 14−16
−1343%
|
202
+1343%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 14−16
−1300%
|
210−220
+1300%
|
| Dota 2 | 24−27
−1246%
|
350−400
+1246%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 30−35
−384%
|
150−160
+384%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 30−33
−1233%
|
400−450
+1233%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 16−18
−1235%
|
220−230
+1235%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 60−65
−258%
|
210−220
+258%
|
| Valorant | 24−27
−1835%
|
500−550
+1835%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Dota 2 | 8−9
−1863%
|
150−160
+1863%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 9−10
−1233%
|
120−130
+1233%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 35−40
−1310%
|
550−600
+1310%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 6−7
−1450%
|
90−95
+1450%
|
| World of Tanks | 50−55
−874%
|
500−550
+874%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 12−14
−569%
|
85−90
+569%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
−1317%
|
85−90
+1317%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 14−16
−967%
|
160−170
+967%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 14−16
−1300%
|
210−220
+1300%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 10−12
−1482%
|
170−180
+1482%
|
| Metro Exodus | 10−12
−1200%
|
140−150
+1200%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 10−11
−1300%
|
140−150
+1300%
|
| Valorant | 18−20
−2079%
|
400−450
+2079%
|
4K
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 10−11
−1640%
|
174
+1640%
|
| Dota 2 | 18−20
−911%
|
180−190
+911%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 18−20
−1289%
|
250−260
+1289%
|
| Metro Exodus | 3−4
−5467%
|
167
+5467%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 21−24
−895%
|
200−210
+895%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 5−6
−1180%
|
60−65
+1180%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 18−20
−1289%
|
250−260
+1289%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 6−7
−1417%
|
90−95
+1417%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 10−11
−450%
|
55
+450%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3
−1250%
|
27−30
+1250%
|
| Dota 2 | 18−20
−1289%
|
250−260
+1289%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 9−10
−1067%
|
100−110
+1067%
|
| Fortnite | 7−8
−1271%
|
95−100
+1271%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 8−9
−1275%
|
110−120
+1275%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 5−6
−2140%
|
110−120
+2140%
|
| Valorant | 7−8
−3371%
|
240−250
+3371%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 183
+0%
|
183
+0%
|
This is how HD 6970 and RTX 5090 compete in popular games:
- RTX 5090 is 1379% faster in 1080p
- RTX 5090 is 1433% faster in 1440p
- RTX 5090 is 1467% faster in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Metro Exodus, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 5090 is 5467% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- RTX 5090 is ahead in 44 tests (98%)
- there's a draw in 1 test (2%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 7.04 | 100.00 |
| Recency | 14 December 2010 | 30 January 2025 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 2 GB | 32 GB |
| Chip lithography | 40 nm | 5 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 550 Watt | 575 Watt |
HD 6970 has 4.5% lower power consumption.
RTX 5090, on the other hand, has a 1320.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 14 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 700% more advanced lithography process.
The GeForce RTX 5090 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.
Other comparisons
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