ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870 vs HD 6990M

#ad 
Buy on Amazon
VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 6990M and Mobility Radeon HD 5870, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD 6990M
2011
2 GB GDDR5, 100 Watt
5.24
+77%

HD 6990M outperforms ATI Mobility HD 5870 by an impressive 77% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking611779
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
ArchitectureTerascale 2 (2009−2015)Terascale 2 (2009−2015)
GPU code nameBlackcomb XTXBroadway-XT
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date12 July 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 cores1120800
Core clock speed715 MHz700 MHz
Number of transistors1,700 million1,040 million
Manufacturing process technology40 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)100 Watt50 Watt
Texture fill rate40.0428.00
Floating-point processing power1.602 gflops1.12 gflops

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
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno 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, GDDR3, GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB1 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed900 MHz1000 MHz
Memory bandwidth115.2 GB/s64 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 outputsNo outputs

API compatibility

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

DirectX11.2 (11_0)11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model5.05.0
OpenGL4.44.4
OpenCL1.21.2
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 6990M 5.24
+77%
ATI Mobility HD 5870 2.96

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 6990M 15113
+88.9%
ATI Mobility HD 5870 7999

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:

900p54
+74.2%
31
−74.2%
Full HD61
+56.4%
39
−56.4%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+55.6%
9−10
−55.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Battlefield 5 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+87.5%
8−9
−87.5%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+106%
16−18
−106%
Hitman 3 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+50%
21−24
−50%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+333%
3−4
−333%
Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+100%
7−8
−100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
+58.3%
12−14
−58.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+20.5%
35−40
−20.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+55.6%
9−10
−55.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Battlefield 5 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
+87.5%
8−9
−87.5%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+106%
16−18
−106%
Hitman 3 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+50%
21−24
−50%
Metro Exodus 12−14
+333%
3−4
−333%
Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+100%
7−8
−100%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
+58.3%
12−14
−58.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+28.6%
14−16
−28.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+20.5%
35−40
−20.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+55.6%
9−10
−55.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
+500%
1−2
−500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%
Far Cry 5 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+106%
16−18
−106%
Hitman 3 10−12
+37.5%
8−9
−37.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+50%
21−24
−50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 18−20
+58.3%
12−14
−58.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+28.6%
14−16
−28.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 45−50
+20.5%
35−40
−20.5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+100%
7−8
−100%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−11
+100%
5−6
−100%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
+100%
4−5
−100%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 5−6
+66.7%
3−4
−66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 0−1 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
+150%
2−3
−150%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
+85.7%
7−8
−85.7%
Hitman 3 9−10
+12.5%
8−9
−12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
+71.4%
7−8
−71.4%
Metro Exodus 3−4
+200%
1−2
−200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 4−5
+100%
2−3
−100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 30−35
+83.3%
18−20
−83.3%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 9−10
+50%
6−7
−50%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 4−5
+300%
1−2
−300%
Far Cry New Dawn 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%
Hitman 3 1−2 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 9−10
+80%
5−6
−80%
Metro Exodus 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 1−2 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
+50%
2−3
−50%
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 4−5 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 2−3
+100%
1−2
−100%

4K
Epic Preset

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

This is how HD 6990M and ATI Mobility HD 5870 compete in popular games:

  • HD 6990M is 74% faster in 900p
  • HD 6990M is 56% faster in 1080p

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

  • in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the HD 6990M is 500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, HD 6990M surpassed ATI Mobility HD 5870 in all 61 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 5.24 2.96
Recency 12 July 2011 7 January 2010
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 50 Watt

HD 6990M has a 77% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.

ATI Mobility HD 5870, on the other hand, has 100% lower power consumption.

The Radeon HD 6990M is our recommended choice as it beats the Mobility Radeon HD 5870 in performance tests.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


AMD Radeon HD 6990M
Radeon HD 6990M
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870
Mobility Radeon HD 5870

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.


3.6 14 votes

Rate Radeon HD 6990M on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
3.4 52 votes

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

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

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