GeForce GTX 260 vs Radeon HD 5970

When choosing between GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 5970, it is worth examining the specifications of the models in detail. Do they meet the recommended requirements of modern games and software? Storage capacity, form factor, TDP, available ports, warranty and manufacturer support are all important. For example, the size of a PC case can limit the maximum thickness and length of the card. Often, instead of the factory overclocked card and RGB backlight, it is better to choose a reference model with a more efficient GPU. And make sure that your current power supply unit has the correct connection pins (using adapters is not recommended). This GPUs compare tool is meant to help you to choose the best graphics card for your build. Let's find out the difference between GeForce GTX 260 and Radeon HD 5970.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 5970
Power consumption (TDP) 182 Watt 294 Watt
Interface PCIe 2.0 x16 PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 2x 6-pin 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR3 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 896 MB 1 GB
Display Connectors 2x DVI, 1x S-Video 2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 5970 has 61% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 260.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 2.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • GeForce GTX 260 has 895 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5970.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is build with Tesla 2.0 architecture, and Radeon HD 5970 - with TeraScale 2.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 260 is 517 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5970.
  • GeForce GTX 260 is manufactured by 65 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 5970 - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is 295 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 260.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 5970 is 3001 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 260.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 3−4 10−12
ultra / 1080p 1−2 6−7
QHD / 1440p 0−1 1−2
low / 720p 14−16 24−27
medium / 1080p 5−6 14−16
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 5970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 133% more, than GeForce GTX 260.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 260 Radeon HD 5970
Architecture Tesla 2.0 TeraScale 2
Code name GT200 Hemlock
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 16 June 2008 18 November 2009
Pipelines 192 1600
Core clock speed 1242 MHz 725 MHz
Transistor count 1,400 million 2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology 65 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 36.9 billion/sec 58.00
Floating-point performance 476.9 gflops 2x 2,320.0 gflops
Length 10.5" (267 mm) (26.7 cm) 305 mm
Memory bus width 448 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 999 MHz 4000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 111.9 GB/s 128.0 GB/s
DirectX 11.1 (10_0) 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 4.0 5.0
OpenGL 2.1 4.4
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan N/A N/A
CUDA +
CUDA cores 192
Height 4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
SLI options +
Multi monitor support +
HDMI +
Maximum VGA resolution 2048x1536
Audio input for HDMI S/PDIF
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 30 Mh/s
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