AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 vs NVIDIA Quadro 2000M Comparison

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 than the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M in the recorded benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 scores 3977 in Geekbench OpenCL, while the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M scores 3434. This gives the AMD part a 15.8% lead in the head-to-head comparison.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 134.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The NVIDIA Quadro 2000M uses 2 GB of DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 28.80 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has the higher transistor count?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 contains 1,700 million transistors, while the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M contains 1,170 million transistors. Both are built on a 40 nm process at TSMC.

Q: What is the power draw of each card?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 has a TDP of 254 W and requires two 8-pin power connectors with a suggested power supply of 600 W. The NVIDIA Quadro 2000M has a TDP of 55 W and uses no external power connectors.

Q: How do the shading unit counts compare?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 has 960 shading units, while the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M has 192 shading units. The AMD card also has 48 texture mapping units and 32 ROPs, versus 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs on the NVIDIA part.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of each GPU in the database?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 sits at the 24th percentile among all GPUs, while the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M sits at the 21st percentile.

The Verdict

The data points clearly in one direction. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 holds a 15.8% scoring advantage over the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M in the only recorded test, Geekbench OpenCL. It also ranks higher in the overall percentile distribution, placing at the 24th percentile versus the 21st percentile for the NVIDIA part. For users prioritizing raw compute throughput in OpenCL workloads, the AMD card is the stronger pick.

However, context matters. The NVIDIA Quadro 2000M is a mobile workstation part with a TDP of just 55 W, while the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 is a dual-slot desktop card rated at 254 W. The Quadro 2000M uses an MXM module form factor with no external power connectors, making it suitable for portable systems. The AMD card requires two 8-pin connectors and a 600 W power supply. Those who need a low-power, mobile workstation GPU should consider the Quadro 2000M despite its lower benchmark score.

The AMD card also offers more modern memory technology, with GDDR5 versus DDR3, and a wider memory bus. Its bandwidth advantage is substantial: 134.4 GB/s versus 28.80 GB/s. For memory-intensive tasks, the AMD part is clearly superior. The Quadro 2000M, meanwhile, supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, whereas the AMD card supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. Software compatibility with newer API versions may favor the NVIDIA part in specific applications.

In short, the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 wins on raw performance and memory bandwidth. The NVIDIA Quadro 2000M wins on power efficiency and form factor flexibility. Buyers with desktop workstations and power headroom should pick the AMD card. Buyers with mobile or space-constrained systems should pick the NVIDIA card.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records a single head-to-head benchmark between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 scores 3977, and the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M scores 3434. The delta is 15.8% in favor of AMD. This is not a marginal gap; it represents a meaningful performance tier difference between the two parts.

Contextualizing the AMD score: its nearest rivals in the database are the NVIDIA Quadro K2000 with an average score of 3964, the NVIDIA GeForce 830M at 3957, the AMD Radeon R5 M420 at 3956, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M at 3953. The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 is 0.3% ahead of the Quadro K2000, 0.5% ahead of the GeForce 830M and Radeon R5 M420, and 0.6% ahead of the GeForce GT 745M. It sits just above a tight cluster of mid-range parts.

Contextualizing the NVIDIA score: its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce 920MX with an average score of 3528, which is 2.7% ahead of the Quadro 2000M, making the 920MX the only nearby GPU that beats it. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 740 scores 3431, a 0.1% deficit relative to the Quadro 2000M. The Intel HD Graphics P4600 scores 3389, putting it 1.3% behind, and the Intel HD Graphics 530 scores 3332, a 3.1% gap.

These rival clusters show that the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 competes in a slightly higher performance band than the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M. The AMD card's nearest rivals all sit within 0.6% of its score, suggesting it is well placed among comparable parts. The NVIDIA card's nearest rivals span a wider range, from 3.1% behind to 2.7% ahead, indicating more variability in its competitive position.

The 15.8% head-to-head delta is larger than any delta between either card and its nearest rivals. This reinforces the conclusion that the performance gap between the two cards is substantial, not an artifact of benchmark noise.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every major specification category.

Memory: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 with a 256-bit bus and 134.4 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA Quadro 2000M uses 2 GB of DDR3 with a 128-bit bus and 28.80 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD card has 4.67 times the memory bandwidth, a decisive difference for bandwidth-bound workloads.

Memory clock: The AMD card runs its memory at 1050 MHz, or 4.2 Gbps effective. The NVIDIA card runs at 900 MHz, or 1800 Mbps effective.

Shading units: AMD has 960 shading units versus 192 on NVIDIA. That is a 5-to-1 ratio.

