GeForce GTX 960 vs Radeon HD 5970

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing GeForce GTX 960 and Radeon HD 5970. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between GeForce GTX 960 and Radeon HD 5970. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 960 Radeon HD 5970
Power consumption (TDP) 120 Watt 294 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 2.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors 1x 6-pins 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 1 GB
Display Connectors 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort 2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort
Recommended system power (PSU) 400 Watt
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  • Radeon HD 5970 has 145% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 960.
  • GeForce GTX 960 is connected by PCIe 3.0 x16, and Radeon HD 5970 uses PCIe 2.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 960 has 3 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 5970.
  • Both cards are used in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 960 is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 5970 - with TeraScale 2.
  • Core clock speed of GeForce GTX 960 is 402 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 5970.
  • GeForce GTX 960 is manufactured by 28 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 5970 - by 40 nm process technology.
  • Radeon HD 5970 is 296 mm longer, than GeForce GTX 960.
  • Memory clock speed of Radeon HD 5970 is 3993 MHz higher, than GeForce GTX 960.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 10−12
ultra / 1080p 21−24 6−7
QHD / 1440p 16−18 1−2
4K / 2160p 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 24−27
medium / 1080p 40−45 14−16
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 960 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 227% more, than Radeon HD 5970.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 960 Radeon HD 5970
Architecture Maxwell TeraScale 2
Code name GM206 Hemlock
Type Desktop Desktop
Release date 22 January 2015 18 November 2009
Pipelines 1024 1600
Core clock speed 1127 MHz 725 MHz
Boost Clock 1178 MHz
Transistor count 2,940 million 2,154 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 40 nm
Texture fill rate 72 billion/sec 58.00
Floating-point performance 2,413 gflops 2x 2,320.0 gflops
Length 9.5" (24.1 cm) 305 mm
Memory bus width 128 Bit 256 Bit
Memory clock speed 7.0 GB/s 4000 MHz
Memory bandwidth 112 GB/s 128.0 GB/s
Shared memory -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1) 11.2 (11_0)
Shader Model 6.4 5.0
OpenGL 4.4 4.4
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126 N/A
CUDA +
Monero / XMR (CryptoNight) 0.27 kh/s
CUDA cores 1024
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) 318 Mh/s
Decred / DCR (Decred) 0.92 Gh/s
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 8 Mh/s
Zcash / ZEC (Equihash) 141.47 Sol/s
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
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