Radeon RX 6850 XT vs HD 6850M

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking886not rated
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency2.78no data
ArchitectureTeraScale 2 (2009−2015)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGranvilleNavi 21
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date4 January 2011 (13 years ago)2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$649

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 cores8004608
Core clock speed675 MHzno data
Boost clock speedno data2250 MHz
Number of transistors1,040 million26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)50 Watt325 Watt
Texture fill rate27.00648.0
Floating-point processing power1.08 TFLOPS20.74 TFLOPS
ROPs16128
TMUs40288

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 sizelargeno data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Lengthno data267 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data2x 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 typeGDDR3GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount1 GB16 GB
Memory bus width128 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed800 MHz18 GB/s
Memory bandwidth25.6 GB/s576.0 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 ConnectorsNo outputs1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI-+

API 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

Pros & cons summary


Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 50 Watt 325 Watt

HD 6850M has 550% lower power consumption.

RX 6850 XT, on the other hand, has a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 471.4% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between Radeon HD 6850M and Radeon RX 6850 XT. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6850M is a notebook card while Radeon RX 6850 XT is a desktop one.


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

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.


AMD Radeon HD 6850M
Radeon HD 6850M
AMD Radeon RX 6850 XT
Radeon RX 6850 XT

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.


3.3 14 votes

Rate Radeon HD 6850M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3 64 votes

Rate Radeon RX 6850 XT on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.