Radeon HD 6970 vs HD 8970M Crossfire

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire with Radeon HD 6970, including specs and performance data.

HD 8970M Crossfire
2012
200 Watt
18.68
+153%

HD 8970M Crossfire outperforms HD 6970 by a whopping 153% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking301541
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data1.07
Power efficiency6.432.03
ArchitectureGCN (2012−2015)TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)
GPU code nameNeptune CFCayman
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date1 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 cores25601536
Core clock speed850 MHzno data
Boost clock speed900 MHz880 MHz
Number of transistorsno data2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)200 Watt550 Watt
Texture fill rateno data84.48
Floating-point processing powerno data2.703 TFLOPS
ROPsno data32
TMUsno data96

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 sizelargeno data
Bus supportno dataPCIe 2.0 x16
Interfaceno dataPCIe 2.0 x16
Lengthno data267 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amountno data2 GB
Memory bus width2x 256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed4800 MHz1375 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 Connectorsno data2x 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.

DirectX11.1DirectX® 11
Shader Modelno data5.0
OpenGLno data4.4
OpenCLno data1.2

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 HD67
+179%
24−27
−179%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data15.38

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.

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AMD Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire
Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire
AMD Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 6970

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Community ratings

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4.8 4 votes

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3.7 157 votes

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