Radeon RX 7800 XT vs HD 6970

Place in the ranking	540	30
Place by popularity	not in top-100	60
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.07	67.95
Power efficiency	2.04	16.53
Architecture	TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)	RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code name	Cayman	Navi 32
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	14 December 2010 (14 years ago)	25 August 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$369	$499

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 7800 XT has 6250% 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	3840
Core clock speed	no data	1295 MHz
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	583.2
Floating-point processing power	2.703 TFLOPS	37.32 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	96
TMUs	96	240
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	60

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	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1375 MHz	2438 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	624.1 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1a, 3x DisplayPort 2.1
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	6.7
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.2
Vulkan	-	1.3

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.

HD 6970 7.38

RX 7800 XT 63.05
+754%

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.

HD 6970 2836

RX 7800 XT 24233
+754%

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.

HD 6970 3470

RX 7800 XT 49707
+1332%

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 −796%	215 +796%
1440p	14−16 −771%	122 +771%
4K	8−9 −813%	73 +813%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	15.38 −562%	2.32 +562%
1440p	26.36 −544%	4.09 +544%
4K	46.13 −575%	6.84 +575%

RX 7800 XT has 562% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RX 7800 XT has 544% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RX 7800 XT has 575% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 −1621%	241 +1621%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −1620%	258 +1620%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 −409%	110−120 +409%
Counter-Strike 2	14−16 −1329%	200 +1329%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −540%	96 +540%
Forza Horizon 4	30−33 −1527%	488 +1527%
Forza Horizon 5	16−18 −841%	160−170 +841%
Metro Exodus	18−20 −800%	171 +800%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 −448%	110−120 +448%
Valorant	24−27 −1031%	290−300 +1031%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 −409%	110−120 +409%
Counter-Strike 2	14−16 −1064%	163 +1064%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −433%	80 +433%
Dota 2	24−27 −585%	178 +585%
Far Cry 5	30−35 −242%	113 +242%
Fortnite	40−45 −461%	240−250 +461%
Forza Horizon 4	30−33 −1227%	398 +1227%
Forza Horizon 5	16−18 −841%	160−170 +841%
Grand Theft Auto V	24−27 −585%	178 +585%
Metro Exodus	18−20 −674%	147 +674%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	55−60 −264%	210−220 +264%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 −448%	110−120 +448%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 −657%	170−180 +657%
Valorant	24−27 −1031%	290−300 +1031%
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 −964%	149 +964%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 −393%	74 +393%
Dota 2	24−27 −746%	220−230 +746%
Far Cry 5	30−35 −270%	120−130 +270%
Forza Horizon 4	30−33 −1033%	340 +1033%
Forza Horizon 5	16−18 −841%	160−170 +841%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	55−60 −264%	210−220 +264%
Valorant	24−27 −1031%	290−300 +1031%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	8−9 −1650%	140 +1650%
Grand Theft Auto V	9−10 −1456%	140 +1456%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	35−40 −349%	170−180 +349%
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 −1167%	75−80 +1167%
World of Tanks	50−55 −700%	400−450 +700%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	12−14 −569%	85−90 +569%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 −203%	97 +203%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 −700%	48 +700%
Far Cry 5	14−16 −967%	160−170 +967%
Forza Horizon 4	14−16 −1520%	243 +1520%
Forza Horizon 5	10−12 −955%	110−120 +955%
Metro Exodus	10−12 −1245%	148 +1245%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	10−11 −1370%	147 +1370%
Valorant	18−20 −1242%	250−260 +1242%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	1−2 −4100%	42 +4100%
Dota 2	18−20 −744%	152 +744%
Grand Theft Auto V	18−20 −744%	152 +744%
Metro Exodus	3−4 −2000%	63 +2000%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	21−24 −895%	200−210 +895%
Red Dead Redemption 2	5−6 −900%	50−55 +900%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −744%	152 +744%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	6−7 −1250%	80−85 +1250%
Counter-Strike 2	1−2 −7400%	75−80 +7400%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −1000%	22 +1000%
Dota 2	18−20 −733%	150−160 +733%
Far Cry 5	9−10 −1067%	100−110 +1067%
Fortnite	7−8 −1271%	95−100 +1271%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 −1525%	130 +1525%
Forza Horizon 5	5−6 −1320%	70−75 +1320%
Valorant	7−8 −1971%	140−150 +1971%

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

RX 7800 XT is 796% faster in 1080p
RX 7800 XT is 771% faster in 1440p
RX 7800 XT is 813% faster in 4K

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

in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 7800 XT is 7400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, RX 7800 XT surpassed HD 6970 in all 62 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	7.38	63.05
Recency	14 December 2010	25 August 2023
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	550 Watt	263 Watt

RX 7800 XT has a 754.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 700% more advanced lithography process, and 109.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 7800 XT 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.