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.

Manufacturer

AMD

Radeon HD 6900M Series

Radeon HD 6990M Crossfire	2240 @ 715 MHz	256 Bit @ 900 MHz
Radeon HD 6970M Crossfire	1920 @ 680 MHz	256 Bit @ 900 MHz
Radeon HD 6990M	1120 @ 715 MHz	256 Bit @ 900 MHz
Radeon HD 6970M	960 @ 680 MHz	256 Bit @ 900 MHz
Radeon HD 6950M	960 @ 580 MHz	256 Bit @ 900 MHz

Codename

Blackcomb XT

Architecture

Terascale 2

Pipelines

960 - unified

Core Speed *

680 MHz

Memory Speed *

900 MHz

Memory Bus Width

256 Bit

Memory Type

GDDR5

Max. Amount of Memory

2048 MB

Shared Memory

DirectX

DirectX 11, Shader 5.0

Power Consumption

75-100 Watt

Transistors

1700 Million

technology

40 nm

Notebook Size

large

Date of Announcement

06.01.2011

Link to Manufacturer Page

http://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

100%

min: 2774 avg: 2821.3 (6%) median: 2818.5 (6%) max: 2874 points

+ 4 benchmarks and specifications - Hide comparison chart

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 3600

...

Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 -2%

AMD Radeon R7 250 -2%

NVIDIA GeForce GT 755M -1%

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB 0%

AMD Radeon R8 M365DX 0%

AMD Radeon HD 6970M

AMD Radeon HD 6790 2%

NVIDIA Quadro M600M 3%

AMD Radeon HD 8870M 4%

AMD FirePro M5100 5%

NVIDIA GeForce 845M 5%

...

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 SLI (Laptop) 1463%

100%

3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720

100%

min: 2983 avg: 3066 (11%) median: 3054 (11%) max: 3143 points

+ 5 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

3DMark Vantage
P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024 +

P Result 1280x1024 +

3DMark 06 +

3DMark 05 - Standard 1024x768

100%

min: 18890 avg: 21991.3 (47%) median: 22213 (48%) max: 24871 Points

+ 3 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

3DMark 03 - Standard 1024x768

100%

min: 53658 avg: 56455.7 (31%) median: 56921 (31%) max: 58788 Points

+ 3 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

Unigine Heaven 2.1 - high, Tesselation (normal), DirectX11 1280x1024

100%

min: 33 avg: 33.3 (15%) median: 33.2 (15%) max: 33.7 fps

+ 3 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

PCMark Vantage - Gaming Score 1024x768

100%

min: 8149 avg: 9809.3 (32%) median: 10260 (34%) max: 11019 Points

+ 3 benchmarks and specifications + Show comparison chart

SPECviewperf 11
Siemens NX 1920x1080 +

Tcvis 1920x1080 +

SolidWorks 1920x1080 +

Pro/ENGINEER 1920x1080 +

Maya 1920x1080 +

Lightwave 1920x1080 +

Ensight 1920x1080 +

Catia 1920x1080 +

Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit +

Cinebench R10 Shading 32Bit +

Windows 7 Experience Index - Gaming graphics

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

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

2012

61.9 fps + Compare

64.7 fps + Compare

35.1 fps + Compare

26.7 fps + Compare

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Dirt Showdown

2012

76.6 fps + Compare

64.2 fps + Compare

59.5 fps + Compare

30.3 fps + Compare

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Diablo III

2012

193.4 fps + Compare

132.1 fps + Compare

89.4 fps + Compare

64.6 fps + Compare

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.

Risen 2: Dark Waters

2012

95.1 fps + Compare

72.2 fps + Compare

52.9 fps + Compare

24.3 fps + Compare

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.

Mass Effect 3

2012

60 fps + Compare

59.3 fps + Compare

54.1 fps + Compare

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.

Alan Wake

2012

87 fps + Compare

55 fps + Compare

27.2 fps + Compare

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..

Star Wars: The Old Republic

2011

70 fps + Compare

53 fps + Compare

43.5 fps + Compare

» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.

Anno 2070

2011

207.8 ^fps fps + Compare

97.1 ^fps fps + Compare

58.6 ^fps fps + Compare

29.7 ^fps fps + Compare

Model	CPU	Memory	Core / Memory	GPU Memory	Value
M17x (Alienware0006)	2630QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB DDR5, dodatkowo Intel HD Graphics 3000 8.800.6.0	2774
W860CU Cougar	740QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB 256 8.800.0.0	2803
Racer	2720QM	8192 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5 8.810.0.0	2834
700G7A	2630QM	16384 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5-VRAM Catalyst 11.10	2874

Model	CPU	Memory	Core / Memory	GPU Memory	Value
W860CU Cougar	740QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB 256 8.800.0.0	2983
M17x (Alienware0006)	2630QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB DDR5, dodatkowo Intel HD Graphics 3000 8.800.6.0	3030
EUROCOM Panther 2.0	980X EE	12288 MB			3054
Racer	2720QM	8192 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5 8.810.0.0	3120
700G7A	2630QM	16384 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5-VRAM Catalyst 11.10	3143

Model	CPU	Memory	Core / Memory	GPU Memory	Value
M17x (Alienware0006)	2630QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB DDR5, dodatkowo Intel HD Graphics 3000 8.800.6.0	10895
700G7A	2630QM	16384 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5-VRAM Catalyst 11.10	11497
Racer	2720QM	8192 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5 8.810.0.0	11501
W860CU Cougar	740QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB 256 8.800.0.0	11645

Model	CPU	Memory	Core / Memory	GPU Memory	Value
W860CU Cougar	740QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB 256 8.800.0.0	11091
Eurocom W870C Cheetah	840QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	GDDR5 8.80Beta	11351
Eurocom W860C Cougar	840QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	GDDR5 8.80Beta	11371
Eurocom X8100 Leopard	940XM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	GDDR5 8.80Beta	11771
M17x (Alienware0006)	2630QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB DDR5, dodatkowo Intel HD Graphics 3000 8.800.6.0	12025
700G7A	2630QM	16384 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5-VRAM Catalyst 11.10	12585
Racer	2720QM	8192 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5 8.810.0.0	12838
EUROCOM Panther 2.0	980X EE	12288 MB			13412

Model	CPU	Memory	Core / Memory	GPU Memory	Value

Alienware M17x Pre-Sample	2720QM	4096 MB			20155
Standard 1280x1024
W860CU Cougar	740QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB 256 8.800.0.0	14047
Eurocom W860C Cougar	840QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	GDDR5 8.80Beta	15809
Eurocom W870C Cheetah	840QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	GDDR5 8.80Beta	15840
Eurocom X8100 Leopard	940XM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	GDDR5 8.80Beta	17260
700G7A	2630QM	16384 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5-VRAM Catalyst 11.10	17634
M17x (Alienware0006)	2630QM	4096 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB DDR5, dodatkowo Intel HD Graphics 3000 8.800.6.0	17642
Racer	2720QM	8192 MB	680 / 900 MHz	2048MB GDDR5 8.810.0.0	19382
EUROCOM Panther 2.0	980X EE	12288 MB			19907