Radeon HD 6990M vs GeForce GTX 860M

Place in the ranking	518	613
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	7.35	3.66
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2017)	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code name	GM107	Blackcomb
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	13 January 2014 (10 years ago)	12 July 2011 (13 years ago)

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	1152 or 640	1120
Core clock speed	797 MHz	715 MHz
Boost clock speed	1085 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	1,870 million	1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	100 Watt
Texture fill rate	43.40	40.04
Floating-point processing power	1.389 TFLOPS	1.602 TFLOPS
ROPs	16	32
TMUs	40	56

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	medium sized	large
Bus support	PCI Express 2.0, PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors	None	None
SLI options	+	-

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	4 GB	2 GB
Standard memory configuration	GDDR5	no data
Memory bus width	128 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	Up to 2500 MHz	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	80.0 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	No outputs	No outputs
eDP 1.2 signal support	Up to 3840x2160	no data
LVDS signal support	Up to 1920x1200	no data
VGA аnalog display support	Up to 2048x1536	no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	Up to 3840x2160	no data
HDMI	+	-
HDCP content protection	+	-
7.1 channel HD audio on HDMI	+	-
TrueHD and DTS-HD audio bitstreaming	+	-

Supported technologies

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

H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	+	-
Optimus	+	-
Ansel	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_0)	11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model	5.1	5.0
OpenGL	4.5	4.4
OpenCL	1.1	1.2
Vulkan	1.1.126	N/A
CUDA	+	-

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.

GTX 860M 7.91
+50.7%

HD 6990M 5.25

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.

GTX 860M 4902
+51.9%

HD 6990M 3227

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.

GTX 860M 19216
+27.1%

HD 6990M 15113

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:

900p	91 +68.5%	54 −68.5%
Full HD	36 −66.7%	60 +66.7%
4K	13 +62.5%	8−9 −62.5%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

12−14
+33.3%

9−10

−33.3%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +35.7%	14−16 −35.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Battlefield 5	21−24 +64.3%	14−16 −64.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 +45.5%	10−12 −45.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +33.3%	9−10 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 +46.7%	14−16 −46.7%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 +57.6%	30−35 −57.6%
Hitman 3	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 +36.4%	30−35 −36.4%
Metro Exodus	21−24 +76.9%	12−14 −76.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 +57.1%	14−16 −57.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +36.8%	18−20 −36.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 +19.1%	45−50 −19.1%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +35.7%	14−16 −35.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Battlefield 5	21−24 +64.3%	14−16 −64.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 +45.5%	10−12 −45.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +33.3%	9−10 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 +46.7%	14−16 −46.7%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 +57.6%	30−35 −57.6%
Hitman 3	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 +36.4%	30−35 −36.4%
Metro Exodus	21−24 +76.9%	12−14 −76.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 +57.1%	14−16 −57.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +36.8%	18−20 −36.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	60 +233%	18−20 −233%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 +19.1%	45−50 −19.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +35.7%	14−16 −35.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	16−18 +45.5%	10−12 −45.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +33.3%	9−10 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	18−20 +63.6%	10−12 −63.6%
Forza Horizon 4	50−55 +57.6%	30−35 −57.6%
Hitman 3	14−16 +36.4%	10−12 −36.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 +36.4%	30−35 −36.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +36.8%	18−20 −36.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12 −50%	18−20 +50%
Watch Dogs: Legion	55−60 +19.1%	45−50 −19.1%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

21−24
+57.1%

14−16

−57.1%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	14−16 +50%	10−11 −50%
Far Cry New Dawn	12−14 +50%	8−9 −50%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	8−9 +60%	5−6 −60%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4	0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	8−9 +60%	5−6 −60%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +100%	2−3 −100%
Far Cry 5	9−10 +50%	6−7 −50%
Forza Horizon 4	30−33 +131%	12−14 −131%
Hitman 3	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 +41.7%	12−14 −41.7%
Metro Exodus	10−11 +233%	3−4 −233%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 +51.5%	30−35 −51.5%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

12−14
+44.4%

9−10

−44.4%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	7−8 +75%	4−5 −75%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Hitman 3	4−5 +300%	1−2 −300%
Horizon Zero Dawn	27−30 +211%	9−10 −211%
Metro Exodus	5−6 +150%	2−3 −150%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 +400%	1−2 −400%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 +66.7%	3−4 −66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2	0−1
Far Cry 5	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	9−10 +125%	4−5 −125%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	3−4 +200%	1−2 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	3−4 +50%	2−3 −50%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

8−9
+33.3%

6−7

−33.3%

This is how GTX 860M and HD 6990M compete in popular games:

GTX 860M is 69% faster in 900p
HD 6990M is 67% faster in 1080p
GTX 860M is 63% faster in 4K

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

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 860M is 400% faster.
in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 6990M is 50% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 860M is ahead in 67 tests (99%)
HD 6990M is ahead in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	7.91	5.25
Recency	13 January 2014	12 July 2011
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	100 Watt

GTX 860M has a 50.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 33.3% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 860M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6990M in performance tests.

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