GeForce GTX 950 vs Radeon R9 270

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon R9 270 and GeForce GTX 950, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

R9 270
2013
2 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
9.64

GTX 950 outperforms R9 270 by a significant 24% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking433383
Place by popularitynot in top-10088
Cost-effectiveness evaluation4.397.60
Power efficiency5.0810.50
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code nameCuracaoGM206
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designreferenceno data
Release date13 November 2013 (11 years ago)20 August 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$179 $159

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the performance-to-price ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices for comparison.

GTX 950 has 73% better value for money than R9 270.

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 cores1280768
Core clock speedno data1024 MHz
Boost clock speed925 MHz1188 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million2,940 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt90 Watt
Texture fill rate74.0057.02
Floating-point processing power2.368 TFLOPS1.825 TFLOPS
ROPs3232
TMUs8048

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 supportPCIe 3.0PCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length210 mm202 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)no data350 Watt
Supplementary power connectors1 x 6-pin1x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speedno data6.6 GB/s
Memory bandwidth179.2 GB/s105.6 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 Connectors2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPortDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor supportno data4 displays
Eyefinity+-
HDMI++
HDCP-+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
DisplayPort support+-
G-SYNC support-+
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire+-
FreeSync+-
HD3D+-
LiquidVR+-
TressFX+-
TrueAudio+-
UVD+-
DDMA audio+no data
GameStream-+
GeForce ShadowPlay-+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorks-+

API and SDK compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXDirectX® 1212 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.4
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan+1.1.126
CUDA-+

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.

R9 270 9.64
GTX 950 11.96
+24.1%

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.

R9 270 4306
GTX 950 5346
+24.2%

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.

R9 270 5930
GTX 950 6208
+4.7%

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 HD40−45
−30%
52
+30%
4K16−18
−37.5%
22
+37.5%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.48
−46.4%
3.06
+46.4%
4K11.19
−54.8%
7.23
+54.8%
  • GTX 950 has 46% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • GTX 950 has 55% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Fortnite 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Atomic Heart 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 180−190
+0%
180−190
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Dota 2 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Fortnite 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Forza Horizon 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 37
+0%
37
+0%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 38
+0%
38
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Dota 2 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Far Cry 5 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21
+0%
21
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Fortnite 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 20−22
+0%
20−22
+0%
Metro Exodus 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
Valorant 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Fortnite 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%

4K
High Preset

Atomic Heart 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 28
+0%
28
+0%
Metro Exodus 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 13
+0%
13
+0%
Valorant 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Dota 2 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Far Cry 5 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Fortnite 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%

This is how R9 270 and GTX 950 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 950 is 30% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 950 is 38% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 9.64 11.96
Recency 13 November 2013 20 August 2015
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 90 Watt

GTX 950 has a 24.1% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 1 year, and 66.7% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 950 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R9 270 in performance tests.

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AMD Radeon R9 270
Radeon R9 270
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950
GeForce GTX 950

Other comparisons

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.


3.9 632 votes

Rate Radeon R9 270 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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4 2203 votes

Rate GeForce GTX 950 on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

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