AMD Radeon HD 6950 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the two cards compare in overall average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 records an average benchmark score of 7157, while the AMD Radeon HD 6950 records 6210. The GTX 970 sits at the 39th percentile of all GPUs, whereas the HD 6950 sits at the 36th percentile.

Q: What is the only benchmark where both cards have recorded scores?

A: The only overlapping test in the database is Geekbench OpenCL. The GTX 970 scores 29982, and the HD 6950 scores 6210, giving the GTX 970 a 382.8% advantage in that single test.

Q: Which card has a higher transistor count, and what is the density difference?

A: The GTX 970 packs 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die, yielding a density of 13.1M / mm². The HD 6950 contains 2,640 million transistors on a 389 mm² die, for a density of 6.8M / mm².

Q: Do both cards use the same memory type and bus width?

A: Yes, both use GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. However, the GTX 970 has 4 GB capacity and 224.4 GB/s bandwidth, while the HD 6950 has 2 GB capacity and 160.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The GTX 970 has a TDP of 148 W and a suggested PSU of 300 W. The HD 6950 has a TDP of 200 W and a suggested PSU of 550 W. Both require dual-slot cooling and two 6-pin power connectors.

Q: Which card supports Vulkan?

A: The GTX 970 supports Vulkan 1.4, while the HD 6950 has no Vulkan support listed in the database. The HD 6950 also tops out at DirectX 11.2 (11_0), whereas the GTX 970 reaches DirectX 12 (12_1).

The Verdict

The recorded data points to a decisive generational gap. The GTX 970 outperforms the HD 6950 in the only shared benchmark by 382.8%, and it holds a 947-point advantage in average benchmark score (7157 vs 6210). The GTX 970 also occupies a higher percentile rank, 39 versus 36, meaning it sits above more of the GPU population in the database.

For users who need modern API support, the choice is clear. The GTX 970 offers DirectX 12 (12_1), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. The HD 6950 stops at DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4, with no Vulkan entry at all. Any workload that relies on Vulkan or modern DirectX 12 titles will simply not run on the older AMD card.

For users constrained by system power delivery, the GTX 970 is also the safer pick. Its 148 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU compare favorably to the HD 6950's 200 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU. The GTX 970 delivers far higher performance while drawing less power and demanding a smaller power supply.

The HD 6950 does retain one practical edge: its physical dimensions. It is longer at 286 mm versus 267 mm, taller at 126 mm versus 111 mm, and wider at 42 mm versus 40 mm. That means it needs more case space, not less, so even that difference favors the GTX 970 in compact builds.

In short, the GTX 970 is the recommended card for essentially every use case in this comparison. The HD 6950 remains an end-of-life product from an older architecture with lower scores, older API support, and higher power demands. There is no benchmark category in the database where the HD 6950 wins.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains exactly one head-to-head benchmark between these two cards: Geekbench OpenCL. The GTX 970 scores 29982, and the HD 6950 scores 6210. That is a delta of 382.8% in favor of the GTX 970.

This is not a marginal win. The GTX 970's OpenCL score is nearly five times higher than the HD 6950's. Looking at the average benchmark scores reinforces the same conclusion: 7157 for the GTX 970 versus 6210 for the HD 6950, a 947-point gap that represents roughly 15% of the HD 6950's total score.

The GTX 970 also has a broader benchmark footprint. The database lists 11 recorded benchmarks for the GTX 970 (including 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, Geekbench Metal, OpenCL, Vulkan, and multiple Passmark tests), while the HD 6950 has only one recorded benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL. This means the GTX 970's average score is drawn from a wider range of tests, including DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 workloads, while the HD 6950's average rests entirely on a single OpenCL result.

The GTX 970's individual Passmark scores further illustrate its range: 143 in DirectX 9, 46 in DirectX 10, 71 in DirectX 11, 41 in DirectX 12, 764 in G2D, 9638 in G3D, and 4073 in GPU compute. The HD 6950 has no comparable entries in those tests, so a direct per-test comparison is impossible beyond OpenCL. Still, the OpenCL result alone establishes the performance hierarchy.

The nearest rivals in the database also contextualize each card's standing. The GTX 970's closest competitors are the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 (delta -0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE (delta -0.2%), the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile (delta -0.6%), and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 (delta -0.9%). The HD 6950's nearest rivals are the AMD FirePro W600 (delta -0.2%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AD102 (delta -0.9%), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SUPER (delta -0.9%), and the NVIDIA Quadro K620 (delta -1.1%). These numbers show that the GTX 970 competes in a higher performance band than the HD 6950, whose nearest rivals include much newer cards that still barely outscore it.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge across nearly every specification category.

