Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire vs GeForce GTX 965M

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 965M and Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 965M
2016
2 GB GDDR5
9.84
+7.9%

GTX 965M outperforms HD 6970M Crossfire by a small 8% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking455476
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency13.72no data
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameGM206SBlackcomb XT
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date2016 (8 years ago)6 January 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 cores10241920
Core clock speed944 MHz680 MHz
Boost clock speed1150 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,940 million2x1700 Million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)unknownno data
Texture fill rate73.60no data
Floating-point processing power2.355 TFLOPSno data
ROPs32no data
TMUs64no data

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 sizelargelarge
Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfaceMXM-A (3.0)no data
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data
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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2x2 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed2500 MHz900 MHz
Memory bandwidth80 GB/sno data
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 ConnectorsPortable Device Dependentno data
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI+-
G-SYNC support+-

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder+-
Optimus+-
BatteryBoost+-
Ansel+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)11
Shader Model6.7no data
OpenGL4.5no data
OpenCL1.1no data
Vulkan1.3-
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 965M 9.84
+7.9%
HD 6970M Crossfire 9.12

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 965M 7322
+32.1%
HD 6970M Crossfire 5542

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 965M 23562
+3.9%
HD 6970M Crossfire 22667

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:

900p100−110
+6.4%
94
−6.4%
Full HD44
−130%
101
+130%
1440p20
+11.1%
18−20
−11.1%
4K21
+16.7%
18−20
−16.7%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 31
+40.9%
21−24
−40.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+15.4%
12−14
−15.4%
Battlefield 5 49
+75%
27−30
−75%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+5.3%
18−20
−5.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+9.5%
21−24
−9.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 40
+60%
24−27
−60%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
+6.6%
60−65
−6.6%
Hitman 3 18−20
+11.8%
16−18
−11.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+5.9%
50−55
−5.9%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+10.7%
27−30
−10.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 45
+80%
24−27
−80%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 69
+130%
30−33
−130%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+5%
60−65
−5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 41
+86.4%
21−24
−86.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+15.4%
12−14
−15.4%
Battlefield 5 37
+32.1%
27−30
−32.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+5.3%
18−20
−5.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+9.5%
21−24
−9.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 29
+16%
24−27
−16%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
+6.6%
60−65
−6.6%
Hitman 3 18−20
+11.8%
16−18
−11.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+5.9%
50−55
−5.9%
Metro Exodus 30−35
+10.7%
27−30
−10.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 33
+32%
24−27
−32%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
+6.7%
30−33
−6.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 86
+244%
24−27
−244%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+5%
60−65
−5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 13
−69.2%
21−24
+69.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
+15.4%
12−14
−15.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
+5.3%
18−20
−5.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+9.5%
21−24
−9.5%
Forza Horizon 4 28
−118%
60−65
+118%
Hitman 3 18−20
+11.8%
16−18
−11.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 23
−122%
50−55
+122%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
+6.7%
30−33
−6.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18
−38.9%
24−27
+38.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+5%
60−65
−5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 32
+28%
24−27
−28%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+5.6%
18−20
−5.6%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+7.1%
14−16
−7.1%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10
+11.1%
9−10
−11.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−11
+11.1%
9−10
−11.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+25%
4−5
−25%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+10%
10−11
−10%
Forza Horizon 4 40−45
+10.3%
35−40
−10.3%
Hitman 3 12−14
+8.3%
12−14
−8.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18
−5.6%
18−20
+5.6%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+7.7%
12−14
−7.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
+20%
10−11
−20%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 9−10
+12.5%
8−9
−12.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+6.9%
55−60
−6.9%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21
+40%
14−16
−40%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 9−10
+12.5%
8−9
−12.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 7−8
+16.7%
6−7
−16.7%
Hitman 3 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
+13.5%
35−40
−13.5%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+14.3%
7−8
−14.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 13
+117%
6−7
−117%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3
−66.7%
5−6
+66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 14
+27.3%
10−12
−27.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 6−7
+20%
5−6
−20%
Watch Dogs: Legion 4−5
+33.3%
3−4
−33.3%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10
+11.1%
9−10
−11.1%

This is how GTX 965M and HD 6970M Crossfire compete in popular games:

  • GTX 965M is 6% faster in 900p
  • HD 6970M Crossfire is 130% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 965M is 11% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 965M is 17% faster in 4K

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

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 965M is 244% faster.
  • in Horizon Zero Dawn, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 6970M Crossfire is 122% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 965M is ahead in 62 tests (86%)
  • HD 6970M Crossfire is ahead in 6 tests (8%)
  • there's a draw in 4 tests (6%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 9.84 9.12
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm

GTX 965M has a 7.9% higher aggregate performance score, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between GeForce GTX 965M and Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M
GeForce GTX 965M
AMD Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire
Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire

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

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4.1 108 votes

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2.7 3 votes

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Questions & comments

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