AMD Radeon HD 6950 vs AMD Radeon HD 7730M Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a narrow but clear outcome: the AMD Radeon HD 7730M edges out the AMD Radeon HD 6950 in the only head-to-head test available, the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark. The 7730M scores 6581, while the 6950 scores 6210, a delta of 6%. This is a statistically modest victory, but it flips the expected narrative based on hardware specifications alone.

For a user prioritizing the single measured metric of OpenCL compute performance, the HD 7730M is the data-backed choice. It achieves this with a fraction of the power draw (25 W vs 200 W) and a dramatically smaller die (123 mm² vs 389 mm²). The HD 6950, despite its massive architectural advantages in raw throughput, falls behind in this specific workload.

The HD 6950 remains relevant for scenarios where its other characteristics matter — namely, its 256-bit memory bus, 160.0 GB/s bandwidth, and higher pixel and texture rates. However, the data does not show a single benchmark win for the 6950. The verdict is that the 7730M wins the measured compute test, while the 6950 wins on paper in every throughput metric except the one that counts in the benchmark suite.

The percentile rankings reinforce this: the 7730M sits at the 38th percentile of all GPUs, while the 6950 sits at the 36th. Both are mid-pack performers, but the 7730M is slightly higher. For a mobile chip released nearly 17 months later, this represents a significant efficiency gain. The 6950's 200 W TDP and dual-slot requirement make it a desktop-only part, whereas the 7730M is a portable-device-dependent mobile GPU.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU wins the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The AMD Radeon HD 7730M wins with a score of 6581, beating the AMD Radeon HD 6950's 6210 by a 6% margin.

Q: How do the two compare in memory bandwidth?

A: The HD 6950 has a decisive advantage, offering 160.0 GB/s bandwidth over a 256-bit bus using GDDR5 memory. The HD 7730M provides 28.80 GB/s over a 128-bit bus using DDR3 memory.

Q: What is the transistor density difference?

A: The HD 7730M packs 1,500 million transistors into 123 mm², yielding 12.2M transistors per mm² on a 28 nm process. The HD 6950 has 2,640 million transistors in 389 mm², yielding 6.8M per mm² on a 40 nm process.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The HD 6950 has 1408 shading units, compared to the HD 7730M's 512. The 6950 also has 88 texture mapping units versus 32, and 32 ROPs versus 16.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The HD 7730M is rated at 25 W TDP, while the HD 6950 is rated at 200 W TDP — an 8x difference in favor of the mobile chip.

Q: Do both support DirectX 12?

A: No. The HD 7730M supports DirectX 12 (11_1), while the HD 6950 supports only DirectX 11.2 (11_0). The 7730M also supports Vulkan 1.2.170, whereas the 6950 has no listed Vulkan support.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs represent fundamentally different architectures from AMD. The HD 7730M is built on GCN 1.0, first introduced with the Southern Islands family, while the HD 6950 uses the older TeraScale 3 architecture from the Northern Islands generation. This generational gap explains many of the behavioral differences in the benchmark data.

The manufacturing process is a major differentiator. The 7730M uses a 28 nm process at TSMC, while the 6950 uses a 40 nm process, also at TSMC. This translates directly to transistor density: the 7730M achieves 12.2M transistors per mm², nearly double the 6950's 6.8M per mm². The 7730M does this with fewer total transistors (1,500 million vs 2,640 million) and a much smaller die (123 mm² vs 389 mm²).

The compute architecture itself differs. GCN 1.0 on the 7730M is designed for compute workloads, with a unified shader array that scales efficiently. TeraScale 3 on the 6950 uses a VLIW4 design, which was AMD's previous-generation approach. The benchmark results suggest GCN's compute efficiency compensates for the 6950's raw resource advantage.

API support also diverges. The 7730M lists DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170. The 6950 lists DirectX 11.2 (11_0), OpenGL 4.4, and no Vulkan support. This makes the 7730M more forward-compatible with modern software, despite being the lower-power part.

The 6950's predecessor is Evergreen, and its successor is Southern Islands. The 7730M's predecessor is Vancouver, and its successor is Solar System. Both are end-of-life products, but the 7730M's lineage is more recent, released on 2012-04-23 versus the 6950's 2010-12-13.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets show a stark contrast between the two. The HD 7730M has a base clock of 575 MHz and a boost clock of 675 MHz, while the HD 6950 lists no base or boost clocks — only a memory clock of 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective). The 7730M's memory runs at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective).

