Tesla K80 vs GeForce GTX 970

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 970 with Tesla K80, including specs and performance data.

GTX 970
2014
4 GB GDDR5, 148 Watt
24.98
+64.7%

GTX 970 outperforms Tesla K80 by an impressive 65% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking214349
Place by popularity57not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation13.64no data
Power efficiency11.763.52
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Kepler 2.0 (2013−2015)
GPU code nameGM204GK210
Market segmentDesktopWorkstation
Release date19 September 2014 (10 years ago)17 November 2014 (10 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 cores16642496
Core clock speed1050 MHz562 MHz
Boost clock speed1178 MHz824 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 million7,100 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)148 Watt300 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature98 °Cno data
Texture fill rate122.5171.4
Floating-point processing power3.92 TFLOPS4.113 TFLOPS
ROPs5648
TMUs104208

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 3.0 x16
Length267 mm267 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount4 GB12 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit384 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s1253 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s240.6 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2No outputs
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)12 (11_1)
Shader Model6.45.1
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.1261.1.126
CUDA+3.7

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 24.98
+64.7%
Tesla K80 15.17

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 9638
+64.7%
Tesla K80 5852

GeekBench 5 CUDA

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses CUDA API by NVIDIA.

GTX 970 25897
+61.2%
Tesla K80 16063

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 HD80
+77.8%
45−50
−77.8%
1440p49
+81.5%
27−30
−81.5%
4K38
+81%
21−24
−81%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.11no data
1440p6.71no data
4K8.66no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+70.8%
24−27
−70.8%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+83.3%
30−33
−83.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+79.2%
24−27
−79.2%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+82.2%
45−50
−82.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+70%
30−33
−70%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+70.8%
24−27
−70.8%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+90%
30−33
−90%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+85.7%
35−40
−85.7%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+71.8%
85−90
−71.8%
Hitman 3 50−55
+66.7%
30−33
−66.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+76.9%
65−70
−76.9%
Metro Exodus 85−90
+72%
50−55
−72%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+85.7%
35−40
−85.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+70%
50−55
−70%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+71.7%
60−65
−71.7%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+83.3%
30−33
−83.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+79.2%
24−27
−79.2%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+82.2%
45−50
−82.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 52
+73.3%
30−33
−73.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+70.8%
24−27
−70.8%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+90%
30−33
−90%
Far Cry New Dawn 29
+81.3%
16−18
−81.3%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+71.8%
85−90
−71.8%
Hitman 3 50−55
+66.7%
30−33
−66.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+76.9%
65−70
−76.9%
Metro Exodus 35
+66.7%
21−24
−66.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+85.7%
35−40
−85.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+70%
50−55
−70%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 109
+67.7%
65−70
−67.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+71.7%
60−65
−71.7%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+83.3%
30−33
−83.3%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+79.2%
24−27
−79.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 36
+71.4%
21−24
−71.4%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+70.8%
24−27
−70.8%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+90%
30−33
−90%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+71.8%
85−90
−71.8%
Hitman 3 50−55
+66.7%
30−33
−66.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+76.9%
65−70
−76.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+70%
50−55
−70%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 43
+79.2%
24−27
−79.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+71.7%
60−65
−71.7%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+85.7%
35−40
−85.7%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+74.1%
27−30
−74.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+81%
21−24
−81%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+85.7%
14−16
−85.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+71.4%
14−16
−71.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+75%
16−18
−75%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+77.8%
9−10
−77.8%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+81.3%
16−18
−81.3%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+68.2%
85−90
−68.2%
Hitman 3 30−33
+66.7%
18−20
−66.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+73.3%
30−33
−73.3%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+74.1%
27−30
−74.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 55−60
+83.3%
30−33
−83.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
+72.2%
18−20
−72.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 140−150
+65.9%
85−90
−65.9%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+75%
24−27
−75%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+78.6%
14−16
−78.6%
Far Cry New Dawn 20
+66.7%
12−14
−66.7%
Hitman 3 20−22
+66.7%
12−14
−66.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 120−130
+70.7%
75−80
−70.7%
Metro Exodus 23
+91.7%
12−14
−91.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+81.3%
16−18
−81.3%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+66.7%
9−10
−66.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+85.7%
7−8
−85.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+100%
3−4
−100%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+75%
8−9
−75%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+88.9%
18−20
−88.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+66.7%
18−20
−66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
+83.3%
6−7
−83.3%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+83.3%
12−14
−83.3%

This is how GTX 970 and Tesla K80 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 970 is 78% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 970 is 81% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 970 is 81% faster in 4K

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.98 15.17
Recency 19 September 2014 17 November 2014
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 12 GB
Power consumption (TDP) 148 Watt 300 Watt

GTX 970 has a 64.7% higher aggregate performance score, and 102.7% lower power consumption.

Tesla K80, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 month, and a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount.

The GeForce GTX 970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Tesla K80 in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 970 is a desktop card while Tesla K80 is a workstation one.


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

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA Tesla K80
Tesla K80

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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.


4.2 4685 votes

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3.8 183 votes

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Questions & comments

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