Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire vs GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB

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GTX 1050 GTX 1050 Ti GTX 1060 3 GB GTX 1060 3 GB GP104 GTX 1060 5 GB GTX 1060 6 GB GTX 1070 GTX 1070 Ti GTX 1080 GTX 1080 Ti GTX 1650 GTX 1660 Super
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Radeon HD 7400G Radeon HD 7470M Radeon HD 7500G Radeon HD 7520G Radeon HD 7640G Radeon HD 7650M Radeon HD 7660G Radeon HD 7670M Radeon HD 7950M Radeon HD 7970M Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire Radeon HD 7970M X2

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB with Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire, including specs and performance data.

GTX 1060 3 GB
2016
3 GB GDDR5, 120 Watt
24.86
+55.3%

GTX 1060 3 GB outperforms HD 7970M Crossfire by an impressive 55% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Contents

GTX 1060 3 GB GTX 1060 3 GB
HD 7970M Crossfire HD 7970M Crossfire

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking216335
Place by popularity26not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation22.34no data
Power efficiency14.445.58
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)GCN (2012−2015)
GPU code nameGP106Wimbledon XT
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date18 August 2016 (8 years ago)1 May 2012 (12 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$199 no data

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 cores11522560
Core clock speed1506 MHz850 MHz
Boost clock speed1708 MHzno data
Number of transistors4,400 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology16 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)120 Watt200 Watt
Texture fill rate123.0no data
Floating-point processing power3.935 TFLOPSno data
ROPs48no data
TMUs72no data

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).

Laptop sizeno datalarge
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16no data
Length250 mmno data
Width2-slotno data
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pinno data

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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount3 GBno data
Memory bus width192 Bit2x 256 Bit
Memory clock speed2002 MHz4800 MHz
Memory bandwidth192.2 GB/sno data
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 Connectors1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPortno data
HDMI+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)11.1
Shader Model6.4no data
OpenGL4.6no data
OpenCL1.2no data
Vulkan+-
CUDA6.1-

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:

900p200−210
+51.5%
132
−51.5%
Full HD150−160
+48.5%
101
−48.5%

Cost per frame, $

1080p1.33no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Battlefield 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Hitman 3 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Metro Exodus 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Battlefield 5 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Hitman 3 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Metro Exodus 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 100−110
+0%
100−110
+0%
Hitman 3 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Far Cry 5 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Hitman 3 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Metro Exodus 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+0%
30−33
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Hitman 3 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Metro Exodus 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 3−4
+0%
3−4
+0%
Far Cry 5 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%

This is how GTX 1060 3 GB and HD 7970M Crossfire compete in popular games:

  • GTX 1060 3 GB is 52% faster in 900p
  • GTX 1060 3 GB is 49% faster in 1080p

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 72 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score 24.86 16.01
Recency 18 August 2016 1 May 2012
Chip lithography 16 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 120 Watt 200 Watt

GTX 1060 3 GB has a 55.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 75% more advanced lithography process, and 66.7% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB is a desktop card while Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire is a notebook 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.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
AMD Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire
Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire
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Comparisons with similar GPUs

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

GTX 1060 3 GB GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
vs
R9 Fury Radeon R9 Fury
HD 7970M Crossfire Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire
vs
GTX 1650 Max-Q GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q
GTX 1060 3 GB GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB
vs
R9 FURY X Radeon R9 FURY X
RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation RTX 4000 SFF Ada Generation
vs
RTX 2000 Embedded Ada Generation RTX 2000 Embedded Ada Generation
ATI Mobility HD 3870 X2 Mobility Radeon HD 3870 X2
vs
Radeon 530 Radeon 530
R4 Graphics Radeon R4 Graphics
vs
GT 710 PCI GeForce GT 710 PCI
GTX 460 v2 GeForce GTX 460 v2
vs
GeForce 830A GeForce 830A
GTX 1080 11Gbps GeForce GTX 1080 11Gbps
vs
Pro Vega II Radeon Pro Vega II
Quadro K620 Quadro K620
vs
NVS 4200M NVS 4200M
GT 635M GeForce GT 635M
vs
RX 7800 XT Radeon RX 7800 XT
RTX 4050 Mobile GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile
vs
Nvidia RTX 500 Ada Generation Mobile RTX 500 Ada Generation Mobile
FirePro M4100 FirePro M4100
vs
Go 6600 TE GeForce Go 6600 TE
TITAN Xp TITAN Xp
vs
Pro W6600 Radeon Pro W6600

Community ratings

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

4.2 8634 votes

Rate GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB on a scale of 1 to 5:

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2.1 19 votes

Rate Radeon HD 7970M Crossfire on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
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  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.