GeForce GTX 1660 vs Radeon HD 8970M

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared Radeon HD 8970M with GeForce GTX 1660, including specs and performance data.

HD 8970M
2013
4 GB GDDR5, 100 Watt
10.04

GTX 1660 outperforms HD 8970M by a whopping 201% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking444180
Place by popularitynot in top-10057
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data49.09
Power efficiency7.1718.01
ArchitectureGCN 1.0 (2011−2020)Turing (2018−2022)
GPU code nameNeptuneTU116
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date14 May 2013 (11 years ago)14 March 2019 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$219

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 cores12801408
Core clock speed850 MHz1530 MHz
Boost clock speed900 MHz1785 MHz
Number of transistors2,800 million6,600 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)100 Watt120 Watt
Texture fill rate72.00157.1
Floating-point processing power2.304 TFLOPS5.027 TFLOPS
ROPs3248
TMUs8088

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).

Laptop sizelargeno data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Lengthno data229 mm
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsno data1x 8-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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount4 GB6 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit192 Bit
Memory clock speed1200 MHz2001 MHz
Memory bandwidth153.6 GB/s192.1 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 ConnectorsNo outputs1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 1x DisplayPort
HDMI-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (11_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model5.16.5
OpenGL4.64.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.2.131
CUDA-7.5

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.

HD 8970M 10.04
GTX 1660 30.26
+201%

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.

HD 8970M 3876
GTX 1660 11677
+201%

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.

HD 8970M 6818
GTX 1660 21064
+209%

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.

HD 8970M 18667
GTX 1660 71229
+282%

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.

HD 8970M 5039
GTX 1660 14164
+181%

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.

HD 8970M 31027
GTX 1660 81755
+163%

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 HD51
−62.7%
83
+62.7%
1440p16−18
−219%
51
+219%
4K9−10
−211%
28
+211%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
−344%
71
+344%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−171%
65−70
+171%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
−293%
59
+293%
Battlefield 5 30−35
−219%
95−100
+219%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
−265%
73
+265%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
−263%
58
+263%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−196%
65−70
+196%
Far Cry New Dawn 27−30
−175%
75−80
+175%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
−146%
160−170
+146%
Hitman 3 18−20
−263%
69
+263%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
−456%
306
+456%
Metro Exodus 30−35
−350%
144
+350%
Red Dead Redemption 2 27−30
−300%
112
+300%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
−218%
100−110
+218%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−260%
227
+260%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−413%
123
+413%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
−180%
42
+180%
Battlefield 5 30−35
−219%
95−100
+219%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
−235%
67
+235%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
−194%
47
+194%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−196%
65−70
+196%
Far Cry New Dawn 27−30
−175%
75−80
+175%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
−146%
160−170
+146%
Hitman 3 18−20
−253%
67
+253%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
−422%
287
+422%
Metro Exodus 30−35
−253%
113
+253%
Red Dead Redemption 2 27−30
−182%
79
+182%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
−233%
110
+233%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 82
+28.1%
60−65
−28.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−240%
214
+240%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−171%
65−70
+171%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 14−16
−147%
37
+147%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 20−22
−145%
49
+145%
Cyberpunk 2077 16−18
−150%
40
+150%
Far Cry 5 21−24
−196%
65−70
+196%
Forza Horizon 4 65−70
−46.3%
98
+46.3%
Hitman 3 18−20
−211%
59
+211%
Horizon Zero Dawn 55−60
−69.1%
93
+69.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 30−35
−188%
95
+188%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 18
−217%
57
+217%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
+117%
29
−117%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 27−30
−189%
81
+189%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 20−22
−185%
55−60
+185%
Far Cry New Dawn 14−16
−207%
45−50
+207%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−11
−220%
30−35
+220%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6−7
−350%
27
+350%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 10−11
−240%
34
+240%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−380%
24
+380%
Far Cry 5 12−14
−192%
35−40
+192%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−287%
170−180
+287%
Hitman 3 12−14
−200%
39
+200%
Horizon Zero Dawn 21−24
−219%
67
+219%
Metro Exodus 14−16
−293%
59
+293%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12−14
−415%
67
+415%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−11
−300%
40−45
+300%
Watch Dogs: Legion 60−65
−192%
187
+192%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
−212%
53
+212%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 9−10
−233%
30−33
+233%
Far Cry New Dawn 7−8
−243%
24−27
+243%
Hitman 3 6−7
−250%
21
+250%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−46.5%
63
+46.5%
Metro Exodus 8−9
−450%
44
+450%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 8−9
−338%
35
+338%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 6−7
−217%
18−20
+217%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 4−5
−275%
15
+275%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
−240%
17
+240%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
−900%
10
+900%
Far Cry 5 5−6
−240%
16−18
+240%
Forza Horizon 4 12−14
−285%
50
+285%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 7−8
−414%
36
+414%
Watch Dogs: Legion 4−5
−200%
12
+200%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
−160%
26
+160%

This is how HD 8970M and GTX 1660 compete in popular games:

  • GTX 1660 is 63% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 1660 is 219% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 1660 is 211% faster in 4K

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

  • in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the HD 8970M is 117% faster.
  • in Cyberpunk 2077, with 4K resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 1660 is 900% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • HD 8970M is ahead in 2 tests (3%)
  • GTX 1660 is ahead in 70 tests (97%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 10.04 30.26
Recency 14 May 2013 14 March 2019
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 6 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 12 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 120 Watt

HD 8970M has 20% lower power consumption.

GTX 1660, on the other hand, has a 201.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 133.3% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce GTX 1660 is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon HD 8970M in performance tests.

Be aware that Radeon HD 8970M is a notebook card while GeForce GTX 1660 is a desktop one.


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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AMD Radeon HD 8970M
Radeon HD 8970M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660
GeForce GTX 1660

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.


4.4 45 votes

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4.1 5140 votes

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Questions & comments

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