ATI Radeon HD 5970 vs HD 6990

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6990 and Radeon HD 5970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6990
2011
2 GB GDDR5, 375 Watt
7.82
+32.1%

HD 6990 outperforms ATI HD 5970 by a substantial 32% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking522589
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.630.36
Power efficiency1.431.38
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameAntillesHemlock
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date8 March 2011 (13 years ago)18 November 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 $699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 6990 has 75% better value for money than ATI HD 5970.

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 cores15361600
Core clock speed830 MHz725 MHz
Number of transistors2,640 million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)375 Watt294 Watt
Texture fill rate79.6858.00
Floating-point processing power2.55 TFLOPS2.32 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length295 mm305 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1000 MHz
Memory bandwidth160.0 GB/s128.0 GB/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 Connectors1x DVI, 4x mini-DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.2 (11_0)11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model5.05.0
OpenGL4.44.4
OpenCL1.21.2
VulkanN/AN/A

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 7.82
+32.1%
ATI HD 5970 5.92

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
+32%
ATI HD 5970 2282

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
+58%
ATI HD 5970 3690

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 7.82 5.92
Recency 8 March 2011 18 November 2009
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 375 Watt 294 Watt

HD 6990 has a 32.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

ATI HD 5970, on the other hand, has 27.6% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6990 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5970 in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

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AMD Radeon HD 6990
Radeon HD 6990
ATI Radeon HD 5970
Radeon HD 5970

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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.


3.6 25 votes

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3.6 43 votes

Rate Radeon HD 5970 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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