Radeon RX 6900 XT vs HD 6950M

Place in the ranking	723	23
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	29.52
Power efficiency	4.93	15.96
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Blackcomb	Navi 21
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	4 January 2011 (14 years ago)	28 October 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$999

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	960	5120
Core clock speed	580 MHz	1825 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2250 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	300 Watt
Texture fill rate	27.84	720.0
Floating-point processing power	1.114 TFLOPS	23.04 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	128
TMUs	48	320
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	80

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	large	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	no data	267 mm
Width	no data	3-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	2x 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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	115.2 GB/s	512.0 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 Connectors	No outputs	1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
HDMI	-	+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.5
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.1
Vulkan	N/A	1.2

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 6950M 3.58

RX 6900 XT 69.55
+1843%

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 6950M 2452

RX 6900 XT 59119
+2311%

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:

Full HD	9−10 −1989%	188 +1989%
1440p	6−7 −2067%	130 +2067%
4K	4−5 −1925%	81 +1925%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	5.31
1440p	no data	7.68
4K	no data	12.33

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	10−12 −1391%	160−170 +1391%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 −1913%	160−170 +1913%
Elden Ring	8−9 −3250%	260−270 +3250%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −1070%	110−120 +1070%
Counter-Strike 2	10−12 −1391%	160−170 +1391%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 −850%	76 +850%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −2331%	350−400 +2331%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −1700%	126 +1700%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 −958%	120−130 +958%
Valorant	4−5 −11900%	480 +11900%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −1070%	110−120 +1070%
Counter-Strike 2	10−12 −1391%	160−170 +1391%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 −700%	64 +700%
Dota 2	10−12 −1418%	160−170 +1418%
Elden Ring	8−9 −3250%	260−270 +3250%
Far Cry 5	18−20 −595%	130−140 +595%
Fortnite	20−22 −1265%	270−280 +1265%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −2331%	350−400 +2331%
Grand Theft Auto V	10−12 −1418%	160−170 +1418%
Metro Exodus	7−8 −1657%	123 +1657%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	30−35 −572%	210−220 +572%
Red Dead Redemption 2	12−14 −933%	124 +933%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	12−14 −1238%	170−180 +1238%
Valorant	4−5 −8600%	300−350 +8600%
World of Tanks	60−65 −350%	270−280 +350%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	10−11 −1070%	110−120 +1070%
Counter-Strike 2	10−12 −1391%	160−170 +1391%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 −563%	53 +563%
Dota 2	10−12 −1418%	160−170 +1418%
Far Cry 5	18−20 −595%	130−140 +595%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −2331%	350−400 +2331%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	30−35 −572%	210−220 +572%
Valorant	4−5 −10175%	411 +10175%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	1−2 −13400%	130−140 +13400%
Elden Ring	3−4 −6000%	180−190 +6000%
Grand Theft Auto V	2−3 −6650%	130−140 +6650%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	24−27 −600%	170−180 +600%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 −4000%	82 +4000%
World of Tanks	24−27 −1852%	450−500 +1852%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	4−5 −2075%	85−90 +2075%
Counter-Strike 2	9−10 −933%	90−95 +933%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −1100%	36 +1100%
Far Cry 5	8−9 −1900%	160−170 +1900%
Forza Horizon 4	3−4 −8300%	250−260 +8300%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 −2980%	150−160 +2980%
Valorant	10−12 −2882%	328 +2882%

4K
High Preset

Dota 2	16−18 −875%	150−160 +875%
Elden Ring	1−2 −9600%	95−100 +9600%
Grand Theft Auto V	16−18 −875%	150−160 +875%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	10−11 −1990%	200−210 +1990%
Red Dead Redemption 2	2−3 −2650%	55 +2650%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16−18 −881%	150−160 +881%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	3−4 −2900%	90−95 +2900%
Cyberpunk 2077	1−2 −1600%	17 +1600%
Dota 2	16−18 −875%	150−160 +875%
Far Cry 5	4−5 −2525%	100−110 +2525%
Fortnite	2−3 −4700%	95−100 +4700%
Forza Horizon 4	1−2 −13800%	130−140 +13800%
Valorant	3−4 −6067%	185 +6067%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Metro Exodus

117

+0%

117

+0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Metro Exodus	67 +0%	67 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Counter-Strike 2

85−90

+0%

85−90

+0%

This is how HD 6950M and RX 6900 XT compete in popular games:

RX 6900 XT is 1989% faster in 1080p
RX 6900 XT is 2067% faster in 1440p
RX 6900 XT is 1925% faster in 4K

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

in Forza Horizon 4, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RX 6900 XT is 13800% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RX 6900 XT is ahead in 59 tests (94%)
there's a draw in 4 tests (6%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	3.58	69.55
Recency	4 January 2011	28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	16 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	50 Watt	300 Watt

HD 6950M has 500% lower power consumption.

RX 6900 XT, on the other hand, has a 1842.7% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 1500% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 471.4% more advanced lithography process.

The Radeon RX 6900 XT is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6950M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6950M is a notebook card while Radeon RX 6900 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.