Radeon HD 6970 vs Quadro K6000

Place in the ranking	261	535
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.21	1.00
Power efficiency	6.47	2.05
Architecture	Kepler (2012−2018)	TeraScale 3 (2010−2013)
GPU code name	GK110B	Cayman
Market segment	Workstation	Desktop
Design	no data	reference
Release date	23 July 2013 (11 years ago)	14 December 2010 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$5,265	$369

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Quadro K6000 has 21% better value for money than HD 6970.

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	2880	1536
Core clock speed	797 MHz	no data
Boost clock speed	902 MHz	880 MHz
Number of transistors	7,080 million	2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	225 Watt	550 Watt
Texture fill rate	216.5	84.48
Floating-point processing power	5.196 TFLOPS	2.703 TFLOPS
ROPs	48	32
TMUs	240	96

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 support	no data	PCIe 2.0 x16
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	267 mm	267 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin

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	12 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	384 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1502 MHz	1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth	288.4 GB/s	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 Connectors	2x DVI, 2x DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
Eyefinity	-	+
HDMI	-	+

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	DirectX® 11
Shader Model	5.1	5.0
OpenGL	4.6	4.4
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan	+	-
CUDA	3.5	-

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.

Quadro K6000 20.89
+185%

HD 6970 7.34

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. 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.

Quadro K6000 8059
+185%

HD 6970 2831

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

12−14

+0%

12−14

+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Battlefield 5	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Hitman 3	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Metro Exodus	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Battlefield 5	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Hitman 3	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Metro Exodus	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	20−22 +0%	20−22 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18−20 +0%	18−20 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	10−11 +0%	10−11 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 +0%	12−14 +0%
Far Cry 5	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%
Hitman 3	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45 +0%	40−45 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +0%	21−24 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	50−55 +0%	50−55 +0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

20−22

+0%

20−22

+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	14−16 +0%	14−16 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	7−8 +0%	7−8 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Far Cry 5	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	27−30 +0%	27−30 +0%
Hitman 3	10−12 +0%	10−12 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	16−18 +0%	16−18 +0%
Metro Exodus	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +0%	45−50 +0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

12−14

+0%

12−14

+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	6−7 +0%	6−7 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
Hitman 3	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Horizon Zero Dawn	24−27 +0%	24−27 +0%
Metro Exodus	5−6 +0%	5−6 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	3−4 +0%	3−4 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 +0%	1−2 +0%
Far Cry 5	4−5 +0%	4−5 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	8−9 +0%	8−9 +0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 +0%	2−3 +0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

7−8

+0%

7−8

+0%

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	20.89	7.34
Recency	23 July 2013	14 December 2010
Maximum RAM amount	12 GB	2 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	225 Watt	550 Watt

Quadro K6000 has a 184.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 500% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 42.9% more advanced lithography process, and 144.4% lower power consumption.

The Quadro K6000 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970 in performance tests.

Be aware that Quadro K6000 is a workstation graphics card while Radeon HD 6970 is a desktop one.

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