GeForce GTX 970M vs Radeon HD 6990

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6990 with GeForce GTX 970M, including specs and performance data.

HD 6990
2011
2 GB GDDR5, 375 Watt
7.48

GTX 970M outperforms HD 6990 by an impressive 90% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking527358
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.61no data
Power efficiency1.4412.62
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code nameAntillesGM204
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date8 March 2011 (13 years ago)7 October 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 $2,560.89

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

HD 6990 and GTX 970M have a nearly equal value for money.

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 cores15361280
Core clock speed830 MHz924 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1038 MHz
Number of transistors2,640 million5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)375 Wattunknown
Texture fill rate79.6883.04
Floating-point processing power2.55 TFLOPS2.657 TFLOPS
ROPs3248
TMUs9680

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).

Laptop sizeno datalarge
Bus supportno dataPCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16MXM-B (3.0)
Length295 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-pinNone
SLI options-+

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB3 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz2500 MHz
Memory bandwidth160.0 GB/s120 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 Connectors1x DVI, 4x mini-DisplayPortNo outputs
VGA аnalog display supportno data+
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) supportno data+
HDMI-+
G-SYNC support-+

Supported technologies

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

GameStream-+
GeForce ShadowPlay-+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorks-+
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder-+
Optimus-+
BatteryBoost-+
Ansel-+

API and SDK compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX11.2 (11_0)12 (12_1)
Shader Model5.06.4
OpenGL4.44.5
OpenCL1.21.1
VulkanN/A1.1.126
CUDA-+

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 6990 7.48
GTX 970M 14.18
+89.6%

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 6990 3013
GTX 970M 5710
+89.5%

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 6990 5830
GTX 970M 7463
+28%

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:

900p70−75
−94.3%
136
+94.3%
Full HD27−30
−107%
56
+107%
1440p12−14
−108%
25
+108%
4K10−12
−120%
22
+120%

Cost per frame, $

1080p25.89
+76.6%
45.73
−76.6%
1440p58.25
+75.9%
102.44
−75.9%
4K69.90
+66.5%
116.40
−66.5%
  • HD 6990 has 77% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • HD 6990 has 76% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • HD 6990 has 67% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 46
+0%
46
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Metro Exodus 41
+0%
41
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Valorant 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 46
+0%
46
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Dota 2 33
+0%
33
+0%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Fortnite 59
+0%
59
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 49
+0%
49
+0%
Metro Exodus 29
+0%
29
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 149
+0%
149
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 44
+0%
44
+0%
Valorant 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
World of Tanks 190−200
+0%
190−200
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 40
+0%
40
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Dota 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 38
+0%
38
+0%
Valorant 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
World of Tanks 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 27
+0%
27
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Metro Exodus 25
+0%
25
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Valorant 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Dota 2 33
+0%
33
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 33
+0%
33
+0%
Metro Exodus 7
+0%
7
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 38
+0%
38
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 33
+0%
33
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 13
+0%
13
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Dota 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Fortnite 15
+0%
15
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Valorant 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%

This is how HD 6990 and GTX 970M compete in popular games:

  • GTX 970M is 94% faster in 900p
  • GTX 970M is 107% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 970M is 108% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 970M is 120% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 7.48 14.18
Recency 8 March 2011 7 October 2014
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 3 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 28 nm

GTX 970M has a 89.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce GTX 970M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6990 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6990 is a desktop card while GeForce GTX 970M is a notebook one.


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

Vote for your favorite

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


AMD Radeon HD 6990
Radeon HD 6990
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
GeForce GTX 970M

Other comparisons

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

Community ratings

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


3.5 26 votes

Rate Radeon HD 6990 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4.2 315 votes

Rate GeForce GTX 970M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

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