Radeon RX 6850 XT vs HD 7970 GHz Edition

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Primary details

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

Place in the rankingnot ratednot rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2012−2020)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2025)
GPU code nameTahitiNavi 21
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date22 June 2012 (13 years ago)2022 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499 $649

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 cores20484608
Boost clock speed1050 MHz2250 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)250 Watt325 Watt
Texture fill rate134.4648.0
Floating-point processing power4.301 TFLOPS20.74 TFLOPS
ROPs32128
TMUs128288
L1 Cache512 KBno data
L2 Cache768 KBno data

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 supportPCIe 2.1 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length274 mm267 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount3 GB16 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1500 MHz18 GB/s
Memory bandwidth288 GB/s576.0 GB/s
Resizable BAR-+

Connectivity and outputs

This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.

Display Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 1112 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.16.5
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.22.1
Vulkan-1.3

Pros & cons summary


Maximum RAM amount 3 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 250 Watt 325 Watt

HD 7970 GHz Edition has 30% lower power consumption.

RX 6850 XT, on the other hand, has a 433.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 300% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and Radeon RX 6850 XT. We've got no test results to judge.

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AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition
AMD Radeon RX 6850 XT
Radeon RX 6850 XT

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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