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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 is a high end desktop graphics card based on the Maxwell architecture. As the faster GTX 980, the GTX 970 uses the GM204 chip, but with reduced shaders (2048 vs. 1664) and TMUs (128 vs 103). The graphics card is equipped with 4 GB GDDR5 (7 GHz effective). 3.5 GB of the 4 GB are connected with 224 Bit, the rest only with a 32 Bit interface. This can lead to some stuttering or reduced frame rates in games that use the full 4 GB. The similar named mobile GeForce GTX 970M is clearly slower as it features only 1280 shader cores.

Despite the unique memory configuration, the GTX 970 performs on average on par with the older GeForce GTX 780 Ti or a AMD Radeon R9 290X.

The GM204 supports CUDA, 3D Vision, PhysX, GeForce Experience, Surround, GameStream, GPU Boost 2.0, Adaptive Vertical Sync / G-SYNC, SLI, DSR, MFAA and Virtual Reality latency improvements.

The Maxwell architecture is very power efficient. While gaming, the card only uses as much power as the Radeon R9 285 which is more than 35% slower on average.

ManufacturerNVIDIA
GeForce GTX 900 Series
GeForce GTX 980 SLI (Laptop) (compare) 4096 @ 1126 - 1228 (Boost) MHz2x 256 Bit @ 3500 MHz
GeForce GTX 980 Ti (compare) 2816 @ 1000 - 1200 (Boost) MHz256 Bit @ 7000 MHz
GeForce GTX 980 (compare) 2048 @ 1126 - 1216 (Boost) MHz256 Bit @ 3500 MHz
GeForce GTX 980 (Laptop) (compare) 2048 @ 1126 - 1228 (Boost) MHz256 Bit @ 3500 MHz
GeForce GTX 970 1664 @ 1050 - 1178 (Boost) MHz224 + 32 Bit @ 3500 MHz
GeForce GTX 960 (compare) 1024 @ 1127 - 1178 (Boost) MHz128 Bit @ 3500 MHz
GeForce GTX 950 (compare) 768 @ 1024 - 1188 (Boost) MHz128 Bit @ 3300 MHz
CodenameGM204
ArchitectureMaxwell
Pipelines1664 - unified
Core Speed1050 - 1178 (Boost) MHz
Memory Speed3500 MHz
Memory Bus Width224 + 32 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5
Max. Amount of Memory4096 MB
Shared Memoryno
DirectXDirectX 12 (FL 12_1)
Transistor Count5200 Million
technology28 nm
FeaturesCUDA, 3D Vision, PhysX, GeForce Experience, Surround, GameStream, GPU Boost 2.0, Adaptive Vertical Sync, G-SYNC, SLI
Date of Announcement19.09.2014
Link to Manufacturer Pagehttp://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-...

Benchmarks

3DMark - Time Spy Score 2560x1440
3693 Points (35%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Time Spy Graphics 2560x1440
3544 Points (27%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Ice Storm Unlimited Graphics Score 1280x720 offscreen
422295 Points (90%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Cloud Gate Standard Score 1280x720
min: 23657     avg: 25575     median: 25575 (52%)     max: 27493 Points
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Cloud Gate Standard Graphics 1280x720
min: 71472     avg: 72819     median: 72819 (39%)     max: 74166 Points
+ 2 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Fire Strike Score 1920x1080
min: 9399     avg: 9713.3     median: 9434 (35%)     max: 10307 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Fire Strike Graphics 1920x1080
min: 11155     avg: 11801.7     median: 11954 (29%)     max: 12296 Points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark - Ice Storm Standard Graphics 1280x720
321805 Points (43%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark 11 - Performance 1280x720
min: 12033     avg: 13207     median: 13249 (44%)     max: 14339 points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
3DMark 11 - Performance GPU 1280x720
min: 15071     avg: 15780.3     median: 16033 (31%)     max: 16237 points
+ 3 benchmarks and specifications   - Hide comparison chart
3DMark Vantage
P Result 1280x1024 +
P GPU no PhysX 1280x1024 +
3DMark 06 Standard 1280x1024 +
Unigine Valley 1.0 - Extreme HD DirectX 1920x1080
59.1 fps (41%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit +
Cinebench R15
OpenGL 64Bit +
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7
T-Rex HD Offscreen C24Z16 1920x1080 +
GFXBench 3.0 - Manhattan Offscreen OGL off screen
396 fps (72%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit - Room GPUs-only
1874 Samples/s (35%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
LuxMark v2.0 64Bit - Sala GPUs-only
3020 Samples/s (29%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
ComputeMark v2.1 - Normal, Score 1024x600
8549 Points (38%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Power Consumption - FurMark 1.19 GPU Stress Test - Power Consumption (external Monitor) 1280x720 *
316 Watt (84%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
Power Consumption - The Witcher 3 Power Consumption (external Monitor) ultra 1920x1080 *
267 Watt (63%)
+ 1 benchmarks and specifications   + Show comparison chart
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance

Game Benchmarks

The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailled information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.

Final Fantasy XV Benchmark

Final Fantasy XV Benchmark

2018
low 1280x720
101  fps    + Compare
med. 1920x1080
55.3  fps    + Compare
high 1920x1080
35.6  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
12.8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Fortnite

Fortnite

2018
high 1920x1080
82  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
60  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
22  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Star Wars Battlefront 2

Star Wars Battlefront 2

2017
ultra 1920x1080
66  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
9.4  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Need for Speed Payback

Need for Speed Payback

2017
ultra 1920x1080
76  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
24.8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)

2017
ultra 1920x1080
52.1  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
17.8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Dirt 4

Dirt 4

2017
ultra 1920x1080
46.5  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
28.6  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Rocket League

Rocket League

2017
high 1920x1080
126  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
60.8  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
Mass Effect Andromeda

Mass Effect Andromeda

2017
high 1920x1080
56.9  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
50.5  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
20.2  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
Ghost Recon Wildlands

Ghost Recon Wildlands

2017
low 1280x720
138  fps    + Compare
med. 1920x1080
70.5  fps    + Compare
high 1920x1080
64.5  fps    + Compare
ultra 1920x1080
33.8  fps    + Compare
3840x2160
22.1  fps    + Compare
» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
For Honor

For Honor

2017
3840x2160
31.8  fps    + Compare
Additional Benchmarks
Extreme Preset 16xAF TAA 3840x2160
21.8
Resident Evil 7

Resident Evil 7

2017
ultra 1920x1080
88  fps    + Compare