Radeon HD 6550M vs HD 6970

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6970 with Radeon HD 6550M, including specs and performance data.

HD 6970
2010
2 GB GDDR5, 550 Watt
7.34
+440%

HD 6970 outperforms HD 6550M by a whopping 440% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking5311009
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.00no data
Power efficiency2.033.62
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameCaymanLexington
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (13 years ago)26 November 2010 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$369 no data

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 cores1536400
Core clock speedno data600 MHz
Boost clock speed880 MHzno data
Number of transistors2,640 million2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)550 Watt26 Watt
Texture fill rate84.4812.00
Floating-point processing power2.703 TFLOPS0.48 TFLOPS
ROPs328
TMUs9620

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 sizeno datamedium sized
Bus supportPCIe 2.0 x16no data
InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16MXM-II
Length267 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pinno data

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 typeGDDR5DDR3
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed1375 MHz900 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data28.8 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-DisplayPortNo outputs
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

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:

900p75−80
+436%
14
−436%
Full HD95−100
+428%
18
−428%

Cost per frame, $

1080p3.88no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
+200%
6−7
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Battlefield 5 21−24
+450%
4−5
−450%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+275%
4−5
−275%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+1600%
1−2
−1600%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
Hitman 3 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
+207%
14−16
−207%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
+900%
2−3
−900%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+213%
8−9
−213%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
+63.6%
30−35
−63.6%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
+200%
6−7
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Battlefield 5 21−24
+450%
4−5
−450%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+275%
4−5
−275%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+1600%
1−2
−1600%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
Hitman 3 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
+207%
14−16
−207%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+600%
3−4
−600%
Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
+900%
2−3
−900%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+213%
8−9
−213%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+100%
10−12
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
+63.6%
30−35
−63.6%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
+200%
6−7
−200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
+900%
1−2
−900%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+275%
4−5
−275%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
+200%
4−5
−200%
Far Cry 5 16−18
+1600%
1−2
−1600%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
Hitman 3 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
+207%
14−16
−207%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
+213%
8−9
−213%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+100%
10−12
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
+63.6%
30−35
−63.6%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
+900%
2−3
−900%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
+1300%
1−2
−1300%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
+450%
2−3
−450%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
+600%
1−2
−600%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Far Cry 5 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
+440%
5−6
−440%
Hitman 3 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
+220%
5−6
−220%
Metro Exodus 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+683%
6−7
−683%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+225%
4−5
−225%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6 0−1
Hitman 3 3−4 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
+500%
4−5
−500%
Metro Exodus 5−6 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2 0−1
Far Cry 5 4−5 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
+700%
1−2
−700%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2−3 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
+133%
3−4
−133%

This is how HD 6970 and HD 6550M compete in popular games:

  • HD 6970 is 436% faster in 900p
  • HD 6970 is 428% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD 6970 is 2350% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, HD 6970 surpassed HD 6550M in all 48 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 7.34 1.36
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 550 Watt 26 Watt

HD 6970 has a 439.7% higher aggregate performance score, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

HD 6550M, on the other hand, has 2015.4% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6550M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6970 is a desktop card while Radeon HD 6550M is a notebook one.


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
AMD Radeon HD 6550M
Radeon HD 6550M

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

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3.7 155 votes

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3.6 27 votes

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Questions & comments

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