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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 graphics card review. Benchmark and Specs

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 graphics card (also called GPU) comes in 99 in the performance rating. It is a good result. The graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 runs with the minimal clock speed 1050 MHz. It is featured by the acceleration option and able to run up to 1178 MHz. The manufacturer has equipped NVIDIA with GB of 4 GB memory, clock speed 7.0 GB/s and bandwidth 224 GB/s.

The power consumption of the graphics card is 148 Watt, and the fabrication process is only 28 nm. Below you will find the main data on the compatibility, sizes, technologies and gaming performance test results. Also you can read and leave the comments.

Let's take a closer look at the most important specifications of the graphics card. To have a good idea what a graphics card is the best, we recommend to use comparison service.

4.2 Out of 403 Hitesti score

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General info

The basic set of information will help you find out the graphics card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 release date and its purpose (laptops or PCs), as well as the price at the time of the release and the average current price. This data also includes the architecture employed by the producer, and the chip’s codename.

Place in performance rating:		132
Value for money (0-100):		27.18
Architecture:		Maxwell
Code name:		GM204
Type:		Desktop
Release date:		19 September 2014 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP):		$329
Price now:		$290 (0.9x MSRP)
Value for money:		34.98
GPU code name:		GM204
Market segment:		Desktop

Technical specs

This is the important information that defines the graphics card’s capacity. The simpler the device production process, the better. The core’s power frequency is responsible for its speed (direct correlation) while the elaboration of signals is performed by the transistors (the more transistors, the faster the computations are carried out).

Pipelines:		1664
Core clock speed:		1050 MHz
Boost Clock:		1178 MHz
Transistor count:		5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology:		28 nm
Power consumption (TDP):		148 Watt
Texture fill rate:		109 billion/sec
Floating-point performance:		3,920 gflops
Maximum GPU temperature:		98 °C
CUDA cores:		1664
Pipelines / CUDA cores:		1664
Boost clock speed:		1178 MHz
Number of transistors:		5,200 million
Thermal design power (TDP):		148 Watt

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Today there are numerous form factors for PC cases, so it is extremely important to know the length of the graphics card and the types of its connection. This will help facilitate the upgrade process.

Interface:		PCIe 3.0 x16
Length:		10.5" (26.7 cm)
Supplementary power connectors:		2x 6-pins
SLI options:		+
Recommended system power (PSU):		500 Watt
Bus support:		PCI Express 3.0
Height:		4.376" (11.1 cm)

Memory

The internal main memory is used for storing data while conducting computations. Contemporary games and professional graphic apps have high requirements for the memory’s volume and capacity. The higher this parameter, the more powerful and fast the graphics card is. Type of memory, the capacity and bandwidth for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.

Memory type:		GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount:		4 GB
Memory bus width:		256 Bit
Memory clock speed:		7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidth:		224 GB/s
Shared memory:		-

Video outputs and ports

As a rule, all contemporary graphics cards feature several connection types and additional ports. Knowing these peculiarities is crucial for avoiding problems with connecting the graphics card to the monitor or other peripheral devices.

Display Connectors:		Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
G-SYNC support:		+
Multi monitor support:		4 displays
HDCP:		+
Maximum VGA resolution:		2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI:		Internal
HDMI:		+

Technologies

Each graphic card manufacturer complements its products with branded technologies that are used both in games and in the working process. Below is the list of peculiar features that you may find rather useful.

3D Vision:		+
GPU Boost:		2.0
CUDA:		+
GeForce Experience:		+
Surround:		+
Adaptive Vertical Sync:		+
GameStream:		+
GeForce ShadowPlay:		+
GameWorks:		+

API support

All API-supported NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 are listed below.

DirectX:		12 (12_1)
OpenGL:		4.4
Vulkan:		1.1.126
Shader Model:		6.4
OpenCL:		1.2

Overall gaming performance

All tests have been based on FPS counter. Let’s have a look on what place NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 has been taken in the gaming performance test (calculation has been made in accordance with the game developer recommendations about system requirements; it can differ from the real world situations).

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Horizon Zero Dawn (2020)

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Death Stranding (2020)

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F1 2020 (2020)

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Gears Tactics (2020)

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Doom Eternal (2020)

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Legend
5	Stutter – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. According to interpolated information obtained from graphics cards of similar efficiency levels, the game is likely to stutter and show low frame rates.
	May Stutter – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. According to interpolated information obtained from graphics cards of similar efficiency levels, the game is likely to stutter and show low frame rates.
30	Fluent – According to all known benchmarks with the specified graphical settings, this game is expected to run at 25fps or more
40	Fluent – According to all known benchmarks with the specified graphical settings, this game is expected to run at 35fps or more
60	Fluent – According to all known benchmarks with the specified graphical settings, this game is expected to run at 58fps or more
	May Run Fluently – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. According to interpolated information obtained from graphics cards of similar efficiency levels, the game is likely to show fluent frame rates.
?	Uncertain – The testing of this graphics cards on this game showed unexpected results. A slower card might be able to produce higher and more consistent frame rates when running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – The performance of this graphics cards with this game is not well explored yet. No reliable data interpolation can be made based on the performance of similar cards of the same category.
The value in the fields reflects the average frame rate across the entire database. To obtain individual results, move your cursor over the value.

AMD equivalent

AMD Radeon R9 Fury Compare

Benchmark

Benchmarks help determine the performance in standard tests for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970. We have listed the world’s most famous benchmarks so that you could obtain accurate results in each (see the description). Graphics card preliminary testing is especially important in the presence of high loads so that the user could see to what extent the graphic processing unit copes with computations and data elaboration.