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Gaming Performance Comparison

In terms of overall gaming performance, the graphical capabilities of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Inno3D iChill HerculeZ X3 Ultra DHS Edition are very slightly better than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB.

The GTX 970 has a 4 MHz higher core clock speed than the GTX 780, but the GTX 780 has 88 more Texture Mapping Units than the GTX 970. As a result, the GTX 780 exhibits a 91.6 GTexel/s better Texture Fill Rate than the GTX 970. This still holds weight but shader performance is generally more relevant, particularly since both of these GPUs support at least DirectX 10.

The GTX 970 has a 4 MHz higher core clock speed and 16 more Render Output Units than the GTX 780. This results in the GTX 970 providing 17 GPixel/s better pixeling performance. However, both GPUs support DirectX 9 or above, and pixeling performance is only really relevant when comparing older cards.

The GTX 970 was released over a year more recently than the GTX 780, and so the GTX 970 is likely to have better driver support, meaning it will be more optimized for running the latest games.

Both GPUs exhibit very powerful performance, so it probably isn't worth upgrading from one to the other, as both are capable of running even the most demanding games at the highest settings.

The GTX 970 has 1024 MB more video memory than the GTX 780, so is likely to be much better at displaying game textures at higher resolutions. However, the overall memory performance is about the same.

The GTX 780 has 73.2 GB/sec greater memory bandwidth than the GTX 970, which means that the memory performance of the GTX 780 is much better than the GTX 970.

The GeForce GTX 970 4GB has 1664 Shader Processing Units and the GeForce GTX 780 Inno3D iChill HerculeZ X3 Ultra DHS Edition has 2304. However, the actual shader performance of the GTX 970 is 2646 and the actual shader performance of the GTX 780 is 2500. The GTX 970 having 146 better shader performance is not particularly notable, as altogether the GTX 780 performs better when taking into account other relevant data.

The GeForce GTX 970 4GB requires 145 Watts to run and the GeForce GTX 780 Inno3D iChill HerculeZ X3 Ultra DHS Edition requires 265 Watts. We would recommend a PSU with at least 500 Watts for the GTX 970 and a PSU with at least 600 Watts for the GTX 780. The GTX 780 requires 120 Watts more than the GTX 970 to run. The difference is significant enough that the GTX 780 may have an adverse affect on your yearly electricity bills in comparison to the GTX 970.

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GPU Core Details

Core Speed1050 MHzvs1046 MHz
ArchitectureMaxwell GM204-200-A1Kepler GK110-300-A1
Notebook GPUnono
SLI/Crossfireyesvsyes
Dedicatedyesvsyes
Release Date19 Sep 201401 Jan 2013
GPU LinkGD LinkGD Link
Approved
Comparison

Resolution Performance

1366x768
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1600x900
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1920x1080
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2560x1440
9.6
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3840x2160
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GPU Memory

Memory4096 MBvs3072 MB
Memory Speed1753 MHzvs1550 MHz
Memory Bus256 Bitvs384 Bit
Memory TypeGDDR5vsGDDR5
Memory Bandwidth224.4GB/secvs297.6GB/sec
L2 Cache 2048 KB green tick vs 1536 KB
Comparison

GPU Display

Shader Processing Units1664vs2304
Actual Shader Performance2646vs2500
Technology28nmvs28nm
Texture Mapping Units104vs192
Texture Rate109.2 GTexel/svs200.8 GTexel/s
Render Output Units64vs48
Pixel Rate67.2 GPixel/svs50.2 GPixel/s
Comparison

GPU Display Tech

DirectX12vs11.1
Shader Model5.0vs5.0
Open GL4.4vs4.3
Max Resolution (WxH)4096x2160vs4096x2160
VGA Connections0vs0
DVI Connections2vs2
HDMI Connections1vs1
Comparison

GPU Power Requirements

Max Power145 Wattsvs265 Watts

GPU Supporting Hardware

Recommended RAM12 GBvs12 GB
Recommended Screen Size3840x21602560x1600
Recommended PSU500 Watts & 30 Ampsvs600 Watts & 42 Amps

Gaming Performance Value

Performance Value

GPU Mini Review

Mini ReviewOverview
GeForce GTX 970 4GB is a high-end Graphics Card based on the second revision of the Maxwell architecture. Its relatively low release price and mind-blowing performance made it an extremely competitive product. Read below to know more.

Architecture
The Second variant of the Maxwell Architecture, despite being also manufactured with a 28nm technology, has an extremely large L2 Cache and features a Third Generation Delta Color Compression which allows NVIDIA to produce Graphics Cards with relatively small memory data transfer rates, without causing too much impact on the overall performance. Furthermore, the Shaders have been redesigned and are both more powerful and energy efficient.
The Second Revision of Maxwell also adds the VXGI (Voxel Global Illumination) Technology which makes scenes significantly more lifelike and believable as light interacts more realistically in the game environment and the MFAA Technology which provides the same effect as MSAA but at a much lower performance cost.

GPU
It equips a GPU codenamed GM204-200-A1 which has 13 SM activated and thus offers 1664 Shader Processing Units, 104 TMUs and 64 ROPs, on a 256-bit memory interface of fast GDDR5. The central unit runs at 1050MHz and goes up to 1178MHz, in Turbo Mode, while the memory clock operates at 1753MHz.

Features
DirectX 12.0 Support (11.0 Hardware Default) and support for SLI, MFAA, VXGI, GameStream, G-SYNC, GPU Boost 2.0, GeForce Experience, PhysX and other technologies.

Cooling Solution
The Cooling Solution consists of a Single-Fan and is identical to the one seen on GeForce GTX 770. The Card is known to run cool and has a maximum operating temperature of 95ÂșC.

Power Consumption
With a rated board TDP of 145W, it requires at least a 500W PSU with two available 6-pin connectors.

Release Price
Pricing is lower than the one seen on its predecessors - $329.99 and makes it an extremely competitive product.

Performance
Gaming benchmarks prove that at 4K (3840x2160) GeForce GTX 970 4GB is over 25% faster than its predecessor and even beats GeForce GTX 780 in about 10%.

System Suggestions
We recommend a very strong processor (Intel Core i7 Quad Core/AMD FX Eight Core) and 12GB of RAM for a system with GeForce GTX 970 4GB.
GeForce GTX 780 Inno3D iChill HerculeZ X3 Ultra DHS Edition is a special edition of the high-end GeForce GTX 780.
This edition comes with a custom triple fan cooling solution which by itself should allow a slight performance boost, as GeForce GTX 780 benefits from the GPU Boost 2.0 technology.
Also, it has been overclocked out of the box from 863MHz to 1056MHz while its boost clock is now of 1085MHz. The operating memory clock was increased to 1550MHz.
Benchmarks indicate a 13% performance boost when compared to the reference card.
Recommended CPUAMD Opteron 6172
AMD FX-8370E
AMD FX-6350
Intel Core i5-4590T 2.0GHz
Intel Xeon Processor X5650
Intel Core i7-4771 4-Core 3.5GHz
Intel Core i7-4770R 4-Core 3.2GHz
Intel Core i7-4770 4-Core 3.4GHz
Intel Core i7-4770K 4-Core 3.5GHz
Intel Core i7-990X 6-Core 3.47GHz
Possible GPU Upgrades--
GPU VariantsGeForce GTX 970 Gigabyte WindForce 3X OC 4GB Edition
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