Radeon R9 270 vs GeForce GTX 660

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 660 and Radeon R9 270, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 660
2012
2 GB GDDR5, 140 Watt
10.37

R9 270 outperforms GTX 660 by a small 8% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking437420
Place by popularity58not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation3.284.88
Power efficiency5.165.19
ArchitectureKepler (2012−2018)GCN 1.0 (2011−2020)
GPU code nameGK106Curacao
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Designno datareference
Release date6 September 2012 (12 years ago)13 November 2013 (11 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$229 $179

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

R9 270 has 49% better value for money than GTX 660.

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 cores9601280
Core clock speed980 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1033 MHz925 MHz
Number of transistors2,540 million2,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)140 Watt150 Watt
Texture fill rate82.5674.00
Floating-point processing power1.981 TFLOPS2.368 TFLOPS
ROPs2432
TMUs8080

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 supportPCI Express 3.0PCIe 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length241 mm210 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Supplementary power connectors1x 6-pin1 x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount2 GB2 GB
Memory bus width192-bit GDDR5256 Bit
Memory clock speed6.0 GB/sno data
Memory bandwidth144.2 GB/s179.2 GB/s

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 ConnectorsOne Dual Link DVI-I, One Dual Link DVI-D, One HDMI, One DisplayPort2x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
Eyefinity-+
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
DisplayPort support-+
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Supported technologies

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

CrossFire-+
FreeSync-+
HD3D-+
LiquidVR-+
TressFX-+
TrueAudio-+
UVD-+
DDMA audiono data+
3D Blu-Ray+-
3D Gaming+-
3D Vision+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_0)DirectX® 12
Shader Model5.15.1
OpenGL4.34.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.126+
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.

GTX 660 10.37
R9 270 11.16
+7.6%

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

GTX 660 4000
R9 270 4306
+7.7%

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 660 5040
R9 270 5930
+17.7%

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 HD47
−6.4%
50−55
+6.4%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.873.58

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 10.37 11.16
Recency 6 September 2012 13 November 2013
Power consumption (TDP) 140 Watt 150 Watt

GTX 660 has 7.1% lower power consumption.

R9 270, on the other hand, has a 7.6% higher aggregate performance score, and an age advantage of 1 year.

Given the minimal performance differences, no clear winner can be declared between GeForce GTX 660 and Radeon R9 270.


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

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660
GeForce GTX 660
AMD Radeon R9 270
Radeon R9 270

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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