Radeon RX 7800 XT vs HD 6970

Place in performance ranking	504	25
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.06	28.15
Architecture	Terascale 2 (2009−2015)	RDNA 3
GPU code name	Cayman	Navi 32
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	14 December 2010 (13 years ago)	25 August 2023 (less than a year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$369	$579
Current price	$189 (0.5x MSRP)	$669 (1.2x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 7800 XT has 2556% better value for money than HD 6970.

Detailed specifications

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 cores	1536	3840
Boost clock speed	880 MHz	2430 MHz
Number of transistors	2,640 million	28,100 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	550 Watt	263 Watt
Texture fill rate	84.48	604.8
Floating-point performance	2,703.4 gflops	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).

Bus support	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	267 mm	267 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	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	DDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1375 MHz	19500 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	576.0 GB/s
Shared memory	no data	-

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 2.1a, 3x DisplayPort 2.1
Eyefinity	1	no data
HDMI	+	+
DisplayPort support	-	no data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

AppAcceleration	-	no data
CrossFire	1	no data
Enduro	-	no data
HD3D	-	no data
PowerTune	-	no data
TrueAudio	-	no data
ZeroCore	-	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	DirectX® 11	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.7
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.2
Vulkan	no data	1.3
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 7.33

RX 7800 XT 61.96
+745%

RX 7800 XT outperforms HD 6970 by 745% based on our aggregated 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

RX 7800 XT 23977
+745%

RX 7800 XT outperforms HD 6970 by 745% 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

RX 7800 XT 50181
+1346%

RX 7800 XT outperforms HD 6970 by 1346% 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 HD	24−27 −792%	214 +792%
1440p	14−16 −800%	126 +800%
4K	8−9 −850%	76 +850%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

12−14

−2050%

258
+2050%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −547%	95−100 +547%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 −1100%	100−110 +1100%
Battlefield 5	24−27 −521%	140−150 +521%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −671%	160−170 +671%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −1508%	193 +1508%
Far Cry 5	16−18 −971%	182 +971%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 −761%	155 +761%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −596%	170−180 +596%
Hitman 3	18−20 −967%	190−200 +967%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −864%	130−140 +864%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 −685%	100−110 +685%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	16−18 −1588%	270 +1588%
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 −783%	100−110 +783%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −547%	95−100 +547%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 −1100%	100−110 +1100%
Battlefield 5	24−27 −521%	140−150 +521%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 −671%	160−170 +671%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −1242%	161 +1242%
Far Cry 5	16−18 −929%	175 +929%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 −739%	151 +739%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −596%	170−180 +596%
Hitman 3	18−20 −967%	190−200 +967%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −864%	130−140 +864%
Metro Exodus	10−12 −1391%	164 +1391%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 −685%	100−110 +685%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	16−18 −1375%	236 +1375%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −2227%	349 +2227%
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 −783%	100−110 +783%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −547%	95−100 +547%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 −1100%	100−110 +1100%
Battlefield 5	24−27 −521%	140−150 +521%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −1133%	148 +1133%
Far Cry 5	16−18 −853%	162 +853%
Far Cry New Dawn	18−20 −656%	136 +656%
Forza Horizon 4	24−27 −596%	170−180 +596%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 −1167%	190 +1167%
Watch Dogs: Legion	12−14 −783%	100−110 +783%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−12 −909%	110−120 +909%
Hitman 3	12−14 −1000%	130−140 +1000%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −669%	100−105 +669%
Metro Exodus	5−6 −1960%	103 +1960%
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 −1020%	55−60 +1020%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	10−11 −1480%	158 +1480%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	6−7 −1033%	65−70 +1033%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −3650%	75−80 +3650%
Battlefield 5	8−9 −1375%	110−120 +1375%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −3133%	97 +3133%
Far Cry 5	10−12 −1364%	161 +1364%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−11 −1240%	134 +1240%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 −1067%	140−150 +1067%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7 −2233%	140 +2233%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 −3100%	60−65 +3100%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −1240%	65−70 +1240%
Hitman 3	7−8 −957%	70−75 +957%
Horizon Zero Dawn	8−9 −688%	60−65 +688%
Metro Exodus	1−2 −6600%	67 +6600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −825%	35−40 +825%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	3−4 −2667%	83 +2667%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 −2725%	113 +2725%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 −1075%	45−50 +1075%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 −1433%	45−50 +1433%
Battlefield 5	4−5 −1850%	75−80 +1850%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −4300%	44 +4300%
Far Cry 5	6−7 −1617%	103 +1617%
Far Cry New Dawn	9−10 −1111%	109 +1111%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 −1113%	95−100 +1113%
Watch Dogs: Legion	1−2 −3600%	35−40 +3600%

This is how HD 6970 and RX 7800 XT compete in popular games:

RX 7800 XT is 792% faster in 1080p
RX 7800 XT is 800% faster in 1440p
RX 7800 XT is 850% 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 RX 7800 XT is 6600% faster than the HD 6970.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RX 7800 XT surpassed HD 6970 in all 68 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	7.33	61.96
Recency	14 December 2010	25 August 2023
Cost	$369	$579
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	550 Watt	263 Watt