Recently we've looked back at the GeForce GTX 980 Ti and the GTX 960, both pop GPUs from yesteryear. Those features take been warmly welcomed, but besides the overall positive responses what we noticed in common in your feedback was the request to examination the GeForce GTX 970, which was the performance/value offer of the fourth dimension and a GPU some of you are still rocking in today's games with some success.

So today we've got an old fashioned GPU boxing pitting the GeForce GTX 970 against the Radeon R9 290. Whether you're looking to upgrade or not, it should be interesting to see after 5 years which GPU is the ultimate winner...

Quickly rewinding for a moment, Nvidia revealed the GTX 970 for the commencement time in September 2022, some ten months later on the Radeon R9 290's release. The GTX 970 was the newer product and unsurprisingly it came in offering a piffling extra performance at a slightly amend toll. AMD did answer with aggressive R9 290 price cuts but with the 970 by and large 10-xv% faster on average and considerably meliorate power efficiency, it went on to exist a all-time seller, despite the VRAM controversy.

Throughout 2022 the GTX 970 was typically the puncher GPU and with a slew of quality AIB models to pick from, it easily outsold the R9 290. However many of those who purchased the R9 290 were jumping up and down nearly how it would be a better investment down the runway. At least today we can settle which GPU offers the best performance in 2022.

For this test we have 33 games tested at 1080p, a suitable resolution for these GPUs. Nosotros'll await closely at the results for 13 of the titles before moving into a few head to head comparing graphs. As usual the test system used is powered by a Cadre i9-9900K clocked at v GHz with 32GB of DDR4-3200 memory. Let's run across those blue bar graphs at present...

Benchmarks

Start up nosotros have Apex Legends and right away we're seeing pretty neck and neck performance between the GTX 970 and R9 290. This 1's also close to call and well within the margin of error. It'south safety to say performance is identical using either GPU. When compared to a modern GPU we're looking at GTX 1060 3GB-like operation.

The Sectionalisation 2 is a title that works exceptionally well with AMD hardware. As evidenced by Vega 64 beating the GTX 1080 and RTX 2060, while the RX 580 crushed the GTX 1060. With those comparisons previously established it comes equally no surprise that the R9 290 dusts the GTX 970 beating it past a xix% margin. The 970 does perform significantly better than the 3GB 1060, but nevertheless you lot'll desire to dial the quality settings down a little.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is some other title that sees AMD GPUs doing quite well and here the GTX 970 was 12% slower than the R9 290. The GTX 970 mimicked the GTX 1060 3GB, or I guess you could say the 1060 mimics the 970, either style performance was decent despite trailing the R9 290.

We hope the order of the games wasn't chosen on purpose simply here we have yet another championship that works extremely well with AMD GPUs. Once more, the GTX 970 was 12% slower than the R9 290, though despite that operation was even so very playable. Nevertheless in three of the more recently released titles nosotros've seen the R9 290 doing well.

Finally a solid win for the GTX 970, this time testing with Hitman 2 using the DirectX 11 API. The GeForce GPU was 12% faster though I should signal out that enabling the new patched-in DX12 way didn't alter things. The 970 was withal the superior GPU in this championship.

Performance in But Cause four was similar using either GPU. The GeForce pulled ahead in our test when looking at the average frame rate, however the 1% low effect was identical with both managing 40 fps, and so overall the experience was much the same.

Moving on nosotros find a shut battle when testing with Resident Evil 2, hither the R9 290 was merely 6fps faster at 1080p and this meant the 970 performed more like a 3GB 1060, not a bad event given the average frame rate was 66 fps, only this 1 is still a win for the Radeon 290.

Fortnite is a game that favors Nvidia GPUs thanks to its apply of the Unreal Engine iv. This can be seen when comparison the GTX 1060 and RX 580 for example, it can also exist seen when comparing older GPUs such as the GTX 970 and R9 290. Hither the 970 was 18% faster, delivering 87 fps on boilerplate.

