Radeon RX 6650 XT vs ATI HD 5970

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 5970 and Radeon RX 6650 XT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

ATI HD 5970
2009
1 GB GDDR5, 294 Watt
5.87

RX 6650 XT outperforms ATI HD 5970 by a whopping 659% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking60481
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation0.3662.73
Power efficiency1.3717.41
ArchitectureTeraScale 2 (2009−2015)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code nameHemlockNavi 23
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date18 November 2009 (15 years ago)10 May 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$699 $399

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

RX 6650 XT has 17325% better value for money than ATI HD 5970.

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 cores1600 ×22048
Core clock speed725 MHz2055 MHz
Boost clock speedno data2635 MHz
Number of transistors2,154 million11,060 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)294 Watt176 Watt
Texture fill rate58.00 ×2337.3
Floating-point processing power2.32 TFLOPS ×210.79 TFLOPS
ROPs32 ×264
TMUs80 ×2128
Ray Tracing Coresno data32

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).

InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x8
Length305 mmno data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount1 GB ×28 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit ×2128 Bit
Memory clock speed1000 MHz2190 MHz
Memory bandwidth128.0 GB/s ×2280.3 GB/s

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 mini-DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
HDMI-+

API and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX11.2 (11_0)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.06.5
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.22.1
VulkanN/A1.3

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.

ATI HD 5970 5.87
RX 6650 XT 44.57
+659%

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.

ATI HD 5970 2263
RX 6650 XT 17171
+659%

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.

ATI HD 5970 3690
RX 6650 XT 29796
+707%

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 HD18−20
−689%
142
+689%
1440p8−9
−725%
66
+725%
4K4−5
−800%
36
+800%

Cost per frame, $

1080p38.83
−1282%
2.81
+1282%
1440p87.38
−1345%
6.05
+1345%
4K174.75
−1477%
11.08
+1477%
  • RX 6650 XT has 1282% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RX 6650 XT has 1345% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RX 6650 XT has 1477% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 212
+0%
212
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 137
+0%
137
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 128
+0%
128
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 153
+0%
153
+0%
Battlefield 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 104
+0%
104
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 108
+0%
108
+0%
Far Cry 5 173
+0%
173
+0%
Fortnite 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 133
+0%
133
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
Valorant 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 89
+0%
89
+0%
Battlefield 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 84
+0%
84
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 88
+0%
88
+0%
Dota 2 171
+0%
171
+0%
Far Cry 5 163
+0%
163
+0%
Fortnite 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 147
+0%
147
+0%
Metro Exodus 102
+0%
102
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 182
+0%
182
+0%
Valorant 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 74
+0%
74
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 78
+0%
78
+0%
Dota 2 136
+0%
136
+0%
Far Cry 5 151
+0%
151
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 150−160
+0%
150−160
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 107
+0%
107
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 160−170
+0%
160−170
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 107
+0%
107
+0%
Valorant 230−240
+0%
230−240
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 280−290
+0%
280−290
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 77
+0%
77
+0%
Metro Exodus 58
+0%
58
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Valorant 260−270
+0%
260−270
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 44
+0%
44
+0%
Far Cry 5 114
+0%
114
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 72
+0%
72
+0%
Metro Exodus 37
+0%
37
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 56
+0%
56
+0%
Valorant 250−260
+0%
250−260
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 8
+0%
8
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 18
+0%
18
+0%
Dota 2 97
+0%
97
+0%
Far Cry 5 55
+0%
55
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%

This is how ATI HD 5970 and RX 6650 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 6650 XT is 689% faster in 1080p
  • RX 6650 XT is 725% faster in 1440p
  • RX 6650 XT is 800% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 67 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.87 44.57
Recency 18 November 2009 10 May 2022
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 294 Watt 176 Watt

RX 6650 XT has a 659.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 471.4% more advanced lithography process, and 67% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 6650 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5970 in performance tests.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


ATI Radeon HD 5970
Radeon HD 5970
AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT
Radeon RX 6650 XT

Other comparisons

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.


3.6 44 votes

Rate Radeon HD 5970 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4.4 3576 votes

Rate Radeon RX 6650 XT on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can give us your opinion about Radeon HD 5970 or Radeon RX 6650 XT, agree or disagree with our ratings, or report errors or inaccuracies on the site.