Radeon HD 6850 vs Radeon HD 8790M

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing Radeon HD 6850 and Radeon HD 8790M. 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 8790M. 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.

Radeon HD 8790M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon HD 8790M 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 8790M here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 6850 Radeon HD 8790M
Power consumption (TDP) 127 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 MXM-A (3.0)
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin None
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort No outputs
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  • Radeon HD 6850 is connected by PCIe 2.0 x16, and Radeon HD 8790M uses MXM-A (3.0) interface.
  • Radeon HD 8790M has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 6850.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is used in Desktops, and Radeon HD 8790M - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon HD 8790M - with GCN.
  • Radeon HD 6850 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 8790M - by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 9−10 3−4
ultra / 1080p 5−6 1−2
QHD / 1440p 0−1 0−1
low / 720p 21−24 14−16
medium / 1080p 12−14 6−7
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 6850 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 100% more, than Radeon HD 8790M.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 6850 Radeon HD 8790M
Architecture TeraScale 2 GCN
Code name Barts Mars XTX
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 21 October 2010 16 November 2012
Pipelines 960 384
Core clock speed 850 MHz
Boost Clock 900 MHz
Transistor count 1,700 million 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 37.20 21.60
Floating-point performance 1,488.0 gflops 691.2 gflops
Length 198 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4500 MHz
Memory bandwidth 128.0 GB/s 64 GB/s
Shared memory -
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 80 Mh/s
Laptop size medium sized
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
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