GeForce GTX 965M vs Radeon HD 7970

In this comparison between GeForce GTX 965M and Radeon HD 7970 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 965M will be the best choice, for others Radeon HD 7970 will be their preference. Study the comparison tables below and make your choice.

GeForce GTX 965M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce GTX 965M 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 965M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 965M Radeon HD 7970
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • GeForce GTX 965M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon HD 7970 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 965M has 1 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7970.
  • GeForce GTX 965M is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 7970 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 965M is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 7970 - with GCN.
  • GeForce GTX 965M and Radeon HD 7970 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 965M is 1125 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 20−22 35−40
ultra / 1080p 12−14 21−24
QHD / 1440p 6−7 16−18
4K / 2160p 5−6 10−11
low / 720p 35−40 60−65
medium / 1080p 24−27 40−45
The average gaming FPS of Radeon HD 7970 in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 77% more, than GeForce GTX 965M.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 965M Radeon HD 7970
Architecture Maxwell GCN
Code name N16E-GS, N16E-GR Tahiti XT
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 5 January 2015 22 December 2011
Pipelines 1024 2048
Core clock speed 944 MHz
Boost Clock 950 / 1151 MHz 925 MHz
Transistor count 2,940 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 73.60 118.4
Floating-point performance 2,355 gflops 3,789 gflops
Length 274 mm
Memory bus width 128 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 2500 MHz 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 80 GB/s 264 GB/s
Shared memory - -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.5 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan 1.1
CUDA +
FreeSync +
CUDA cores 1024
Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 2.1 x16
SLI options +
HDMI + +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 226 Mh/s 485 Mh/s
Laptop size large
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support +
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder +
Optimus +
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
BatteryBoost +
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