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Aorus X7 Pro w/ GTX 970M SLI Review
Aorus X7 Pro w/ GTX 970M SLI Review
Motorola Moto G2 Review
Motorola Moto G2 Review
MSI GT72 w/ GTX 980M Review
MSI GT72 w/ GTX 980M Review
Lenovo Y70 Review
Lenovo Y70 Review
Aorus X7 Pro w/ GTX 970M SLI Review
Motorola Moto G2 Review
MSI GT72 w/ GTX 980M Review
Lenovo Y70 Review

AMD Radeon HD 6970M

The AMD Mobility Radeon HD 6970M (or sometimes called ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6970) is a high-end graphics card normally reserved for big and heavy laptops. It is based on the desktop HD 6850 graphics card and therefore features UVD3 video processing and Eyefinity+. The codename of this GPU is Blackcomb XT and it should have comparable power consumption results as the GeForce GTX 480M.

The 960 Stream processors are still based on the "old" 5D architecture similar to the 5000 series. Therefore, the number of shaders is not comparable to the 1D cores of current Nvidia GPUs. The Tessellation performance should be improved (like the desktop 6800 series) with the new cards. The Stream processors can be used with DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1, DirectCompute 11 and OpenCL. With the latter two, the 6970M can also be used for general computations such as transcoding videos.

The 3D performance of this card lies between the GeForce GTX 470M and 485M, both of which are high-end notebook GPUs. In our tests, the 6970M is on average 33% faster than a GeForce GTX 480M, but the newer GTX 485M is still about 12% faster than the AMD card. Compared to the previous generation ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, the Radeon 6970M is about 50% faster, but has greater power demands.

For gamers, this means that the Radeon HD 6970M is able to fluently display all most modern games in high detail settings. Only Crysis and Metro 2033 stutter in the highest detail settings at 1920x1080 resolution (see below).

The new UVD3 video decoder supports the decoding of MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, Flash and now also Multi-View Codec (MVC) and MPEG-4 part 2 (DivX, xVid) HD videos on the graphics card.

Furthermore, the HD 6900M series integrates an HD audio controller to transmit HD Audio (TrueHD or DTS Master Audio) over HDMI and/or DisplayPort (e.g. for Blu-Ray videos).

The AMD HD3D Technology offers support for Blu-Ray 3D and 3D displays (integrated and external). However, the solution is not as mature as Nvidia's 3D Vision.

Thanks to Eyefinity, the graphics chip is able to theoretically drive up to 6 monitors simultaneously. However, this only works if the laptop features enough video outputs.

The power consumption of the 6790M should be similar to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 480M / 485M and is therefore at about 100 Watts when considering the MXM board and the 2 GB GDDR5 memory. Eurocom, for example, states that the TDP ranges from about 75-100 Watts. As a result, the card is only suited for large laptops with good cooling solutions.

ManufacturerAMD
Radeon HD 6900M Series

Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire

 2240 @ 715 MHz256 Bit @ 900 MHz

Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire

 1920 @ 680 MHz256 Bit @ 900 MHz

Radeon HD 6990M

 1120 @ 715 MHz256 Bit @ 900 MHz
Radeon HD 6970M 960 @ 680 MHz256 Bit @ 900 MHz

Radeon HD 6950M

 960 @ 580 MHz256 Bit @ 900 MHz
CodenameBlackcomb XT
ArchitectureTerascale 2
Pipelines960 - unified
Core Speed *680 MHz
Memory Speed *900 MHz
Memory Bus Width256 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory2048 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 11, Shader 5.0
Power Consumption75-100 Watt
Transistors1700 Million
technology40 nm
Notebook Sizelarge
Date of Announcement06.01.2011
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.amd.com/us/products/notebook/...
* The specified clock rates are only guidelines for the manufacturer and can be altered by them.

