GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon R9 390 X2
Contents
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | not rated | 269 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 87 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | no data | 12.10 |
| Power efficiency | no data | 11.99 |
| Architecture | GCN 2.0 (2013−2017) | Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019) |
| GPU code name | Grenada | GM204 |
| Market segment | Desktop | Desktop |
| Release date | 3 September 2015 (10 years ago) | 19 September 2014 (11 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1,399 | $329 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.
Performance to price scatter graph
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 cores | 2560 ×2 | 1664 |
| Core clock speed | 1000 MHz | 1050 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | no data | 1178 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 6,200 million | 5,200 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 580 Watt | 148 Watt |
| Maximum GPU temperature | no data | 98 °C |
| Texture fill rate | 160.0 ×2 | 122.5 |
| Floating-point processing power | 5.12 TFLOPS ×2 | 3.92 TFLOPS |
| ROPs | 64 ×2 | 56 |
| TMUs | 160 ×2 | 104 |
| L1 Cache | 640 KB | 624 KB |
| L2 Cache | 1024 KB | 2 MB |
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 | no data | PCI Express 3.0 |
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x16 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| Length | no data | 267 mm |
| Height | no data | 4.376" (11.1 cm) |
| Width | 3-slot | 2-slot |
| Recommended system power (PSU) | no data | 500 Watt |
| Supplementary power connectors | 4x 8-pin | 2x 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 | 8 GB ×2 | 4 GB |
| Memory bus width | 512 Bit ×2 | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 1350 MHz | 7.0 GB/s |
| Memory bandwidth | 345.6 GB/s ×2 | 224 GB/s |
| Shared memory | - | - |
Connectivity and outputs
This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.
| Display Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort | Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2 |
| Multi monitor support | no data | 4 displays |
| HDMI | + | + |
| HDCP | - | + |
| Maximum VGA resolution | no data | 2048x1536 |
| G-SYNC support | - | + |
| 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 | - | + |
| GeForce ShadowPlay | - | + |
| GPU Boost | no data | 2.0 |
| GameWorks | - | + |
API and SDK support
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_0) | 12 (12_1) |
| Shader Model | 6.3 | 6.4 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.4 |
| OpenCL | 2.0 | 1.2 |
| Vulkan | 1.2.131 | 1.1.126 |
| CUDA | - | + |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 3 September 2015 | 19 September 2014 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 580 Watt | 148 Watt |
R9 390 X2 has an age advantage of 11 months, and a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount.
GTX 970, on the other hand, has 292% lower power consumption.
We couldn't decide between Radeon R9 390 X2 and GeForce GTX 970. We've got no test results to judge.
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