Texture mapping units: AMD has 48 TMUs versus 32 on NVIDIA.

ROPs: AMD has 32 ROPs versus 16 on NVIDIA.

Pixel rate: The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 delivers 25.60 GPixel/s, while the NVIDIA Quadro 2000M delivers 4.400 GPixel/s.

Texture rate: The AMD card delivers 38.40 GTexel/s, while the NVIDIA card delivers 17.60 GTexel/s.

FP32 performance: The AMD card delivers 1.536 TFLOPS, while the NVIDIA card delivers 422.4 GFLOPS.

TDP: The AMD card is rated at 254 W, the NVIDIA card at 55 W.

Form factor: The AMD card is dual-slot with two 8-pin power connectors and a suggested 600 W power supply. The NVIDIA card is an MXM module with no external power connectors.

Bus interface: The AMD card uses PCIe 2.0 x16, while the NVIDIA card uses MXM-A (3.0).

Display outputs: The AMD card has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.3a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.1. The NVIDIA card's outputs are portable device dependent.

API support: The AMD card supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. The NVIDIA card supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6.

Release date: The AMD card was released on September 18, 2011. The NVIDIA card was released on January 12, 2011.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 is built on the Barts chip using the TeraScale 2 architecture, part of the Northern Islands generation (HD 6800). The NVIDIA Quadro 2000M is built on the GF106 chip using the Fermi architecture, part of the Quadro Fermi-M generation (x000M).

Both chips are manufactured by TSMC on a 40 nm process, but the die sizes differ. The AMD Barts chip measures 255 mm² and contains 1,700 million transistors, yielding a transistor density of 6.7 million per square millimeter. The NVIDIA GF106 chip measures 238 mm² and contains 1,170 million transistors, yielding a density of 4.9 million per square millimeter.

The AMD card's predecessor is Evergreen, and its successor is Southern Islands. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is Quadro FX Mobile, and its successor is Quadro Kepler-M.

Neither card supports ray tracing cores or tensor cores, as indicated by null values in the database. Neither card lists Vulkan support. Both are marked as end-of-life products.

The architectural differences translate directly into the performance gap. The AMD card's TeraScale 2 design allocates far more resources to shading, texturing, and rasterization. Its 960 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs dwarf the NVIDIA card's 192 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The memory subsystem further widens the gap, with GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus versus DDR3 on a 128-bit bus.

The NVIDIA card does hold an advantage in API version support, with DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6 versus the AMD card's DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. This could matter for applications that rely on newer API features, even if the raw compute throughput favors AMD.

Where Each One Wins

AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 wins on raw compute performance. The 15.8% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is backed by advantages in every major compute metric: 1.536 TFLOPS FP32 versus 422.4 GFLOPS, 38.40 GTexel/s texture rate, 25.60 GPixel/s pixel rate, and 134.4 GB/s memory bandwidth. For OpenCL-heavy workloads, desktop rendering tasks, or any application that can leverage high memory bandwidth, the AMD card is the clear choice.

The AMD card also wins on memory architecture. Its GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus provides nearly five times the bandwidth of the NVIDIA card's DDR3 on a 128-bit bus at 28.80 GB/s. Texture-heavy workloads will see the largest benefit from the bandwidth advantage.

The AMD card wins on transistor resources per square millimeter. With 1,700 million transistors and a 255 mm² die, it dedicates more silicon area to compute units and memory controllers. Its 960 shading units outnumber the NVIDIA card's 192 by a wide margin.

NVIDIA Quadro 2000M wins on power efficiency. At 55 W versus 254 W, the NVIDIA card draws less than a quarter of the power of the AMD card while delivering 3434 points. The MXM module form factor, no external power connectors, and portable device dependent display outputs make it the only realistic option for mobile workstation systems. There is no portable use case for the AMD desktop card.

The NVIDIA card wins on API support. DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6 support exceed the AMD card's DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4. Applications that require newer API versions will run on the NVIDIA card but may not run on the AMD card.

The NVIDIA card also wins on release date precedence, having launched earlier in January 2011 versus September 2011 for the AMD card. Its predecessor and successor lineage, Quadro FX Mobile to Quadro Kepler-M, reflects a continuous mobile workstation evolution.

The NVIDIA card holds a smaller die with 1,170 million transistors on 238 mm², which contributes to its lower power draw. For users who need a workstation GPU in a laptop or a compact module, the Quadro 2000M is the only viable option in this comparison. For users who can accommodate a dual-slot desktop card with a 600 W power supply, the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 delivers substantially higher performance.