Radeon R7 265 vs GeForce GTX 970

Place in the ranking	219	438
Place by popularity	78	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	13.65	5.23
Power efficiency	11.68	4.80
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code name	GM204	Pitcairn
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Design	no data	reference
Release date	19 September 2014 (10 years ago)	13 February 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$329	$149

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 970 has 161% better value for money than R7 265.

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	1024
Core clock speed	1050 MHz	no data
Boost clock speed	1178 MHz	925 MHz
Number of transistors	5,200 million	2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	148 Watt	150 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature	98 °C	no data
Texture fill rate	122.5	59.20
Floating-point processing power	3.92 TFLOPS	1.894 TFLOPS
ROPs	56	32
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	PCIe 3.0
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	267 mm	210 mm
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)	500 Watt	no data
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	1 x 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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	4 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s	1400 MHz
Memory bandwidth	224 GB/s	179.2 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	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support	4 displays	no data
Eyefinity	-	+
HDMI	+	+
HDCP	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
G-SYNC support	+	-
Audio input for HDMI	Internal	no data

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire	-	+
FreeSync	-	+
DDMA audio	no data	+
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)	DirectX® 12
Shader Model	6.4	5.1
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	1.2
Vulkan	1.1.126	-
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. 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 25.06
+140%

R7 265 10.44

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 970 11954
+129%

R7 265 5220

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 +167%	30−35 −167%
1440p	52 +148%	21−24 −148%
4K	40 +150%	16−18 −150%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	4.11 +20.8%	4.97 −20.8%
1440p	6.33 +12.1%	7.10 −12.1%
4K	8.23 +13.2%	9.31 −13.2%

GTX 970 has 21% lower cost per frame in 1080p
GTX 970 has 12% lower cost per frame in 1440p
GTX 970 has 13% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +161%	18−20 −161%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +143%	21−24 −143%
Elden Ring	80−85 +173%	30−33 −173%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	75−80 +157%	30−33 −157%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +161%	18−20 −161%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +143%	21−24 −143%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +144%	45−50 −144%
Metro Exodus	65−70 +144%	27−30 −144%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 +162%	21−24 −162%
Valorant	100−110 +153%	40−45 −153%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	75−80 +157%	30−33 −157%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +161%	18−20 −161%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +143%	21−24 −143%
Dota 2	47 +161%	18−20 −161%
Elden Ring	80−85 +173%	30−33 −173%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +157%	30−33 −157%
Fortnite	120−130 +152%	50−55 −152%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +144%	45−50 −144%
Grand Theft Auto V	71 +163%	27−30 −163%
Metro Exodus	16 +167%	6−7 −167%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	63 +163%	24−27 −163%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 +162%	21−24 −162%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	70 +159%	27−30 −159%
Valorant	100−110 +153%	40−45 −153%
World of Tanks	250−260 +158%	100−105 −158%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	60 +150%	24−27 −150%
Counter-Strike 2	45−50 +161%	18−20 −161%
Cyberpunk 2077	50−55 +143%	21−24 −143%
Dota 2	85−90 +146%	35−40 −146%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +157%	30−33 −157%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 +144%	45−50 −144%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	47 +161%	18−20 −161%
Valorant	100−110 +153%	40−45 −153%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	40−45 +163%	16−18 −163%
Elden Ring	40−45 +144%	18−20 −144%
Grand Theft Auto V	40−45 +163%	16−18 −163%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +150%	70−75 −150%
Red Dead Redemption 2	21−24 +156%	9−10 −156%
World of Tanks	160−170 +155%	65−70 −155%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	50−55 +178%	18−20 −178%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +163%	8−9 −163%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +163%	8−9 −163%
Far Cry 5	70−75 +143%	30−33 −143%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 +148%	27−30 −148%
Metro Exodus	55−60 +171%	21−24 −171%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	35−40 +164%	14−16 −164%
Valorant	65−70 +152%	27−30 −152%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +156%	9−10 −156%
Dota 2	46 +156%	18−20 −156%
Elden Ring	20−22 +150%	8−9 −150%
Grand Theft Auto V	46 +156%	18−20 −156%
Metro Exodus	13 +160%	5−6 −160%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	61 +154%	24−27 −154%
Red Dead Redemption 2	16−18 +167%	6−7 −167%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	46 +156%	18−20 −156%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	24−27 +160%	10−11 −160%
Counter-Strike 2	21−24 +156%	9−10 −156%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 +167%	3−4 −167%
Dota 2	40−45 +144%	18−20 −144%
Far Cry 5	30−35 +175%	12−14 −175%
Fortnite	25 +150%	10−11 −150%
Forza Horizon 4	35−40 +171%	14−16 −171%
Valorant	30−35 +175%	12−14 −175%