Radeon HD 6850 X2 vs Radeon HD 8870M

In this comparison between Radeon HD 6850 X2 and Radeon HD 8870M 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 Radeon HD 6850 X2 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 8870M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 8870M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8870M 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 Radeon HD 8870M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6850 X2 Radeon HD 8870M
Power consumption (TDP) 254 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5, DDR3
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 6850 X2 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 8870M uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 6850 X2 and Radeon HD 8870M have maximum RAM of 2 GB.
  • Radeon HD 6850 X2 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8870M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 6850 X2 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon HD 8870M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 6850 X2 is 75 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8870M.
  • Radeon HD 6850 X2 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 8870M - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 8870M is 300 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6850 X2.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 12−14 7−8
ultra / 1080p 7−8 4−5
QHD / 1440p 2−3 0−1
low / 720p 27−30 18−20
medium / 1080p 16−18 9−10
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 6850 X2 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 60% more, than Radeon HD 8870M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6850 X2 Radeon HD 8870M
Architecture TeraScale 2 GCN
Code name Barts Venus
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 19 September 2011 18 December 2012
Pipelines 960 640
Core clock speed 800 MHz 725 MHz
Boost Clock 775 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 1,500 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 38.40 31.00
Floating-point performance 2x 1,536.0 gflops 992.0 gflops
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4200 MHz 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 134.4 GB/s 72 GB/s
Shared memory -
DirectX 11.2 (11_0) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.0 5.1
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan N/A 1.2.131
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 107 Mh/s
Laptop size large
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