GeForce GTX 260 vs Radeon HD 7970
Aggregate performance score
Radeon HD 7970 outperforms GeForce GTX 260 by a whopping 330% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 355 | 715 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 4.00 | 0.36 |
| Architecture | GCN (2011−2017) | Tesla 2.0 (2007−2013) |
| GPU code name | Tahiti XT | GT200 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Design | reference | no data |
| Release date | 22 December 2011 (12 years ago) | 16 June 2008 (16 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $549 | $449 |
| Current price | $89 (0.2x MSRP) | $49 (0.1x MSRP) |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
HD 7970 has 1011% better value for money than GTX 260.
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 | 2048 | 192 |
| CUDA cores | no data | 192 |
| Core clock speed | no data | 576 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 925 MHz | no data |
| Number of transistors | 4,313 million | 1,400 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 300 Watt | 182 Watt |
| Maximum GPU temperature | no data | 105 °C |
| Texture fill rate | 118.4 | 36.9 billion/sec |
| Floating-point performance | 3,789 gflops | 476.9 gflops |
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 | PCIe 2.1 x16 | no data |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 2.0 x16 |
| Length | 274 mm | 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) |
| Height | no data | 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm) |
| Width | 2-slot | 2-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin | 2x 6-pin |
| SLI options | no data | + |
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 | GDDR3 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 6 GB | 896 MB |
| Memory bus width | 384 Bit | 448 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1375 MHz | 999 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 264 GB/s | 111.9 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 | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort | Dual Link DVIHDTV |
| Multi monitor support | no data | + |
| Eyefinity | + | no data |
| HDMI | + | + |
| Maximum VGA resolution | no data | 2048x1536 |
| DisplayPort support | - | no data |
| Audio input for HDMI | no data | S/PDIF |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| AppAcceleration | - | no data |
| CrossFire | 1 | no data |
| Enduro | - | no data |
| FreeSync | 1 | no data |
| HD3D | - | no data |
| PowerTune | - | no data |
| TrueAudio | - | no data |
| ZeroCore | - | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | DirectX® 11 | 11.1 (10_0) |
| Shader Model | 5.1 | 4.0 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 2.1 |
| OpenCL | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Vulkan | no data | N/A |
| Mantle | - | no data |
| CUDA | no data | + |
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.
Radeon HD 7970 outperforms GeForce GTX 260 by 330% based on our aggregate 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%
Radeon HD 7970 outperforms GeForce GTX 260 by 329% in Passmark.
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 | 105
+338%
| 24−27
−338%
|
| Full HD | 98
+367%
| 21−24
−367%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+425%
|
4−5
−425%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 27−30
+367%
|
6−7
−367%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 27−30
+383%
|
6−7
−383%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+425%
|
4−5
−425%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 45−50
+360%
|
10−11
−360%
|
| Hitman 3 | 30−35
+343%
|
7−8
−343%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Metro Exodus | 40−45
+356%
|
9−10
−356%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 24−27
+400%
|
5−6
−400%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 27−30
+367%
|
6−7
−367%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 27−30
+383%
|
6−7
−383%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+425%
|
4−5
−425%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 45−50
+360%
|
10−11
−360%
|
| Hitman 3 | 30−35
+343%
|
7−8
−343%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Metro Exodus | 40−45
+356%
|
9−10
−356%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 27−30
+367%
|
6−7
−367%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 24−27
+400%
|
5−6
−400%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 27−30
+367%
|
6−7
−367%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 27−30
+383%
|
6−7
−383%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 21−24
+425%
|
4−5
−425%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 45−50
+360%
|
10−11
−360%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 40−45
+340%
|
10−11
−340%
|
| Metro Exodus | 40−45
+356%
|
9−10
−356%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 27−30
+367%
|
6−7
−367%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 24−27
+400%
|
5−6
−400%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 35−40
+375%
|
8−9
−375%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 24−27
+333%
|
6−7
−333%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 24−27
+380%
|
5−6
−380%
|
| Hitman 3 | 18−20
+375%
|
4−5
−375%
|
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 10−11
+400%
|
2−3
−400%
|
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 10−11
+400%
|
2−3
−400%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 16−18
+433%
|
3−4
−433%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 21−24
+340%
|
5−6
−340%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 24−27
+333%
|
6−7
−333%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 27−30
+367%
|
6−7
−367%
|
| Metro Exodus | 21−24
+360%
|
5−6
−360%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 21−24
+360%
|
5−6
−360%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
4K
High Preset
| Far Cry 5 | 30−33
+400%
|
6−7
−400%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 12−14
+333%
|
3−4
−333%
|
| Hitman 3 | 9−10
+350%
|
2−3
−350%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 12−14
+500%
|
2−3
−500%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Battlefield 5 | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 9−10
+350%
|
2−3
−350%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 18−20
+350%
|
4−5
−350%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 14−16
+367%
|
3−4
−367%
|
| Metro Exodus | 12−14
+333%
|
3−4
−333%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 12−14
+500%
|
2−3
−500%
|
This is how HD 7970 and GTX 260 compete in popular games:
- HD 7970 is 338% faster in 900p
- HD 7970 is 367% faster in 1080p
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 13.58 | 3.16 |
| Recency | 22 December 2011 | 16 June 2008 |
| Cost | $549 | $449 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 6 GB | 896 MB |
| Chip lithography | 28 nm | 65 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 300 Watt | 182 Watt |
The Radeon HD 7970 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 260 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
