Radeon HD 7970 vs GeForce GTX 770

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 770 and Radeon HD 7970, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 770
2013
2 GB GDDR5, 230 Watt
13.28
+13%

GTX 770 outperforms HD 7970 by a moderate 13% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking362395
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.742.13
Power efficiency4.583.72
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)GCN 1.0 (2012−2020)
GPU code nameGK104Tahiti
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date30 May 2013 (11 years ago)9 January 2012 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$399 $549

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

GTX 770 has 76% better value for money than HD 7970.

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores15362048
Core clock speed1046 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1085 MHz925 MHz
Number of transistors3,540 million4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)230 Watt300 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature98 °Cno data
Texture fill rate138.9118.4
Floating-point processing power3.333 TFLOPS3.789 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs128128

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.0PCIe 2.1 x16
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length267 mm275 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Minimum recommended system power600 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB6 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed1753 MHz1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth224.3 GB/s264 GB/s
Shared memoryno data-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort1x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 2x mini-DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
Eyefinity-+
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

CrossFire-+
FreeSync-+
Blu Ray 3D+-
3D Gaming+-
3D Vision+-
PhysX+-
3D Vision Live+-

API and SDK compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (11_0)DirectX® 11
Shader Model5.16.5 (5.1)
OpenGL4.34.6
OpenCL1.22.1 (1.2)
Vulkan1.1.126-
CUDA+-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score.

GTX 770 13.28
+13%
HD 7970 11.75

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 770 5934
+13.1%
HD 7970 5248

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 770 8150
+18.8%
HD 7970 6862

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

GTX 770 1078
+9.4%
HD 7970 985

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p110−120
+4.8%
105
−4.8%
Full HD100−110
+7.5%
93
−7.5%

Cost per frame, $

1080p3.99
+48%
5.90
−48%
  • GTX 770 has 48% lower cost per frame in 1080p

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Fortnite 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 212
+0%
212
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Dota 2 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Fortnite 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Metro Exodus 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Dota 2 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Metro Exodus 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Valorant 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Valorant 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Dota 2 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Hogwarts Legacy 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

This is how GTX 770 and HD 7970 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 770 is 5% faster in 900p
  • GTX 770 is 8% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 66 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 13.28 11.75
Recency 30 May 2013 9 January 2012
Maximum RAM amount 2 GB 6 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 230 Watt 300 Watt

GTX 770 has a 13% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and 30.4% lower power consumption.

HD 7970, on the other hand, has a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The GeForce GTX 770 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7970 in performance tests.

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
GeForce GTX 770
AMD Radeon HD 7970
Radeon HD 7970

Other comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


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