Radeon HD 6970 vs R9 380

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Aggregate performance score

R9 380
2015
4 GB GDDR5, 190 Watt
15.90
+117%

R9 380 outperforms HD 6970 by a whopping 117% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in performance ranking315506
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation9.081.08
ArchitectureGCN (2011−2017)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameTonga ProCayman
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferencereference
Release date26 June 2015 (8 years ago)14 December 2010 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 $369
Current price$12.90 (0.1x MSRP)$189 (0.5x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 380 has 741% better value for money than HD 6970.

Detailed specifications

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 cores17921536
Compute units28no data
Boost clock speed970 MHz880 MHz
Number of transistors5,000 million2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)190 Watt550 Watt
Texture fill rate108.684.48
Floating-point performance3,476 gflops2,703.4 gflops

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 3.0PCIe 2.0 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length221 mm267 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Form factorfull height / full length / dual slotno data
Supplementary power connectors2 x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Bridgeless CrossFire1no 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 typeGDDR5DDR5
High bandwidth memory (HBM)-no data
Maximum RAM amount4 GB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed970 MHz1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth182.4 GB/sno data
Shared memory-no data

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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity+1
Number of Eyefinity displays6no data
HDMI++
DisplayPort support+-

Supported technologies

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

AppAcceleration--
CrossFire11
Enduro--
FRTC1no data
FreeSync1no data
HD3D+-
LiquidVR1no data
PowerTune+-
TrueAudio+-
ZeroCore+-
VCE+no data
DDMA audio+no data

API compatibility

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

DirectXDirectX® 12DirectX® 11
Shader Model6.35.0
OpenGL4.54.4
OpenCL2.01.2
Vulkan+no data
Mantle+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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.

R9 380 15.90
+117%
HD 6970 7.34

R9 380 outperforms HD 6970 by 117% based on our aggregate benchmark results.


Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

R9 380 6147
+117%
HD 6970 2836

R9 380 outperforms HD 6970 by 117% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

R9 380 8218
+137%
HD 6970 3470

R9 380 outperforms HD 6970 by 137% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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 HD66
+120%
30−35
−120%
4K24
+140%
10−12
−140%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+108%
12−14
−108%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+120%
14−16
−120%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+189%
9−10
−189%
Battlefield 5 50−55
+136%
21−24
−136%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+119%
16−18
−119%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+108%
12−14
−108%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+87%
21−24
−87%
Far Cry New Dawn 40−45
+132%
18−20
−132%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+104%
24−27
−104%
Hitman 3 35−40
+118%
16−18
−118%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+96.2%
24−27
−96.2%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+140%
20−22
−140%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+120%
20−22
−120%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+105%
21−24
−105%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
+142%
12−14
−142%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+120%
14−16
−120%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+189%
9−10
−189%
Battlefield 5 50−55
+136%
21−24
−136%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+119%
16−18
−119%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+108%
12−14
−108%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+87%
21−24
−87%
Far Cry New Dawn 40−45
+132%
18−20
−132%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+104%
24−27
−104%
Hitman 3 35−40
+118%
16−18
−118%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+96.2%
24−27
−96.2%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+140%
20−22
−140%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+120%
20−22
−120%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+105%
21−24
−105%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 51
+240%
14−16
−240%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
+142%
12−14
−142%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
+120%
14−16
−120%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+189%
9−10
−189%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
+119%
16−18
−119%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+108%
12−14
−108%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+87%
21−24
−87%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+104%
24−27
−104%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+96.2%
24−27
−96.2%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+140%
20−22
−140%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30
+100%
14−16
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
+142%
12−14
−142%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+120%
20−22
−120%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 30−35
+121%
14−16
−121%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−33
+173%
10−12
−173%
Hitman 3 21−24
+188%
8−9
−188%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+140%
5−6
−140%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 16−18
+167%
6−7
−167%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+550%
2−3
−550%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+122%
9−10
−122%
Cyberpunk 2077 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+136%
10−12
−136%
Forza Horizon 4 30−33
+131%
12−14
−131%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+250%
8−9
−250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+400%
6−7
−400%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%

4K
High Preset

Far Cry 5 30−35
+83.3%
18−20
−83.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 16−18
+220%
5−6
−220%
Hitman 3 12−14
+300%
3−4
−300%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
+113%
8−9
−113%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+233%
3−4
−233%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 19
+375%
4−5
−375%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
+125%
4−5
−125%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Battlefield 5 16−18
+325%
4−5
−325%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
+163%
8−9
−163%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
+113%
8−9
−113%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+87.5%
8−9
−87.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+100%
7−8
−100%

This is how R9 380 and HD 6970 compete in popular games:

  • R9 380 is 120% faster in 1080p
  • R9 380 is 140% faster in 4K

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

  • in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the R9 380 is 550% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, R9 380 surpassed HD 6970 in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 15.90 7.34
Recency 26 June 2015 14 December 2010
Cost $199 $369
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 2 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 190 Watt 550 Watt

The Radeon R9 380 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970 in performance tests.


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 R9 380
Radeon R9 380
AMD Radeon HD 6970
Radeon HD 6970

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

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4.1 760 votes

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3.6 153 votes

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Questions & comments

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