GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon HD 6970M

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 960 and Radeon HD 6970M 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 960 will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 6970M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Radeon HD 6970M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 6970M 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 6970M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 960 Radeon HD 6970M
Power consumption (TDP) 120 Watt 75 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 MXM-B (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pins None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort No outputs
Recommended system power (PSU) 400 Watt
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  • GeForce GTX 960 has 60% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 6970M.
  • GeForce GTX 960 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon HD 6970M uses MXM-B (3.0) interface.
  • GeForce GTX 960 has 2 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6970M.
  • GeForce GTX 960 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 6970M - in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 960 is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 6970M - with Terascale 2.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 960 is 447 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 6970M.
  • GeForce GTX 960 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 6970M - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 6970M is 893 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 960.

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 14−16
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 960 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 227% more, than Radeon HD 6970M.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 960 Radeon HD 6970M
Architecture Maxwell Terascale 2
Code name GM206 Blackcomb XT
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 22 January 2015 6 January 2011
Pipelines 1024 960
Core clock speed 1127 MHz 680 MHz
Boost Clock 1178 MHz
Transistor count 2,940 million 1,700 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 72 billion/sec 32.64
Floating-point performance 2,413 gflops 1,305.6 gflops
Length 9.5" (24.1 cm)
Memory bus width 128 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 7.0 GB/s 900 MHz
Memory bandwidth 112 GB/s 115.2 GB/s
Shared memory - -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1) 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 6.4 5.0
OpenGL 4.4 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126 N/A
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.27 kh/s
CUDA cores 1024
Bus support PCI Express 3.0
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support 4 displays
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 318 Mh/s 118 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Decred / DCR (Decred) 0.92 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 8 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 141.47 Sol/s
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
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