AMD Radeon HD 6950

The AMD ATI Radeon HD 6950 measures 27cm long (10.6 in), the typical length for today's high-end graphics cards. Just as its predecessor, the Radeon HD 6950 GPU has been fabricated using the 40nm process, yet AMD has squeezed in 486 million more transistors resulting in a die increase of 16%. The GPU core is clocked at 800MHz, the GDDR5 memory operates at 1250MHz. The HD 6950 packs 1408 SPUs, 88 TAUs, and 32 ROPs.
VLIW4 (Cayman Pro)
Architecture
High-end
Product Tier
1408
Shader Cores
32
ROPs
88
TMUs
No RT
Ray Tracing
2 GB
Memory
GDDR5
Memory Type
160 GB/s
Bandwidth
200 W
TDP
GPU Snapshot
Release date:Dec 15, 2010Price at Launch:$299
Type:DesktopArchitecture:VLIW4 (Cayman Pro)
Generation:Radeon HD 6000 seriesProduct Tier:High-end
VRAM Capacity:2 GBTotal Board Power:200 W
Core Configuration
Shader Cores:1408TMUs:88
ROPs:32L2 Cache:512 KB
Memory
VRAM Capacity:2 GBMemory Type:GDDR5
Memory Speed:5 GbpsMemory Bus:256-bit
Bandwidth:160 GB/s
Graphics Processing
Base Clock:0.8 GHzFP32 Throughput:2.25 TFLOPs
Ray Tracing:NoProcess Size:40nm
Process Name:TSMC 40nmDie Size:389 mm²
Power & Connectivity
Total Board Power:200 WPower Connectors:2x 6-pin
Bus Interface:PCIe 2.0 x16HDMI Support:HDMI 1.4a
DisplayPort Support:Mini-DP 1.2DSC:No
Max Displays:4
Media & Software Support
DirectX Support:11Shader Model:5.0
OpenGL Version:4.4

Reviews and Ratings

87

Average Score

Based on 7 reviews

Reviewers Liked

  • Same performance as HD 6950 2 GB
  • Can be modded to HD 6970
  • Great overclocking potential
  • Dual BIOS switch
  • Native fullsize HDMI output
  • Support for DirectX 11

Reviewers Didn't Like

  • High power consumption
  • Noisy fan under load
  • Higher temperatures than on 2 GB version
  • High power draw in Bluray playback
  • CCC Overdrive limits too low
  • Power draw limiter could complicate advanced overclocking
89

It looks like AMD has listened to the countless requests for a cheaper HD 6950 card. With just 1 GB of memory, instead of 2 GB, the card retails for around $40 less than its big brother. Even though memory size might suggest otherwise, we have seen...

By techPowerUp! on
100

Fast, good-value and overclockable - this is the best card to buy for under £200....

By Expert Reviews on
80

AMD's Radeon HD 6950 1GB graphics card's arrival is an obvious move to scupper NVIDIA's plans for performance leadership at the £200 price point. Looking very much like its 2GB-equipped counterpart and performing nigh-on identically in...

By HEXUS.net on
80

As a response to the , the £215 Radeon HD 6950 1GB mostly fits the bill, producing performance that’s reasonably competitive with the GTX 560 Ti 1GB in our test games. However, we’d still give the performance win to the GTX 560 Ti 1GB...

By Bit-tech.net on
100

Our rating is calculated according to our test results with the accent on 3D performance. In practice, this is a good gamer model for the latest 3D titles but with slightly higher energy consumption than its predecessor and high noise levels in 3D....

By DigitalVersus on

As it stands there is no better value than Radeon HD 6950 GPU based video cards in this "sweet spot" of ~$249. The Radeon HD 6950 GPU has proven to be a powerhouse for gaming, and now you have two different pricing options. The 1GB models are...

By HardOCP on

When AMD released the 1GB version of its Radeon HD 6950, it accomplished two goals. First, it gave AMD fans another choice for mid-range to high-end graphics, for about $20 less than the 2GB version. Second, it released a more competitive offering...

By Techgage on

Final Words & Conclusion So first off, did you guys check the difference in-between the 1GB and 2GB 6950 versions as well, yeah ... the results are nearly NIL. The added benefit of an extra full GB is excruciatingly hard to measure, even with all...

By Guru of 3D on

It isn’t often that we get two cards competing cards launching on the same day but that’s exactly what we have here today. On one hand NVIDIA is showcasing the GTX 560 Ti; a card that brings high performance at a mid-range price. Meanwhile,...

By Hardware Canucks on

With AMD’s latest cards squared away, our final thought is on today’s launch in general. If nothing else, hopefully today’s write-up has entertained you, and with any luck we’ve imparted upon you a bit of practical wisdom about how the GPU industry...

By AnandTech on

The NVIDIA GTX 560 Ti marks not only the return of the Titanium suffix (and likely others are pending) to the GeForce line but also another entry into the wildly successful $249 price point. By averaging a 35% performance advantage over the current...

By PCPer on

A week ago the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti was set to dominate the sub $250 video card market, but AMD put an end to that with the AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB video card. Both cards are great and at the end of the day the gamers and enthusiasts are the...

By Legit Reviews on