GeForce GTX 970M vs Radeon HD 8730M

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 970M and Radeon HD 8730M 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 970M will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 8730M will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

GeForce GTX 970M and Radeon HD 8730M are Laptop Graphics Cards

Note: GeForce GTX 970M and Radeon HD 8730M are only used in laptop graphics. They have lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with GeForce GTX 970M or Radeon HD 8730M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 970M Radeon HD 8730M
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x8
Supplementary power connectors None
Memory type GDDR5 DDR3
Maximum RAM amount 6 GB 2 GB
Display Connectors No outputs No outputs
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  • GeForce GTX 970M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon HD 8730M uses PCIe 3.0 x8 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 970M has 4 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 8730M.
  • Both cards are used in Laptops.
  • GeForce GTX 970M is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 8730M - with GCN.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 970M is 274 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8730M.
  • GeForce GTX 970M and Radeon HD 8730M are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 970M is 500 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 8730M.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 0−1
ultra / 1080p 21−24
QHD / 1440p 16−18 0−1
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 1−2
medium / 1080p 40−45 0−1
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 970M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 6100% more, than Radeon HD 8730M.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 970M Radeon HD 8730M
Architecture Maxwell GCN
Code name GM204 Mars
Type Laptop Laptop
Release date 7 October 2014 16 November 2012
Pipelines 1280 384
Core clock speed 924 MHz 650 MHz
Boost Clock 1038 MHz 700 MHz
Transistor count 5,200 million 950 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 83.04 16.80
Floating-point performance 2,657 gflops 537.6 gflops
Memory bus width 192 Bit 128 Bit
Memory clock speed 2500 MHz 2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 120 GB/s 32 GB/s
Shared memory - -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1) 12 (11_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.5 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126 1.2.131
CUDA +
CUDA cores 1280
Bus support PCI Express 3.0
SLI options +
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 314 Mh/s
Laptop size large medium sized
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support +
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder +
Optimus +
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
BatteryBoost +
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