Arc A580 vs Radeon HD 6990M

Place in the ranking	626	186
Place by popularity	not in top-100	55
Power efficiency	3.62	12.21
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	Generation 12.7 (2022−2023)
GPU code name	Blackcomb	DG2-512
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	12 July 2011 (13 years ago)	10 October 2023 (1 year ago)

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	1120	3072
Core clock speed	715 MHz	1700 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2000 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	21,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	40.04	384.0
Floating-point processing power	1.602 TFLOPS	12.29 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	96
TMUs	56	192
Tensor Cores	no data	384
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	24

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 size	large	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	PCIe 4.0 x16
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	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	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	115.2 GB/s	512.0 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	No outputs	1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 2.0
HDMI	-	+

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.6
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	3.0
Vulkan	N/A	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 6990M 5.06

Arc A580 29.82
+489%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

HD 6990M 3227

Arc A580 35210
+991%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

HD 6990M 15113

Arc A580 95677
+533%

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:

900p	54 −456%	300−350 +456%
Full HD	59 −74.6%	103 +74.6%
1440p	9−10 −511%	55 +511%
4K	5−6 −560%	33 +560%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	12−14 −654%	98 +654%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −445%	60−65 +445%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 −463%	90−95 +463%
Counter-Strike 2	12−14 −538%	83 +538%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −445%	60−65 +445%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −1073%	258 +1073%
Forza Horizon 5	10−11 −710%	80−85 +710%
Metro Exodus	12−14 −931%	134 +931%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −306%	65−70 +306%
Valorant	16−18 −669%	120−130 +669%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 −463%	90−95 +463%
Counter-Strike 2	12−14 −469%	74 +469%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −445%	60−65 +445%
Dota 2	16−18 −406%	86 +406%
Far Cry 5	24−27 −152%	63 +152%
Fortnite	30−35 −371%	140−150 +371%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −873%	214 +873%
Forza Horizon 5	10−11 −710%	80−85 +710%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −406%	86 +406%
Metro Exodus	12−14 −646%	97 +646%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	40−45 −307%	170−180 +307%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −306%	65−70 +306%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −518%	100−110 +518%
Valorant	16−18 −669%	120−130 +669%
World of Tanks	85−90 −224%	270−280 +224%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 −463%	90−95 +463%
Counter-Strike 2	12−14 −415%	67 +415%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 −445%	60−65 +445%
Dota 2	16−18 −488%	100−105 +488%
Far Cry 5	24−27 −248%	85−90 +248%
Forza Horizon 4	21−24 −705%	177 +705%
Forza Horizon 5	10−11 −710%	80−85 +710%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	40−45 −307%	170−180 +307%
Valorant	16−18 −669%	120−130 +669%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	5−6 −640%	37 +640%
Grand Theft Auto V	5−6 −640%	37 +640%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	30−35 −430%	170−180 +430%
Red Dead Redemption 2	4−5 −625%	27−30 +625%
World of Tanks	35−40 −426%	200−210 +426%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9 −663%	60−65 +663%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −440%	27−30 +440%
Far Cry 5	10−12 −782%	95−100 +782%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 −1344%	130 +1344%
Forza Horizon 5	7−8 −614%	50−55 +614%
Metro Exodus	5−6 −1720%	91 +1720%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	8−9 −588%	55 +588%
Valorant	14−16 −536%	85−90 +536%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −124%	38 +124%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −138%	38 +138%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	14−16 −547%	95−100 +547%
Red Dead Redemption 2	3−4 −567%	20−22 +567%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −138%	38 +138%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −750%	30−35 +750%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3 −400%	10−11 +400%
Dota 2	16−18 −488%	100−105 +488%
Far Cry 5	6−7 −617%	40−45 +617%
Fortnite	4−5 −925%	40−45 +925%
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 −1360%	73 +1360%
Forza Horizon 5	3−4 −800%	27−30 +800%
Valorant	5−6 −800%	45−50 +800%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Metro Exodus	37 +0%	37 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2

+0%

This is how HD 6990M and Arc A580 compete in popular games:

Arc A580 is 456% faster in 900p
Arc A580 is 75% faster in 1080p
Arc A580 is 511% faster in 1440p
Arc A580 is 560% faster in 4K

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

in Metro Exodus, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Arc A580 is 1720% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Arc A580 is ahead in 52 tests (95%)
there's a draw in 3 tests (5%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.06	29.82
Recency	12 July 2011	10 October 2023
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	175 Watt

HD 6990M has 75% lower power consumption.

Arc A580, on the other hand, has a 489.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 566.7% more advanced lithography process.

The Arc A580 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6990M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6990M is a notebook card while Arc A580 is a desktop one.

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