Radeon HD 6950M vs HD 7970M

Place in the ranking	476	724
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	6.40	4.94
Architecture	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code name	Wimbledon	Blackcomb
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	24 April 2012 (12 years ago)	4 January 2011 (14 years 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	1280	960
Core clock speed	850 MHz	580 MHz
Number of transistors	2,800 million	1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	50 Watt
Texture fill rate	68.00	27.84
Floating-point processing power	2.176 TFLOPS	1.114 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	32
TMUs	80	48

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	large
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors	None	no data

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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1200 MHz	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 GB/s	115.2 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

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model	5.1	5.0
OpenGL	4.6	4.4
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan	1.2.131	N/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 7970M 9.28
+159%

HD 6950M 3.58

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 7970M 5645
+130%

HD 6950M 2452

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 7970M 21938
+117%

HD 6950M 10122

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	84 +180%	30−35 −180%
Full HD	61 +190%	21−24 −190%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	16−18 +77.8%	9−10 −77.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +138%	8−9 −138%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 +200%	10−11 −200%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 +77.8%	9−10 −77.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +138%	8−9 −138%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +131%	16−18 −131%
Forza Horizon 5	21−24 +360%	5−6 −360%
Metro Exodus	24−27 +257%	7−8 −257%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 +108%	12−14 −108%
Valorant	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 +200%	10−11 −200%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 +77.8%	9−10 −77.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +138%	8−9 −138%
Dota 2	30−35 +200%	10−12 −200%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +105%	18−20 −105%
Fortnite	50−55 +170%	20−22 −170%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +131%	16−18 −131%
Forza Horizon 5	21−24 +360%	5−6 −360%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−35 +200%	10−12 −200%
Metro Exodus	24−27 +257%	7−8 −257%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	70−75 +125%	30−35 −125%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 +108%	12−14 −108%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	27−30 +115%	12−14 −115%
Valorant	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%
World of Tanks	121 +95.2%	60−65 −95.2%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	30−33 +200%	10−11 −200%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 +77.8%	9−10 −77.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	18−20 +138%	8−9 −138%
Dota 2	30−35 +200%	10−12 −200%
Far Cry 5	35−40 +105%	18−20 −105%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +131%	16−18 −131%
Forza Horizon 5	21−24 +360%	5−6 −360%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	70−75 +125%	30−35 −125%
Valorant	35−40 +400%	7−8 −400%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	12−14 +500%	2−3 −500%
Grand Theft Auto V	12−14 +300%	3−4 −300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	45−50 +80%	24−27 −80%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 +300%	2−3 −300%
World of Tanks	65−70 +168%	24−27 −168%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	16−18 +325%	4−5 −325%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +0%	30−35 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%
Far Cry 5	20−22 +150%	8−9 −150%
Forza Horizon 4	20−22 +400%	4−5 −400%
Forza Horizon 5	14−16 +250%	4−5 −250%
Metro Exodus	16−18 +183%	6−7 −183%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 +100%	6−7 −100%
Valorant	21−24 +109%	10−12 −109%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Dota 2	20−22 +25%	16−18 −25%
Grand Theft Auto V	18−20 +18.8%	16−18 −18.8%
Metro Exodus	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	27−30 +170%	10−11 −170%
Red Dead Redemption 2	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 +18.8%	16−18 −18.8%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	8−9 +167%	3−4 −167%
Counter-Strike 2	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Dota 2	20−22 +25%	16−18 −25%
Far Cry 5	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Fortnite	10−11 +400%	2−3 −400%
Forza Horizon 4	12−14 +500%	2−3 −500%
Forza Horizon 5	6−7 +500%	1−2 −500%
Valorant	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%

This is how HD 7970M and HD 6950M compete in popular games:

HD 7970M is 180% faster in 900p
HD 7970M is 190% faster in 1080p

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

in Dota 2, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the HD 7970M is 500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 7970M is ahead in 59 tests (98%)
there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	9.28	3.58
Recency	24 April 2012	4 January 2011
Maximum RAM amount	2 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	50 Watt

HD 7970M has a 159.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

HD 6950M, on the other hand, has 100% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 7970M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6950M in performance tests.

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