NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
VS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
VS
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

General info

The general info section in the graphics cards comparison list contains information about the date of release, type, overall rating and other useful data for identifying winner between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB  vs  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.

136
Place in performance rating
132
58.53
Value for money (0-100)
27.18
Pascal
Architecture
Maxwell
GP106
Code name
GM204
Desktop
Type
Desktop
18 August 2016 (5 years ago)
Release date
19 September 2014 (7 years ago)
$199
Launch price (MSRP)
$329
$441 (2.2x MSRP)
Price now
$290 (0.9x MSRP)
30.53
Value for money
34.98
GP106
GPU code name
GM204
Desktop
Market segment
Desktop

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB  vs  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 in the fabrication process, power consumption, and also base and turbo frequency of the GPU is the most important part containing in the graphics cards hierarchy.

1152
Pipelines
1664
1506 MHz
Core clock speed
1050 MHz
1708 MHz
Boost Clock
1178 MHz
4,400 million
Transistor count
5,200 million
16 nm
Manufacturing process technology
28 nm
120 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
148 Watt
123.0
Texture fill rate
109 billion/sec
3,935 gflops
Floating-point performance
3,920 gflops
no data
Maximum GPU temperature
98 °C
no data
CUDA cores
1664
1152
Pipelines / CUDA cores
1664
1708 MHz
Boost clock speed
1178 MHz
4,400 million
Number of transistors
5,200 million
120 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)
148 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

PCIe 3.0 x16
Interface
PCIe 3.0 x16
250 mm
Length
10.5" (26.7 cm)
1x 6-pin
Supplementary power connectors
2x 6-pins
no data
SLI options
+
no data
Recommended system power (PSU)
500 Watt
no data
Bus support
PCI Express 3.0
no data
Height
4.376" (11.1 cm)

Memory

Graphics cards memory plays important role both in gaming and in applications for graphics. The card will perform much quicker and better, if it has more memory capacity and right memory type. What is the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.

GDDR5
Memory type
GDDR5
3 GB
Maximum RAM amount
4 GB
192 Bit
Memory bus width
256 Bit
8008 MHz
Memory clock speed
7.0 GB/s
192.2 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
224 GB/s
no data
Shared memory
-

Video outputs and ports

Let’s find out the difference in extra ports between two graphics cards. What's the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.

1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Display Connectors
Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
no data
G-SYNC support
+
no data
Multi monitor support
4 displays
no data
HDCP
+
no data
Maximum VGA resolution
2048x1536
no data
Audio input for HDMI
Internal
+
HDMI
+

Technologies

Let’s have a look what is the difference. It is worthwhile to note that NVIDIA and AMD are using different technologies.

no data
3D Vision
+
no data
GPU Boost
2.0
no data
CUDA
+
no data
GeForce Experience
+
no data
Surround
+
no data
Adaptive Vertical Sync
+
no data
GameStream
+
no data
GeForce ShadowPlay
+
no data
GameWorks
+

API support

The confrontation between the two contenders NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 is practically over. The hardware support (API) does not greatly affect the overall performance, it is not considered in synthetic benchmarks and other performance tests. 

12 (12_1)
DirectX
12 (12_1)
4.6
OpenGL
4.4
+
Vulkan
1.1.126
no data
Shader Model
6.4
no data
OpenCL
1.2

Gaming performance

Select form the list the required name to identify gaming performance for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 graphics cards. The result shows how fast the game will run and whether it can be run on this computer. The different monitor resolutions – from low to 4K – are used for testing. Find out is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 good for gaming.


low
1280x720
med.
1920x1080
high
1920x1080
ultra
1920x1080
QHD
2560x1440
4K
3840x2160
Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Death Stranding (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
F1 2020 (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Gears Tactics (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Doom Eternal (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Legend
5 Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
? Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Advantages of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB

1.6% faster in synthetic tests

Finer manufacturing process technology (16 nm vs 28 nm)

Less power consumption (120 Watt vs 148 Watt)

Advantages of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

Cheaper ($290 (0.9x MSRP) vs $441 (2.2x MSRP))

More pipelines (1664 vs 1152)

More maximum RAM amount (4 GB vs 3 GB)

More memory bandwidth (224 GB/s vs 192.2 GB/s)

G-SYNC support

So, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970?

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, we recommend NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB .

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB versus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 performance benchmarks comparison

Overall benchmark performance

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Ice Storm GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Ice Storm GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Unigine Heaven 4.0

Benchmark Unigine Heaven 4.0: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Unigine Heaven 4.0 test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Score

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Score: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Score test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

Benchmark 3DMark 11 Performance GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark 11 Performance GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Vantage Performance

Benchmark 3DMark Vantage Performance: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Vantage Performance test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Octane Render OctaneBench

Benchmark Octane Render OctaneBench: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Octane Render OctaneBench test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Passmark

Benchmark Passmark: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Passmark test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

User rating

4.3 Out of 455 Hitesti Score
4.2 Out of 403 Hitesti Score