AMD Radeon HD 6970

The Radeon HD 6970 measures 27cm long (10.6 in), the GPU core is clocked at 880MHz, 3.5% higher than the Radeon HD 5870, while the GDDR5 memory also operates slightly faster at 1375MHz. Pairing that frequency with a 256-bit wide memory bus gives the Radeon HD 6970 176GB/s of theoretical bandwidth, a 14.5% advantange over the HD 5870.
VLIW4 (Cayman XT)
Architecture
High-end
Product Tier
1536
Shader Cores
32
ROPs
96
TMUs
No RT
Ray Tracing
2 GB
Memory
GDDR5
Memory Type
176 GB/s
Bandwidth
250 W
TDP
GPU Snapshot
Release date:Dec 15, 2010Price at Launch:$369
Type:DesktopArchitecture:VLIW4 (Cayman XT)
Generation:Radeon HD 6000 seriesProduct Tier:High-end
VRAM Capacity:2 GBTotal Board Power:250 W
Core Configuration
Shader Cores:1536TMUs:96
ROPs:32L2 Cache:512 KB
Memory
VRAM Capacity:2 GBMemory Type:GDDR5
Memory Speed:5.5 GbpsMemory Bus:256-bit
Bandwidth:176 GB/s
Graphics Processing
Base Clock:0.88 GHzFP32 Throughput:2.70 TFLOPs
Ray Tracing:NoProcess Size:40nm
Process Name:TSMC 40nmDie Size:389 mm²
Power & Connectivity
Total Board Power:250 WPower Connectors:1x 6-pin + 1x 8-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

78

Average Score

Based on 16 reviews

Reviewers Liked

  • Excellent topend DX11 graphics performance, Cayman GPU includes stereoscopic 3D functionality, Nearly silent cooling fan at idle, very quiet under load, Fan exhausts most heated air outside of case, Multiview CODEC enables 3D Bluray playback, Improve
  • Improved DX11 performance, runs silent, DP 1.2 and HDMI 1.4a support, Dual-BIOS
  • Excellent performance for the price. Support for full range of new technologies, including DirectX 11 and Enhanced Quality Anti-Aliasing
  • Very quiet under load, Fast in DX11 and high resolutions, Cool
  • Strong Price to Performance Ratio, Excellent feature set
  • A bit faster than Nvidia's closest card on bench tests, newer games; better multi-screen support than competing Nvidia cards

Reviewers Didn't Like

  • Expensive enthusiast product, Limited AMD HD3D product support
  • Power hungry especially with PowerTune set to higher values, high overclock does not translate to significant real world improvement, pricing is a bit high (based on US pricing as India pricing is not fixed yet)
  • Not consistently more powerful than its less-expensive competition
  • PowerTune changes don't have much affect when applied, Low overclocking
  • Outpaced by its competition
  • Lags behind GeForce GTX 570 in older games and tests; loud fan under full load; too long for some PC cases

It appears we are going to face a repeat with the new Radeon HD 6900 and GeForce GTX 500 GPU series. With a few key differences, of course. This time Nvidia arrived to market well on time and they are also very efficient against competing Radeons....

By TechSpot on
80

The AMD Radeon HD6970 is a disappointment when you look at the initial performance numbers. The card runs as hot as the GTX580, consumes as much power as the GTX570 and performs on the same level, which really shouldn’t be what the flagship card...

By Tech2 on
80

Our rating is calculated according to the results we obtained in our tests. In practice, we are disappointed with this model, which really brings very little in comparison to the previous generation. The additional 10% you get in gaming is no...

By DigitalVersus on
90

Buy DirectDec 15 2010 - The AMD Radeon HD 6970 is competitively priced starting at $369, putting it in direct competition with the NVIDIA GTX 570. The AMD Radeon HD 6970 features a new core design and 2GB of GDDR5 for fast texture loading. It offers...

By About.com on
80

Nvidia keeps the performance crown, but the AMD Radeon HD 6970 offers up an impressive, well-rounded value that's tough to beat. Nate Ralph, pcworld.com...

By PC Advisor on
70

We haven't got the final India pricing yet as AMD is still finalizing that, but according to US pricing, the card is retailing for around $380, which is roughly $40 more than the GTX 570. My guess is AMD will certainly not price it below 20K in...

By TechTree on
80

An incredibly powerful card at an impressively reasonable price, its only competition comes from the cheaper HD 6950....

By Expert Reviews on
67

A capable performer that’s just edged out by the cooler, quieter competition from Nvidia...

By PC Pro on
80

It’s been ATI’s strategy over the past few years to produce relatively small, efficient GPUs that are more straightforward to manufacture. This approach leaves the company a little short at the high end of the market, but ATI's plan is...

By Bit-tech.net on
70

Finally they've arrived; the much-anticipated Cayman GPU-powered HD 6900 series cards from AMD. And right here we've got the very top-end of AMD's latest single-GPU cards, the AMD Radeon HD 6970.Now we've been waiting a fair few months...

By TechRadar on
80

With its Radeon HD 6970 video card, AMD introduces some exciting competition in the sub-$400 video card space. But if you want the fastest card out there in this price range, the 6970 is not consistently it....

By PC Mag on
80

AMD’s newest DX11 flagship card is finally released, and I’m just as eager as all of you to find out how it fares against Nvidia’s recently released GTX 580 and GTX 570 cards. While benchmarks will be discussed later on, first...

By Tbreak.com on