RTX A4000 Max-Q vs GeForce GTX 970

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Primary details

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

Place in the ranking214not rated
Place by popularity57not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation13.75no data
Power efficiency11.77no data
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code nameGM204GA104
Market segmentDesktopMobile workstation
Release date19 September 2014 (10 years ago)12 April 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$329 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 cores16645120
Core clock speed1050 MHz780 MHz
Boost clock speed1178 MHz1395 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 million17,400 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)148 Watt80 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature98 °Cno data
Texture fill rate122.5223.2
Floating-point processing power3.92 TFLOPS14.28 TFLOPS
ROPs5680
TMUs104160
Tensor Coresno data160
Ray Tracing Coresno data40

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 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slotno data
Recommended system power (PSU)500 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinNone
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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount4 GB8 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s352.0 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 1.2Portable Device Dependent
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+8.6

Pros & cons summary


Recency 19 September 2014 12 April 2021
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 8 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 148 Watt 80 Watt

RTX A4000 Max-Q has an age advantage of 6 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 85% lower power consumption.

We couldn't decide between GeForce GTX 970 and RTX A4000 Max-Q. We've got no test results to judge.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 970 is a desktop card while RTX A4000 Max-Q is a mobile workstation one.


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

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
GeForce GTX 970
NVIDIA RTX A4000 Max-Q
RTX A4000 Max-Q

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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