AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 vs NVIDIA GeForce 830M Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a rare case where the architectural underdog—the NVIDIA GeForce 830M—edges out the older, far larger AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 in the only shared test. In the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark, the GeForce 830M scores 4324 against the Radeon HD 6850 X2’s 3977, a delta of -8% from the AMD card’s perspective. This means the NVIDIA part is roughly 8.7% faster in raw compute throughput as measured by OpenCL, despite having a fraction of the transistor count and thermal envelope. The data suggests that for users prioritizing raw compute in legacy workloads, the GeForce 830M is the better performer; however, the Radeon HD 6850 X2 holds its own in the broader competitive landscape, sitting within 0.5% of the GeForce 830M’s average score across all tests (3977 vs 3957). The Radeon’s average score of 3977 places it just 0.3% above the NVIDIA Quadro K2000 (3964) and 0.5% above both the GeForce 830M and the AMD Radeon R5 M420 (3956), indicating a tightly clustered mid-range group. The GeForce 830M’s average of 3957 puts it 0.2% behind the Quadro K2000 and 0.1% behind the GeForce GT 745M (3953), but it is effectively tied with the R5 M420 at a 0% delta. Both GPUs land in the 24th percentile of all GPUs, meaning they are neither top-tier nor bottom-of-barrel; they are solidly entry-level performers. For a user choosing between these two, the GeForce 830M offers better raw OpenCL performance and a far more modern feature set, while the Radeon HD 6850 X2 counters with higher memory bandwidth and a wider bus, which may matter in bandwidth-sensitive tasks not captured by the single benchmark.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the only head-to-head benchmark available?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 830M wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 4324 versus the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2’s 3977, a delta of -8% from the AMD card’s perspective.

Q: How close are their average benchmark scores across all tests?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 has an average score of 3977, while the NVIDIA GeForce 830M averages 3957. The delta between them is 0.5% in favor of the AMD card.

Q: What are their percentile rankings among all GPUs?

A: Both GPUs are in the 24th percentile of all GPUs, indicating they perform at the same relative level within the broader GPU landscape.

Q: Which card has higher memory bandwidth, and by how much?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 has a memory bandwidth of 134.4 GB/s, which is substantially higher than the NVIDIA GeForce 830M’s 14.40 GB/s—a difference of roughly 120 GB/s.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce 830M support Vulkan, and does the AMD card?

A: Yes, the GeForce 830M supports Vulkan 1.4, while the Radeon HD 6850 X2 has no Vulkan support listed in the data.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density, and what does that indicate?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 830M has a transistor density of 13.2M / mm², nearly double the AMD card’s 6.7M / mm². This reflects the GeForce’s smaller 28 nm process node versus the Radeon’s 40 nm node.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from fundamentally different eras and design philosophies. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 is built on the TeraScale 2 architecture, using the Barts chip, and belongs to the Northern Islands generation (HD 6800). It is fabricated on a 40 nm process at TSMC, with 1,700 million transistors spread across a 255 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 6.7M / mm². In contrast, the NVIDIA GeForce 830M uses the Maxwell architecture with the GM108 chip, part of the GeForce 800M generation. It is built on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC, but packs only 1,020 million transistors onto a much smaller 77 mm² die, achieving a far higher density of 13.2M / mm². The Radeon’s predecessor is Evergreen, and its successor is Southern Islands; the GeForce’s predecessor is GeForce 700M, and its successor is GeForce 900M. The AMD card supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4, but has no Vulkan support. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, giving it a clear API advantage for modern applications. The Radeon has 960 shading units, 48 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 32 render output units (ROPs), while the GeForce has 256 shading units, 16 TMUs, and 8 ROPs—the AMD card has four times the shading units and three times the TMUs and ROPs. However, the GeForce’s newer architecture compensates with higher clock speeds and efficiency.

Specification Differences

The specifications diverge sharply in nearly every measurable category. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 has a memory clock of 1050 MHz (4.2 Gbps effective) and uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, providing 134.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA GeForce 830M has a memory clock of 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective) and uses 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 64-bit bus, yielding only 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth. The Radeon’s pixel rate is 25.60 GPixel/s and its texture rate is 38.40 GTexel/s, while the GeForce manages 9.200 GPixel/s and 18.40 GTexel/s, respectively. In floating-point performance, the Radeon delivers 1.536 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, versus the GeForce’s 588.8 GFLOPS—a difference of roughly 2.6 times in the AMD card’s favor. The Radeon has a TDP of 254 W, requires dual-slot cooling, uses two 8-pin power connectors, and recommends a 600 W PSU. The GeForce has a TDP of just 33 W, is an IGP (integrated graphics processor) with no power connectors, and has no suggested PSU. The Radeon uses a PCIe 2.0 x16 interface, while the GeForce uses a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface. Display outputs also differ: the Radeon features 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.1, whereas the GeForce’s outputs are “Portable Device Dependent,” reflecting its mobile IGP nature. The Radeon was released on 2011-09-18, while the GeForce came later on 2014-03-11. Both are end-of-life products.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available is the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the NVIDIA GeForce 830M wins decisively. The GeForce scores 4324, while the Radeon HD 6850 X2 scores 3977, giving the GeForce a -8% delta from the Radeon’s perspective. This is a notable outcome given the Radeon’s massive hardware advantage in shading units, TMUs, ROPs, and memory bandwidth. The Radeon’s 1.536 TFLOPS of FP32 compute is more than 2.6 times the GeForce’s 588.8 GFLOPS, yet the GeForce still outperforms in this workload. This suggests that the Maxwell architecture’s efficiency and the GeForce’s higher clock speeds (1082 MHz base, 1150 MHz boost) overcome the raw throughput deficit. In terms of average benchmark scores across all tests, the Radeon HD 6850 X2 has a slight edge with 3977 versus the GeForce 830M’s 3957, a 0.5% difference. This average includes the GeForce’s additional Geekbench Vulkan score of 3590, which is not present for the Radeon. The Radeon’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA Quadro K2000 at 3964 (0.3% delta), while the GeForce’s closest competitor is the AMD Radeon R5 M420 at 3956 (0% delta). The GeForce also trails the Quadro K2000 by -0.2% and leads the GeForce GT 745M by 0.1%. Both GPUs sit in the 24th percentile, meaning they are statistically indistinguishable in overall performance tier, despite the GeForce’s clear win in the single head-to-head test. The data indicates that the GeForce 830M is the better choice for OpenCL-based compute tasks, while the Radeon HD 6850 X2 offers superior memory bandwidth and raw throughput that may benefit other workloads not represented in these benchmarks.