NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 vs AMD Radeon HD 7970

VS
Performance
GeForce GTX 59018% better
9,166.59% of 104,598
Radeon HD 7970
7,7707% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 590 has 18% better performance than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 590
13.118% of 161.45
Radeon HD 79708% better
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 8% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

#

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q1 2011 with a MSRP of $699. It is built on the Fermi 2.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename GF110) and is manufactured on a 40 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 590 has 1,536 MB of GDDR5 memory, with a 854 MHz memory clock and a 384 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 164 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 590 includes 512 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 64 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 48 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GTX 590 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, mini-DisplayPort display connections. NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 750 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 365 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The GTX 590 has the 188th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 8.76% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 9,166.5 score and $699 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 13.11. This is the 93rd 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 590Radeon HD 7970
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureFermi 2.0GCN 1.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2011Q1 2012
Launch Price (MSRP)$699$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 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 BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite
GeForce GTX 590Radeon HD 7970
Low - 720p
--
199 FPS
Medium - 768p
--
170 FPS
High - 768p
--
151 FPS
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 590 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 590 orRadeon HD 7970
GPUCost Per Frame
GeForce GTX 660 Ti4.75-44%
Radeon R9 Nano4.92-42%
GeForce GTX 780 Ti6.01-30%
Radeon HD 7770 (GHz Edition)6.44-25%
GeForce GTX 6808.05-6%
Radeon HD 79708.54
GeForce GTX 47010.64+25%

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GTX 59018% better
9,166.59% of 104,598
Radeon HD 7970
7,7707% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 590 has 18% better performance than the Radeon HD 7970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 590 is ranked 188th with a score of 9,166.5, and the Radeon HD 7970 is ranked 211th with a score of 7,770.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 590
13.118% of 161.45
Radeon HD 79708% better
14.159% of 161.45

The Radeon HD 7970 has 8% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 590 is ranked 93rd with a performance per dollar of 13.11, 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 590 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 68010,216.5+11%
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti9,453+3%
GeForce GTX 5909,166.5
GeForce GTX 10508,571-6%
Radeon R7 3708,518.5-7%
GeForce GTX 9508,351-9%
GeForce GTX 7607,962-13%
Radeon HD 79707,770-15%
Radeon HD 7870 (GHz Edition)6,194-32%
GeForce GTX 750 Ti5,378-41%

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 590 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 590Radeon HD 7970
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
--
43,795
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
--
6,862
3DMark 11 Performance Score
8,057.5
(+10.03%)
7,323
PassMark G3D Mark
3,341
5,248
(+57.08%)
PassMark G2D Mark
396
738
(+86.36%)
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 590Radeon HD 7970
CodenameGF110Tahiti
ArchitectureFermi 2.0GCN 1.0
Process Size40 nm28 nm
Transistors3,000 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 590Radeon HD 7970
Memory Size1,536 MB3 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth164 Gb/s264 Gb/s
Memory Clock854 MHz1,375 MHz
Memory Interface384 bit384 bit
L1 Cache64 KB16 KB
L2 Cache768 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 590Radeon HD 7970
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)365 W250 W
Suggested PSU750 W600 W
Power Connectors2x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsDVI, mini-DisplayPortDVI, 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 590Radeon HD 7970
Stream Processors (SP)--2,048
CUDA Cores512--
Compute Units (CU)--32
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)16--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)64128
Render Output Units (ROP)4832
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 590Radeon HD 7970
Pixel Fill Rate19.46 GPixel/s29.6 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate38.91 GTexel/s118.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,244 GFLOPS3.79 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance155.5 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 590Radeon 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.