Memory capacity differs: the GTX 970 has 4 GB, the HD 6950 has 2 GB. Memory bandwidth also favors the GTX 970 at 224.4 GB/s versus 160.0 GB/s, despite both using GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus. The memory clock is higher on the GTX 970 at 1753 MHz (7 Gbps effective) versus 1250 MHz (5 Gbps effective) on the HD 6950.

Compute resources differ substantially. The GTX 970 has 1664 shading units, 104 texture mapping units, and 56 ROPs. The HD 6950 has 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 970 leads in every count.

Rates and throughput follow the same pattern. The GTX 970 achieves a pixel rate of 65.97 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 122.5 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 3.920 TFLOPS. The HD 6950 records 25.60 GPixel/s, 70.40 GTexel/s, and 2.253 TFLOPS.

Power and physical specifications differ as well. The GTX 970 has a 148 W TDP and a 300 W suggested PSU; the HD 6950 has a 200 W TDP and a 550 W suggested PSU. Both are dual-slot and use two 6-pin connectors. The GTX 970 measures 267 mm by 111 mm by 40 mm; the HD 6950 measures 286 mm by 126 mm by 42 mm.

The bus interface differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for the GTX 970, PCIe 2.0 x16 for the HD 6950. Display outputs also differ. The GTX 970 provides 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.2. The HD 6950 provides 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2.

Architecture Differences

The GTX 970 is built on NVIDIA's Maxwell 2.0 architecture, using the GM204 chip, and belongs to the GeForce 900 generation. The HD 6950 uses AMD's TeraScale 3 architecture, built on the Cayman chip, and belongs to the Northern Islands (HD 6900) generation.

The manufacturing process differs by more than a decade of process evolution. The GTX 970 is fabbed on a 28 nm node at TSMC, while the HD 6950 uses a 40 nm node, also at TSMC. The smaller node helps explain the GTX 970's higher transistor density: 13.1M / mm² versus 6.8M / mm².

Transistor counts reflect the architectural gap. The GTX 970 contains 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die. The HD 6950 contains 2,640 million transistors on a 389 mm² die, nearly the same die area but with roughly half the transistors.

API support marks another architectural divide. The GTX 970 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The HD 6950 supports DirectX 11.2 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.4, with no Vulkan support recorded. This means the HD 6950 cannot run Vulkan workloads at all, and its DirectX support stops one full major version behind the GTX 970.

The release dates place these cards in different eras. The GTX 970 launched on September 18, 2014, with a launch MSRP of 329 USD. The HD 6950 launched on December 13, 2010, with a launch MSRP of 299 USD. Both are now end-of-life, but the GTX 970's successor is GeForce 10, while the HD 6950's predecessor is Evergreen and its successor is Southern Islands.

The GTX 970 also supports newer display standards, including HDMI 2.0, whereas the HD 6950 is limited to HDMI 1.4a. The GTX 970's PCIe 3.0 interface doubles the link generation of the HD 6950's PCIe 2.0 interface.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 970 wins in every measured category in the database. It wins the only head-to-head benchmark, Geekbench OpenCL, by 382.8%. It wins the average benchmark score comparison by 947 points. It wins the percentile comparison, 39 versus 36. It wins every compute resource count, every rate, and every memory specification.

The GTX 970 is the clear choice for users running modern API workloads, especially Vulkan and DirectX 12 titles, since the HD 6950 lacks Vulkan support entirely and stops at DirectX 11.2. The GTX 970 also suits systems with modest power supplies, given its 148 W TDP and 300 W suggested PSU, compared to the HD 6950's 200 W TDP and 550 W suggested PSU.

The HD 6950 has no benchmark wins in the database. Its only recorded score is the Geekbench OpenCL result of 6210, which places it below the GTX 970 by a wide margin. Its nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER AD102 and the RTX 5070 Ti SUPER, both with average scores of 6270, meaning the HD 6950 even sits below those modern cards by 0.9%.

For users who prioritize legacy compatibility, the HD 6950 does offer dual DVI outputs, which the GTX 970 lacks (it has a single DVI). But that is a connectivity detail, not a performance win. The HD 6950 also has a higher launch MSRP-adjusted position in terms of raw price, but the database does not include current pricing, so no cost comparison is possible here.

The verdict is unambiguous. The GTX 970 is the superior card for modern workloads, for power-constrained systems, and for raw compute performance. The HD 6950 remains a historical product whose architecture, API support, and benchmark results place it firmly in an earlier era.