Benchmarks

3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 2774      avg: 2821.3 (12%)     median: 2818.5 (12%)     max: 2874 points
4 benchmarks and specifications    Hide comparison chart
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 2983      avg: 3066 (17%)     median: 3054 (17%)     max: 3143 points
5 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 10895      avg: 11384.5 (22%)     median: 11499 (22%)     max: 11645 Points
4 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 11091      avg: 12055.5 (25%)     median: 11898 (25%)     max: 13412 Points
8 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 14047      avg: 17519.6 (46%)     median: 17634 (46%)     max: 20155 Points
9 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 18890      avg: 21991.3 (60%)     median: 22213 (60%)     max: 24871 Points
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 53658      avg: 56455.7 (37%)     median: 56921 (38%)     max: 58788 Points
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 33      avg: 33.3 (18%)     median: 33.2 (18%)     max: 33.7 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 8149      avg: 9809.3 (38%)     median: 10260 (39%)     max: 11019 Points
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - Siemens NX 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 9.25      avg: 9.9 (16%)     median: 10.2 (16%)     max: 10.35 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - Tcvis 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 4.13      avg: 5.7 (10%)     median: 6.1 (10%)     max: 6.81 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - SolidWorks 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 16.02      avg: 21 (32%)     median: 22.3 (35%)     max: 24.63 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 1.45      avg: 1.9 (10%)     median: 1.9 (10%)     max: 2.31 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 7.66      avg: 10.8 (10%)     median: 11.5 (10%)     max: 13.22 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - Lightwave 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 20.59      avg: 25.2 (31%)     median: 25.7 (32%)     max: 29.34 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - Ensight 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 17.64      avg: 18.8 (19%)     median: 19.2 (19%)     max: 19.46 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
SPECviewperf 11 - Catia 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 5.34      avg: 6.9 (10%)     median: 7.2 (10%)     max: 8.09 fps
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 40.3      avg: 53.3 (44%)     median: 55.6 (45%)     max: 61.87 Points
4 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 6890      avg: 7968.3 (55%)     median: 7951.5 (54%)     max: 9080 Points
4 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.6      avg: 7.6 (96%)     median: 7.6 (96%)     max: 7.6 points
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.6      avg: 7.6 (96%)     median: 7.6 (96%)     max: 7.6 points
3 benchmarks and specifications    Show comparison chart
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailled information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Max Payne 3
low 1024x768
61.9  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
64.7  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
35.1  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
26.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Dirt Showdown
low 1024x768
76.6  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
64.2  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
59.5  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
30.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Diablo III
low 1024x768
193.4  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
132.1  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
89.4  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
64.6  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen 2: Dark Waters
low 1024x768
95.1  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
72.2  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
52.9  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
24.3  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Mass Effect 3
low 1280x720
60  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
59.3  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
54.1  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Alan Wake

Alan Wake

2012
low 1024x768
87  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
55  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
27.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Star Wars: The Old Republic
low 1024x768
70  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
53  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
43.5  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 2070

Anno 2070

2011
low 1024x768
207.8 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
97.1 fps  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
58.6 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
29.7 fps  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
low 1280x720
51.5 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
48.4 fps  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
40.8 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
30.6 fps  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
CoD: Modern Warfare 3
low 1024x768
263.6  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
136.1  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
99.4  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
63.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Battlefield 3
low 1024x768
84.3 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
58.8 fps  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
45.7 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
19 fps  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Batman: Arkham City
low 1024x768
96  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
88  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
71  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
35  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Fifa 12

Fifa 12

2011
low 800x600
377.1 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
215.9 fps  fps      Compare
high 1360x768
176.3 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
135.7 fps  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
F1 2011

F1 2011

2011
low 800x600
131 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
85 fps  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
71 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
45 fps  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Deus Ex Human Revolution
low 1024x768
174.7 fps  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
102.7 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
45.1 fps  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Dirt 3

Dirt 3

2011
low 800x600
224.7  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
104.8  fps      Compare
high 1360x768
78.7  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
33.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis 2

Crysis 2

2011
low 800x600
178.9  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
126.3  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
96.8  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
30.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
low 800x600
76.7 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
67.3 fps  fps      Compare
high 1360x768
65.3 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
61.9 fps 74.5 fps ~ 68 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Fifa 11

Fifa 11

2010
low 800x600
301.2 714.6 ~ 508 fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
229.7 421.2 ~ 325 fps      Compare
high 1360x768
154.5 200.6 ~ 178 fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
168.3 171.4 fps ~ 170 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Mafia 2

Mafia 2

2010
low 800x600
71.6  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
69.8  fps      Compare
high 1360x768
67.4  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
52.3 55.9 ~ 54 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
StarCraft 2
low 1024x768
178.7 fps 222.6 ~ 201 fps      Compare
med. 1360x768
66.1 fps  fps      Compare
high 1360x768
65.5 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
58 fps 58.6 fps 71.1 ~ 63 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Metro 2033
low 800x600
94.3 fps 144 ~ 119 fps      Compare
med. 1360x768
77.2 fps  fps      Compare
high 1600x900
47.9 fps 52 fps 71.4 ~ 57 fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
18 fps 18.3 fps 24 ~ 20 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
low 1024x768
132.5 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1366x768
111.4 fps  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
82.9 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
47.6 fps 49.7 fps ~ 49 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
CoD Modern Warfare 2
low 800x600
172.9 fps  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
105.2 fps  fps      Compare
high 1366x768
94.9 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
67.1 fps 76.9 fps ~ 72 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen

Risen

2009
low 800x600
97.6 fps 134.2 ~ 116 fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
77.9 78.3 fps ~ 78 fps      Compare
high 1366x768
60.4 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
43.7 45.2 fps 46.8 fps ~ 45 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Resident Evil 5
low 800x600
102.6  fps      Compare
high 1360x768
80.1  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
75.7 80 ~ 78 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Need for Speed Shift
low 800x600
89.2  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
53.5 fps 64.3 ~ 59 fps      Compare
high 1366x768
56.6 fps  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
52.2 fps 54.1 64.6 fps ~ 57 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2
low 800x600
95.2 115 ~ 105 fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
93.9 94.7 ~ 94 fps      Compare
high 1360x768
73.2  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
47.7 49.3 50.3 ~ 49 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 1404

