Contents:HighlightsSummaryGaming PerformanceBenchmark PerformanceTechnical SpecsRelated ComparisonsRelated GPUs
Performance
GeForce GTX 970138% better
16,03315% of 104,598
Radeon 660M
6,7436% of 104,598
The GeForce GTX 970 has 138% better performance than the Radeon 660M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.
Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970
48.7330% of 161.45
Radeon 660M
No data available
The GeForce GTX 970 has 30% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: AMD Radeon RX 7600.
Shop GeForce GTX 970
Shop Radeon 660M
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Summary
#
About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 GPU
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q3 2014 with a MSRP of $329. It is built on the Maxwell 2.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename GM204) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.
Memory
The GTX 970 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,753 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 224.4 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 970 includes 1,664 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,050 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,178 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 104 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 56 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.
Compatibility & Power Consumption
The GTX 970 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 300 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 148 W.
Benchmark Performance & Value
The GTX 970 has the 138th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 15.33% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 16,033 score and $329 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 48.73. This is the 66th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.
About the AMD Radeon 660M GPU
The AMD Radeon 660M is a mobile graphics card that launched in Q1 2022. It is built on the RDNA 2.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Rembrandt) and is manufactured on a 6 nm process.
Cores and Clock Speeds
The 660M includes 384 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,500 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,900 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 24 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 16 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing. Additionally, the GPU features 6 ray accelerators dedicated to real-time ray tracing calculations.
Compatibility & Power Consumption
The GPU has a thermal design power (TDP) of 40 W. A power supply not strong enough to handle this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.
Benchmark Performance
The 660M has the 223rd best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 6.45% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
General Info
General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.
| Info | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | NVIDIA | AMD |
| Architecture | Maxwell 2.0 | RDNA 2.0 |
| Market Segment | Desktop | Mobile |
| Release Date | Q3 2014 | Q1 2022 |
| Launch Price (MSRP) | $329 | -- |
| Production Status | End-of-life | Active |
| Shop | Check Price | Check Price |
Gaming Performance
#
Select a game to compare FPS metrics
F1 24
Sons of the Forest
Baldur's Gate 3
F1 23
Riders Republic
Diablo 4
Far Cry 6
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
F1 24 | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| Low - 1080p | -- | 35 FPS |
| Medium - 1080p | -- | 30 FPS |
| High - 1080p | -- | 23 FPS |
| Ultra - 1080p | -- | 6 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 970 orRadeon 660M
| GPU | Frames Per Second | |
|---|---|---|
| GeForce MX450 | 13.4 | +139% |
| Radeon 680M | 7.41 | +32% |
| Radeon 660M | 5.6 | |
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 970 orRadeon 660M
| GPU | Cost Per Frame | |
|---|---|---|
| Our database does not have enough data to compare the FPS per dollar with other GPUs. | ||
Benchmark Performance
#
Performance
GeForce GTX 970138% better
16,03315% of 104,598
Radeon 660M
6,7436% of 104,598
The GeForce GTX 970 has 138% better performance than the Radeon 660M for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.
The GeForce GTX 970 is ranked 138th with a score of 16,033, and the Radeon 660M is ranked 223rd with a score of 6,743.
Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970
48.7330% of 161.45
Radeon 660M
No data available
The GeForce GTX 970 has 74% of the performance per dollar compared to the leader for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090.
GeForce GTX 970's 48.73 performance per dollar ranks it 66th among the other benchmarked GPUs in our database.
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 970 or
| GPU | Benchmark Performance | |
|---|---|---|
| Radeon R9 Nano | 17,282 | +8% |
| Radeon R9 290X | 16,167.5 | +1% |
| GeForce GTX 970 | 16,033 | |
| GeForce GTX 780 Ti | 15,619 | -3% |
| GeForce GTX 1650 | 13,645 | -15% |
| Radeon R9 M290X | 6,817 | -57% |
| Radeon Pro 460 | 6,749 | -58% |
| Radeon 660M | 6,743 | -58% |
| GeForce GTX 680MX (Mac Edition) | 6,736 | -58% |
| GeForce MX350 | 6,166 | -62% |
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 970 orRadeon 660M
| GPU | Performance Per Dollar | |
|---|---|---|
| GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB) | 58.2 | +19% |
| Radeon R7 370 | 57.17 | +17% |
| Radeon VII | 54.19 | +11% |
| GeForce GTX 960 | 54.11 | +11% |
| GeForce GTX 950 | 52.52 | +8% |
| GeForce GTX 970 | 48.73 | |
| Radeon R9 390X | 41.83 | -14% |
| Radeon R9 280X | 36.09 | -26% |
| GeForce GTX 980 Ti | 35.53 | -27% |
| GeForce GTX 980 | 32.07 | -34% |
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
| Benchmark | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| 3DMark Time Spy Graphics | 3,544 (+129.53%) | 1,544 |
| 3DMark Time Spy Score | 3,693 (+115.4%) | 1,714.5 |
| 3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics | 72,819 (+131.07%) | 31,514.5 |
| 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics | 11,954 (+146.58%) | 4,848 |
| 3DMark 11 Performance Score | 13,249 (+87.48%) | 7,067 |
| Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit | 141.6 (+16.74%) | 121.3 |
| PassMark G3D Mark | 9,638 | -- |
| PassMark G2D Mark | 767 | -- |
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck
Technical Specs
#
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.
| Spec | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| Codename | GM204 | Rembrandt |
| Architecture | Maxwell 2.0 | RDNA 2.0 |
| Process Size | 28 nm | 6 nm |
| Transistors | 5,200 million | 13,100 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.
| Spec | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| Memory Size | 4 GB | System Shared |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 | System Shared |
| Memory Bandwidth | 224.4 Gb/s | System Dependent |
| Memory Clock | 1,753 MHz | System Shared |
| Memory Interface | 256 bit | System Shared |
| L1 Cache | 48 KB | 128 KB |
| L2 Cache | 2 MB | 2 MB |
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.
| Spec | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| Slots | 2 slots | -- |
| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |
| Thermal Design Power (TDP) | 148 W | 40 W |
| Suggested PSU | 300 W | -- |
| Power Connectors | 2x 6-pin | -- |
| Outputs | DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 | Device Dependent |
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.
| Spec | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| Stream Processors (SP) | -- | 384 |
| CUDA Cores | 1,664 | -- |
| Compute Units (CU) | -- | 6 |
| Texture Mapping Units (TMU) | 104 | 24 |
| Render Output Units (ROP) | 56 | 16 |
| Ray Accelerators | -- | 6 |
| Core Clock Speed | 1,050 MHz | 1,500 MHz |
| Core Clock Speed (Boost) | 1,178 MHz | 1,900 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.
| Spec | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| Pixel Fill Rate | 65.97 GPixel/s | 30.4 GPixel/s |
| Texture Fill Rate | 122.5 GTexel/s | 45.6 GTexel/s |
| FP32 Performance | 3.92 TFLOPS | 1,459 GFLOPS |
| FP64 Performance | 122.5 GFLOPS | 91.2 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.
| Spec | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon 660M |
|---|---|---|
| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |
| OpenCL | 3.0 | 2.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |
| Shader Model | 6.8 | 6.8 |
Check out these comparisons for similar GPUs:
Looking for alternatives? Check out these similar GPUs:
* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.