GeForce GTX 580M vs Radeon HD 6850 X2

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GTX 580M and Radeon HD 6850 X2, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the GeForce GTX 580M stacks up against Radeon HD 6850 X2, check out specs charts below.

GeForce GTX 580M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce GTX 580M is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with GeForce GTX 580M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 580M Radeon HD 6850 X2
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 254 Watt
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 2x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 MB 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 6850 X2 has 154% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 580M.
  • GeForce GTX 580M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon HD 6850 X2 uses PCIe 2.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 580M and Radeon HD 6850 X2 have maximum RAM of 2 GB.
  • GeForce GTX 580M is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 6850 X2 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 580M is build with Fermi architecture, and Radeon HD 6850 X2 - with TeraScale 2.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 6850 X2 is 180 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 580M.
  • GeForce GTX 580M and Radeon HD 6850 X2 are manufactured by 40 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 6850 X2 is 2700 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 580M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 10−12 12−14
ultra / 1080p 6−7 7−8
QHD / 1440p 1−2 2−3
low / 720p 24−27 27−30
medium / 1080p 14−16 16−18
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 6850 X2 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 18% more, than GeForce GTX 580M.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 580M Radeon HD 6850 X2
Architecture Fermi TeraScale 2
Code name N12E-GTX2 Barts
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 28 June 2011 19 September 2011
Pipelines 384 960
Core clock speed 620 MHz 800 MHz
Transistor count 1,950 million 1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 39.7 billion/sec 38.40
Floating-point performance 952.3 gflops 2x 1,536.0 gflops
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1500 MHz 4200 MHz
Memory bandwidth 96.0 GB/s 134.4 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 12 API 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.1 5.0
OpenGL 4.5 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A N/A
CUDA +
CUDA cores 384
Bus support PCI-E 2.0
SLI options +
3D Blu-Ray +
3D Gaming +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 40 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Optimus +
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