Radeon HD 5970 vs Radeon R6 Kaveri

When choosing between Radeon HD 5970 and Radeon R6 Kaveri, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between Radeon HD 5970 and Radeon R6 Kaveri.

Radeon R6 Kaveri is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: Radeon R6 Kaveri 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 R6 Kaveri here:

Main Specs

  Radeon HD 5970 Radeon R6 Kaveri
Power consumption (TDP) 294 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 5970 is used in Desktops, and Radeon R6 Kaveri - in Laptops.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is build with TeraScale 2 architecture, and Radeon R6 Kaveri - with GCN 1.1.
  • Core clock speed of Radeon HD 5970 is 192 MHz higher, than Radeon R6 Kaveri.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is manufactured by 40 nm process technology, and Radeon R6 Kaveri - by 28 nm process technology.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 10−12 0−1
ultra / 1080p 6−7
QHD / 1440p 1−2 0−1
low / 720p 24−27 1−2
medium / 1080p 14−16 0−1
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 5970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 2400% more, than Radeon R6 Kaveri.

Full Specs

  Radeon HD 5970 Radeon R6 Kaveri
Architecture TeraScale 2 GCN 1.1
Code name Hemlock Kaveri
Type Desktop Laptop
Release date 18 November 2009 4 June 2014
Pipelines 1600 384
Core clock speed 725 MHz 533 MHz
Boost Clock 654 MHz
Transistor count 2,154 million 2410 Million
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 58.00
Floating-point performance 2x 2,320.0 gflops
Length 305 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 64/128 Bit
Memory clock speed 4000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 128.0 GB/s
Shared memory +
DirectX 11.2 (11_0) DirectX 12 (FL 12_0), Shader 5.0
Shader Model 5.0
OpenGL 4.4
OpenCL 1.2
Vulkan N/A
Laptop size medium sized
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