GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs Radeon HD 7970

Intro

Compare those specifications to the Radeon HD 7970, which comes with a core clock frequency of 925 MHz and a GDDR5 memory frequency of 1375 MHz. It also features a 384-bit bus, and makes use of a 28 nm design. It is made up of 2048 SPUs, 128 TAUs, and 32 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.

Ethereum Mining Hash Rate

Radeon HD 7970		21 Mh/s
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		19 Mh/s
	Difference: 2 (11%)

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		12185 points
Radeon HD 7970		8225 points
	Difference: 3960 (48%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		120 Watts
Radeon HD 7970		250 Watts
	Difference: 130 Watts (108%)

Memory Bandwidth

As far as performance goes, the Radeon HD 7970 should in theory be quite a bit better than the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB in general. (explain)

Radeon HD 7970		264000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		196608 MB/sec
	Difference: 67392 (34%)

Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 7970 is a little bit (approximately 9%) better at texture filtering than the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB. (explain)

Radeon HD 7970		118400 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		108432 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 9968 (9%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB should be a lot (more or less 144%) better at AA than the Radeon HD 7970, and also should be able to handle higher screen resolutions better. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		72288 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 7970		29600 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 42688 (144%)

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: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (measured in megabytes per second) that can be transported past the external memory interface within a second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's interface width by its memory clock speed. In the case of DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The higher the bandwidth is, the better the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, HDR and higher screen resolutions.

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

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