NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 vs AMD Radeon HD 7970

VS
Performance
GeForce GTX 470
4,3424% of 104,598
Radeon HD 797079% better
7,7707% of 104,598

The Radeon HD 7970 has 79% better performance than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 470
12.448% of 161.45
Radeon HD 797014% better
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 14% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

#

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2010 with a MSRP of $349. It is built on the Fermi GPU microarchitecture (codename GF100) and is manufactured on a 40 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 470 has 1,280 MB of GDDR5 memory, with a 837 MHz memory clock and a 320 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 133.9 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 470 includes 448 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 607 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 56 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 40 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GTX 470 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, mini-HDMI 1.3a display connections. NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 550 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 215 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The GTX 470 has the 266th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 4.15% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 4,342 score and $349 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 12.44. This is the 94th 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 470Radeon HD 7970
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureFermiGCN 1.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2010Q1 2012
Launch Price (MSRP)$349$549
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Dota 2 - Reborn
Dota 2 - Reborn
Display FPS for BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
Display FPS for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
CS: GO

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 Dota 2 - Reborn
Dota 2 - Reborn
GeForce GTX 470Radeon HD 7970
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 768p
--
--
High - 1080p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
64 FPS
--
QHD - 1440p
--
--
4K UHD - 2160p
--
--
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 470 orRadeon HD 7970
GPUFrames Per Second
Radeon R9 290X136+113%
Radeon R9 FURY130+103%
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti125+95%
GeForce GTX 1050116+81%
GeForce GTX 165092+44%
GeForce GTX 47064

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 470 orRadeon HD 7970
GPUCost Per Frame
GeForce GTX 16601.23-77%
GeForce GTX 16501.62-70%
Radeon R9 280X2.18-60%
Radeon R9 290X4.04-26%
Radeon R9 FURY4.22-23%
GeForce GTX 4705.45

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GTX 470
4,3424% of 104,598
Radeon HD 797079% better
7,7707% of 104,598

The Radeon HD 7970 has 79% better performance than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 470 is ranked 266th with a score of 4,342, and the Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 211th with a score of 7,770.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 470
12.448% of 161.45
Radeon HD 797014% better
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 14% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 470 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 470 is ranked 94th with a performance per dollar of 12.44, 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 470 or

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 470 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 470Radeon HD 7970
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
25,757
43,795
(+70.03%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
2,757.5
6,862
(+148.85%)
3DMark 11 Performance Score
4,718
7,323
(+55.21%)
PassMark G3D Mark
3,107
5,248
(+68.91%)
PassMark G2D Mark
401
738
(+84.04%)
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 470Radeon HD 7970
CodenameGF100Tahiti
ArchitectureFermiGCN 1.0
Process Size40 nm28 nm
Transistors3,100 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 470Radeon HD 7970
Memory Size1,280 MB3 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth133.9 Gb/s264 Gb/s
Memory Clock837 MHz1,375 MHz
Memory Interface320 bit384 bit
L1 Cache64 KB16 KB
L2 Cache640 KB768 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 470Radeon HD 7970
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)215 W250 W
Suggested PSU550 W600 W
Power Connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDVI, mini-HDMI 1.3aDVI, 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 470Radeon HD 7970
Stream Processors (SP)--2,048
CUDA Cores448--
Compute Units (CU)--32
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)14--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)56128
Render Output Units (ROP)4032
Core Clock Speed607 MHz925 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 470Radeon HD 7970
Pixel Fill Rate17.02 GPixel/s29.6 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate34.05 GTexel/s118.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,089 GFLOPS3.79 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance136.1 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 470Radeon HD 7970
DirectX12 (11_0)12 (11_1)
OpenCL1.12.1 (1.2)
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model5.16.5 (5.1)

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