ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire vs HD 6970M Crossfire

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire and Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6970M Crossfire
2011
2x2 GB GDDR5
9.12
+90%
ATI Mobility HD 5870 Crossfire
2010
2x1 GB DDR3, GDDR3, GDDR5, 120 Watt
4.80

HD 6970M Crossfire outperforms ATI Mobility HD 5870 Crossfire by an impressive 90% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking476639
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiencyno data2.79
ArchitectureTerascale 2 (2009−2015)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameBlackcomb XTBroadway-XT
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date6 January 2011 (13 years ago)7 January 2010 (14 years ago)

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 cores19201600
Core clock speed680 MHz700 MHz
Number of transistors2x1700 Millionno data
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data120 Watt

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 sizelargelarge

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, GDDR3, GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2x2 GB2x1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHz1000 MHz
Shared memory--

API compatibility

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

DirectX1111

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 6970M Crossfire 9.12
+90%
ATI Mobility HD 5870 Crossfire 4.80

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

HD 6970M Crossfire 22667
+73.7%
ATI Mobility HD 5870 Crossfire 13046

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:

900p94
+77.4%
53
−77.4%
Full HD101
+87%
54
−87%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Battlefield 5 27−30
+133%
12−14
−133%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+72.7%
10−12
−72.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+110%
10−11
−110%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+96.8%
30−35
−96.8%
Hitman 3 16−18
+54.5%
10−12
−54.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+59.4%
30−35
−59.4%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+155%
10−12
−155%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+92.3%
12−14
−92.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+66.7%
18−20
−66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+30.4%
45−50
−30.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Battlefield 5 27−30
+133%
12−14
−133%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+72.7%
10−12
−72.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+110%
10−11
−110%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+96.8%
30−35
−96.8%
Hitman 3 16−18
+54.5%
10−12
−54.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+59.4%
30−35
−59.4%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+155%
10−12
−155%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+92.3%
12−14
−92.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+66.7%
18−20
−66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+38.9%
18−20
−38.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+30.4%
45−50
−30.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21−24
+69.2%
12−14
−69.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 18−20
+72.7%
10−12
−72.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Far Cry 5 21−24
+110%
10−11
−110%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
+96.8%
30−35
−96.8%
Hitman 3 16−18
+54.5%
10−12
−54.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+59.4%
30−35
−59.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+66.7%
18−20
−66.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+38.9%
18−20
−38.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+30.4%
45−50
−30.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+92.3%
12−14
−92.3%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+100%
9−10
−100%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+100%
7−8
−100%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
+125%
4−5
−125%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 9−10
+125%
4−5
−125%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Far Cry 5 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+290%
10−11
−290%
Hitman 3 12−14
+33.3%
9−10
−33.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 18−20
+72.7%
10−12
−72.7%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+550%
2−3
−550%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 55−60
+87.1%
30−35
−87.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+66.7%
9−10
−66.7%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 8−9
+167%
3−4
−167%
Far Cry New Dawn 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Hitman 3 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+517%
6−7
−517%
Metro Exodus 7−8
+250%
2−3
−250%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2 0−1
Far Cry 5 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Forza Horizon 4 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Watch Dogs: Legion 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%

This is how HD 6970M Crossfire and ATI Mobility HD 5870 Crossfire compete in popular games:

  • HD 6970M Crossfire is 77% faster in 900p
  • HD 6970M Crossfire is 87% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Metro Exodus, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 6970M Crossfire is 550% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, HD 6970M Crossfire surpassed ATI Mobility HD 5870 Crossfire in all 68 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 9.12 4.80
Recency 6 January 2011 7 January 2010

HD 6970M Crossfire has a 90% higher aggregate performance score, and an age advantage of 11 months.

The Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire is our recommended choice as it beats the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire 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 6970M Crossfire
Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire
Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire

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.


2.7 3 votes

Rate Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
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2.8 6 votes

Rate Mobility Radeon HD 5870 Crossfire on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
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  • 3
  • 4
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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.