ATI HD 5850 vs AMD HD 6970

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Combined performance score

HD 6970
7.32
+42.7%

HD 6970 outperforms HD 5850 by 43% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking501583
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money1.040.78
ArchitectureTerascale 2 (2009−2015)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameCaymanCypress
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (13 years old)30 September 2009 (14 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$369 $299
Current price$189 (0.5x MSRP)$120 (0.4x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 6970 has 33% better value for money than ATI HD 5850.

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 cores15361440
Core clock speedno data725 MHz
Boost clock speed880 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,640 million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)550 Watt151 Watt
Texture fill rate84.4852.20
Floating-point performance2,703.4 gflops2,088.0 gflops

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 2.0 x16
Length267 mm241 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin2x 6-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 typeDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1375 MHz2000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data128.0 GB/s

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-DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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® 1111.2 (11_0)
Shader Model5.05.0
OpenGL4.44.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkanno dataN/A
Mantle-no data

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
+42.7%
ATI HD 5850 5.13

HD 6970 outperforms HD 5850 by 43% 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
+42.7%
ATI HD 5850 1988

HD 6970 outperforms HD 5850 by 43% in Passmark.

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:

900p80−85
+35.6%
59
−35.6%
Full HD80−85
+40.4%
57
−40.4%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+50%
10−11
−50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Battlefield 5 24−27
+60%
14−16
−60%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+54.5%
10−12
−54.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+63.6%
10−12
−63.6%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+47.1%
16−18
−47.1%
Hitman 3 18−20
+50%
12−14
−50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
+50%
10−11
−50%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+23.1%
12−14
−23.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+50%
10−11
−50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Battlefield 5 24−27
+60%
14−16
−60%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
+31.3%
16−18
−31.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+54.5%
10−12
−54.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+63.6%
10−12
−63.6%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+47.1%
16−18
−47.1%
Hitman 3 18−20
+50%
12−14
−50%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
+50%
10−11
−50%
Metro Exodus 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+30%
10−11
−30%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+23.1%
12−14
−23.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+36.4%
10−12
−36.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+50%
10−11
−50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Battlefield 5 24−27
+60%
14−16
−60%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+54.5%
10−12
−54.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 18−20
+63.6%
10−12
−63.6%
Forza Horizon 4 24−27
+47.1%
16−18
−47.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+36.4%
10−12
−36.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Hitman 3 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
+8.3%
12−14
−8.3%
Metro Exodus 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+25%
8−9
−25%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Battlefield 5 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Hitman 3 7−8
+40%
5−6
−40%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Metro Exodus 1−2 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%
Battlefield 5 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2 0−1
Far Cry 5 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
+28.6%
7−8
−28.6%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3 0−1

This is how HD 6970 and ATI HD 5850 compete in popular games:

900p resolution:

  • HD 6970 is 35.6% faster than ATI HD 5850

1080p resolution:

  • HD 6970 is 40.4% faster than ATI HD 5850

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

  • in Battlefield 5, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 6970 is 700% faster than the ATI HD 5850.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 6970 is ahead in 62 tests (98%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 7.32 5.13
Recency 14 December 2010 30 September 2009
Cost $369 $299
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 550 Watt 151 Watt

The Radeon HD 6970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5850 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

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AMD Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 6970
ATI Radeon HD 5850
Radeon HD 5850

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3.7 148 votes

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Questions and comments

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