HD 6970 vs HD 7850

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Combined performance score

HD 7850
9.94
+35.8%

HD 7850 outperforms HD 6970 by 36% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking415501
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money1.381.04
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2012−2020)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code namePitcairnCayman
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferencereference
Release date5 March 2012 (12 years old)14 December 2010 (13 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$249 $369
Current price$267 (1.1x MSRP)$189 (0.5x MSRP)
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 7850 has 33% better value for money than HD 6970.

Technical specs

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 cores10241536
Boost clock speed1000 MHz880 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)130 Watt550 Watt
Texture fill rate55.0484.48
Floating-point performance1,761 gflops2,703.4 gflops

Size and 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 supportPCIe 2.1 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length210 mm267 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin

Memory

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 typeGDDR5DDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHz1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/sno data

Video outputs and ports

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, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity11
HDMI++
DisplayPort support--

Technologies

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

AppAcceleration--
CrossFire11
Enduro--
FreeSync1no data
HD3D--
PowerTune--
TrueAudio--
ZeroCore--

API support

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

DirectX12DirectX® 11
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+no data
Mantle--

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 7850 9.94
+35.8%
HD 6970 7.32

HD 7850 outperforms HD 6970 by 36% in our combined 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 7850 3853
+35.9%
HD 6970 2836

HD 7850 outperforms HD 6970 by 36% 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 7850 5210
+50.1%
HD 6970 3470

HD 7850 outperforms HD 6970 by 50% 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.

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 9.94 7.32
Recency 5 March 2012 14 December 2010
Cost $249 $369
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 130 Watt 550 Watt

The Radeon HD 7850 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.

User ratings

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


AMD Radeon HD 7850
Radeon HD 7850
AMD Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 6970

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User ratings: view and submit

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


4.1 758 votes

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3.7 148 votes

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Questions and comments

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