Anno 1404

2009
low 1024x768
133.4  fps      Compare
ultra 1280x1024
82.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
F.E.A.R. 2
low 800x600
156.5  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
106.3  fps      Compare
high 1280x1024
101.1  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
85 86.8 fps ~ 86 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Left 4 Dead
low 640x480
157.3  fps      Compare
high 1024x768
120.5  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2

2008
low 640x480
120.9  fps      Compare
high 1024x768
91.4  fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
57.2 61.6 ~ 59 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
low 800x600
188.5 312.9 ~ 251 fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
117 203.1 ~ 160 fps      Compare
high 1280x1024
103.4  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - GPU Benchmark
low 1024x768
107.6  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
67.6  fps      Compare
high 1024x768
57.9 76.7 ~ 67 fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
24.6 25 ~ 25 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - CPU Benchmark
low 1024x768
137.5  fps      Compare
med. 1024x768
65.5  fps      Compare
high 1024x768
55.8 74.1 ~ 65 fps      Compare
ultra 1920x1080
22.8 23.3 ~ 23 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Call of Juarez Benchmark
high 1024x768
81.3 83.3 ~ 82 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark
high 1024x768
204.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List

#0 Did not recreate cache, as it is less than 5 days old +0.001s ... 0.001s

#1 min, max, avg, median took 0.00017809867858887s +0.167s ... 0.168s

#2 Before gaming benchmark output +0s ... 0.168s

#3 return log +0.594s ... 0.763s

Notebook reviews with AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics card

Eurocom Racer: Intel Core i7 2720QM, 15.6", 3.1 kg
  Review » Review Eurocom Racer Gaming-Notebook (2720QM / HD 6970M)

Eurocom W860CU Cougar: Intel Core i7 740QM, 15.6", 3.5 kg
  Review » Review AMD Radeon HD 6970M Graphics Card

Samsung 700G7A: Intel Core i7 2630QM, 17.3", 4.1 kg
  Review » Review Samsung Series 7 Gamer 700G7A Notebook

Alienware M17x R3, Radeon 6970M, i7-2820: Intel Core i7 2820QM, 17.3", 4.3 kg
  External Review » Alienware M17x R3, Radeon 6970M, i7-2820

Eurocom Racer: Intel Core i7 2720QM, 15.6", 3.1 kg
  External Review » Eurocom Racer

Eurocom W860CU Cougar: Intel Core i7 740QM, 15.6", 3.5 kg
  External Review » Eurocom W860CU Cougar

Rock Xtreme 685-I7-2820QM: Intel Core i7 2820QM, 15.6", 3 kg
  External Review » Rock Xtreme 685-I7-2820QM

Samsung 700G7A: Intel Core i7 2630QM, 17.3", 4.1 kg
  External Review » Samsung 700G7A

Samsung 700G7A-S01FR: Intel Core i7 2630QM, 17.3", 3.5 kg
  External Review » Samsung 700G7A-S01FR

Samsung 700G7A-S01SE: Intel Core i7 2670QM, 17.3", 3.5 kg
  External Review » Samsung 700G7A-S01SE

Samsung 700G7A-S01UK: Intel Core i7 2670QM, 17.3", 3.5 kg
  External Review » Samsung 700G7A-S01UK

Samsung 700G7A-S02: Intel Core i7 2630QM, 17.3", 4.1 kg
  External Review » Samsung 700G7A-S02

Samsung 700G7A-S02RU: Intel Core i7 2670QM, 17.3", 3.8 kg
  External Review » Samsung 700G7A-S02RU

» Comparison of GPUs
Detailled list of all laptop GPUs with a short description. Classified and sorted by performance.

» Benchmark List
Sortable and restrainable list of all GPUs with benchmarks (e.g. 3DMarks).

» Notebook Gaming List
Which game can be played with my graphics card.

Class 1
GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GTX 580
Radeon HD 6970
GeForce GTX 570
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Radeon HD 5850
Radeon HD 7770
Radeon HD 7770
GeForce GTX 460 768MB
Radeon HD 6790
Radeon HD 5770
GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Class 2
GeForce GTS 450
Radeon HD 4850
Class 3
Radeon R6 M275DX
Radeon HD 5670
GeForce GT 240
Radeon R6 M255DX
GeForce GT 430
Radeon HD 5570
GeForce GT 220
Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5
Class 4
Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema)
Mali-T760 MP6
Class 5
Radeon HD 4350
GeForce G 107M *
Chrome9HD *
Class 6
Mali-T760 MP2
unknown *

* Approximate position of the graphics adapter

> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > FAQ / Tips / Technics > Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards > AMD Radeon HD 6970M
Author: Klaus Hinum (Update: 2013-01-16)