Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
Radeon HD 8950M vs HD 8970M
General info
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 412 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Value for money | 11.08 | no data |
| Architecture | GCN (2011−2017) | GCN 2.0 (2013−2017) |
| GPU code name | Neptune | Saturn |
| Market segment | Laptop | Desktop |
| Release date | 15 May 2013 (10 years old) | 14 May 2013 (10 years old) |
| Current price | $135 | $338 |
Value for money
no data
Technical specs
General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 1280 | 768 |
| Core clock speed | 850 MHz | 1075 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 900 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 2,800 million | 2,080 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 100 Watt | 100 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 72.00 | 51.60 |
| Floating-point performance | 2,304 gflops | 1,651 gflops |
Size and compatibility
Information on Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon HD 8950M compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.
| Laptop size | large | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| Width | no data | MXM Module |
Memory
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 | 4 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 4800 MHz | 5500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 153.6 GB/s | 88 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | no data |
Video outputs and ports
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 | No outputs |
API support
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (11_1) | 12 (12_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 6.3 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 2.0 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | 1.2.131 |
Advantages and disadvantages
| Maximum RAM amount | 4 GB | 2 GB |
We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 8970M and Radeon HD 8950M. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Radeon HD 8970M is a notebook card while Radeon HD 8950M 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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