GeForce GTX 970 vs Radeon RX 5500 XT

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 970 and Radeon RX 5500 XT you will find out which graphics card performs better in today's games. Bear in mind that third-party versions may have more efficient cooling and higher clock speeds. This will increase cards' performance, though not by much. In addition to raw power you should also take into account the dimensions. Thicker models simply will not fit into a small mini-ITX case. The resolution of your monitor also affects the choice, since 4K gameplay requires a more powerful GPU. And don't overspend on the graphics card. Other parts of your build may also need to be upgraded, save some money for the CPU or power supply. For some people GeForce GTX 970 will be the best choice, for others Radeon RX 5500 XT will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 970 Radeon RX 5500 XT
Power consumption (TDP) 148 Watt 130 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 4.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pins 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Recommended system power (PSU) 500 Watt
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  • GeForce GTX 970 has 13% more power consumption, than Radeon RX 5500 XT.
  • GeForce GTX 970 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon RX 5500 XT uses PCIe 4.0 x8 interface.
  • Radeon RX 5500 XT has 4 GB more memory, than GeForce GTX 970.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 970 is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon RX 5500 XT - with RDNA 1.0.
  • GeForce GTX 970 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon RX 5500 XT - by 7 nm process technology.
  • Radeon RX 5500 XT is 170 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 970.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon RX 5500 XT is 13993 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 50−55 45−50
ultra / 1080p 30−35 30−35
QHD / 1440p 27−30 24−27
4K / 2160p 14−16 14−16
low / 720p 75−80 70−75
medium / 1080p 60−65 55−60
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 7% more, than Radeon RX 5500 XT.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 970 Radeon RX 5500 XT
Architecture Maxwell RDNA 1.0
Code name GM204 Navi 14
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 19 September 2014 12 December 2019
Pipelines 1664 1408
Core clock speed 1050 MHz
Boost Clock 1178 MHz 1845 MHz
Transistor count 5,200 million 6,400 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 7 nm
Texture fill rate 109 billion/sec 162.4
Floating-point performance 3,920 gflops
Length 10.5" (26.7 cm) 180 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 7.0 GB/s 14000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 224 GB/s 224.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1) 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 6.4 6.5
OpenGL 4.4 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 2.0
Vulkan 1.1.126 1.2.131
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.48 kh/s
CUDA cores 1664
Bus support PCI Express 3.0
Height 4.376" (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support 4 displays
HDCP +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI Internal
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 478 Mh/s
Decred / DCR (Decred) 1.51 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 22.21 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 291.61 Sol/s
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
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