GeForce RTX 3080 vs ATI Radeon HD 5970

Place in the ranking	599	26
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	0.36	46.38
Power efficiency	1.38	14.12
Architecture	TeraScale 2 (2009−2015)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	Hemlock	GA102
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	18 November 2009 (15 years ago)	1 September 2020 (4 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$699	$699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 3080 has 12783% better value for money than ATI HD 5970.

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 cores	1600	8704
Core clock speed	725 MHz	1440 MHz
Boost clock speed	no data	1710 MHz
Number of transistors	2,154 million	28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	294 Watt	320 Watt
Texture fill rate	58.00	465.1
Floating-point processing power	2.32 TFLOPS	29.77 TFLOPS
ROPs	32	96
TMUs	80	272
Tensor Cores	no data	272
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	68

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).

Interface	PCIe 2.0 x16	PCIe 4.0 x16
Length	305 mm	285 mm
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	1x 12-pin

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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6X
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	10 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	320 Bit
Memory clock speed	1000 MHz	1188 MHz
Memory bandwidth	128.0 GB/s	760.3 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 Connectors	2x DVI, 1x mini-DisplayPort	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	-	+

API compatibility

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

DirectX	11.2 (11_0)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	5.0	6.5
OpenGL	4.4	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	N/A	1.2
CUDA	-	8.5

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.

ATI HD 5970 5.89

RTX 3080 65.53
+1013%

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.

ATI HD 5970 2263

RTX 3080 25187
+1013%

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.

ATI HD 5970 3690

RTX 3080 39257
+964%

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 HD	14−16 −1100%	168 +1100%
1440p	10−12 −1150%	125 +1150%
4K	7−8 −1143%	87 +1143%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	49.93 −1100%	4.16 +1100%
1440p	69.90 −1150%	5.59 +1150%
4K	99.86 −1143%	8.03 +1143%

RTX 3080 has 1100% lower cost per frame in 1080p
RTX 3080 has 1150% lower cost per frame in 1440p
RTX 3080 has 1143% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	133 +0%	133 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	383 +0%	383 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	152 +0%	152 +0%
Metro Exodus	129 +0%	129 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	131 +0%	131 +0%
Valorant	277 +0%	277 +0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	125 +0%	125 +0%
Dota 2	147 +0%	147 +0%
Far Cry 5	123 +0%	123 +0%
Fortnite	250−260 +0%	250−260 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	326 +0%	326 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	176 +0%	176 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	147 +0%	147 +0%
Metro Exodus	119 +0%	119 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	119 +0%	119 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Valorant	200 +0%	200 +0%
World of Tanks	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	110−120 +0%	110−120 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	150−160 +0%	150−160 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	117 +0%	117 +0%
Dota 2	135 +0%	135 +0%
Far Cry 5	120−130 +0%	120−130 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	287 +0%	287 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	140 +0%	140 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	210−220 +0%	210−220 +0%
Valorant	268 +0%	268 +0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	112 +0%	112 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	112 +0%	112 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	170−180 +0%	170−180 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	84 +0%	84 +0%
World of Tanks	400−450 +0%	400−450 +0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	85−90 +0%	85−90 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	79 +0%	79 +0%
Far Cry 5	160−170 +0%	160−170 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	219 +0%	219 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	126 +0%	126 +0%
Metro Exodus	107 +0%	107 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	140−150 +0%	140−150 +0%
Valorant	248 +0%	248 +0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Dota 2	143 +0%	143 +0%
Grand Theft Auto V	143 +0%	143 +0%
Metro Exodus	65 +0%	65 +0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	200−210 +0%	200−210 +0%
Red Dead Redemption 2	56 +0%	56 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	143 +0%	143 +0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	80−85 +0%	80−85 +0%
Counter-Strike 2	75−80 +0%	75−80 +0%
Cyberpunk 2077	41 +0%	41 +0%
Dota 2	129 +0%	129 +0%
Far Cry 5	100−110 +0%	100−110 +0%
Fortnite	95−100 +0%	95−100 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	135 +0%	135 +0%
Forza Horizon 5	78 +0%	78 +0%
Valorant	153 +0%	153 +0%

This is how ATI HD 5970 and RTX 3080 compete in popular games:

RTX 3080 is 1100% faster in 1080p
RTX 3080 is 1150% faster in 1440p
RTX 3080 is 1143% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

there's a draw in 64 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	5.89	65.53
Recency	18 November 2009	1 September 2020
Maximum RAM amount	1 GB	10 GB
Chip lithography	40 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	294 Watt	320 Watt

ATI HD 5970 has 8.8% lower power consumption.

RTX 3080, on the other hand, has a 1012.6% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 10 years, a 900% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 400% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 3080 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 5970 in performance tests.

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