Memory configuration differs substantially. The 7730M uses 2 GB of DDR3 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 28.80 GB/s bandwidth. The 6950 uses 2 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 160.0 GB/s bandwidth. The 6950's bandwidth is 5.5x higher, which should theoretically benefit high-resolution textures and memory-intensive workloads.

Compute resources are heavily skewed toward the 6950. It has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs, compared to the 7730M's 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The 6950's pixel rate is 25.60 GPixel/s versus 10.80 GPixel/s for the 7730M. Its texture rate is 70.40 GTexel/s versus 21.60 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 2.253 TFLOPS versus 691.2 GFLOPS — a 3.3x advantage for the 6950.

Physical specifications diverge as well. The 6950 is a dual-slot card, 286 mm long, 126 mm tall, and 42 mm wide, requiring 2x 6-pin power connectors and a 550 W suggested PSU. The 7730M has no listed dimensions, slot width, or power connectors, as it is portable-device dependent. The 6950's display outputs are 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2, while the 7730M's outputs are listed as "Portable Device Dependent."

The launch MSRP for the 6950 was 299 USD. The 7730M has no listed launch MSRP. Both use a PCIe 2.0 x16 bus interface. The 6950 has a TDP of 200 W, while the 7730M is rated at just 25 W.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL, and the result is a 6% victory for the HD 7730M. The 7730M scores 6581, while the 6950 scores 6210. This is the only test where both GPUs have comparable data, and it is the sole basis for the win tally of 1-0 in favor of the 7730M.

This result is counterintuitive given the 6950's hardware advantages. The 6950 has 2.75x more shading units, 2.75x more TMUs, 2x more ROPs, and 3.3x more FP32 throughput. Yet it loses in OpenCL compute. The likely explanation lies in the architectural efficiency of GCN 1.0 versus TeraScale 3, though the data does not explicitly state this cause.

The nearest rivals provide context. The 7730M's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon R7 M460, which scores 6612 (0.5% higher). The 6950's closest rival is the AMD FirePro W600 at 6223 (0.2% higher). Notably, the 6950's rival list includes the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AD102 and RTX 5070 Ti SUPER, both scoring 6270 (0.9% higher) — modern cards that barely edge out this decade-old GPU in this specific test.

The 7730M also beats the Intel UHD Graphics P750 (6554, 0.4% lower), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670M (6513, 1% lower), and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M (6493, 1.4% lower). The 6950 trails the NVIDIA Quadro K620 (6282, 1.1% higher) and the two RTX cards mentioned.

The deltaPct values show that both GPUs are tightly clustered with their rivals — within roughly 1.5% either way. This indicates that the 6% head-to-head gap, while modest, is larger than typical differences at this performance tier.

Where Each One Wins

The HD 7730M wins in the measured compute benchmark, but its advantages extend beyond that single score. It wins on power efficiency by a massive margin: 25 W versus 200 W TDP. This makes it suitable for thin-and-light laptops where the 6950 would be physically impossible to integrate. The 7730M also wins on API modernity, supporting DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.2.170, whereas the 6950 is limited to DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4 with no Vulkan.

The 7730M's smaller die (123 mm² vs 389 mm²) and higher transistor density (12.2M/mm² vs 6.8M/mm²) indicate a more modern manufacturing process. Its release date of 2012-04-23 is also later than the 6950's 2010-12-13, giving it access to newer architectural features.

The HD 6950 wins in every raw throughput metric recorded. It has higher pixel rate (25.60 vs 10.80 GPixel/s), higher texture rate (70.40 vs 21.60 GTexel/s), and higher FP32 performance (2.253 TFLOPS vs 691.2 GFLOPS). Its memory bandwidth of 160.0 GB/s dwarfs the 7730M's 28.80 GB/s, which would matter for high-resolution texture streaming or compute workloads that access large datasets.

The 6950's 256-bit memory bus and GDDR5 memory type are superior to the 7730M's 128-bit DDR3. The 6950 also has more physical resources: 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. For applications that scale with these resources — such as traditional rasterization at high resolutions — the 6950 should theoretically perform better, though the benchmark data does not confirm this.

The use-case split is therefore clear. The 7730M is the pick for OpenCL compute tasks, power-constrained environments, or systems requiring modern API support. The 6950 is the pick for scenarios where memory bandwidth, pixel throughput, or texture throughput are the limiting factors — provided the 200 W TDP and dual-slot form factor are acceptable. The data shows one benchmark, and the 7730M wins it. Everything else is speculation based on specifications.