GeForce 8800 GTX vs Radeon HD 8970M

Place in performance ranking	415	931
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	11.67	0.02
Architecture	GCN (2011−2017)	Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code name	Neptune	G80
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	15 May 2013 (11 years ago)	8 November 2006 (17 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$599
Current price	$135	$357 (0.6x MSRP)

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

HD 8970M has 58250% better value for money than 8800 GTX.

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	128
CUDA cores	no data	575
Core clock speed	850 MHz	576 MHz
Boost clock speed	900 MHz	no data
Number of transistors	2,800 million	681 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	90 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	155 Watt
Texture fill rate	72.00	36.8 billion/sec
Floating-point performance	2,304 gflops	345.6 gflops

Form factor & compatibility

Information on Radeon HD 8970M and GeForce 8800 GTX 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
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 1.0 x16
Length	no data	270 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	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	4 GB	768 MB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	4800 MHz	900 MHz
Memory bandwidth	153.6 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

2x DVI, 1x S-Video

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (11_1)	11.1 (10_0)
Shader Model	5.1	4.0
OpenGL	4.6	3.3
OpenCL	1.2	1.1
Vulkan	1.2.131	N/A
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.

HD 8970M 10.04
+556%

8800 GTX 1.53

Radeon HD 8970M outperforms GeForce 8800 GTX by 556% 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%

HD 8970M 3876
+557%

8800 GTX 590

Radeon HD 8970M outperforms GeForce 8800 GTX by 557% 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:

Full HD

54
+575%

8−9

−575%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

100−105

+525%

16−18
−525%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	130−140 +519%	21−24 −519%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	95−100 +533%	14−16 −533%
Battlefield 5	200−210 +545%	30−35 −545%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	130−140 +550%	20−22 −550%
Cyberpunk 2077	100−105 +525%	16−18 −525%
Far Cry 5	150−160 +552%	21−24 −552%
Far Cry New Dawn	180−190 +543%	27−30 −543%
Forza Horizon 4	300−310 +512%	45−50 −512%
Hitman 3	120−130 +532%	18−20 −532%
Horizon Zero Dawn	270−280 +543%	40−45 −543%
Metro Exodus	200−210 +545%	30−35 −545%
Red Dead Redemption 2	180−190 +543%	27−30 −543%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	200−210 +545%	30−35 −545%
Watch Dogs: Legion	230−240 +539%	35−40 −539%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	130−140 +519%	21−24 −519%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	95−100 +533%	14−16 −533%
Battlefield 5	200−210 +545%	30−35 −545%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	130−140 +550%	20−22 −550%
Cyberpunk 2077	100−105 +525%	16−18 −525%
Far Cry 5	150−160 +552%	21−24 −552%
Far Cry New Dawn	180−190 +543%	27−30 −543%
Forza Horizon 4	300−310 +512%	45−50 −512%
Hitman 3	120−130 +532%	18−20 −532%
Horizon Zero Dawn	270−280 +543%	40−45 −543%
Metro Exodus	200−210 +545%	30−35 −545%
Red Dead Redemption 2	180−190 +543%	27−30 −543%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	200−210 +545%	30−35 −545%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	200−210 +545%	31 −545%
Watch Dogs: Legion	230−240 +539%	35−40 −539%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	130−140 +519%	21−24 −519%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	95−100 +533%	14−16 −533%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	130−140 +550%	20−22 −550%
Cyberpunk 2077	100−105 +525%	16−18 −525%
Far Cry 5	150−160 +552%	21−24 −552%
Forza Horizon 4	300−310 +512%	45−50 −512%
Horizon Zero Dawn	270−280 +543%	40−45 −543%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	200−210 +545%	30−35 −545%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	110−120 +511%	18 −511%
Watch Dogs: Legion	230−240 +539%	35−40 −539%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

180−190

+543%

27−30
−543%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	130−140 +550%	20−22 −550%
Far Cry New Dawn	110−120 +547%	16−18 −547%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	65−70 +550%	10−11 −550%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40 +483%	6−7 −483%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	75−80 +525%	12−14 −525%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 +500%	5−6 −500%
Far Cry 5	100−105 +525%	16−18 −525%
Forza Horizon 4	120−130 +532%	18−20 −532%
Hitman 3	85−90 +554%	12−14 −554%
Horizon Zero Dawn	130−140 +519%	21−24 −519%
Metro Exodus	95−100 +533%	14−16 −533%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	85−90 +554%	12−14 −554%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 +550%	10−11 −550%
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33 +500%	5−6 −500%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

110−120

+547%

16−18
−547%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	55−60 +511%	9−10 −511%
Far Cry New Dawn	45−50 +543%	7−8 −543%
Hitman 3	35−40 +483%	6−7 −483%
Horizon Zero Dawn	65−70 +550%	10−11 −550%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	30−33 +500%	5−6 −500%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	50−55 +525%	8−9 −525%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +483%	6−7 −483%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	24−27 +500%	4−5 −500%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	30−33 +500%	5−6 −500%
Cyberpunk 2077	6−7 +500%	1−2 −500%
Far Cry 5	30−33 +500%	5−6 −500%
Forza Horizon 4	85−90 +554%	12−14 −554%
Horizon Zero Dawn	65−70 +550%	10−11 −550%
Metro Exodus	65−70 +550%	10−11 −550%
Watch Dogs: Legion	24−27 +500%	4−5 −500%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

65−70
+550%

10−11

−550%

This is how HD 8970M and 8800 GTX compete in popular games:

HD 8970M is 575% faster in 1080p

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	10.04	1.53
Recency	15 May 2013	8 November 2006
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	768 MB
Chip lithography	28 nm	90 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	155 Watt