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@715MHz

Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire 1920@680MHz

Radeon HD 6990M 1120@715MHz

Radeon HD 6970M 960@680MHz

Radeon HD 6950M 960@580MHz

CodenameBlackcomb XT
Pipelines960 - unified
Core Speed *680 MHz
Shader 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
Current 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 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 2983     avg: 3066 (35%)     max: 3143 points
3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
0% 100%
min: 2774     avg: 2821.3 (31%)     max: 2874 points
...
GeForce GTX 550 Ti -19%
Radeon HD 5770 -15%
GeForce GTX 460 768MB 0%
Radeon HD 6970M
Radeon HD 6790 2%
Radeon HD 5850 21%
GeForce GTX 560 Ti 42%
Radeon HD 6870 50%
...
GeForce GTX 590 225%
0%
100%
3DMark Vantage - P Result no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 11091     avg: 12055.5 (39%)     max: 13412 Points
3DMark Vantage - P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 10895     avg: 11384.5 (34%)     max: 11645 Points
3DMark 06
0% 100%
min: 14047     avg: 17519.6 (68%)     max: 20155 Points
3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 18890     avg: 21991.3 (68%)     max: 24871 Points
3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 53658     avg: 56455.7 (53%)     max: 58788 Points
Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024
0% 100%
min: 33     avg: 33.3 (24%)     max: 33.7 fps
PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768
0% 100%
min: 8149     avg: 9809.3 (44%)     max: 11019 Points
SPECviewperf 11 - Catia 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 5.34     avg: 6.9 (16%)     max: 8.09 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Ensight 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 17.64     avg: 18.8 (48%)     max: 19.46 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Lightwave 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 20.59     avg: 25.2 (46%)     max: 29.34 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Maya 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 7.66     avg: 10.8 (12%)     max: 13.22 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 1.45     avg: 1.9 (14%)     max: 2.31 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - SolidWorks 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 16.02     avg: 21 (39%)     max: 24.63 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Tcvis 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 4.13     avg: 5.7 (14%)     max: 6.81 fps
SPECviewperf 11 - Siemens NX 1920x1080
0% 100%
min: 9.25     avg: 9.9 (24%)     max: 10.35 fps
Cinebench R11.5 - OpenGL 64Bit
0% 100%
min: 40.3     avg: 53.3 (70%)     max: 61.87 Points
Cinebench R10 - Shading 32Bit
0% 100%
min: 6890     avg: 7968.3 (74%)     max: 9080 Points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.6     avg: 7.6 (96%)     max: 7.6 points
Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics
0% 100%
min: 7.6     avg: 7.6 (96%)     max: 7.6 points
- 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.

Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 (2012)
low:
60  fps      Compare
high:
59.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
54.1  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Alan Wake
Alan Wake (2012)
low:
87  fps      Compare
med.:
55  fps      Compare
high:
27.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011)
low:
70  fps      Compare
high:
53  fps      Compare
ultra:
43.5  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 2070
Anno 2070 (2011)
low:
207.8  fps      Compare
med.:
97.1  fps      Compare
high:
58.6  fps      Compare
ultra:
29.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (2011)
low:
51.5  fps      Compare
med.:
48.4  fps      Compare
high:
40.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
30.6  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
CoD: Modern Warfare 3
CoD: Modern Warfare 3 (2011)
low:
263.6  fps      Compare
med.:
136.1  fps      Compare
high:
99.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
63.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Battlefield 3
Battlefield 3 (2011)
low:
84.3  fps      Compare
med.:
58.8  fps      Compare
high:
45.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
19  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Batman: Arkham City (2011): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
Fifa 12
Fifa 12 (2011)
low:
377.1  fps      Compare
med.:
215.9  fps      Compare
high:
176.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
135.7  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
F1 2011
F1 2011 (2011)
low:
131  fps      Compare
med.:
85  fps      Compare
high:
71  fps      Compare
ultra:
45  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Deus Ex Human Revolution
Deus Ex Human Revolution (2011)
low:
174.7  fps      Compare
high:
102.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
45.1  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Dirt 3
Dirt 3 (2011)
low:
224.7  fps      Compare
med.:
104.8  fps      Compare
high:
78.7  fps      Compare
ultra:
33.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings (2011): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings med.. - more...
Crysis 2
Crysis 2 (2011)
low:
178.9  fps      Compare
med.:
126.3  fps      Compare
high:
96.8  fps      Compare
ultra:
30.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Total War: Shogun 2 (2011): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings med.. - more...
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
low:
76.7  fps      Compare
med.:
67.3  fps      Compare
high:
65.3  fps      Compare
ultra:
61.9 74.5 ~ 68 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Fifa 11
Fifa 11 (2010)
low:
301.2 714.6 ~ 508 fps      Compare
med.:
229.7 421.2 ~ 325 fps      Compare
high:
154.5 200.6 ~ 178 fps      Compare
ultra:
168.3 171.4 ~ 170 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Civilization 5 (2010): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings low. - more...
Mafia 2
Mafia 2 (2010)
low:
71.6  fps      Compare
med.:
69.8  fps      Compare
high:
67.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
52.3 55.9 ~ 54 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 (2010)
low:
178.7 222.6 ~ 201 fps      Compare
med.:
66.1  fps      Compare
high:
65.5  fps      Compare
ultra:
58 58.6 71.1 ~ 63 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Just Cause 2 (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
Metro 2033
Metro 2033 (2010)
low:
94.3 144 ~ 119 fps      Compare
med.:
77.2  fps      Compare
high:
47.9 52 71.4 ~ 57 fps      Compare
ultra:
18 18.3 24 ~ 20 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising (2010): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (2010)
low:
132.5  fps      Compare
med.:
111.4  fps      Compare
high:
82.9  fps      Compare
ultra:
47.6 49.7 ~ 49 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Stalker: Call of Pripyat (2010): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
CoD Modern Warfare 2
CoD Modern Warfare 2 (2009)
low:
172.9  fps      Compare
med.:
105.2  fps      Compare
high:
94.9  fps      Compare
ultra:
67.1 76.9 ~ 72 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Risen
Risen (2009)
low:
97.6 134.2 ~ 116 fps      Compare
med.:
77.9 78.3 ~ 78 fps      Compare
high:
60.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
43.7 45.2 46.8 ~ 45 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 (2009)
low:
102.6  fps      Compare
high:
80.1  fps      Compare
ultra:
75.7 80 ~ 78 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Need for Speed Shift
Need for Speed Shift (2009)
low:
89.2  fps      Compare
med.:
53.5 64.3 ~ 59 fps      Compare
high:
56.6  fps      Compare
ultra:
52.2 54.1 64.6 ~ 57 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Colin McRae: DIRT 2
Colin McRae: DIRT 2 (2009)
low:
95.2 115 ~ 105 fps      Compare
med.:
93.9 94.7 ~ 94 fps      Compare
high:
73.2  fps      Compare
ultra:
47.7 49.3 50.3 ~ 49 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Anno 1404
Anno 1404 (2009)
low:
133.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
82.2  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
ArmA 2 (2009): Not playable with a weaker graphics card. - more...
F.E.A.R. 2
F.E.A.R. 2 (2009)
low:
156.5  fps      Compare
med.:
106.3  fps      Compare
high:
101.1  fps      Compare
ultra:
85 86.8 ~ 86 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
GTA IV - Grand Theft Auto (2008): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead (2008)
low:
157.3  fps      Compare
high:
120.5  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 (2008)
low:
120.9  fps      Compare
high:
91.4  fps      Compare
ultra:
57.2 61.6 ~ 59 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Crysis Warhead (2008): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings low. - more...
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare
Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare (2007)
low:
188.5 312.9 ~ 251 fps      Compare
med.:
117 203.1 ~ 160 fps      Compare
high:
103.4  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Supreme Commander - FA Bench (2007): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...
Crysis - GPU Benchmark
Crysis - GPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
107.6  fps      Compare
med.:
67.6  fps      Compare
high:
57.9 76.7 ~ 67 fps      Compare
ultra:
24.6 25 ~ 25 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Crysis - CPU Benchmark
Crysis - CPU Benchmark (2007)
low:
137.5  fps      Compare
med.:
65.5  fps      Compare
high:
55.8 74.1 ~ 65 fps      Compare
ultra:
22.8 23.3 ~ 23 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
World in Conflict - Benchmark (2007): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings ultra. - more...
Call of Juarez Benchmark
Call of Juarez Benchmark (2006)
high:
81.3 83.3 ~ 82 fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark
Half Life 2 - Lost Coast Benchmark (2005)
high:
204.8  fps      Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
F.E.A.R. (2005): Playable with a weaker graphics card in detail settings high. - more...

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

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", 2.1 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

» 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 480
GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Radeon HD 6870
GeForce GTX 470
Radeon HD 5850
GeForce GTX 460 768MB
Radeon HD 6790
Radeon HD 5770
GeForce GTX 550 Ti
GeForce GTS 450
Radeon HD 4850
Radeon HD 5670
Class 2
GeForce GT 240
GeForce GT 430
Radeon HD 5570
Radeon HD 7650M
Radeon HD 7570M *
Radeon HD 7630M
Radeon HD 6550D *
Radeon HD 7550M *
GeForce GT 220
Radeon HD 7530M *
Radeon HD 7490M *
Radeon HD 7510M *
Radeon HD 6450 GDDR5
Class 3
Radeon HD 4350
GeForce G 107M *
Chrome9HD *
Radeon HD 7340 *
Radeon HD 7310 *
Class 4
Class 5
Class 6
SGX543MP2 *
Mali-400 MP *
PowerVR SGX540 *
PowerVR SGX535
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: 2012-01-25)