GeForce RTX 4070 Ti vs GTX 970

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce RTX 4070 Ti, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 970
2014
4 GB GDDR5, 148 Watt
24.98

RTX 4070 Ti outperforms GTX 970 by a whopping 230% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking2146
Place by popularity5777
Cost-effectiveness evaluation13.7548.82
Power efficiency11.7720.19
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Ada Lovelace (2022−2024)
GPU code nameGM204AD104
Market segmentDesktopDesktop
Release date19 September 2014 (10 years ago)3 January 2023 (1 year ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$329 $799

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 4070 Ti has 255% better value for money than GTX 970.

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 cores16647680
Core clock speed1050 MHz2310 MHz
Boost clock speed1178 MHz2610 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 million35,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)148 Watt285 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature98 °Cno data
Texture fill rate122.5626.4
Floating-point processing power3.92 TFLOPS40.09 TFLOPS
ROPs5680
TMUs104240
Tensor Coresno data240
Ray Tracing Coresno data60

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 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 4.0 x16
Length267 mm285 mm
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)500 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pin1x 16-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 typeGDDR5GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount4 GB12 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s1313 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s504.2 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.21x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
HDMI++
HDCP+-
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC 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.

GameStream+-
GeForce ShadowPlay+-
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+-

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model6.46.7
OpenGL4.44.6
OpenCL1.23.0
Vulkan1.1.1261.3
CUDA+8.9

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 970 24.98
RTX 4070 Ti 82.50
+230%

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 970 9636
RTX 4070 Ti 31827
+230%

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 970 16033
RTX 4070 Ti 75612
+372%

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 970 42263
RTX 4070 Ti 135624
+221%

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 970 11954
RTX 4070 Ti 53360
+346%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 970 72819
RTX 4070 Ti 217200
+198%

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.

GTX 970 422295
RTX 4070 Ti 815367
+93.1%

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:

Full HD80
−193%
234
+193%
1440p49
−208%
151
+208%
4K38
−150%
95
+150%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.113.41
1440p6.715.29
4K8.668.41

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
−476%
236
+476%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
−205%
160−170
+205%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
−256%
150−160
+256%
Battlefield 5 80−85
−198%
240−250
+198%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
−135%
120−130
+135%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
−432%
218
+432%
Far Cry 5 55−60
−107%
110−120
+107%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
−209%
200−210
+209%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
−74%
250−260
+74%
Hitman 3 50−55
−158%
120−130
+158%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
−154%
290−300
+154%
Metro Exodus 85−90
−80.2%
150−160
+80.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
−90.8%
120−130
+90.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
−326%
350−400
+326%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
−49.5%
150−160
+49.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
−205%
160−170
+205%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
−256%
150−160
+256%
Battlefield 5 80−85
−198%
240−250
+198%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 52
−131%
120−130
+131%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
−351%
185
+351%
Far Cry 5 55−60
−107%
110−120
+107%
Far Cry New Dawn 29
−593%
200−210
+593%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
−74%
250−260
+74%
Hitman 3 50−55
−158%
120−130
+158%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
−154%
290−300
+154%
Metro Exodus 35
−343%
150−160
+343%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
−90.8%
120−130
+90.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
−456%
473
+456%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 109
−68.8%
180−190
+68.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
−49.5%
150−160
+49.5%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
−205%
160−170
+205%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
−256%
150−160
+256%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 36
−233%
120−130
+233%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
−307%
167
+307%
Far Cry 5 55−60
−107%
110−120
+107%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
−74%
250−260
+74%
Hitman 3 50−55
−158%
120−130
+158%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
−205%
351
+205%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
−382%
410
+382%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 43
−416%
222
+416%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
−47.6%
152
+47.6%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
−90.8%
120−130
+90.8%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
−253%
160−170
+253%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
−195%
110−120
+195%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−285%
100−105
+285%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
−358%
110−120
+358%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−193%
80−85
+193%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
−556%
105
+556%
Far Cry 5 27−30
−190%
80−85
+190%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
−89.5%
270−280
+89.5%
Hitman 3 30−33
−303%
120−130
+303%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
−425%
273
+425%
Metro Exodus 45−50
−215%
148
+215%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 55−60
−409%
280
+409%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35
−406%
150−160
+406%
Watch Dogs: Legion 140−150
−70.2%
240−250
+70.2%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
−200%
120−130
+200%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
−252%
85−90
+252%
Far Cry New Dawn 20
−245%
65−70
+245%
Hitman 3 20−22
−280%
75−80
+280%
Horizon Zero Dawn 120−130
−76.6%
220−230
+76.6%
Metro Exodus 23
−513%
140−150
+513%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
−414%
149
+414%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−380%
70−75
+380%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−438%
70−75
+438%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
−271%
50−55
+271%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
−700%
48
+700%
Far Cry 5 14−16
−257%
50−55
+257%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
−388%
160−170
+388%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
−367%
140
+367%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12
−518%
68
+518%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
−355%
100−105
+355%

This is how GTX 970 and RTX 4070 Ti compete in popular games:

  • RTX 4070 Ti is 193% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 4070 Ti is 208% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 4070 Ti is 150% faster in 4K

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

  • in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 4070 Ti is 700% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RTX 4070 Ti surpassed GTX 970 in all 72 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.98 82.50
Recency 19 September 2014 3 January 2023
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 12 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 4 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 148 Watt 285 Watt

GTX 970 has 92.6% lower power consumption.

RTX 4070 Ti, on the other hand, has a 230.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, a 200% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 600% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 970 in performance tests.


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 970
GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
GeForce RTX 4070 Ti

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

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Questions & comments

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