ATI Radeon HD 4850 vs HD 6970M

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6970M with Radeon HD 4850, including specs and performance data.

HD 6970M
2011
1 GB GDDR5, 75 Watt
5.89
+121%

HD 6970M outperforms ATI HD 4850 by a whopping 121% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking590812
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data0.26
Power efficiency5.381.66
ArchitectureTeraScale 2 (2009−2015)TeraScale (2005−2013)
GPU code nameBlackcombRV770
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date4 January 2011 (13 years ago)25 June 2008 (16 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$199

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 cores960800
Core clock speed680 MHz625 MHz
Number of transistors1,700 million956 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)75 Watt110 Watt
Texture fill rate32.6425.00
Floating-point processing power1.306 TFLOPS1 TFLOPS
ROPs3216
TMUs4840

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 sizelargeno data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 2.0 x16
Lengthno data246 mm
Widthno data1-slot
Supplementary power connectorsNone1x 6-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 typeGDDR5GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount1 GB512 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHz993 MHz
Memory bandwidth115.2 GB/s63.55 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 ConnectorsNo outputs2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.2 (11_0)10.1 (10_1)
Shader Model5.04.1
OpenGL4.43.3
OpenCL1.21.1
VulkanN/AN/A

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 5.89
+121%
ATI HD 4850 2.66

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
+121%
ATI HD 4850 1026

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 11898
+32.6%
ATI HD 4850 8972

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:

900p52
+79.3%
29
−79.3%
Full HD51
+27.5%
40
−27.5%
1200p40−45
+111%
19
−111%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data4.98

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+66.7%
9−10
−66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8 0−1
Battlefield 5 16−18
+300%
4−5
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Far Cry New Dawn 16−18
+129%
7−8
−129%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+192%
12−14
−192%
Hitman 3 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+71.4%
21−24
−71.4%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+650%
2−3
−650%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+167%
6−7
−167%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 20−22
+81.8%
10−12
−81.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+28.9%
35−40
−28.9%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+66.7%
9−10
−66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8 0−1
Battlefield 5 16−18
+300%
4−5
−300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Far Cry New Dawn 16−18
+129%
7−8
−129%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+192%
12−14
−192%
Hitman 3 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+71.4%
21−24
−71.4%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+650%
2−3
−650%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+167%
6−7
−167%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 20−22
+81.8%
10−12
−81.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+28.9%
35−40
−28.9%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+66.7%
9−10
−66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+160%
5−6
−160%
Forza Horizon 4 35−40
+192%
12−14
−192%
Hitman 3 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Horizon Zero Dawn 35−40
+71.4%
21−24
−71.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 20−22
+81.8%
10−12
−81.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+46.2%
12−14
−46.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+28.9%
35−40
−28.9%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+167%
6−7
−167%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
+175%
4−5
−175%
Far Cry New Dawn 9−10
+125%
4−5
−125%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 1−2 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Far Cry 5 7−8
+133%
3−4
−133%
Forza Horizon 4 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
Hitman 3 10−11
+25%
8−9
−25%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
+85.7%
7−8
−85.7%
Metro Exodus 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1−2 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
+131%
16−18
−131%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
+66.7%
6−7
−66.7%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 5−6
+400%
1−2
−400%
Far Cry New Dawn 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Hitman 3 2−3 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
+133%
6−7
−133%
Metro Exodus 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 2−3 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 0−1
Far Cry 5 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
Forza Horizon 4 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 6−7
+50%
4−5
−50%

This is how HD 6970M and ATI HD 4850 compete in popular games:

  • HD 6970M is 79% faster in 900p
  • HD 6970M is 28% faster in 1080p
  • HD 6970M is 111% faster in 1200p

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

  • in Metro Exodus, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD 6970M is 650% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, HD 6970M surpassed ATI HD 4850 in all 57 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.89 2.66
Recency 4 January 2011 25 June 2008
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 512 MB
Chip lithography 40 nm 55 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 75 Watt 110 Watt

HD 6970M has a 121.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 2 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 37.5% more advanced lithography process, and 46.7% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6970M is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 4850 in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 6970M is a notebook card while Radeon HD 4850 is a desktop 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 6970M
Radeon HD 6970M
ATI Radeon HD 4850
Radeon HD 4850

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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2.7 92 votes

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Questions & comments

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