NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs AMD Radeon R9 280X

Comparative analysis of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 and AMD Radeon R9 280X 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.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

AMD Radeon R9 280X

Differences

Reasons to consider the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

Videocard is newer: launch date 11 month(s) later
Around 18% higher boost clock speed: 1178 MHz vs 1000 MHz
Around 69% lower typical power consumption: 148 Watt vs 250 Watt
Around 33% higher maximum memory size: 4 GB vs 3 GB
Around 57% better performance in PassMark - G3D Mark: 9635 vs 6150
Around 13% better performance in PassMark - G2D Mark: 766 vs 676
Around 18% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s): 105.107 vs 89.187
Around 14% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s): 8.76 vs 7.656
Around 20% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames): 11499 vs 9603
Around 20% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps): 11499 vs 9603

Specifications (specs)
Launch date	19 September 2014 vs 8 October 2013
Boost clock speed	1178 MHz vs 1000 MHz
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	148 Watt vs 250 Watt
Maximum memory size	4 GB vs 3 GB
Benchmarks
PassMark - G3D Mark	9635 vs 6150
PassMark - G2D Mark	766 vs 676
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	105.107 vs 89.187
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	8.76 vs 7.656
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	11499 vs 9603
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	11499 vs 9603

Reasons to consider the AMD Radeon R9 280X

Around 17% higher texture fill rate: 128.0 GTexel / s vs 109 billion / sec
Around 23% higher pipelines: 2048 vs 1664
Around 4% better floating-point performance: 4,096 gflops vs 3,920 gflops
Around 17% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s): 1434.496 vs 1225.96
2.4x better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s): 87.459 vs 35.714
Around 1% better performance in CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s): 493.57 vs 489.884
Around 1% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames): 3357 vs 3340
Around 1% better performance in GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps): 3357 vs 3340
6.5x better performance in 3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score: 2351 vs 362

Specifications (specs)
Texture fill rate	128.0 GTexel / s vs 109 billion / sec
Pipelines	2048 vs 1664
Floating-point performance	4,096 gflops vs 3,920 gflops
Benchmarks
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	1434.496 vs 1225.96
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	87.459 vs 35.714
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	493.57 vs 489.884
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3700 vs 3698
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3357 vs 3340
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3700 vs 3698
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3357 vs 3340
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score	2351 vs 362

Compare benchmarks

GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GPU 2: AMD Radeon R9 280X

PassMark - G3D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

9635

6150

PassMark - G2D Mark

GPU 1

GPU 2

766

676

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

105.107

89.187

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

1225.96

1434.496

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

8.76

7.656

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

35.714

87.459

CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)

GPU 1

GPU 2

489.884

493.57

GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

11499

9603

GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3698

3700

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3340

3357

GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

11499

9603

GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3698

3700

GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)

GPU 1

GPU 2

3340

3357

3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score

GPU 1

GPU 2

362

2351

Name	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970	AMD Radeon R9 280X
PassMark - G3D Mark	9635	6150
PassMark - G2D Mark	766	676
Geekbench - OpenCL	28516
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Face Detection (mPixels/s)	105.107	89.187
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Ocean Surface Simulation (Frames/s)	1225.96	1434.496
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - T-Rex (Frames/s)	8.76	7.656
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Video Composition (Frames/s)	35.714	87.459
CompuBench 1.5 Desktop - Bitcoin Mining (mHash/s)	489.884	493.57
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Frames)	11499	9603
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Frames)	3698	3700
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Frames)	3340	3357
GFXBench 4.0 - Car Chase Offscreen (Fps)	11499	9603
GFXBench 4.0 - Manhattan (Fps)	3698	3700
GFXBench 4.0 - T-Rex (Fps)	3340	3357
3DMark Fire Strike - Graphics Score	362	2351

Compare specifications (specs)

	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970	AMD Radeon R9 280X
Essentials
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0	GCN 1.0
Code name	GM204	Tahiti
Launch date	19 September 2014	8 October 2013
Launch price (MSRP)	$329	$299
Place in performance rating	378	380
Price now	$407.76
Type	Desktop	Desktop
Value for money (0-100)	28.59
Design		AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Technical info
Boost clock speed	1178 MHz	1000 MHz
Core clock speed	1050 MHz
CUDA cores	1664
Floating-point performance	3,920 gflops	4,096 gflops
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Maximum GPU temperature	98 °C
Pipelines	1664	2048
Texture fill rate	109 billion / sec	128.0 GTexel / s
Thermal Design Power (TDP)	148 Watt	250 Watt
Transistor count	5,200 million	4,313 million
Stream Processors		2048
Video outputs and ports
Audio input for HDMI	Internal
Display Connectors	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort, Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2	2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
G-SYNC support
HDCP
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536
Multi monitor support
DisplayPort support
Dual-link DVI support
Eyefinity
HDMI
VGA
Compatibility, dimensions and requirements
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	PCIe 3.0
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	10.5" (26.7 cm)	275 mm
Recommended system power (PSU)	500 Watt
SLI options	4x
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pins	1 x 6-pin + 1 x 8-pin
API support
DirectX	12.0 (12_1)	12
OpenGL	4.4	4.5
Vulkan
Memory
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	3 GB
Memory bandwidth	224 GB / s	288 GB/s
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5
Shared memory	0	0
Technologies
3D Vision
Adaptive Vertical Sync
CUDA
GameStream
GameWorks
GeForce Experience
GeForce ShadowPlay
GPU Boost
SLI
Surround
AMD Eyefinity
AppAcceleration
CrossFire
DDMA audio
FreeSync
HD3D
LiquidVR
TressFX
TrueAudio
Unified Video Decoder (UVD)