Quadro M520 vs Radeon HD 6870

In this comparison between Quadro M520 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 Quadro M520 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 6870 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Quadro M520 is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Quadro M520 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 Quadro M520 here:

Main Specs

  Quadro M520 Radeon HD 6870
Power consumption (TDP) 25 Watt 151 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 6870 has 504% more power consumption, than Quadro M520.
  • Quadro M520 has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6870.
  • Quadro M520 is used in Mobile workstations, and Radeon HD 6870 - in Desktops.
  • Quadro M520 is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 6870 - with Terascale 2.
  • Quadro M520 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 6870 - by 40 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 9−10 10−12
ultra / 1080p 5−6 6−7
QHD / 1440p 0−1 1−2
low / 720p 21−24 24−27
medium / 1080p 12−14 12−14
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 6870 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 16% more, than Quadro M520.

Full Specs

  Quadro M520 Radeon HD 6870
Architecture Maxwell Terascale 2
Code name RV940 Barts
Type Mobile workstation Desktop
Release date 13 January 2017 22 October 2010
Pipelines 384 1120
Core clock speed 756 MHz
Boost Clock 1019 MHz 900 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 50.40
Floating-point performance 2,016.0 gflops
Length 220 mm
Memory bus width 64 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1050 MHz
Memory bandwidth 40 GB/s 134.4 GB/s
Shared memory - -
DirectX 12
Shader Model 5.0 5.0
OpenGL 4.5 4.4
OpenCL 1.2
Bus support PCIe 2.0 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 213 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
Optimus +
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
nView Display Management +
3D Stereo +
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