680M SLI vs 970M

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Price now 848$
Games supported 79%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M
Buy
  • Interface MXM-B (3.0)
  • Core clock speed 924 + Boost
  • Max video memory 6 GB
  • Memory type GDDR5
  • Memory clock speed 2500 MHz
  • Maximum resolution
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M SLI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M SLI
Buy
  • Interface
  • Core clock speed 720
  • Max video memory 2x 4096 MB
  • Memory type GDDR5
  • Memory clock speed 3600
  • Maximum resolution
Price now 149$
Games supported 82%

General info

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

Place in performance rating277253
Value for money3.3624.15
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Kepler (2012−2018)
GPU code nameGM204N13E-GTX
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date7 October 2014 (8 years old)4 June 2012 (10 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$2,560.89 no data
Current price$848 (0.3x MSRP)$149
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

  • 0
  • 50
  • 100
  • 0
  • 50
  • 100

Technical specs

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 cores12802688
CUDA cores1280no data
Core clock speed924 MHz720 MHz
Boost clock speed1038 MHzno data
Number of transistors5,200 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Thermal design power (TDP)unknownno data
Texture fill rate83.04no data
Floating-point performance2,657 gflopsno data

Size and compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 970M and GeForce GTX 680M SLI compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. 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 sizelargelarge
Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)no data
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data
SLI options++

Memory

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated VRAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount6 GB2x 4 GB
Memory bus width192 Bit2x 256 Bit
Memory clock speed2500 MHz3600 MHz
Memory bandwidth120 GB/sno data
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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 ConnectorsNo outputsno data
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI+no data
G-SYNC support+no data

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 Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+no data
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder+no data
Optimus++
BatteryBoost+no data
Ansel+no data

API support

APIs supported, including particular versions of those APIs.

DirectX12 (12_1)11
Shader Model6.4no data
OpenGL4.5no data
OpenCL1.1no data
Vulkan1.1.126no data
CUDA++

Benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. Note that overall benchmark performance is measured in points in 0-100 range.


Overall score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. 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 14.48
GTX 680M SLI 16.24
+12.2%
  • 3DMark Vantage Performance
  • 3DMark 11 Performance GPU
  • Unigine Heaven 3.0

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 16%

GTX 970M 28845
GTX 680M SLI 32635
+13.1%

GeForce GTX 680M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 970M by 13% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 16%

GTX 970M 9878
GTX 680M SLI 10952
+10.9%

GeForce GTX 680M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 970M by 11% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

Unigine Heaven 3.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark using Unigine, a 3D game engine by eponymous Russian company. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. Version 3.0 was released in 2012, and in 2013 it was superseded by Heaven 4.0, which introduced several slight improvements, including a newer version of Unigine.

Benchmark coverage: 4%

GTX 970M 93
GTX 680M SLI 108
+15.6%

GeForce GTX 680M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 970M by 16% in Unigine Heaven 3.0.

Mining hashrates

Cryptocurrency mining performance of GeForce GTX 970M and GeForce GTX 680M SLI. Usually measured in megahashes per second.

Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 314 Mh/s no data

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p136
+2.3%
133
−2.3%
Full HD58
−69%
98
+69%
1440p27no data
4K21no data

Popular games

  • Full HD
    Low Preset
  • Full HD
    Medium Preset
  • Full HD
    High Preset
  • Full HD
    Ultra Preset
  • 1440p
    High Preset
  • 1440p
    Ultra Preset
  • 4K
    High Preset
  • 4K
    Ultra Preset
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 42
+23.5%
30−35
−23.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
−16.7%
27−30
+16.7%
Battlefield 5 66
+15.8%
55−60
−15.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
−13.2%
40−45
+13.2%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Far Cry 5 46
+4.5%
40−45
−4.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 41
−9.8%
45−50
+9.8%
Forza Horizon 4 61
+5.2%
55−60
−5.2%
Hitman 3 40−45
−14.3%
45−50
+14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
−12.5%
35−40
+12.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 40
+14.3%
35−40
−14.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
−10.7%
30−35
+10.7%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 36
+5.9%
30−35
−5.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
−16.7%
27−30
+16.7%
Battlefield 5 54
−5.6%
55−60
+5.6%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 35−40
−13.2%
40−45
+13.2%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Far Cry 5 43
−2.3%
40−45
+2.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 38
−18.4%
45−50
+18.4%
Forza Horizon 4 53
−9.4%
55−60
+9.4%
Hitman 3 40−45
−14.3%
45−50
+14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
−12.5%
35−40
+12.5%
Metro Exodus 24
−4.2%
24−27
+4.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 34
−2.9%
35−40
+2.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 45
+25%
35−40
−25%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
−10.7%
30−35
+10.7%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 21
−61.9%
30−35
+61.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
−16.7%
27−30
+16.7%
Battlefield 5 49
−16.3%
55−60
+16.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
−12%
27−30
+12%
Far Cry 5 39
−12.8%
40−45
+12.8%
Far Cry New Dawn 35
−28.6%
45−50
+28.6%
Forza Horizon 4 36
−61.1%
55−60
+61.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 26
−38.5%
35−40
+38.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
−10.7%
30−35
+10.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 21−24
−13.6%
24−27
+13.6%
Hitman 3 24−27
−12.5%
27−30
+12.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 20−22
−15%
21−24
+15%
Metro Exodus 14
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−12
−18.2%
12−14
+18.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 20
−5%
21−24
+5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11 no data
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 17
+0%
16−18
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
−27.3%
14−16
+27.3%
Battlefield 5 33
−12.1%
35−40
+12.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
Far Cry 5 27
+0%
27−30
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 25
−24%
30−35
+24%
Forza Horizon 4 23
−43.5%
30−35
+43.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 9−10
−22.2%
10−12
+22.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−11
−20%
12−14
+20%
Hitman 3 14−16
−14.3%
16−18
+14.3%
Horizon Zero Dawn 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Metro Exodus 7
−28.6%
9−10
+28.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2 8−9
−12.5%
9−10
+12.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 9
−11.1%
10−11
+11.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16
+0%
16−18
+0%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
−25%
10−11
+25%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
−16.7%
7−8
+16.7%
Battlefield 5 15
−26.7%
18−20
+26.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Far Cry 5 13
+0%
12−14
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 12
−33.3%
16−18
+33.3%
Forza Horizon 4 6
−267%
21−24
+267%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
−20%
6−7
+20%

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance rating 14.48 16.24
Recency 7 October 2014 4 June 2012
Memory bus width 192 256
Pipelines / CUDA cores 1280 2688

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, Technical City recommends

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M SLI
GeForce GTX 680M SLI

since it shows better performance.


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

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Competitors of GeForce GTX 970M by AMD

According to our data, the closest AMD alternative to GeForce GTX 970M is Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870, which is slower by 4% and lower by 9 positions in our ranking.

AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870 Radeon RX Vega M GL / 870
Compare

Here are some closest AMD rivals to GeForce GTX 970M:

Competitors of GeForce GTX 680M SLI by AMD

The nearest GeForce GTX 680M SLI's AMD equivalent is Radeon RX Vega M GH, which is faster by 2% and higher by 3 positions in our performance rating.

AMD Radeon RX Vega M GH Radeon RX Vega M GH
Compare

Here are some closest AMD rivals to GeForce GTX 680M SLI:

Similar GPU comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

User rating

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


4.1 187 votes

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4.5 2 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M SLI on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.