GeForce GTX 1060 vs GeForce GTX 970

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 970, which features GPU clock speed of 1050 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is made up of 1664 Stream Processors, 104 TAUs, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Benchmarks

These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.

Zcash Mining Hash Rate

GeForce GTX 1060		311 Sol/s
GeForce GTX 970		262 Sol/s
	Difference: 49 (19%)

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score

GeForce GTX 1060		12359 points
GeForce GTX 970		10867 points
	Difference: 1492 (14%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1060		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 970		145 Watts
	Difference: 25 Watts (21%)

Memory Bandwidth

In theory, the GeForce GTX 970 should be a small bit faster than the GeForce GTX 1060 overall. (explain)

GeForce GTX 970		224000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1060		196608 MB/sec
	Difference: 27392 (14%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 will be just a bit (more or less 10%) faster with regards to texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 970. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060		120480 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 970		109200 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 11280 (10%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 should be just a bit (more or less 8%) faster with regards to anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 970, and also should be able to handle higher resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060		72288 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 970		67200 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 5088 (8%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data (in units of MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in a second. The number is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the card's memory bandwidth, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, High Dynamic Range and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be applied in one second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum number of pixels the graphics card can possibly write to its local memory in a second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of colour ROPs by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - aka Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel rate also depends on many other factors, especially the memory bandwidth - the lower the memory bandwidth is, the lower the ability to get to the maximum fill rate.