GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q vs Radeon HD 7970

If you are going to buy a new graphics card and are choosing between GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q and Radeon HD 7970, there are a couple of things to consider. Cards with more VRAM in general perform better and allow you to play on higher graphics settings. Size also makes a difference. A model with a large heatsink can occupy up to three expansion slots on a motherboard. Be sure you have enough room in your PC case. When comparing GPUs with different architectures, more processing cores and even higher TFLOPS will not always translate to better performance. To help you decide which GPU you need, we have measured frame rates in a number of popular games. For more on how the GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q stacks up against Radeon HD 7970, check out specs charts below.

GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q is only used in laptop graphics. It has 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 1080 Max Q here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q Radeon HD 7970
Power consumption (TDP) 150 Watt 300 Watt
Interface PCIe 3.0 x16 PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5X GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • Radeon HD 7970 has 100% more power consumption, than GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q.
  • Both video cards are using PCIe 3.0 x16 interface connection to a motherboard.
  • GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q has 5 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7970.
  • GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 7970 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q is build with Pascal architecture, and Radeon HD 7970 - with GCN.
  • GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q is manufactured by 16 nm process technology, and Radeon HD 7970 - by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q is 8625 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 50−55 35−40
ultra / 1080p 35−40 21−24
QHD / 1440p 27−30 16−18
4K / 2160p 16−18 10−11
low / 720p 80−85 60−65
medium / 1080p 60−65 40−45
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 43% more, than Radeon HD 7970.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 1080 Max Q Radeon HD 7970
Architecture Pascal GCN
Code name N17E-G3 Max-Q Tahiti XT
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 30 May 2017 22 December 2011
Pipelines 2560 2048
Core clock speed 1101 - 1290 MHz
Boost Clock 1278 - 1468 MHz 925 MHz
Transistor count 7,200 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 16 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 234.9 118.4
Floating-point performance 7,516 gflops 3,789 gflops
Length 274 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 10000 MHz 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 320.3 GB/s 264 GB/s
Shared memory - -
G-SYNC support +
VR Ready +
DirectX 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.6 4.6
OpenCL 1.2 1.2
Vulkan 1.2.131
CUDA 6.1
FreeSync +
Bus support PCIe 2.1 x16
HDMI +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 485 Mh/s
Laptop size large
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s
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