NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs AMD Radeon R9 380

VS
Performance
GeForce GTX 97032% better
16,03315% of 104,598
Radeon R9 380
12,19112% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 970 has 32% better performance than the Radeon R9 380 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970
48.7330% of 161.45
Radeon R9 38026% better
61.2638% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 380 has 26% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Shop GeForce GTX 970
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Summary

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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 R9 380 GPU

The AMD Radeon R9 380 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q2 2015 with a MSRP of $199. It is built on the GCN 3.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Antigua) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The R9 380 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,375 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 176 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 R9 380 includes 1,792 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 970 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 112 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 32 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The R9 380 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 190 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The R9 380 has the 160th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 11.66% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 12,191 score and $199 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 61.26. This is the 53rd 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 970Radeon R9 380
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0GCN 3.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ3 2014Q2 2015
Launch Price (MSRP)$329$199
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

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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 970Radeon R9 380
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 1080p
74 FPS
--
High - 1080p
49 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
37 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 R9 380

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 R9 380
GPUCost Per Frame
Radeon RX 5906.63-26%
GeForce RTX 20706.84-24%
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)7.67-14%
Radeon RX Vega 648.59-4%
Radeon VII8.86-1%
GeForce GTX 9708.96
GeForce GTX 980 Ti12.18+36%

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GTX 97032% better
16,03315% of 104,598
Radeon R9 380
12,19112% of 104,598

The GeForce GTX 970 has 32% better performance than the Radeon R9 380 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 970 is ranked 138th with a score of 16,033, and the Radeon R9 380 is ranked 160th with a score of 12,191.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970
48.7330% of 161.45
Radeon R9 38026% better
61.2638% of 161.45

The Radeon R9 380 has 26% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 970 is ranked 66th with a performance per dollar of 48.73, and the Radeon R9 380 is ranked 53rd with a performance per dollar of 61.26.

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
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)17,401+9%
Radeon R9 Nano17,282+8%
Radeon R9 290X16,167.5+1%
GeForce GTX 97016,033
GeForce GTX 780 Ti15,619-3%
GeForce GTX 165013,645-15%
Radeon R9 38012,191-24%
Radeon R9 280X10,792-33%
GeForce GTX 96010,767.5-33%
GeForce GTX 68010,216.5-36%

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 or
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
GeForce RTX 206077.83+60%
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti68.01+40%
Radeon R9 38061.26+26%
GeForce GT 103059.84+23%
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)58.2+19%
GeForce GTX 96054.11+11%
GeForce GTX 95052.52+8%
GeForce GTX 97048.73
Radeon R9 390X41.83-14%
Radeon R9 280X36.09-26%

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 970Radeon R9 380
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
3,544
--
3DMark Time Spy Score
3,693
--
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
72,819
(+43.56%)
50,723
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
11,954
(+45.46%)
8,218
3DMark 11 Performance Score
13,249
(+17.62%)
11,264
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
141.6
--
PassMark G3D Mark
9,638
(+57.05%)
6,137
PassMark G2D Mark
767
(+16.04%)
661
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 970Radeon R9 380
CodenameGM204Antigua
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0GCN 3.0
Process Size28 nm28 nm
Transistors5,200 million5,000 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 970Radeon R9 380
Memory Size4 GB2 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth224.4 Gb/s176 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,753 MHz1,375 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit256 bit
L1 Cache48 KB16 KB
L2 Cache2 MB512 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 970Radeon R9 380
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)148 W190 W
Suggested PSU300 W450 W
Power Connectors2x 6-pin2x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2DVI, HDMI 1.4a, 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 970Radeon R9 380
Stream Processors (SP)--1,792
CUDA Cores1,664--
Compute Units (CU)--28
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)104112
Render Output Units (ROP)5632
Core Clock Speed1,050 MHz970 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,178 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 970Radeon R9 380
Pixel Fill Rate65.97 GPixel/s31.04 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate122.5 GTexel/s108.6 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance3.92 TFLOPS3.48 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance122.5 GFLOPS217.3 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 970Radeon R9 380
DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_0)
OpenCL3.02.1
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.86.5

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