Radeon RX 6900 XT vs HD 6970

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6970 and Radeon RX 6900 XT, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6970
2010
2 GB GDDR5, 550 Watt
7.35

RX 6900 XT outperforms HD 6970 by a whopping 844% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking53723
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation1.0629.89
Power efficiency2.0215.86
ArchitectureTeraScale 3 (2010−2013)RDNA 2.0 (2020−2024)
GPU code nameCaymanNavi 21
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date14 December 2010 (14 years ago)28 October 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$369 $999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 6900 XT has 2720% 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 cores15365120
Core clock speedno data1825 MHz
Boost clock speed880 MHz2250 MHz
Number of transistors2,640 million26,800 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm7 nm
Power consumption (TDP)550 Watt300 Watt
Texture fill rate84.48720.0
Floating-point processing power2.703 TFLOPS23.04 TFLOPS
ROPs32128
TMUs96320
Ray Tracing Coresno data80

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 mm267 mm
Width2-slot3-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount2 GB16 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1375 MHz2000 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data512.0 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort1x HDMI, 2x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-C
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 Model5.06.5
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.22.1
Vulkan-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 6970 7.35
RX 6900 XT 69.42
+844%

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
RX 6900 XT 26751
+844%

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
RX 6900 XT 50587
+1358%

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 HD18−21
−989%
196
+989%
1440p12−14
−983%
130
+983%
4K8−9
−913%
81
+913%

Cost per frame, $

1080p20.505.10
1440p30.757.68
4K46.1312.33

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1025%
130−140
+1025%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
−550%
117
+550%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−1590%
169
+1590%
Battlefield 5 21−24
−909%
220−230
+909%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−693%
110−120
+693%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1025%
130−140
+1025%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−588%
110−120
+588%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
−710%
170−180
+710%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−386%
230−240
+386%
Hitman 3 14−16
−821%
120−130
+821%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−488%
250−260
+488%
Metro Exodus 21−24
−638%
150−160
+638%
Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
−510%
120−130
+510%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−1072%
290−300
+1072%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
−181%
150−160
+181%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
−1450%
279
+1450%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−1320%
142
+1320%
Battlefield 5 21−24
−909%
220−230
+909%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−693%
110−120
+693%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1025%
130−140
+1025%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−588%
110−120
+588%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
−710%
170−180
+710%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−386%
230−240
+386%
Hitman 3 14−16
−821%
120−130
+821%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−488%
250−260
+488%
Metro Exodus 21−24
−638%
150−160
+638%
Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
−510%
120−130
+510%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−1072%
290−300
+1072%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
−577%
140−150
+577%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
−181%
150−160
+181%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 18−20
−444%
98
+444%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−11
−1270%
137
+1270%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−693%
110−120
+693%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−1025%
130−140
+1025%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−588%
110−120
+588%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−406%
248
+406%
Hitman 3 14−16
−821%
120−130
+821%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−558%
283
+558%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−1072%
290−300
+1072%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
−645%
164
+645%
Watch Dogs: Legion 50−55
−124%
121
+124%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 20−22
−510%
120−130
+510%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
−1079%
160−170
+1079%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−12
−909%
110−120
+909%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 7−8
−1314%
99
+1314%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
−3533%
109
+3533%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
−1057%
80−85
+1057%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
−2367%
70−75
+2367%
Far Cry 5 8−9
−925%
80−85
+925%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
−904%
270−280
+904%
Hitman 3 10−12
−818%
100−110
+818%
Horizon Zero Dawn 16−18
−1300%
224
+1300%
Metro Exodus 8−9
−1363%
117
+1363%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
−3840%
190−200
+3840%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
−2000%
120−130
+2000%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
−409%
230−240
+409%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−777%
110−120
+777%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 6−7
−1350%
85−90
+1350%
Far Cry New Dawn 5−6
−1280%
65−70
+1280%
Hitman 3 3−4
−2667%
83
+2667%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−842%
220−230
+842%
Metro Exodus 5−6
−2100%
110−120
+2100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
−2950%
122
+2950%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
−1600%
68
+1600%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 3−4
−2100%
66
+2100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3−4
−1600%
50−55
+1600%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−3400%
35−40
+3400%
Far Cry 5 4−5
−1150%
50−55
+1150%
Forza Horizon 4 8−9
−1925%
162
+1925%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 2−3
−5400%
110−120
+5400%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
−2600%
54
+2600%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 7−8
−971%
75−80
+971%

This is how HD 6970 and RX 6900 XT compete in popular games:

  • RX 6900 XT is 989% faster in 1080p
  • RX 6900 XT is 983% faster in 1440p
  • RX 6900 XT is 913% 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 RX 6900 XT is 5400% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RX 6900 XT surpassed HD 6970 in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 7.35 69.42
Recency 14 December 2010 28 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 16 GB
Chip lithography 40 nm 7 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 550 Watt 300 Watt

RX 6900 XT has a 844.5% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, a 700% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 471.4% more advanced lithography process, and 83.3% lower power consumption.

The Radeon RX 6900 XT 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
AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT
Radeon RX 6900 XT

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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Questions & comments

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