NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 vs AMD Radeon HD 7970

VS
Performance
GeForce GTX 1070217% better
24,65224% of 104,598
Radeon HD 7970
7,7707% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 1070 has 217% better performance than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 1070360% better
65.0440% of 161.45
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45

The GeForce GTX 1070 has 360% better value for the money than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q2 2016 with a MSRP of $379. It is built on the Pascal GPU microarchitecture (codename GP104) and is manufactured on a 16 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 1070 has 8 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 2,002 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 256.3 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The GTX 1070 includes 1,920 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,506 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,683 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 120 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 64 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GTX 1070 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4a display connections. NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 150 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The GTX 1070 has the 95th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 23.57% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 24,652 score and $379 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 65.04. This is the 50th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GPU

The AMD Radeon HD 7970 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2012 with a MSRP of $549. It is built on the GCN 1.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Tahiti) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The HD 7970 has 3 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,375 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 264 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The HD 7970 includes 2,048 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 925 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 128 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The HD 7970 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 600 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 250 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The HD 7970 has the 211th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 7.43% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 7,770 score and $549 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 14.15. This is the 92nd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitecturePascalGCN 1.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ2 2016Q1 2012
Launch Price (MSRP)$379$549
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Ghost Recon Breakpoint

FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Borderlands 3
Borderlands 3
GeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
Low - 720p
141 FPS
--
Medium - 1080p
106 FPS
--
High - 1080p
75 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
58 FPS
--
QHD - 1440p
40 FPS
--
4K UHD - 2160p
21 FPS
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GTX 1070 orRadeon HD 7970

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GTX 1070 orRadeon HD 7970

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GTX 1070217% better
24,65224% of 104,598
Radeon HD 7970
7,7707% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 1070 has 217% better performance than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 1070 is ranked 95th with a score of 24,652, and the Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 211th with a score of 7,770.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 1070360% better
65.0440% of 161.45
Radeon HD 7970
14.159% of 161.45

The GeForce GTX 1070 has 360% better value for the money than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 1070 is ranked 50th with a performance per dollar of 65.04, and the Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 92nd with a performance per dollar of 14.15.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GTX 1070 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 1070 Ti27,503+12%
GeForce RTX 206027,162.5+10%
GeForce GTX 107024,652
Radeon RX 59023,362.5-5%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti23,057-6%
GeForce GTX 9508,351-66%
GeForce GTX 7607,962-68%
Radeon HD 79707,770-68%
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)6,194-75%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti5,378-78%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:GeForce GTX 1070 or

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
5,896
--
3DMark Time Spy Score
5,679
--
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
106,934
(+144.17%)
43,795
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
18,255
(+166.03%)
6,862
3DMark 11 Performance Score
19,449
(+165.59%)
7,323
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
136
--
PassMark G3D Mark
13,500
(+157.24%)
5,248
PassMark G2D Mark
860
(+16.53%)
738
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
--
77.8
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
CodenameGP104Tahiti
ArchitecturePascalGCN 1.0
Process Size16 nm28 nm
Transistors7,200 million4,313 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
Memory Size8 GB3 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth256.3 Gb/s264 Gb/s
Memory Clock2,002 MHz1,375 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit384 bit
L1 Cache48 KB16 KB
L2 Cache2 MB768 KB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)150 W250 W
Suggested PSU450 W600 W
Power Connectors1x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4aDVI, HDMI 1.4a, mini-DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
Stream Processors (SP)--2,048
CUDA Cores1,920--
Compute Units (CU)--32
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)15--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)120128
Render Output Units (ROP)6432
Core Clock Speed1,506 MHz925 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,683 MHz--

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
Pixel Fill Rate107.7 GPixel/s29.6 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate202 GTexel/s118.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance6.46 TFLOPS3.79 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance202 GFLOPS947.2 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecGeForce GTX 1070Radeon HD 7970
DirectX12 (12_1)12 (11_1)
OpenCL3.02.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.86.5 (5.1)

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.