Radeon 740M vs HD 6970M

Place in the ranking	589	503
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	5.47	38.63
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	RDNA 3.0 (2022−2024)
GPU code name	Blackcomb	Phoenix
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	4 January 2011 (13 years ago)	4 January 2023 (1 year 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 cores	960	256
Core clock speed	680 MHz	800 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	2500 MHz
Number of transistors	1,700 million	25,390 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	15 Watt
Texture fill rate	32.64	40.00
Floating-point processing power	1.306 TFLOPS	2.56 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	8
TMUs	48	16
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	4

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 x8
Supplementary power connectors	None	None

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	System Shared
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	System Shared
Memory bus width	256 Bit	System Shared
Memory clock speed	900 MHz	System Shared
Memory bandwidth	115.2 GB/s	no data
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

Portable Device Dependent

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	6.7
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.1
Vulkan	N/A	1.3

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 5.88

Radeon 740M 8.31
+41.3%

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 6970M 2270

Radeon 740M 3204
+41.1%

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:

900p	52 −34.6%	70−75 +34.6%
Full HD	51 +143%	21 −143%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

10−11

−40%

14−16
+40%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −40%	21−24 +40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −85.7%	12−14 +85.7%
Battlefield 5	16−18 −68.8%	27−30 +68.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −50%	18−20 +50%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−11 −40%	14−16 +40%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −53.8%	20−22 +53.8%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −56.3%	24−27 +56.3%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −55.3%	55−60 +55.3%
Hitman 3	12−14 −41.7%	16−18 +41.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −38.9%	50−55 +38.9%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −80%	27−30 +80%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −50%	24−27 +50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −45%	27−30 +45%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −20.4%	55−60 +20.4%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −40%	21−24 +40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −85.7%	12−14 +85.7%
Battlefield 5	16−18 −68.8%	27−30 +68.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −50%	18−20 +50%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−11 −40%	14−16 +40%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −53.8%	20−22 +53.8%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −56.3%	24−27 +56.3%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −55.3%	55−60 +55.3%
Hitman 3	12−14 −41.7%	16−18 +41.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −38.9%	50−55 +38.9%
Metro Exodus	14−16 −80%	27−30 +80%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 −50%	24−27 +50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −45%	27−30 +45%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −31.6%	24−27 +31.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −20.4%	55−60 +20.4%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	14−16 −40%	21−24 +40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 −85.7%	12−14 +85.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −50%	18−20 +50%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−11 −40%	14−16 +40%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −53.8%	20−22 +53.8%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 −55.3%	55−60 +55.3%
Hitman 3	12−14 −41.7%	16−18 +41.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 −38.9%	50−55 +38.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20−22 −45%	27−30 +45%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	18−20 −31.6%	24−27 +31.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion	45−50 −20.4%	55−60 +20.4%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18

−50%

24−27
+50%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	10−12 −54.5%	16−18 +54.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	9−10 −44.4%	12−14 +44.4%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	5−6 −60%	8−9 +60%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	1−2 −300%	4−5 +300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	5−6 −80%	9−10 +80%
Cyberpunk 2077	3−4 −33.3%	4−5 +33.3%
Far Cry 5	7−8 −42.9%	10−11 +42.9%
Forza Horizon 4	16−18 −112%	35−40 +112%
Hitman 3	10−11 −20%	12−14 +20%
Horizon Zero Dawn	12−14 −38.5%	18−20 +38.5%
Metro Exodus	5−6 −140%	12−14 +140%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	1−2 −800%	9−10 +800%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	5−6 −60%	8−9 +60%
Watch Dogs: Legion	35−40 −51.4%	55−60 +51.4%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

10−11

−50%

14−16
+50%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	5−6 −60%	8−9 +60%
Far Cry New Dawn	4−5 −50%	6−7 +50%
Hitman 3	2−3 −150%	5−6 +150%
Horizon Zero Dawn	14−16 −143%	30−35 +143%
Metro Exodus	3−4 −100%	6−7 +100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	2−3 −200%	6−7 +200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	4−5 −25%	5−6 +25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	2−3 −100%	4−5 +100%
Cyberpunk 2077	0−1	1−2
Far Cry 5	3−4 −66.7%	5−6 +66.7%
Forza Horizon 4	6−7 −66.7%	10−11 +66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	2−3 −50%	3−4 +50%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

6−7

−50%

9−10
+50%

4K
Ultra Preset

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

5−6

+0%

5−6

+0%

This is how HD 6970M and Radeon 740M compete in popular games:

Radeon 740M is 35% faster in 900p
HD 6970M is 143% faster in 1080p

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

in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the Radeon 740M is 800% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

Radeon 740M is ahead in 70 tests (99%)
there's a draw in 1 test (1%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.88	8.31
Recency	4 January 2011	4 January 2023
Chip lithography	40 nm	4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	75 Watt	15 Watt

Radeon 740M has a 41.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 12 years, a 900% more advanced lithography process, and 400% lower power consumption.

The Radeon 740M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 6970M in performance tests.

Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.