Radeon RX 6500 XT vs HD 6870

Place in the ranking	597	220
Place by popularity	not in top-100	83
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	1.00	58.69
Power efficiency	2.61	15.91
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Barts	Navi 24
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	reference	no data
Release date	21 October 2010 (14 years ago)	19 January 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$239	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6500 XT has 5769% better value for money than HD 6870.

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	1024
Core clock speed	no data	2610 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	2815 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	5,400 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	107 Watt
Texture fill rate	50.40	180.2
Floating-point processing power	2.016 TFLOPS	5.765 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	32
TMUs	56	64
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	16

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	PCIe 2.0 x16	no data
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x4
Length	220 mm	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 6-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	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	64 Bit
Memory clock speed	1050 MHz	2248 MHz
Memory bandwidth	134.4 GB/s	143.9 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 Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 1.4a
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	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.6
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.2
Vulkan	-	1.3

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. 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

RX 6500 XT 24.83
+332%

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.

HD 6870 2216

RX 6500 XT 9569
+332%

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

RX 6500 XT 22954
+444%

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

RX 6500 XT 76445
+330%

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.

HD 6870 3141

RX 6500 XT 15712
+400%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD 6870 26437

RX 6500 XT 91909
+248%

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 −326%	260−270 +326%
Full HD	62 +0%	62 +0%
1200p	39 −310%	160−170 +310%
1440p	6−7 −367%	28 +367%
4K	3−4 −433%	16 +433%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	3.85	3.21
1440p	39.83	7.11
4K	79.67	12.44

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

9−10

−700%

72
+700%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −260%	50−55 +260%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −629%	51 +629%
Battlefield 5	16−18 −406%	80−85 +406%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −500%	54 +500%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −338%	55−60 +338%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −306%	65−70 +306%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −292%	140−150 +292%
Hitman 3	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −217%	110−120 +217%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −467%	85−90 +467%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −300%	60−65 +300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −320%	80−85 +320%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −110%	100−110 +110%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −260%	50−55 +260%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −514%	43 +514%
Battlefield 5	16−18 −406%	80−85 +406%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −278%	34 +278%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −338%	55−60 +338%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −306%	65−70 +306%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −292%	140−150 +292%
Hitman 3	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −217%	110−120 +217%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −467%	85−90 +467%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −300%	60−65 +300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −435%	107 +435%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −179%	50−55 +179%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −110%	100−110 +110%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −260%	50−55 +260%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −343%	31 +343%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Cyberpunk 2077	9−10 −233%	30 +233%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −338%	55−60 +338%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −292%	140−150 +292%
Hitman 3	12−14 −317%	50−55 +317%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −156%	92 +156%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −315%	83 +315%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −184%	54 +184%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 +96%	25 −96%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

−300%

60−65
+300%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 −327%	45−50 +327%
Far Cry New Dawn	9−10 −322%	35−40 +322%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −420%	24−27 +420%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −2200%	23 +2200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −460%	27−30 +460%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −467%	17 +467%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −300%	27−30 +300%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −781%	140−150 +781%
Hitman 3	10−11 −190%	27−30 +190%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −408%	66 +408%
Metro Exodus	4−5 −1325%	57 +1325%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	1−2 −5500%	56 +5500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 −500%	30−33 +500%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −289%	140−150 +289%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

−310%

40−45
+310%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −500%	24−27 +500%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −375%	18−20 +375%
Hitman 3	2−3 −400%	10 +400%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −877%	120−130 +877%
Metro Exodus	3−4 −833%	27−30 +833%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 −1300%	28 +1300%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	3−4 −400%	14−16 +400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −200%	6 +200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −600%	14−16 +600%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	4
Far Cry 5	3−4 −367%	14−16 +367%
Forza Horizon 4	5−6 −580%	30−35 +580%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 −400%	10 +400%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

−250%

21−24
+250%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

+0%

This is how HD 6870 and RX 6500 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6500 XT is 326% faster in 900p
A tie in 1080p
RX 6500 XT is 310% faster in 1200p
RX 6500 XT is 367% faster in 1440p
RX 6500 XT is 433% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 6870 is 96% faster.
in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6500 XT is 5500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

HD 6870 is ahead in 1 test (1%)
RX 6500 XT is ahead in 69 tests (97%)
there's a draw in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.75	24.83
Recency	21 October 2010	19 January 2022
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	6 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	151 Watt	107 Watt

RX 6500 XT has a 331.8% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 566.7% more advanced lithography process, and 41.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 6500 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6870 in performance tests.

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