Radeon HD 6950M vs RX 580
Aggregate performance score
We've compared Radeon RX 580 with Radeon HD 6950M, including specs and performance data.
RX 580 outperforms HD 6950M by a whopping 543% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 246 | 724 |
| Place by popularity | 1 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 18.07 | no data |
| Power efficiency | 8.58 | 4.94 |
| Architecture | GCN 4.0 (2016−2020) | TeraScale 2 (2009−2015) |
| GPU code name | Polaris 20 | Blackcomb |
| Market segment | Desktop | Laptop |
| Release date | 18 April 2017 (7 years ago) | 4 January 2011 (14 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $229 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
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 | 2304 | 960 |
| Core clock speed | 1257 MHz | 580 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1340 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 5,700 million | 1,700 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 14 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 185 Watt | 50 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 193.0 | 27.84 |
| Floating-point processing power | 6.175 TFLOPS | 1.114 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 32 | 32 |
| TMUs | 144 | 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 | no data | large |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | MXM-B (3.0) |
| Length | 241 mm | no data |
| Width | 2-slot | no data |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 8-pin | 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 | 8 GB | 1 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 2000 MHz | 900 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 256.0 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 | 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort | No outputs |
| HDMI | + | - |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 11.2 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 6.4 | 5.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.4 |
| OpenCL | 2.0 | 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.
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.
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.
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 | 96
+586%
| 14−16
−586%
|
| 1440p | 44
+633%
| 6−7
−633%
|
| 4K | 38
+660%
| 5−6
−660%
|
Cost per frame, $
| 1080p | 2.39 | no data |
| 1440p | 5.20 | no data |
| 4K | 6.03 | no data |
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 40−45
+367%
|
9−10
−367%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 45−50
+475%
|
8−9
−475%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 80
+700%
|
10−11
−700%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 40−45
+367%
|
9−10
−367%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 45−50
+475%
|
8−9
−475%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 95−100
+519%
|
16−18
−519%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 60−65
+1120%
|
5−6
−1120%
|
| Metro Exodus | 83
+1086%
|
7−8
−1086%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55
+325%
|
12−14
−325%
|
| Valorant | 90−95
+1229%
|
7−8
−1229%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 117
+1070%
|
10−11
−1070%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 40−45
+367%
|
9−10
−367%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 45−50
+475%
|
8−9
−475%
|
| Dota 2 | 51
+364%
|
10−12
−364%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 70−75
+284%
|
18−20
−284%
|
| Fortnite | 110−120
+490%
|
20−22
−490%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 95−100
+519%
|
16−18
−519%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 60−65
+1120%
|
5−6
−1120%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 77
+600%
|
10−12
−600%
|
| Metro Exodus | 57
+714%
|
7−8
−714%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 202
+531%
|
30−35
−531%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55
+325%
|
12−14
−325%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 70−75
+469%
|
12−14
−469%
|
| Valorant | 90−95
+1229%
|
7−8
−1229%
|
| World of Tanks | 240−250
+302%
|
60−65
−302%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 68
+580%
|
10−11
−580%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 40−45
+367%
|
9−10
−367%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 45−50
+475%
|
8−9
−475%
|
| Dota 2 | 80−85
+627%
|
10−12
−627%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 70−75
+284%
|
18−20
−284%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 95−100
+519%
|
16−18
−519%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 60−65
+1120%
|
5−6
−1120%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 70
+119%
|
30−35
−119%
|
| Valorant | 90−95
+1229%
|
7−8
−1229%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Dota 2 | 35−40
+1800%
|
2−3
−1800%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 35−40
+1167%
|
3−4
−1167%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 170−180
+596%
|
24−27
−596%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 21−24
+950%
|
2−3
−950%
|
| World of Tanks | 150−160
+516%
|
24−27
−516%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 45−50
+1075%
|
4−5
−1075%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 30−35
+0%
|
30−35
+0%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 18−20
+375%
|
4−5
−375%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 65−70
+713%
|
8−9
−713%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 60−65
+1425%
|
4−5
−1425%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 35−40
+825%
|
4−5
−825%
|
| Metro Exodus | 53
+563%
|
8−9
−563%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 30−35
+450%
|
6−7
−450%
|
| Valorant | 60−65
+455%
|
10−12
−455%
|
4K
High Preset
| Counter-Strike 2 | 20−22
+567%
|
3−4
−567%
|
| Dota 2 | 57
+256%
|
16−18
−256%
|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 57
+256%
|
16−18
−256%
|
| Metro Exodus | 18
+800%
|
2−3
−800%
|
| PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS | 73
+630%
|
10−11
−630%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 14−16
+650%
|
2−3
−650%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 57
+256%
|
16−18
−256%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 28
+833%
|
3−4
−833%
|
| Counter-Strike 2 | 20−22
+567%
|
3−4
−567%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 7−8
+250%
|
2−3
−250%
|
| Dota 2 | 35−40
+144%
|
16−18
−144%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 30−33
+650%
|
4−5
−650%
|
| Fortnite | 31
+1450%
|
2−3
−1450%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 35−40
+1650%
|
2−3
−1650%
|
| Forza Horizon 5 | 18−20
+1800%
|
1−2
−1800%
|
| Valorant | 27−30
+867%
|
3−4
−867%
|
This is how RX 580 and HD 6950M compete in popular games:
- RX 580 is 586% faster in 1080p
- RX 580 is 633% faster in 1440p
- RX 580 is 660% faster in 4K
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Dota 2, with 1440p resolution and the High Preset, the RX 580 is 1800% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- RX 580 is ahead in 59 tests (98%)
- there's a draw in 1 test (2%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 23.02 | 3.58 |
| Recency | 18 April 2017 | 4 January 2011 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 8 GB | 1 GB |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 40 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 185 Watt | 50 Watt |
RX 580 has a 543% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 6 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 185.7% more advanced lithography process.
HD 6950M, on the other hand, has 270% lower power consumption.
The Radeon RX 580 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6950M in performance tests.
Be aware that Radeon RX 580 is a desktop card while Radeon HD 6950M is a notebook 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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