Radeon HD 6970 vs HD 8970M Crossfire

Place in the ranking	301	541
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	1.07
Power efficiency	6.43	2.03
Architecture	GCN (2012−2015)	TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)
GPU code name	Neptune CF	Cayman
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Design	no data	reference
Release date	1 May 2012 (12 years ago)	14 December 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$369

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	2560	1536
Core clock speed	850 MHz	no data
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	880 MHz
Number of transistors	no data	2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	200 Watt	550 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	84.48
Floating-point processing power	no data	2.703 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	32
TMUs	no data	96

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
Bus support	no data	PCIe 2.0 x16
Interface	no data	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	no data	267 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 6-pin + 1x 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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	no data	2 GB
Memory bus width	2x 256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	1375 MHz
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 data	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity	-	+
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.1	DirectX® 11
Shader Model	no data	5.0
OpenGL	no data	4.4
OpenCL	no data	1.2

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. 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 8970M Crossfire 18.68
+153%

HD 6970 7.38

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 8970M Crossfire 10354
+198%

HD 6970 3470

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:

Full HD

67
+179%

24−27

−179%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

no data

15.38

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +106%	16−18 −106%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +147%	14−16 −147%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +161%	21−24 −161%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +106%	16−18 −106%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +147%	14−16 −147%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 +160%	30−33 −160%
Forza Horizon 5	50−55 +194%	16−18 −194%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +168%	18−20 −168%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +110%	21−24 −110%
Valorant	75−80 +188%	24−27 −188%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +161%	21−24 −161%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +106%	16−18 −106%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +147%	14−16 −147%
Dota 2	65−70 +154%	24−27 −154%
Far Cry 5	60−65 +93.9%	30−35 −93.9%
Fortnite	100−105 +127%	40−45 −127%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 +160%	30−33 −160%
Forza Horizon 5	50−55 +194%	16−18 −194%
Grand Theft Auto V	65−70 +154%	24−27 −154%
Metro Exodus	50−55 +168%	18−20 −168%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	120−130 +117%	55−60 −117%
Red Dead Redemption 2	40−45 +110%	21−24 −110%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	55−60 +152%	21−24 −152%
Valorant	75−80 +188%	24−27 −188%
World of Tanks	128 +13.3%	110−120 −13.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	60−65 +161%	21−24 −161%
Counter-Strike 2	30−35 +106%	16−18 −106%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 +147%	14−16 −147%
Dota 2	65−70 +154%	24−27 −154%
Far Cry 5	60−65 +93.9%	30−35 −93.9%
Forza Horizon 4	75−80 +160%	30−33 −160%
Forza Horizon 5	50−55 +194%	16−18 −194%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	120−130 +117%	55−60 −117%
Valorant	75−80 +188%	24−27 −188%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	27−30 +263%	8−9 −263%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−33 +233%	9−10 −233%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	160−170 +328%	35−40 −328%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 +183%	6−7 −183%
World of Tanks	120−130 +142%	50−55 −142%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	35−40 +192%	12−14 −192%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 +167%	6−7 −167%
Cyberpunk 2077	14−16 +150%	6−7 −150%
Far Cry 5	45−50 +227%	14−16 −227%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +220%	14−16 −220%
Forza Horizon 5	27−30 +164%	10−12 −164%
Metro Exodus	40−45 +282%	10−12 −282%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 +160%	10−11 −160%
Valorant	45−50 +153%	18−20 −153%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	18−20 +50%	12−14 −50%
Dota 2	30−35 +77.8%	18−20 −77.8%
Grand Theft Auto V	30−35 +77.8%	18−20 −77.8%
Metro Exodus	12−14 +333%	3−4 −333%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	55−60 +167%	21−24 −167%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 +140%	5−6 −140%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30−35 +77.8%	18−20 −77.8%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	18−20 +200%	6−7 −200%
Counter-Strike 2	18−20 +50%	12−14 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%
Dota 2	30−35 +77.8%	18−20 −77.8%
Far Cry 5	24−27 +167%	9−10 −167%
Fortnite	21−24 +214%	7−8 −214%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 +250%	8−9 −250%
Forza Horizon 5	14−16 +200%	5−6 −200%
Valorant	21−24 +214%	7−8 −214%

This is how HD 8970M Crossfire and HD 6970 compete in popular games:

HD 8970M Crossfire is 179% faster in 1080p

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

in Metro Exodus, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the HD 8970M Crossfire is 333% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Without exception, HD 8970M Crossfire surpassed HD 6970 in all 64 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	18.68	7.38
Recency	1 May 2012	14 December 2010
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	200 Watt	550 Watt

HD 8970M Crossfire has a 153.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 175% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire is a notebook card while Radeon HD 6970 is a desktop one.

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