AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 vs AMD Radeon R5 M230 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The AMD Radeon R5 M230 scores 4577, while the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 scores 3977. That puts the R5 M230 ahead by 15.1% in this single recorded benchmark.

Q: How does the R5 M230 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The R5 M230 sits within a tight cluster. It trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M by 1.1% and the NVIDIA Quadro M3000M by 0.9%, while edging out the AMD Radeon RX 560 by 0.2% and the Intel HD Graphics P530 by 0.4%. Its percentile rank among all GPUs is 27.

Q: What is the HD 6850 X2's position relative to its own rivals?

A: The HD 6850 X2 is slightly ahead of its nearest competitors. It leads the NVIDIA Quadro K2000 by 0.3%, the NVIDIA GeForce 830M by 0.5%, the AMD Radeon R5 M420 by 0.5%, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M by 0.6%. It sits at the 24th percentile among all GPUs.

Q: What memory configurations do these two cards use?

A: The R5 M230 uses 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering 16.00 GB/s of bandwidth. The HD 6850 X2 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 134.4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which card has more shading units and texture units?

A: The HD 6850 X2 has 960 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The R5 M230 has 320 shading units, 20 texture mapping units, and 8 ROPs.

Q: Do both cards support the same DirectX version?

A: No. The R5 M230 supports DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170, while the HD 6850 X2 supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and has no Vulkan support listed.

The Verdict

The benchmark data points to the AMD Radeon R5 M230 as the stronger performer in OpenCL compute, with a 15.1% lead over the HD 6850 X2. Its score of 4577 places it in the 27th percentile of all GPUs, whereas the HD 6850 X2 sits at the 24th percentile. For workloads that rely on the Geekbench OpenCL test, the R5 M230 is the safer pick.

However, the HD 6850 X2 is not without its own arguments. It carries far more raw hardware: 960 shading units versus 320, 48 texture units versus 20, and 32 ROPs versus 8. Its memory subsystem is dramatically wider, with a 256-bit bus and GDDR5 memory delivering 134.4 GB/s, compared to the R5 M230's 64-bit DDR3 at 16.00 GB/s. The HD 6850 X2 also produces a much higher pixel rate of 25.60 GPixel/s and texture rate of 38.40 GTexel/s, dwarfing the R5 M230's 4.880 GPixel/s and 12.20 GTexel/s.

The catch is power consumption. The HD 6850 X2 carries a TDP of 254 W, requires two 8-pin power connectors, and a suggested PSU of 600 W, while the R5 M230 is an IGP with no TDP listed. The R5 M230 is the newer design, released in 2014 versus 2011, and uses a 28 nm process versus 40 nm. The HD 6850 X2 trails in OpenCL compute, which suggests its architectural advantages do not translate to a win in this test.

For buyers who prioritize the single recorded benchmark, the R5 M230 wins it outright with 1 win and 0 wins for the HD 6850 X2. The R5 M230 also has broader API support, including DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1. If the workload is compute-heavy OpenCL, choose the R5 M230. If the priority is raw throughput and memory bandwidth, the HD 6850 X2's hardware specification sheet remains more imposing on paper, even if its benchmark score says otherwise.

The HD 6850 X2 suits a user who needs bandwidth above all else. Its 134.4 GB/s memory bandwidth outclasses the R5 M230's 16.00 GB/s. Its 25.60 GPixel/s fill rate and 38.40 GTexel/s texture rate are more than double the R5 M230's rates. The HD 6850 X2 is a dual-slot card with 2x 8-pin power connectors and a 600 W suggested PSU. The R5 M230 is an IGP with no power connectors listed and a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon R5 M230 scored 4577, and the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 scored 3977. The R5 M230 wins by a delta of 15.1%, which is a decisive margin for this test.

To contextualize that 4577 score, the R5 M230 is nearly tied with the NVIDIA Quadro M3000M at 4621 and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M at 4628, trailing both by under 1.1%. It also outdoes the AMD Radeon RX 560 at 4569 by 0.2%. This places the R5 M230 in a competitive band of mobile and midrange desktop GPUs.

The HD 6850 X2's score of 3977 puts it close to the NVIDIA Quadro K2000 at 3964, the NVIDIA GeForce 830M at 3957, and the AMD Radeon R5 M420 at 3956. Its 0.6% edge over the GeForce GT 745M is slim. The delta between the two cards is 15.1%, a gap larger than any of the rival deltas for either card.

This means the R5 M230's lead over the HD 6850 X2 is not a marginal difference. The R5 M230 is roughly 600 points ahead, which is a meaningful jump in the Geekbench OpenCL ranking. The HD 6850 X2, despite having 3 times the shading units and 3 times the ROPs, does not convert that hardware into a compute advantage in this test.

