ATI Radeon HD 5970 vs HD 6950

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6950 and Radeon HD 5970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6950
2010
2 GB GDDR5, 500 Watt
6.76
+14.2%

HD 6950 outperforms ATI HD 5970 by a moderate 14% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking561589
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.110.36
Power efficiency2.321.38
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameCaymanHemlock
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (14 years ago)18 November 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$299 $699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 6950 has 208% 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 cores14081600
Core clock speedno data725 MHz
Boost clock speed800 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,640 million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)500 Watt294 Watt
Texture fill rate70.4058.00
Floating-point processing power2.253 TFLOPS2.32 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs8880

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 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 2.0 x16
Length267 mm305 mm
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1250 MHz1000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data128.0 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 HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort
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.

DirectXDirectX® 1111.2 (11_0)
Shader Model5.05.0
OpenGL4.44.4
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan-N/A

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 6.76
+14.2%
ATI HD 5970 5.92

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 2606
+14.2%
ATI HD 5970 2282

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
ATI HD 5970 3690
+14.2%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 6.76 5.92
Recency 14 December 2010 18 November 2009
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 500 Watt 294 Watt

HD 6950 has a 14.2% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

ATI HD 5970, on the other hand, has 70.1% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6950 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5970 in performance tests.


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

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AMD Radeon HD 6950
Radeon HD 6950
ATI Radeon HD 5970
Radeon HD 5970

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.


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Questions & comments

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