Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge) vs GeForce GTX 970

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 970 with Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge), including specs and performance data.

GTX 970
2014
4 GB GDDR5, 148 Watt
24.97
+2034%

GTX 970 outperforms R4 (Stoney Ridge) by a whopping 2034% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking2111063
Place by popularity57not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation13.62no data
Power efficiency11.685.40
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)GCN 1.2/2.0 (2015−2016)
GPU code nameGM204Stoney Ridge
Market segmentDesktopLaptop
Release date19 September 2014 (10 years ago)1 June 2016 (8 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 cores1664192
Core clock speed1050 MHzno data
Boost clock speed1178 MHz600 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 millionno data
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)148 Watt15 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature98 °Cno data
Texture fill rate122.5no data
Floating-point processing power3.92 TFLOPSno data
ROPs56no data
TMUs104no 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).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16no data
Length267 mmno data
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)no data
Width2-slotno data
Recommended system power (PSU)500 Wattno data
Supplementary power connectors2x 6-pinno data
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 typeGDDR5no data
Maximum RAM amount4 GBno data
Memory bus width256 Bit64 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/sno data
Memory bandwidth224 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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2no data
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 (FL 12_0)
Shader Model6.4no data
OpenGL4.4no data
OpenCL1.2no data
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 970 24.97
+2034%
R4 (Stoney Ridge) 1.17

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
+1549%
R4 (Stoney Ridge) 973

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
+1563%
R4 (Stoney Ridge) 2542

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
+1950%
R4 (Stoney Ridge) 583

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
+2032%
R4 (Stoney Ridge) 3416

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
+890%
R4 (Stoney Ridge) 42677

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 HD79
+778%
9
−778%
1440p49
+2350%
2−3
−2350%
4K40
+3900%
1−2
−3900%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.16no data
1440p6.71no data
4K8.23no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+1267%
3−4
−1267%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+1000%
5−6
−1000%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+2050%
2−3
−2050%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+2633%
3−4
−2633%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 50−55
+1175%
4−5
−1175%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+1267%
3−4
−1267%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+5600%
1−2
−5600%
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
+2067%
3−4
−2067%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+14500%
1−2
−14500%
Hitman 3 50−55
+733%
6−7
−733%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+721%
14−16
−721%
Metro Exodus 85−90
+2050%
4−5
−2050%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+1200%
5
−1200%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+963%
8−9
−963%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+222%
30−35
−222%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+1000%
5−6
−1000%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+2050%
2−3
−2050%
Battlefield 5 80−85
+2633%
3−4
−2633%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 52
+1200%
4−5
−1200%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+1267%
3−4
−1267%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+5600%
1−2
−5600%
Far Cry New Dawn 29
+867%
3−4
−867%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+14500%
1−2
−14500%
Hitman 3 50−55
+733%
6−7
−733%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+721%
14−16
−721%
Metro Exodus 35
+3400%
1−2
−3400%
Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+3150%
2−3
−3150%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+963%
8−9
−963%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 109
+891%
10−12
−891%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+222%
30−35
−222%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 55−60
+1000%
5−6
−1000%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45
+2050%
2−3
−2050%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 36
+800%
4−5
−800%
Cyberpunk 2077 40−45
+1267%
3−4
−1267%
Far Cry 5 55−60
+5600%
1−2
−5600%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+14500%
1−2
−14500%
Hitman 3 50−55
+733%
6−7
−733%
Horizon Zero Dawn 110−120
+721%
14−16
−721%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+963%
8−9
−963%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 43
+291%
10−12
−291%
Watch Dogs: Legion 100−110
+222%
30−35
−222%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+3150%
2−3
−3150%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 45−50
+4600%
1−2
−4600%
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
+1800%
2−3
−1800%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+2500%
1−2
−2500%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27
+2300%
1−2
−2300%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
+2700%
1−2
−2700%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
+1500%
1−2
−1500%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+2800%
1−2
−2800%
Forza Horizon 4 140−150
+2283%
6−7
−2283%
Hitman 3 30−33
+329%
7−8
−329%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+1200%
4−5
−1200%
Metro Exodus 45−50
+2250%
2−3
−2250%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 55−60
+2650%
2−3
−2650%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30−35 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 140−150
+2720%
5−6
−2720%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+950%
4−5
−950%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 24−27
+2400%
1−2
−2400%
Far Cry New Dawn 20 0−1
Hitman 3 20−22 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 120−130
+2460%
5−6
−2460%
Metro Exodus 23
+2200%
1−2
−2200%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 29
+2800%
1−2
−2800%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
+1400%
1−2
−1400%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
+1200%
1−2
−1200%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7 0−1
Far Cry 5 14−16 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
+3300%
1−2
−3300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−33
+2900%
1−2
−2900%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−12 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 21−24
+1000%
2−3
−1000%

This is how GTX 970 and R4 (Stoney Ridge) compete in popular games:

  • GTX 970 is 778% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 970 is 2350% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 970 is 3900% faster in 4K

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

  • in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 970 is 14500% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 970 surpassed R4 (Stoney Ridge) in all 47 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 24.97 1.17
Recency 19 September 2014 1 June 2016
Power consumption (TDP) 148 Watt 15 Watt

GTX 970 has a 2034.2% higher aggregate performance score.

R4 (Stoney Ridge), on the other hand, has an age advantage of 1 year, and 886.7% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 970 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge) in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 970 is a desktop card while Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge) is a notebook 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
AMD Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge)
Radeon R4 (Stoney Ridge)

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.


4.2 4648 votes

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2.9 123 votes

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Questions & comments

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