GeForce GTX 970 vs Apple M1 8-Core GPU

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Apple M1 8-Core GPU with GeForce GTX 970, including specs and performance data.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU
2020
14.49

GTX 970 outperforms Apple M1 8-Core GPU by an impressive 73% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking360215
Place by popularitynot in top-10057
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data13.79
Power efficiencyno data11.58
Architectureno dataMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code nameno dataGM204
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date10 November 2020 (4 years ago)19 September 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$329

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores81664
Core clock speed1278 MHz1050 MHz
Boost clock speedno data1178 MHz
Number of transistorsno data5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology5 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data148 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data98 °C
Texture fill rateno data122.5
Floating-point processing powerno data3.92 TFLOPS
ROPsno data56
TMUsno data104

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Bus supportno dataPCI Express 3.0
Interfaceno dataPCIe 3.0 x16
Lengthno data267 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Widthno data2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)no data500 Watt
Supplementary power connectorsno data2x 6-pin
SLI options-+

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeno dataGDDR5
Maximum RAM amountno data4 GB
Memory bus widthno data256 Bit
Memory clock speedno data7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidthno data224 GB/s
Shared memory+-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectorsno dataDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor supportno data4 displays
HDMI-+
HDCP-+
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
G-SYNC support-+
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GameStream-+
GeForce ShadowPlay-+
GPU Boostno data2.0
GameWorks-+

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectXno data12 (12_1)
Shader Modelno data6.4
OpenGLno data4.4
OpenCLno data1.2
Vulkan-1.1.126
CUDA-+

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU 14.49
GTX 970 25.01
+72.6%

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Apple M1 8-Core GPU 280200
GTX 970 422295
+50.7%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD29
−176%
80
+176%
1440p24−27
−87.5%
45
+87.5%
4K21−24
−81%
38
+81%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data4.11
1440pno data7.31
4Kno data8.66

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−86.4%
40−45
+86.4%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
−71.9%
55−60
+71.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
−87%
40−45
+87%
Battlefield 5 45−50
−78.3%
80−85
+78.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−82.1%
50−55
+82.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−86.4%
40−45
+86.4%
Far Cry 5 30−35
−72.7%
55−60
+72.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
−66.7%
65−70
+66.7%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
−58.7%
140−150
+58.7%
Hitman 3 27−30
−85.2%
50−55
+85.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
−59.7%
110−120
+59.7%
Metro Exodus 45−50
−83%
85−90
+83%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−66.7%
65−70
+66.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
−84.8%
85−90
+84.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
−35.5%
100−110
+35.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
−71.9%
55−60
+71.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
−87%
40−45
+87%
Battlefield 5 45−50
−78.3%
80−85
+78.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−85.7%
52
+85.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−86.4%
40−45
+86.4%
Far Cry 5 30−35
−72.7%
55−60
+72.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+34.5%
29
−34.5%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
−58.7%
140−150
+58.7%
Hitman 3 27−30
−85.2%
50−55
+85.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
−59.7%
110−120
+59.7%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+34.3%
35
−34.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−66.7%
65−70
+66.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
−84.8%
85−90
+84.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
−221%
109
+221%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
−35.5%
100−110
+35.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 30−35
−71.9%
55−60
+71.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
−87%
40−45
+87%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−28.6%
36
+28.6%
Cyberpunk 2077 21−24
−86.4%
40−45
+86.4%
Far Cry 5 30−35
−72.7%
55−60
+72.7%
Forza Horizon 4 90−95
−58.7%
140−150
+58.7%
Hitman 3 27−30
−85.2%
50−55
+85.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 70−75
−59.7%
110−120
+59.7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
−84.8%
85−90
+84.8%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
−26.5%
43
+26.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 75−80
−35.5%
100−110
+35.5%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−66.7%
65−70
+66.7%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 27−30
−74.1%
45−50
+74.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
−72.7%
35−40
+72.7%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−85.7%
24−27
+85.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 10−12
−118%
24−27
+118%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−86.7%
27−30
+86.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 7−8
−129%
16−18
+129%
Far Cry 5 16−18
−81.3%
27−30
+81.3%
Forza Horizon 4 70−75
−98.6%
140−150
+98.6%
Hitman 3 16−18
−76.5%
30−33
+76.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
−79.3%
50−55
+79.3%
Metro Exodus 24−27
−95.8%
45−50
+95.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 24−27
−129%
55−60
+129%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
−107%
30−35
+107%
Watch Dogs: Legion 85−90
−62.1%
140−150
+62.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
−82.6%
40−45
+82.6%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 14−16
−78.6%
24−27
+78.6%
Far Cry New Dawn 10−11
−100%
20
+100%
Hitman 3 10−11
−100%
20−22
+100%
Horizon Zero Dawn 65−70
−85.5%
120−130
+85.5%
Metro Exodus 12−14
−76.9%
23
+76.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14
−123%
29
+123%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 8−9
−87.5%
14−16
+87.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 7−8
−85.7%
12−14
+85.7%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 7−8
−100%
14−16
+100%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−200%
6−7
+200%
Far Cry 5 8−9
−75%
14−16
+75%
Forza Horizon 4 18−20
−78.9%
30−35
+78.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−131%
30−33
+131%
Watch Dogs: Legion 5−6
−120%
10−12
+120%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−69.2%
21−24
+69.2%

This is how Apple M1 8-Core GPU and GTX 970 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 970 is 176% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 970 is 88% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 970 is 81% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Far Cry New Dawn, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the Apple M1 8-Core GPU is 34% faster.
  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 970 is 221% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Apple M1 8-Core GPU is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
  • GTX 970 is ahead in 70 tests (97%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 14.49 25.01
Recency 10 November 2020 19 September 2014
Chip lithography 5 nm 28 nm

Apple M1 8-Core GPU has an age advantage of 6 years, and a 460% more advanced lithography process.

GTX 970, on the other hand, has a 72.6% higher aggregate performance score.

The GeForce GTX 970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Apple M1 8-Core GPU in performance tests.

Be aware that Apple M1 8-Core GPU is a notebook card while GeForce GTX 970 is a desktop one.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


Apple M1 8-Core GPU
M1 8-Core GPU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


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Questions & comments

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