GeForce GTS 250 vs GTX 970

Place in the ranking	222	976
Place by popularity	60	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	13.67	0.08
Power efficiency	11.66	0.71
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code name	GM204	G92B
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	19 September 2014 (10 years ago)	4 March 2009 (15 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$329	$199

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 970 has 16988% better value for money than GTS 250.

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 cores	1664	128
Core clock speed	1050 MHz	738 MHz
Boost clock speed	1178 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,200 million	754 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	148 Watt	150 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	98 °C	105 °C
Texture fill rate	122.5	44.93
Floating-point processing power	3.92 TFLOPS	0.3871 TFLOPS
ROPs	56	16
TMUs	104	64

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 support	PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	267 mm	229 mm
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)	500 Watt	no data
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1x 6-pin
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 type	GDDR5	GDDR3
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s	1100 MHz
Memory bandwidth	224 GB/s	70.4 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-

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

Supported technologies

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

GameStream	+	-
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	-
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model	6.4	4.0
OpenGL	4.4	3.0
OpenCL	1.2	1.1
Vulkan	1.1.126	N/A
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. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 970 24.74
+1528%

GTS 250 1.52

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 970 9632
+1527%

GTS 250 592

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:

Full HD	80 +1900%	4−5 −1900%
1440p	52 +1633%	3−4 −1633%
4K	40 +1900%	2−3 −1900%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	4.11 +1110%	49.75 −1110%
1440p	6.33 +948%	66.33 −948%
4K	8.23 +1110%	99.50 −1110%

GTX 970 has 1110% lower cost per frame in 1080p
GTX 970 has 948% lower cost per frame in 1440p
GTX 970 has 1110% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +2200%	2−3 −2200%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +1600%	3−4 −1600%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	75−80 +1825%	4−5 −1825%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +2200%	2−3 −2200%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +1600%	3−4 −1600%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +1733%	6−7 −1733%
Forza Horizon 5	65−70 +1550%	4−5 −1550%
Metro Exodus	65−70 +1550%	4−5 −1550%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 +1733%	3−4 −1733%
Valorant	100−105 +1567%	6−7 −1567%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	75−80 +1825%	4−5 −1825%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +2200%	2−3 −2200%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +1600%	3−4 −1600%
Dota 2	47 +2250%	2−3 −2250%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +1800%	4−5 −1800%
Fortnite	120−130 +1686%	7−8 −1686%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +1733%	6−7 −1733%
Forza Horizon 5	65−70 +1550%	4−5 −1550%
Grand Theft Auto V	71 +1675%	4−5 −1675%
Metro Exodus	16	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	63 +2000%	3−4 −2000%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 +1733%	3−4 −1733%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	70 +1650%	4−5 −1650%
Valorant	100−105 +1567%	6−7 −1567%
World of Tanks	250−260 +1743%	14−16 −1743%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	60 +1900%	3−4 −1900%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +2200%	2−3 −2200%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +1600%	3−4 −1600%
Dota 2	85−90 +1620%	5−6 −1620%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +1800%	4−5 −1800%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +1733%	6−7 −1733%
Forza Horizon 5	65−70 +1550%	4−5 −1550%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	47 +2250%	2−3 −2250%
Valorant	100−105 +1567%	6−7 −1567%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	40−45 +2000%	2−3 −2000%
Grand Theft Auto V	40−45 +2000%	2−3 −2000%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +1650%	10−11 −1650%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 +2200%	1−2 −2200%
World of Tanks	160−170 +1560%	10−11 −1560%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	50−55 +1567%	3−4 −1567%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +2000%	1−2 −2000%
Far Cry 5	70−75 +1725%	4−5 −1725%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 +1575%	4−5 −1575%
Forza Horizon 5	40−45 +1900%	2−3 −1900%
Metro Exodus	55−60 +1800%	3−4 −1800%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35−40 +1750%	2−3 −1750%
Valorant	65−70 +1600%	4−5 −1600%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	10−11	0−1
Dota 2	46 +2200%	2−3 −2200%
Grand Theft Auto V	46 +2200%	2−3 −2200%
Metro Exodus	13	0−1
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	61 +1933%	3−4 −1933%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18	0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	46 +2200%	2−3 −2200%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +2500%	1−2 −2500%
Counter-Strike 2	10−11	0−1
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9	0−1
Dota 2	40−45 +2100%	2−3 −2100%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +1550%	2−3 −1550%
Fortnite	25 +2400%	1−2 −2400%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +1850%	2−3 −1850%
Forza Horizon 5	21−24 +2000%	1−2 −2000%
Valorant	30−35 +1550%	2−3 −1550%

This is how GTX 970 and GTS 250 compete in popular games:

GTX 970 is 1900% faster in 1080p
GTX 970 is 1633% faster in 1440p
GTX 970 is 1900% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	24.74	1.52
Recency	19 September 2014	4 March 2009
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	1 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	55 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	148 Watt	150 Watt

GTX 970 has a 1527.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 96.4% more advanced lithography process, and 1.4% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 970 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTS 250 in performance tests.

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