NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 vs AMD Radeon HD 6970M

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 and AMD Radeon HD 6970M videocards for all known characteristics in the following categories: Essentials, Technical info, Video outputs and ports, Compatibility, dimensions and requirements, API support, Memory, Technologies. Benchmark videocards performance analysis: PassMark - G3D Mark, PassMark - G2D Mark, Geekbench - OpenCL, CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s), CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames), GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps), GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps), 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score.

 

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590

  • Videocard is newer: launch date 2 month(s) later
  • Around 79% higher core clock speed: 1215 MHz vs 680 MHz
  • 2.4x more texture fill rate: 77.7 billion / sec vs 32.6 GTexel / s
  • Around 7% higher pipelines: 1024 vs 960
  • Around 91% better floating-point performance: 2x 1,244.2 gflops vs 1,305.6 gflops
  • 3x more maximum memory size: 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) vs 1 GB
  • Around 47% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 3341 vs 2270
  • 3.8x better performance in Geekbench - OpenCL: 12811 vs 3349
  • 6.5x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s): 30.921 vs 4.787
  • Around 81% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s): 1116.126 vs 617.819
  • 4.1x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 3.799 vs 0.927
  • 2x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s): 49.114 vs 24.456
  • Around 14% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames): 3683 vs 3229
  • Around 14% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps): 3683 vs 3229
Specifications (specs)
Launch date 24 March 2011 vs 4 January 2011
Core clock speed 1215 MHz vs 680 MHz
Texture fill rate 77.7 billion / sec vs 32.6 GTexel / s
Pipelines 1024 vs 960
Floating-point performance 2x 1,244.2 gflops vs 1,305.6 gflops
Maximum memory size 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) vs 1 GB
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark 3341 vs 2270
Geekbench - OpenCL 12811 vs 3349
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s) 30.921 vs 4.787
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s) 1116.126 vs 617.819
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s) 3.799 vs 0.927
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s) 49.114 vs 24.456
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames) 3683 vs 3229
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps) 3683 vs 3229

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon HD 6970M

  • 4.9x lower typical power consumption: 75 Watt vs 365 Watt
  • 2.1x more memory clock speed: 3600 MHz vs 1707 MHz
  • Around 66% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 656 vs 394
  • Around 10% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s): 117.801 vs 107.239
Specifications (specs)
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 75 Watt vs 365 Watt
Memory clock speed 3600 MHz vs 1707 MHz
Benchmarks
PassMark - G2D Mark 656 vs 394
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s) 117.801 vs 107.239
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames) 3342 vs 3330
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps) 3342 vs 3330

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590
GPU 2: AMD Radeon HD 6970M

PassMark - G3D Mark
GPU 1
GPU 2
3341
2270
PassMark - G2D Mark
GPU 1
GPU 2
394
656
Geekbench - OpenCL
GPU 1
GPU 2
12811
3349
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
30.921
4.787
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
1116.126
617.819
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3.799
0.927
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
49.114
24.456
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)
GPU 1
GPU 2
107.239
117.801
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3683
3229
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3330
3342
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3683
3229
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)
GPU 1
GPU 2
3330
3342
Name NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 AMD Radeon HD 6970M
PassMark - G3D Mark 3341 2270
PassMark - G2D Mark 394 656
Geekbench - OpenCL 12811 3349
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s) 30.921 4.787
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s) 1116.126 617.819
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s) 3.799 0.927
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s) 49.114 24.456
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s) 107.239 117.801
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames) 4118
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames) 3683 3229
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames) 3330 3342
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps) 4118
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps) 3683 3229
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps) 3330 3342
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score 0

Compare specifications (specs)

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 AMD Radeon HD 6970M

Essentials

Architecture Fermi 2.0 TeraScale 2
Code name GF110 Blackcomb
Launch date 24 March 2011 4 January 2011
Launch price (MSRP) $699
Place in performance rating 789 790
Price now $184
Type Desktop Laptop
Value for money (0-100) 30.41

Technical info

Core clock speed 1215 MHz 680 MHz
CUDA cores 1024
Floating-point performance 2x 1,244.2 gflops 1,305.6 gflops
Manufacturing process technology 40 nm 40 nm
Maximum GPU temperature 97 °C
Pipelines 1024 960
Texture fill rate 77.7 billion / sec 32.6 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP) 365 Watt 75 Watt
Transistor count 3,000 million 1,700 million

Video outputs and ports

Audio input for HDMI Internal
Display Connectors 3x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort, Three Dual Link DVI-IMini DisplayPort No outputs
HDMI
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Multi monitor support

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Bus support 16x PCI-E 2.0
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 MXM-B (3.0)
Length 11" (280 mm) (27.9 cm)
SLI options Quad
Supplementary power connectors Two 8-pin None
Laptop size large

API support

DirectX 12.0 (11_0) 11.2 (11_0)
OpenGL 4.2 4.4

Memory

Maximum RAM amount 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU) 1 GB
Memory bandwidth 327.7 GB / s 115.2 GB / s
Memory bus width 768-bit (384-bit per GPU) 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 1707 MHz 3600 MHz
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Shared memory 0 0

Technologies

3D Vision
CUDA
DSR
SLI
Surround