GeForce GTX 680 vs Radeon HD 6870

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 6870 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 680 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 6870 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 680 Radeon HD 6870
Power consumption (TDP) 195 Watt 151 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors Two 6-pin 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2048 MB 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
  Check Price Check Price
  • GeForce GTX 680 has 29% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 6870.
  • GeForce GTX 680 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon HD 6870 uses PCIe 2.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 680 has 2047 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6870.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 680 is build with Kepler architecture, and Radeon HD 6870 - with Terascale 2.
  • GeForce GTX 680 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 6870 - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 6870 is 210 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 680.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 680 is 4950 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6870.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 10−12
ultra / 1080p 21−24 6−7
QHD / 1440p 16−18 1−2
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 24−27
medium / 1080p 40−45 12−14
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 680 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 227% more, than Radeon HD 6870.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 680 Radeon HD 6870
Architecture Kepler Terascale 2
Code name GK104 RV940 Barts
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 22 March 2012 22 October 2010
Pipelines 1536 1120
Core clock speed 1006 MHz
Boost Clock 1058 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 3,540 million 1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 128.8 billion/sec 50.40
Floating-point performance 3,090.4 gflops 2,016.0 gflops
Length 10.0" (25.4 cm) 220 mm
Memory bus width 256-bit GDDR5 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 6000 MHz 1050 MHz
Memory bandwidth 192.2 GB/s 134.4 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12 (11_0)
Shader Model 5.1 5.0
OpenGL 4.2 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126
CUDA +
CUDA cores 1536
Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 2.0 x16
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support 4 displays
HDMI + +
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 121 Mh/s 213 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 15 Mh/s
  Check Price Check Price