NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs AMD Radeon RX 470

VS
Performance
GeForce GTX 970
16,03315% of 104,598
Radeon RX 47010% better
17,624.517% of 104,598

The Radeon RX 470 has 10% better performance than the GeForce GTX 970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970
48.7330% of 161.45
Radeon RX 470102% better
98.4661% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 102% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Shop GeForce GTX 970
Shop Radeon RX 470
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 RX 470 GPU

The AMD Radeon RX 470 is a desktop graphics card that launched in Q3 2016 with a MSRP of $179. It is built on the GCN 4.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename Ellesmere) and is manufactured on a 14 nm process.

Memory

The RX 470 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,650 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 211.2 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 RX 470 includes 2,048 stream processors (SPs), the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 926 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,206 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 RX 470 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display connections. AMD recommends a power supply of at least 300 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 120 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The RX 470 has the 126th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 16.85% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 17,624.5 score and $179 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 98.46. This is the 16th 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 RX 470
ManufacturerNVIDIAAMD
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0GCN 4.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ3 2014Q3 2016
Launch Price (MSRP)$329$179
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeActive
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

#

Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for F1 2020
F1 2020
Display FPS for Borderlands 3
Borderlands 3
Display FPS for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Display FPS for FIFA 20
FIFA 20
Display FPS for Control
Control
Display FPS for F1 2019
F1 2019
Display FPS for Dirt Rally 2.0
Dirt Rally 2.0

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 F1 2020
F1 2020
GeForce GTX 970Radeon RX 470
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 1080p
--
--
High - 1080p
--
--
Ultra - 1080p
--
74 FPS
QHD - 1440p
--
53 FPS
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 RX 470

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 RX 470

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GTX 970
16,03315% of 104,598
Radeon RX 47010% better
17,624.517% of 104,598

The Radeon RX 470 has 10% better performance than the GeForce GTX 970 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 970 is ranked 138th with a score of 16,033, and the Radeon RX 470 is ranked 126th with a score of 17,624.5.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 970
48.7330% of 161.45
Radeon RX 470102% better
98.4661% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 470 has 102% 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 RX 470 is ranked 16th with a performance per dollar of 98.46.

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
Radeon R9 390X17,944+12%
Radeon RX 48017,919+12%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5+10%
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5+10%
Radeon R9 FURY17,543+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%

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 GTX 1650 SUPER114.62+135%
Radeon RX 570112.23+130%
Radeon RX 47098.46+102%
GeForce GTX 166096.18+97%
GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER95.98+97%
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 RX 470
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
3,544
3,624
(+2.26%)
3DMark Time Spy Score
3,693
3,756
(+1.71%)
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
72,819
(+6.34%)
68,475
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
11,954
(+0.58%)
11,884.5
3DMark 11 Performance Score
13,249
13,831.5
(+4.4%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
141.6
--
PassMark G3D Mark
9,638
(+20.41%)
8,004
PassMark G2D Mark
767
(+5.07%)
730
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.

SpecGeForce GTX 970Radeon RX 470
CodenameGM204Ellesmere
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0GCN 4.0
Process Size28 nm14 nm
Transistors5,200 million5,700 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 RX 470
Memory Size4 GB4 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth224.4 Gb/s211.2 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,753 MHz1,650 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit256 bit
L1 Cache48 KB16 KB
L2 Cache2 MB2 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 970Radeon RX 470
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)148 W120 W
Suggested PSU300 W300 W
Power Connectors2x 6-pin1x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a

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 RX 470
Stream Processors (SP)--2,048
CUDA Cores1,664--
Compute Units (CU)--32
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)104128
Render Output Units (ROP)5632
Core Clock Speed1,050 MHz926 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,178 MHz1,206 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 RX 470
Pixel Fill Rate65.97 GPixel/s38.59 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate122.5 GTexel/s154.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance3.92 TFLOPS4.94 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance122.5 GFLOPS308.7 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 RX 470
DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_0)
OpenCL3.02.1
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.86.7

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.