The R5 M230's score is also closer to the top of its rival cluster, while the HD 6850 X2's score sits near the bottom of its own cluster. The R5 M230's 27th percentile versus the HD 6850 X2's 24th percentile reinforces the same ordering.

In summary, the head-to-head data shows one clear winner, and it is the R5 M230. The 15.1% delta is the single largest comparative number in this matchup, and it favors the newer, smaller chip.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every major specification category. The R5 M230 uses a 28 nm process from TSMC, while the HD 6850 X2 uses a 40 nm process from the same foundry. The R5 M230 has 690 million transistors on a 56 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.3M per mm². The HD 6850 X2 has 1,700 million transistors on a 255 mm² die, with a density of 6.7M per mm².

Memory differs sharply. The R5 M230 has 2 GB of DDR3 on a 64-bit bus with 16.00 GB/s bandwidth. The HD 6850 X2 has 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus with 134.4 GB/s bandwidth. The HD 6850 X2's memory clock is 1050 MHz with 4.2 Gbps effective, while the R5 M230's memory clock is 1000 MHz with 2 Gbps effective.

Compute resources differ as well. The R5 M230 has 320 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 8 ROPs. The HD 6850 X2 has 960 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Pixel rate is 4.880 GPixel/s for the R5 M230 versus 25.60 GPixel/s for the HD 6850 X2. Texture rate is 12.20 GTexel/s versus 38.40 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 390.4 GFLOPS for the R5 M230, while the HD 6850 X2 reaches 1.536 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications diverge completely. The R5 M230 is an IGP with no TDP listed and no power connectors. The HD 6850 X2 is a dual-slot card with a 254 W TDP, two 8-pin power connectors, and a 600 W suggested PSU. The R5 M230 uses PCIe 3.0 x8, while the HD 6850 X2 uses PCIe 2.0 x16. Display outputs are portable-device-dependent for the R5 M230, while the HD 6850 X2 offers 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.1.

API support differs in favor of the R5 M230. It supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The HD 6850 X2 supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4, with no Vulkan support.

Release dates differ by roughly three years. The R5 M230 was released on 2014-01-06, and the HD 6850 X2 on 2011-09-18.

Architecture Differences

The R5 M230 is built on the GCN 1.0 architecture using the Jet chip. The HD 6850 X2 uses the TeraScale 2 architecture on the Barts chip. These are fundamentally different GPU designs from AMD.

GCN 1.0 is a compute-oriented architecture designed for graphics and general-purpose compute workloads. TeraScale 2 is an older VLIW5-based design that predates GCN. The R5 M230's generation is listed as Gem System (R5 M200), while the HD 6850 X2 belongs to Northern Islands (HD 6800). The R5 M230's predecessor is Solar System, and its successor is Polaris Mobile. The HD 6850 X2's predecessor is Evergreen, and its successor is Southern Islands.

The process node difference is significant: 28 nm for the R5 M230 versus 40 nm for the HD 6850 X2. This explains the transistor density disparity: 12.3M per mm² versus 6.7M per mm². The R5 M230 packs fewer total transistors, 690 million versus 1,700 million, but on a much smaller die, 56 mm² versus 255 mm².

The memory architecture is a core difference. The HD 6850 X2's 256-bit GDDR5 interface provides 134.4 GB/s, which is 8.4 times the bandwidth of the R5 M230's 64-bit DDR3 at 16.00 GB/s. This is a massive gap in memory throughput, and it reflects the HD 6850 X2's desktop-class design versus the R5 M230's integrated mobile-class design.

Shader throughput also favors the HD 6850 X2 on paper. Its 960 shading units and 48 TMUs give it a texture rate of 38.40 GTexel/s, more than triple the R5 M230's 12.20 GTexel/s. The ROP count of 32 versus 8 yields a pixel rate of 25.60 GPixel/s, over five times the R5 M230's 4.880 GPixel/s. FP32 compute is 1.536 TFLOPS versus 390.4 GFLOPS, a factor of roughly 3.9.

The R5 M230's GCN architecture brings modern API support, including DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170, which the TeraScale 2 chip lacks. The HD 6850 X2 tops out at DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. This makes the R5 M230 more compatible with contemporary software stacks, even if its raw compute hardware is smaller.

The HD 6850 X2 is a dual-slot card with a 254 W TDP and two 8-pin connectors, indicating a power-hungry, high-performance desktop part. The R5 M230 is an IGP with no TDP, designed to be integrated into a portable device. This is a fundamental design split: one is a standalone add-in board meant for a desktop tower, the other is embedded mobile graphics silicon.

In the end, the architecture differences explain the benchmark outcome. The R5 M230's GCN 1.0 architecture, despite having fewer resources, delivers a higher OpenCL score of 4577, beating the older TeraScale 2 chip's 3977. The newer architecture appears more efficient per shading unit in compute tasks, even though the older chip has far more raw hardware.