AMD Radeon HD 6850 vs AMD Radeon HD 6870

Comparative analysis of AMD Radeon HD 6850 and AMD Radeon HD 6870 videocards for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Technical info, Video outputs and ports, Compatibility, dimensions and requirements, API support, Memory, Technologies. Benchmark videocards performance analysis: PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps), 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score, Geekbench - OpenCL.

AMD Radeon HD 6850

AMD Radeon HD 6870

Differences

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon HD 6850

Around 19% lower typical power consumption: 127 Watt vs 151 Watt
Around 5% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 432 vs 411
Around 10% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s): 946.933 vs 857.798

Specifications (specs)
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	127 Watt vs 151 Watt
Benchmarks
PassMark - G2D Mark	432 vs 411
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	946.933 vs 857.798

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon HD 6870

Around 35% higher texture fill rate: 50.4 GTexel / s vs 37.2 GTexel / s
Around 17% higher pipelines: 1120 vs 960
Around 35% better floating-point performance: 2,016.0 gflops vs 1,488.0 gflops
Around 13% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 2217 vs 1965
Around 26% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s): 16.41 vs 13.033
Around 1% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 1.346 vs 1.333
Around 40% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s): 45.514 vs 32.609
Around 32% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s): 184.41 vs 139.45
Around 21% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames): 4238 vs 3489
Around 21% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps): 4238 vs 3489

Specifications (specs)
Texture fill rate	50.4 GTexel / s vs 37.2 GTexel / s
Pipelines	1120 vs 960
Floating-point performance	2,016.0 gflops vs 1,488.0 gflops
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	2217 vs 1965
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	16.41 vs 13.033
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	1.346 vs 1.333
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	45.514 vs 32.609
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	184.41 vs 139.45
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	4238 vs 3489
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3711 vs 3708
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3349 vs 3348
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	4238 vs 3489
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3711 vs 3708
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3349 vs 3348

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6850
GPU 2: AMD Radeon HD 6870

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

1965

2217

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

432

411

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

13.033

16.41

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

946.933

857.798

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

1.333

1.346

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

32.609

45.514

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

139.45

184.41

GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3489

4238

GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3708

3711

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3348

3349

GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3489

4238

GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3708

3711

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3348

3349

Name	AMD Radeon HD 6850	AMD Radeon HD 6870
PassMark - G3D Mark	1965	2217
PassMark - G2D Mark	432	411
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	13.033	16.41
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	946.933	857.798
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	1.333	1.346
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	32.609	45.514
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	139.45	184.41
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	3489	4238
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3708	3711
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3348	3349
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	3489	4238
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3708	3711
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3348	3349
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score	0	0
Geekbench - OpenCL		4950

Compare specifications (specs)

	AMD Radeon HD 6850	AMD Radeon HD 6870
Essentials
Architecture	TeraScale 2	TeraScale 2
Code name	Barts	Barts
Design	AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series	AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series
Launch date	21 October 2010	21 October 2010
Launch price (MSRP)	$179	$239
Place in performance rating	840	841
Price now	$99.99	$89.99
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Value for money (0-100)	28.63	38.38
Technical info
Floating-point performance	1,488.0 gflops	2,016.0 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	40 nm
Pipelines	960	1120
Texture fill rate	37.2 GTexel / s	50.4 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	127 Watt	151 Watt
Transistor count	1,700 million	1,700 million
Boost clock speed		900 MHz
Video outputs and ports
Display Connectors	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
DisplayPort support
Dual-link DVI support
Eyefinity
VGA
HDMI
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Bus support	AGP	PCIe 2.0 x16
Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	198 mm	220 mm
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin	2x 6-pin
API support
DirectX	11	11
OpenGL	4.4	4.4
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	1 GB
Memory bandwidth	128.0 GB / s	134.4 GB / s
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Memory clock speed		1050 MHz
Shared memory		0
Technologies
AMD Eyefinity
CrossFire