Radeon HD 6950M vs Radeon R9 290X
If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between Radeon HD 6950M and Radeon R9 290X, 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 Radeon HD 6950M stacks up against Radeon R9 290X, check out specs charts below.
Radeon HD 6950M is a Laptop Graphics Card
Note: Radeon HD 6950M 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 6950M here:
Main Specs
Radeon HD 6950M
Radeon R9 290X
Power consumption (TDP)
50 Watt
250 Watt
Interface
MXM-B (3.0)
PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors
1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
Memory type
GDDR5
GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount
2 GB
4 GB
Display Connectors
No outputs
2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
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Radeon R9 290X has 400% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 6950M.
Radeon HD 6950M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon R9 290X uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
Radeon R9 290X has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6950M.
Radeon HD 6950M is used in Laptops, and Radeon R9 290X - in Desktops.
Radeon HD 6950M is build with Terascale 2 architecture, and Radeon R9 290X - with GCN.
Radeon HD 6950M is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R9 290X - by 28 nm process technology.
Memory clock speed of Radeon R9 290X is 350 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6950M.
Game benchmarks
Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Battlefield 5
Call of Duty: Warzone
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Cyberpunk 2077
Dota 2
Far Cry 5
Fortnite
Forza Horizon 4
Grand Theft Auto V
Metro Exodus
Minecraft
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
Red Dead Redemption 2
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
World of Tanks
high / 1080p
8−9
35−40
ultra / 1080p
5−6
24−27
QHD / 1440p
0−1
18−20
4K / 2160p
−
10−11
low / 720p
20−22
60−65
medium / 1080p
10−12
45−50
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 290% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
high / 1080p
14−16
60−65
ultra / 1080p
12−14
50−55
QHD / 1440p
0−1
35−40
4K / 2160p
−
18−20
low / 720p
30−35
110−120
medium / 1080p
16−18
65−70
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Battlefield 5 is 289% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
45−50
50−55
high / 1080p
45−50
−
QHD / 1440p
0−1
0−1
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Call of Duty: Warzone is 10% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
150−160
250−260
medium / 768p
120−130
220−230
ultra / 1080p
65−70
190−200
QHD / 1440p
35−40
110−120
4K / 2160p
27−30
70−75
high / 768p
95−100
210−220
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is 110% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
55−60
60−65
ultra / 1080p
24−27
−
medium / 1080p
45−50
55−60
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Cyberpunk 2077 is 15% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
85−90
120−130
medium / 768p
65−70
110−120
ultra / 1080p
40−45
100−110
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Dota 2 is 76% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
high / 1080p
10−11
45−50
ultra / 1080p
9−10
45−50
QHD / 1440p
−
30−35
4K / 2160p
4−5
16−18
low / 720p
24−27
85−90
medium / 1080p
10−12
50−55
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Far Cry 5 is 316% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
high / 1080p
16−18
65−70
ultra / 1080p
12−14
50−55
QHD / 1440p
−
30−35
4K / 2160p
−
27−30
low / 720p
70−75
180−190
medium / 1080p
30−33
120−130
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Fortnite is 224% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
high / 1080p
14−16
65−70
ultra / 1080p
12−14
45−50
QHD / 1440p
3−4
35−40
4K / 2160p
−
24−27
low / 720p
30−35
110−120
medium / 1080p
16−18
70−75
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Forza Horizon 4 is 325% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
60−65
140−150
medium / 768p
50−55
130−140
high / 1080p
16−18
75−80
ultra / 1080p
7−8
30−35
QHD / 1440p
0−1
24−27
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Grand Theft Auto V is 185% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
high / 1080p
6−7
27−30
ultra / 1080p
4−5
21−24
QHD / 1440p
−
18−20
4K / 2160p
1−2
9−10
low / 720p
16−18
70−75
medium / 1080p
8−9
35−40
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Metro Exodus is 385% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
95−100
130−140
high / 1080p
95−100
−
ultra / 1080p
85−90
−
medium / 1080p
95−100
120−130
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Minecraft is 34% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
high / 1080p
18−20
−
ultra / 1080p
14−16
14−16
low / 720p
35−40
100−110
medium / 1080p
18−20
18−20
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is 100% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
high / 1080p
12−14
27−30
ultra / 1080p
8−9
18−20
QHD / 1440p
0−1
12−14
4K / 2160p
−
8−9
low / 720p
16−18
70−75
medium / 1080p
12−14
35−40
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in Red Dead Redemption 2 is 225% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
30−35
140−150
medium / 768p
21−24
90−95
high / 1080p
10−12
50−55
ultra / 1080p
7−8
27−30
4K / 2160p
6−7
16−18
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is 318% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
low / 768p
90−95
90−95
medium / 768p
50−55
60−65
ultra / 1080p
21−24
55−60
high / 768p
40−45
−
The average gaming FPS of Radeon R9 290X in World of Tanks is 27% more, than Radeon HD 6950M.
Full Specs
Radeon HD 6950M
Radeon R9 290X
Architecture
Terascale 2
GCN
Code name
Blackcomb Pro
Hawaii XT
Type
Laptop
Desktop
Release date
6 January 2011
24 October 2013
Pipelines
960
2816
Core clock speed
580 MHz
Boost Clock
947 MHz
Transistor count
1,700 million
6,200 million
Manufacturing process technology
40 nm
28 nm
Texture fill rate
27.84
176.0
Floating-point performance
1,113.6 gflops
5,632 gflops
Length
275 mm
Memory bus width
256 Bit
512 Bit
Memory clock speed
900 MHz
1250 MHz
Memory bandwidth
115.2 GB/s
320 GB/s
Shared memory
-
-
DirectX
11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model
5.0
6.3
OpenGL
4.4
4.6
OpenCL
1.2
2.0
Vulkan
N/A
+
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight)
0.76 kh/s
FreeSync
+
Bus support
PCIe 3.0
HDMI
+
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256)
623 Mh/s
Laptop size
large
Eyefinity
+
HD3D
+
TrueAudio
+
Design
reference
DisplayPort support
+
CrossFire
+
DDMA audio
+
Decred / DCR (Decred)
1.07 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto)
25.75 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash)
350 Sol/s
AppAcceleration
+
LiquidVR
+
TressFX
+
UVD
+
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