GeForce RTX 5060 vs GTX 970

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce RTX 5060, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 970
2014
4 GB GDDR5, 148 Watt
24.23

RTX 5060 outperforms GTX 970 by a whopping 147% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking24945
Place by popularity85not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation11.16100.00
Power efficiency11.6232.34
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Blackwell 2.0 (2025)
GPU code nameGM204GB206
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date19 September 2014 (10 years ago)19 May 2025 (recently)
Launch price (MSRP)$329 $299

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

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

RTX 5060 has 796% better value for money than GTX 970.

Performance to price scatter graph

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 cores16643840
Core clock speed1050 MHz2280 MHz
Boost clock speed1178 MHz2497 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 million21,900 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm5 nm
Power consumption (TDP)148 Watt145 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature98 °Cno data
Texture fill rate122.5299.6
Floating-point processing power3.92 TFLOPS19.18 TFLOPS
ROPs5648
TMUs104120
Tensor Coresno data120
Ray Tracing Coresno data30

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 x16PCIe 5.0 x8
Length267 mm241 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)500 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 8-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 typeGDDR5GDDR7
Maximum RAM amount4 GB8 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s448.0 GB/s
Shared memory--
Resizable BAR-+

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 HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b
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 and SDK compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.46.8
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.4
CUDA+12.0
DLSS-+

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 970 24.23
RTX 5060 59.75
+147%

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 9642
RTX 5060 23774
+147%

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 HD81
−135%
190−200
+135%
1440p54
−141%
130−140
+141%
4K39
−144%
95−100
+144%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.06
−158%
1.57
+158%
1440p6.09
−165%
2.30
+165%
4K8.44
−168%
3.15
+168%
  • RTX 5060 has 158% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • RTX 5060 has 165% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • RTX 5060 has 168% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 130−140
−128%
300−350
+128%
Cyberpunk 2077 50−55
−210%
150−160
+210%
Dead Island 2 95−100
−184%
280−290
+184%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 90−95
−83%
170−180
+83%
Counter-Strike 2 130−140
−128%
300−350
+128%
Cyberpunk 2077 50−55
−210%
150−160
+210%
Dead Island 2 95−100
−184%
280−290
+184%
Far Cry 5 75−80
−143%
180−190
+143%
Fortnite 110−120
−158%
300−350
+158%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
−165%
240−250
+165%
Forza Horizon 5 70−75
−154%
180−190
+154%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 90−95
−91.3%
170−180
+91.3%
Valorant 160−170
−118%
350−400
+118%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 90−95
−83%
170−180
+83%
Counter-Strike 2 130−140
−128%
300−350
+128%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 250−260
−9%
270−280
+9%
Cyberpunk 2077 50−55
−210%
150−160
+210%
Dead Island 2 95−100
−184%
280−290
+184%
Dota 2 120−130
−140%
290−300
+140%
Far Cry 5 75−80
−143%
180−190
+143%
Fortnite 82
−268%
300−350
+268%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
−165%
240−250
+165%
Forza Horizon 5 70−75
−154%
180−190
+154%
Grand Theft Auto V 71
−134%
160−170
+134%
Metro Exodus 39
−313%
160−170
+313%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 90−95
−91.3%
170−180
+91.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 81
−231%
260−270
+231%
Valorant 160−170
−118%
350−400
+118%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 48
−258%
170−180
+258%
Cyberpunk 2077 50−55
−210%
150−160
+210%
Dead Island 2 95−100
−184%
280−290
+184%
Dota 2 120−130
−140%
290−300
+140%
Far Cry 5 75−80
−143%
180−190
+143%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
−165%
240−250
+165%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 52
−238%
170−180
+238%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 43
−523%
260−270
+523%
Valorant 160−170
−118%
350−400
+118%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 60
−403%
300−350
+403%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 50−55
−273%
190−200
+273%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 160−170
−192%
450−500
+192%
Grand Theft Auto V 40−45
−219%
130−140
+219%
Metro Exodus 24
−342%
100−110
+342%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Valorant 200−210
−113%
400−450
+113%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 65−70
−139%
150−160
+139%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−291%
90−95
+291%
Dead Island 2 40−45
−274%
160−170
+274%
Far Cry 5 50−55
−198%
160−170
+198%
Forza Horizon 4 60−65
−249%
210−220
+249%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35−40
−285%
150−160
+285%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 55−60
−170%
150−160
+170%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 21−24
−274%
85−90
+274%
Dead Island 2 21−24
−139%
55−60
+139%
Grand Theft Auto V 46
−235%
150−160
+235%
Metro Exodus 13
−423%
65−70
+423%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
−341%
120−130
+341%
Valorant 130−140
−141%
300−350
+141%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 20
−475%
110−120
+475%
Counter-Strike 2 21−24
−274%
85−90
+274%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
−330%
40−45
+330%
Dead Island 2 21−24
−213%
70−75
+213%
Dota 2 75−80
−134%
180−190
+134%
Far Cry 5 27−30
−278%
100−110
+278%
Forza Horizon 4 40−45
−300%
160−170
+300%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 18
−433%
95−100
+433%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 22
−259%
75−80
+259%

This is how GTX 970 and RTX 5060 compete in popular games:

  • RTX 5060 is 135% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 5060 is 141% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 5060 is 144% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 5060 is 523% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • RTX 5060 is ahead in 61 tests (98%)
  • there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.23 59.75
Recency 19 September 2014 19 May 2025
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 5 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 148 Watt 145 Watt

RTX 5060 has a 146.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 460% more advanced lithography process, and 2.1% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 5060 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 970 in performance tests.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060
GeForce RTX 5060

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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


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