GeForce RTX 4090 vs Radeon HD 6970

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6970 and GeForce RTX 4090, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6970
2010
2 GB GDDR5, 550 Watt
7.35

RTX 4090 outperforms HD 6970 by a whopping 1261% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking5371
Place by popularitynot in top-1006
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.0618.82
Power efficiency2.0115.23
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)Ada Lovelace (2022−2024)
GPU code nameCaymanAD102
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (14 years ago)20 September 2022 (2 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$369 $1,599

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 4090 has 1675% better value for money than HD 6970.

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 cores153616384
Core clock speedno data2235 MHz
Boost clock speed880 MHz2520 MHz
Number of transistors2,640 million76,300 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)550 Watt450 Watt
Texture fill rate84.481,290
Floating-point processing power2.703 TFLOPS82.58 TFLOPS
ROPs32176
TMUs96512
Tensor Coresno data512
Ray Tracing Coresno data128

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 4.0 x16
Length267 mm304 mm
Width2-slot3-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 16-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 typeGDDR5GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount2 GB24 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed1375 MHz1313 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data1.01 TB/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-DisplayPort1x HDMI 2.1, 3x 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.

DirectXDirectX® 1112 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model5.06.8
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan-1.3
CUDA-8.9

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 6970 7.35
RTX 4090 100.00
+1261%

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 6970 2833
RTX 4090 38524
+1260%

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 6970 3470
RTX 4090 73447
+2017%

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 HD18−20
−1339%
259
+1339%
1440p14−16
−1329%
200
+1329%
4K10−12
−1330%
143
+1330%

Cost per frame, $

1080p20.506.17
1440p26.368.00
4K36.9011.18

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1775%
225
+1775%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
−1206%
235
+1206%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−2770%
287
+2770%
Battlefield 5 21−24
−1009%
240−250
+1009%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−700%
120−130
+700%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1750%
222
+1750%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−594%
110−120
+594%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
−857%
200−210
+857%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−494%
290−300
+494%
Hitman 3 14−16
−821%
120−130
+821%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−719%
350−400
+719%
Metro Exodus 21−24
−638%
150−160
+638%
Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
−520%
120−130
+520%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−1748%
450−500
+1748%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
−185%
150−160
+185%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
−1028%
200−210
+1028%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−2380%
248
+2380%
Battlefield 5 21−24
−1009%
240−250
+1009%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−700%
120−130
+700%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1683%
214
+1683%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−594%
110−120
+594%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
−857%
200−210
+857%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−494%
290−300
+494%
Hitman 3 14−16
−821%
120−130
+821%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−719%
350−400
+719%
Metro Exodus 21−24
−638%
150−160
+638%
Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
−520%
120−130
+520%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−2092%
548
+2092%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
−995%
240−250
+995%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
−185%
150−160
+185%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
−894%
179
+894%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−2100%
220
+2100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−700%
120−130
+700%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1650%
210
+1650%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−594%
110−120
+594%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−494%
290−300
+494%
Hitman 3 14−16
−821%
120−130
+821%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−816%
394
+816%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−2064%
541
+2064%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
−1286%
305
+1286%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
−183%
153
+183%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
−520%
120−130
+520%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
−1086%
160−170
+1086%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
−918%
110−120
+918%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−2114%
155
+2114%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
−6000%
183
+6000%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
−1071%
80−85
+1071%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−5033%
154
+5033%
Far Cry 5 8−9
−950%
80−85
+950%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
−904%
270−280
+904%
Hitman 3 10−12
−1155%
130−140
+1155%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
−2325%
388
+2325%
Metro Exodus 8−9
−1800%
152
+1800%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
−9980%
504
+9980%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
−4367%
268
+4367%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
−411%
240−250
+411%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−892%
120−130
+892%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
−1367%
85−90
+1367%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−1280%
65−70
+1280%
Hitman 3 3−4
−2667%
80−85
+2667%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−338%
105
+338%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−2740%
140−150
+2740%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
−6925%
281
+6925%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
−2900%
120
+2900%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
−3900%
120
+3900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
−1633%
50−55
+1633%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−7900%
80
+7900%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−1150%
50−55
+1150%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−3100%
250−260
+3100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2−3
−14000%
282
+14000%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−5750%
117
+5750%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−1486%
110−120
+1486%

This is how HD 6970 and RTX 4090 compete in popular games:

  • RTX 4090 is 1339% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 4090 is 1329% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 4090 is 1330% faster in 4K

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

  • in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 4090 is 14000% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RTX 4090 surpassed HD 6970 in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 7.35 100.00
Recency 14 December 2010 20 September 2022
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 24 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 550 Watt 450 Watt

RTX 4090 has a 1260.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 11 years, a 1100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 700% more advanced lithography process, and 22.2% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 4090 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970 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 6970
Radeon HD 6970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
GeForce RTX 4090

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.


3.7 156 votes

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3.7 14860 votes

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Questions & comments

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