Radeon HD 6850 vs Radeon HD 7870 XT

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 6850 and Radeon HD 7870 XT. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between Radeon HD 6850 and Radeon HD 7870 XT. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6850 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 127 Watt 185 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin 2x 6-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7870 XT has 45% more power consumption, than Radeon HD 6850.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 7870 XT uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6850.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - with GCN 1.0.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7870 XT - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 7870 XT is 69 mm longer, than Radeon HD 6850.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 9−10 35−40
ultra / 1080p 5−6 21−24
QHD / 1440p 0−1 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 21−24 60−65
medium / 1080p 12−14 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7870 XT in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 241% more, than Radeon HD 6850.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6850 Radeon HD 7870 XT
Architecture TeraScale 2 GCN 1.0
Code name Barts Tahiti
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 21 October 2010 19 November 2012
Pipelines 960 1536
Core clock speed 925 MHz
Boost Clock 975 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 37.20 93.60
Floating-point performance 1,488.0 gflops 2,995 gflops
Length 198 mm 267 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 6000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 128.0 GB/s 192.0 GB/s
DirectX 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 5.0 5.1
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131
Bus support AGP
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 139 Mh/s 346 Mh/s
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 14.5 Mh/s
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