GeForce GTX 460 vs 970M

Place in performance ranking	331	559
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	3.98	0.98
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2018)	Fermi (2010−2014)
GPU code name	GM204	GF104
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	7 October 2014 (9 years ago)	12 July 2010 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$2,560.89	$199
Current price	$848 (0.3x MSRP)	$128 (0.6x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 970M has 306% better value for money than GTX 460.

Detailed specifications

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	1280	336
CUDA cores	1280	no data
Core clock speed	924 MHz	675 MHz
Boost clock speed	1038 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	5,200 million	1,950 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	unknown	160 Watt
Texture fill rate	83.04	37.80
Floating-point performance	2,657 gflops	907.2 gflops

Form factor & compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 970M and GeForce GTX 460 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop video cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility). For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop size	large	no data
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	16x PCI-E 2.0
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	PCIe 2.0 x16
Length	no data	8.25"(210 mm) (21 cm)
Height	no data	4.376"(111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	None	6-pin & 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	6 GB	2 GB
Memory bus width	192 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	2500 MHz	3600 MHz
Memory bandwidth	120 GB/s	86.4 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 Connectors	No outputs	Two Dual Link DVI, Mini HDMI
Multi monitor support	no data	+
VGA аnalog display support	+	no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	+	no data
HDMI	+	+
HDCP	no data	+
Maximum VGA resolution	no data	2048x1536
G-SYNC support	+	no data
Audio input for HDMI	no data	Internal

Supported technologies

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

GameStream	+	no data
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	no data
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	no data
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	+	no data
Optimus	+	no data
BatteryBoost	+	no data
Ansel	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 (11_0)
Shader Model	6.4	5.1
OpenGL	4.5	4.1
OpenCL	1.1	1.1
Vulkan	1.1.126	N/A
CUDA	+	+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance 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 970M 14.80
+153%

GTX 460 5.85

970M outperforms 460 by 153% based on our aggregated benchmark results.

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

GTX 970M 5727
+153%

GTX 460 2264

970M outperforms 460 by 153% in Passmark.

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.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

GTX 970M 7463
+190%

GTX 460 2570

970M outperforms 460 by 190% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

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 OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

Benchmark coverage: 9%

GTX 970M 18376
+138%

GTX 460 7725

970M outperforms 460 by 138% in GeekBench 5 OpenCL.

Octane Render OctaneBench

This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.

Benchmark coverage: 4%

GTX 970M 51
+88.9%

GTX 460 27

970M outperforms 460 by 89% in Octane Render OctaneBench.

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:

900p	136 +172%	50−55 −172%
Full HD	58 +176%	21−24 −176%
1440p	27 +170%	10−12 −170%
4K	21 +163%	8−9 −163%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

21−24

+156%

9−10
−156%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	42 +163%	16−18 −163%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +178%	9−10 −178%
Battlefield 5	66 +175%	24−27 −175%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +171%	14−16 −171%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +156%	9−10 −156%
Far Cry 5	46 +156%	18−20 −156%
Far Cry New Dawn	41 +156%	16−18 −156%
Forza Horizon 4	61 +154%	24−27 −154%
Hitman 3	40−45 +156%	16−18 −156%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +158%	12−14 −158%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 +178%	9−10 −178%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	40 +186%	14−16 −186%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 +180%	10−11 −180%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	36 +157%	14−16 −157%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +178%	9−10 −178%
Battlefield 5	54 +157%	21−24 −157%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +171%	14−16 −171%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +156%	9−10 −156%
Far Cry 5	43 +169%	16−18 −169%
Far Cry New Dawn	38 +171%	14−16 −171%
Forza Horizon 4	53 +194%	18−20 −194%
Hitman 3	40−45 +156%	16−18 −156%
Horizon Zero Dawn	30−35 +158%	12−14 −158%
Metro Exodus	24 +167%	9−10 −167%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 +178%	9−10 −178%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	34 +183%	12−14 −183%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	45 +181%	16−18 −181%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 +180%	10−11 −180%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21 +163%	8−9 −163%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +178%	9−10 −178%
Battlefield 5	49 +172%	18−20 −172%
Cyberpunk 2077	21−24 +156%	9−10 −156%
Far Cry 5	39 +179%	14−16 −179%
Far Cry New Dawn	35 +192%	12−14 −192%
Forza Horizon 4	36 +157%	14−16 −157%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	26 +160%	10−11 −160%
Watch Dogs: Legion	27−30 +180%	10−11 −180%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +175%	8−9 −175%
Hitman 3	21−24 +156%	9−10 −156%
Horizon Zero Dawn	20−22 +186%	7−8 −186%
Metro Exodus	14 +180%	5−6 −180%
Red Dead Redemption 2	10−12 +175%	4−5 −175%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	20 +186%	7−8 −186%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	17 +183%	6−7 −183%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +200%	4−5 −200%
Battlefield 5	33 +175%	12−14 −175%
Cyberpunk 2077	8−9 +167%	3−4 −167%
Far Cry 5	27 +170%	10−11 −170%
Far Cry New Dawn	25 +178%	9−10 −178%
Forza Horizon 4	23 +156%	9−10 −156%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	14−16 +200%	5−6 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−11 +233%	3−4 −233%
Hitman 3	14−16 +180%	5−6 −180%
Horizon Zero Dawn	10−11 +233%	3−4 −233%
Metro Exodus	7 +250%	2−3 −250%
Red Dead Redemption 2	8−9 +167%	3−4 −167%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	9 +200%	3−4 −200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	16 +167%	6−7 −167%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	9−10 +200%	3−4 −200%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	7−8 +250%	2−3 −250%
Battlefield 5	15 +200%	5−6 −200%
Cyberpunk 2077	2−3	0−1
Far Cry 5	13 +160%	5−6 −160%
Far Cry New Dawn	12 +200%	4−5 −200%
Forza Horizon 4	6 +200%	2−3 −200%
Watch Dogs: Legion	6−7 +200%	2−3 −200%