GeForce GTX 580 vs Radeon HD 6950

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 6950 you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people GeForce GTX 580 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 6950 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 580 Radeon HD 6950
Power consumption (TDP) 244 Watt 500 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors One 6-pin and One 8-pin 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1536 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 6950 has 104% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 580.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 2.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • GeForce GTX 580 has 1534 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6950.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 580 is build with Fermi architecture, and Radeon HD 6950 - with TeraScale 3.
  • GeForce GTX 580 and Radeon HD 6950 are manufactured by 40 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 6950 is 257 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 580.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 580 is 754 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6950.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 21−24 14−16
ultra / 1080p 14−16 8−9
QHD / 1440p 8−9 3−4
4K / 2160p 6−7
low / 720p 40−45 27−30
medium / 1080p 27−30 16−18
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 580 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 64% more, than Radeon HD 6950.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 580 Radeon HD 6950
Architecture Fermi TeraScale 3
Code name GF110 Cayman
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 9 November 2010 14 December 2010
Pipelines 512 1408
Core clock speed 1544 MHz
Boost Clock 800 MHz
Transistor count 3,000 million 2,640 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 49.4 billion/sec 70.40
Floating-point performance 1,581.1 gflops 2,252.8 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 267 mm
Memory bus width 384 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 2004 MHz (4008 data rate) 1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth 192.4 GB/s
DirectX 12 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.1 5.0
OpenGL 4.2 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A
CUDA +
CUDA cores 512
Bus support PCI-E 2.0 x 16 PCIe 2.0 x16
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI + +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 142 Mh/s 244 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
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