GeForce GTX 470 vs Radeon HD 6950

#ad 
Buy on Amazon
VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6950 and GeForce GTX 470, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6950
2010
2 GB GDDR5, 500 Watt
6.77

GTX 470 outperforms HD 6950 by a moderate 19% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking563519
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.091.34
Power efficiency2.342.60
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code nameCaymanGF100
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (14 years ago)26 March 2010 (14 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $349

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 470 has 23% better value for money than HD 6950.

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 cores1408448
Core clock speedno data607 MHz
Boost clock speed800 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,640 million3,100 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)500 Watt215 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data105 °C
Texture fill rate70.4034.05
Floating-point processing power2.253 TFLOPS1.089 TFLOPS
ROPs3240
TMUs8856

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 supportPCIe 2.0 x1616x PCI-E 2.0
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length267 mm241 mm
Heightno data4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin2x 6-pin
SLI options-+

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1280 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit320 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1674 MHz (3348 data rate)
Memory bandwidthno data133.9 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPortTwo Dual Link DVIMini HDMI
Multi monitor supportno data+
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

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.

DirectXDirectX® 1112 (11_0)
Shader Model5.05.1
OpenGL4.44.2
OpenCL1.21.1
Vulkan-N/A
CUDA-+

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 6950 6.77
GTX 470 8.09
+19.5%

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 6950 2602
GTX 470 3110
+19.5%

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 6950 3230
+17.1%
GTX 470 2758

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:

900p45−50
−22.2%
55
+22.2%
Full HD50−55
−26%
63
+26%
1200p40−45
−32.5%
53
+32.5%

Cost per frame, $

1080p5.98
−7.9%
5.54
+7.9%
  • GTX 470 has 8% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Elden Ring 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Valorant 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Dota 2 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Elden Ring 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Fortnite 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Valorant 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
World of Tanks 120−130
+0%
120−130
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Dota 2 64
+0%
64
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Valorant 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Elden Ring 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
World of Tanks 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Valorant 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Dota 2 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Elden Ring 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Metro Exodus 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+0%
2−3
+0%
Dota 2 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Far Cry 5 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Fortnite 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Valorant 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%

This is how HD 6950 and GTX 470 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 470 is 22% faster in 900p
  • GTX 470 is 26% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 470 is 33% faster in 1200p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 6.77 8.09
Recency 14 December 2010 26 March 2010
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1280 MB
Power consumption (TDP) 500 Watt 215 Watt

HD 6950 has an age advantage of 8 months, and a 60% higher maximum VRAM amount.

GTX 470, on the other hand, has a 19.5% higher aggregate performance score, and 132.6% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 470 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6950 in performance tests.


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 6950
Radeon HD 6950
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470
GeForce GTX 470

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.


3.7 223 votes

Rate Radeon HD 6950 on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.8 320 votes

Rate GeForce GTX 470 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.