GeForce 256 DDR vs GTX 970

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking215not rated
Place by popularity57not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation13.51no data
Power efficiency11.58no data
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Celsius (1999−2005)
GPU code nameGM204NV10 A3
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date19 September 2014 (10 years ago)23 December 1999 (24 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$329 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores1664no data
Core clock speed1050 MHz120 MHz
Boost clock speed1178 MHzno data
Number of transistors5,200 million17 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm220 nm
Power consumption (TDP)148 Wattno data
Maximum GPU temperature98 °Cno data
Texture fill rate122.50.48
Floating-point processing power3.92 TFLOPSno data
ROPs564
TMUs1044

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 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16AGP 4x
Length267 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot1-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)500 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinNone
SLI options+-

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 typeGDDR5DDR
Maximum RAM amount4 GB32 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s150 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s4.8 GB/s
Shared memory-no 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.21x VGA
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI+-
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC support+-
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)7.0
Shader Model6.4no data
OpenGL4.41.2
OpenCL1.2N/A
Vulkan1.1.126N/A
CUDA+-

Pros & cons summary


Recency 19 September 2014 23 December 1999
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 32 MB
Chip lithography 28 nm 220 nm

GTX 970 has an age advantage of 14 years, a 12700% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 685.7% more advanced lithography process.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce 256 DDR. We've got no test results to judge.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce 256 DDR
GeForce 256 DDR

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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4.2 4804 votes

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3.4 203 votes

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Questions & comments

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