Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire vs HD 6870

Place in the ranking	595	476
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.00	no data
Power efficiency	2.66	no data
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code name	Barts	Blackcomb XT
Market segment	Desktop	Laptop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	21 October 2010 (14 years ago)	6 January 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$239	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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	1120	1920
Core clock speed	no data	680 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	1,700 million	2x1700 Million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	no data
Texture fill rate	50.40	no data
Floating-point processing power	2.016 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	32	no data
TMUs	56	no 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 size	no data	large
Bus support	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
Length	220 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	no data
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	no data

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	1 GB	2x2 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	1050 MHz	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	134.4 GB/s	no 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 Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	no data
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	DirectX® 11	11
Shader Model	5.0	no data
OpenGL	4.4	no data
OpenCL	1.2	no data

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.

HD 6870 5.75

HD 6970M Crossfire 9.12
+58.6%

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.

HD 6870 4218

HD 6970M Crossfire 5542
+31.4%

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.

HD 6870 17773

HD 6970M Crossfire 22667
+27.5%

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	61 −54.1%	94 +54.1%
Full HD	62 −62.9%	101 +62.9%
1200p	39 −53.8%	60−65 +53.8%

Cost per frame, $

1080p

3.85

no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10

−55.6%

14−16
+55.6%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −46.7%	21−24 +46.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −85.7%	12−14 +85.7%
Battlefield 5	16−18 −75%	27−30 +75%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −58.3%	18−20 +58.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −55.6%	14−16 +55.6%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −61.5%	21−24 +61.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −56.3%	24−27 +56.3%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −64.9%	60−65 +64.9%
Hitman 3	12−14 −41.7%	16−18 +41.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −41.7%	50−55 +41.7%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −86.7%	27−30 +86.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −56.3%	24−27 +56.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −50%	30−33 +50%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −22.4%	60−65 +22.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −46.7%	21−24 +46.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −85.7%	12−14 +85.7%
Battlefield 5	16−18 −75%	27−30 +75%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −58.3%	18−20 +58.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −55.6%	14−16 +55.6%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −61.5%	21−24 +61.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −56.3%	24−27 +56.3%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −64.9%	60−65 +64.9%
Hitman 3	12−14 −41.7%	16−18 +41.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −41.7%	50−55 +41.7%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −86.7%	27−30 +86.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −56.3%	24−27 +56.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −50%	30−33 +50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −31.6%	24−27 +31.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −22.4%	60−65 +22.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −46.7%	21−24 +46.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −85.7%	12−14 +85.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −58.3%	18−20 +58.3%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −55.6%	14−16 +55.6%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −61.5%	21−24 +61.5%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −64.9%	60−65 +64.9%
Hitman 3	12−14 −41.7%	16−18 +41.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −41.7%	50−55 +41.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −50%	30−33 +50%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −31.6%	24−27 +31.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −22.4%	60−65 +22.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

−56.3%

24−27
+56.3%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 −63.6%	18−20 +63.6%
Far Cry New Dawn	9−10 −55.6%	14−16 +55.6%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −80%	9−10 +80%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −400%	5−6 +400%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −80%	9−10 +80%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −33.3%	4−5 +33.3%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −144%	35−40 +144%
Hitman 3	10−11 −20%	12−14 +20%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −46.2%	18−20 +46.2%
Metro Exodus	4−5 −225%	12−14 +225%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	1−2 −900%	10−11 +900%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 −60%	8−9 +60%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −61.1%	55−60 +61.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

−50%

14−16
+50%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −100%	8−9 +100%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −50%	6−7 +50%
Hitman 3	2−3 −150%	5−6 +150%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −185%	35−40 +185%
Metro Exodus	3−4 −133%	7−8 +133%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	1−2
Far Cry 5	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 −120%	10−12 +120%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 −50%	3−4 +50%