Radeon HD 6450 vs HD 7970

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 6450, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 7970
2011
6 GB GDDR5, 300 Watt
11.74
+2568%

HD 7970 outperforms HD 6450 by a whopping 2568% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking3901245
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation2.12no data
Power efficiency3.741.95
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameTahitiCaicos
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferencereference
Release date22 December 2011 (13 years ago)7 April 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$549 $55

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

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

HD 7970 and HD 6450 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 cores2048160
Boost clock speed925 MHz750 MHz
Number of transistors4,313 million370 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)300 Watt30 Watt
Texture fill rate118.45.000
Floating-point processing power3.789 TFLOPS0.2 TFLOPS
ROPs324
TMUs1288

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 x16PCIe 2.0 x8
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length274 mm168 mm
Width2-slot1-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pinNone

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 amount6 GB1 GB
Memory bus width384 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed1375 MHz800 MHz
Memory bandwidth264 GB/s25.6 GB/s
Memory bandwidthno data8.5-12.8 GB/x (DDR3) or 25.6-28.8 GB/s (GDDR5)
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, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x VGA
Eyefinity++
Number of Eyefinity displaysno data4
HDMI++
DisplayPort support-+

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® 11DirectX® 11
Shader Model5.15.0
OpenGL4.64.4
OpenCL1.21.2

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.

HD 7970 11.74
+2568%
HD 6450 0.44

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 7970 5248
+2564%
HD 6450 197

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 7970 6862
+1918%
HD 6450 340

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:

900p105
+3400%
3−4
−3400%
Full HD93
+3000%
3−4
−3000%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.90
+211%
18.33
−211%
  • HD 7970 has 211% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+3100%
1−2
−3100%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+3450%
2−3
−3450%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27 0−1

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+3100%
1−2
−3100%
Battlefield 5 55−60
+2700%
2−3
−2700%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+3450%
2−3
−3450%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27 0−1
Far Cry 5 40−45
+4200%
1−2
−4200%
Fortnite 70−75
+3600%
2−3
−3600%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+2600%
2−3
−2600%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+3900%
1−2
−3900%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+4500%
1−2
−4500%
Valorant 110−120
+2650%
4−5
−2650%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+3100%
1−2
−3100%
Battlefield 5 55−60
+2700%
2−3
−2700%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+3450%
2−3
−3450%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 212
+2929%
7−8
−2929%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27 0−1
Dota 2 80−85
+2700%
3−4
−2700%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+4200%
1−2
−4200%
Fortnite 70−75
+3600%
2−3
−3600%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+2600%
2−3
−2600%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+3900%
1−2
−3900%
Grand Theft Auto V 45−50
+4800%
1−2
−4800%
Metro Exodus 24−27 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+4500%
1−2
−4500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+3300%
1−2
−3300%
Valorant 110−120
+2650%
4−5
−2650%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+2700%
2−3
−2700%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27 0−1
Dota 2 80−85
+2700%
3−4
−2700%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+4200%
1−2
−4200%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+2600%
2−3
−2600%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+4500%
1−2
−4500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+3300%
1−2
−3300%
Valorant 110−120
+2650%
4−5
−2650%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 70−75
+3600%
2−3
−3600%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27 0−1
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 95−100
+3100%
3−4
−3100%
Grand Theft Auto V 20−22 0−1
Metro Exodus 14−16 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
+2600%
4−5
−2600%
Valorant 130−140
+2620%
5−6
−2620%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+3400%
1−2
−3400%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12 0−1
Far Cry 5 27−30
+2700%
1−2
−2700%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+3000%
1−2
−3000%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 20−22 0−1

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 27−30
+2700%
1−2
−2700%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 10−11 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 8−9 0−1
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27 0−1
Metro Exodus 9−10 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18 0−1
Valorant 65−70
+3350%
2−3
−3350%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20 0−1
Counter-Strike 2 8−9 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6 0−1
Dota 2 45−50
+4500%
1−2
−4500%
Far Cry 5 12−14 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 21−24 0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 12−14 0−1

This is how HD 7970 and HD 6450 compete in popular games:

  • HD 7970 is 3400% faster in 900p
  • HD 7970 is 3000% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 11.74 0.44
Recency 22 December 2011 7 April 2011
Maximum RAM amount 6 GB 1 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt 30 Watt

HD 7970 has a 2568.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 months, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

HD 6450, on the other hand, has 900% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6450 in performance tests.

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AMD Radeon HD 7970
Radeon HD 7970
AMD Radeon HD 6450
Radeon HD 6450

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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


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