Radeon HD 6870 vs Radeon R9 270X

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon R9 270X, which makes use of a 28 nm design. AMD has set the core frequency at 1000 MHz. The GDDR5 memory runs at a frequency of 1400 MHz on this specific model. It features 1280 SPUs as well as 80 Texture Address Units and 32 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Benchmarks

These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score

Radeon R9 270X		6590 points
Radeon HD 6870		2870 points
	Difference: 3720 (130%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

Radeon HD 6870		151 Watts
Radeon R9 270X		180 Watts
	Difference: 29 Watts (19%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the Radeon R9 270X should theoretically be quite a bit better than the Radeon HD 6870 overall. (explain)

Radeon R9 270X		179200 MB/sec
Radeon HD 6870		134400 MB/sec
	Difference: 44800 (33%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon R9 270X is much (more or less 59%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 6870. (explain)

Radeon R9 270X		80000 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 6870		50400 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 29600 (59%)

Pixel Rate

The Radeon R9 270X is a little bit (more or less 11%) better at FSAA than the Radeon HD 6870, and also will be able to handle higher resolutions more effectively. (explain)

Radeon R9 270X		32000 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 6870		28800 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 3200 (11%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the largest amount of information (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface in a second. The number is calculated by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the card's memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum number of texture map elements (texels) that are applied in one second. This figure is worked out by multiplying the total number of texture units by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in a second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is worked out by multiplying the amount of ROPs by the the core clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel output rate also depends on quite a few other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.