The GTX 970 also stacks up actually well in Metro Exodus with an average of 48 fps at 1080p using the ultra quality settings. This meant information technology was 23% faster than the R9 290, placing it basically on par with 6GB GTX 1060 and RX 590. So a very solid result for the old Maxwell GPU.

Next upward we have Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Siege and here the GTX 970 is more competitive than I was expecting. I call back this existence a very easy win for the R9 290 back in the day, but here it was just 5% on boilerplate. That said the 1% low performance was more than consistent, though the experience was still extremely polish with the 970.

Frame rates were surprisingly similar when testing with Battlefield V, here the GTX 970 was just 3 fps faster which comes to be a 5% margin. This is why nosotros typically call information technology a tie when the margin is v% or less. The GTX 970 did well in this title and as nosotros've seen many times already, it's ofttimes very like to the 3GB GTX 1060.

Earth of Tanks is a game that doesn't like AMD GPUs that much, or AMD GPUs don't similar World of Tanks. Either way it'southward not bully news for the red team. The R9 290 was able to deliver very playable performance but nosotros see a 36% uplift when looking at the GTX 970 and that'southward evidently significant.

And the concluding game we're going to look at individually is Far Cry New Dawn and hither we have a tie at 70 fps a piece. That placed both the GTX 970 and R9 290 on par with the 3GB 1060. Functioning at 1080p using the ultra quality preset certainly was respectable and you won't need to reject any quality settings here.

Ability Consumption

This is 1 surface area where the Maxwell GPUs had a large advantage over the AMD competition and it'southward an advantage Nvidia yet holds today. For what is a similar level of operation the R9 290 collection up system power consumption by 30%. This is why GTX 970 graphics cards typically run cooler and quieter than R9 290 cards.

Performance Summary

That's how the GTX 970 and R9 290 stack up in those preliminary titles, seemed as though nosotros saw quite a chip of back and forth. Based on what we've seen and so far we don't imagine the GTX 970 is yet 10-15% faster like what most reviewers found dorsum in belatedly 2022. That said let's meet what the 33 game comparison has for united states of america.

At that place's your 'fine wine' working correct at that place, a.thou.a. AMD's slow commuter development. Seriously though, that'due south an impressive comeback for the R9 290. Still the GeForce 970 was faster by a 5% margin or greater in 16 of the 33 games tested, while the R9 290 was faster by a five% margin or greater in just 11 of the games.

So the GeForce GTX 970 was the more consistent performer, the smaller 3.5GB primary VRAM sectionalization will have injure it in Wolfenstein, especially with the settings used for testing. Clay 4 also favors Radeon GPUs using CMAA, while Strange Brigade is an AMD sponsored title and well optimized for Radeon GPUs. AMD besides does well in The Division 2, Sniper Elite 4, Forza Horizon 4, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

It was by and large the older titles, or Nvidia sponsored games where the dark-green team did well, games such as Earth of Tanks, Warhammer Ii, Metro Exodus, Project Cars 2, and Fortnite, for example.

GeForce GTX 970 vs. GTX 1060 6GB

Moving on we decided to see how the GTX 970 stacks upwards against the GTX 1060 6GB. On average the 970 was 14% slower. So here we're comparing a 2022 release with an MSRP of $330 to a 2022 release with a $250 MSRP. For those wondering back when we reviewed the GTX 1060 6GB at launch, the 970 was 15% slower, and so no 'Nvidia gimping' equally information technology's often referred to appears to have taken identify.

Of class, Nvidia doesn't actively gimp performance, we've proven that's a load of nonsense multiple times now, as have others. They are guilty of prioritizing newer architectures while optimizations for older generations tend to come afterwards, if at all for the actually old models.

GeForce GTX 970 vs. RTX 2060

At present if you've been belongings out all these years for a $300-$400 upgrade, the GeForce RTX 2060 might exist of interest.

Closing Remarks

There you have it, the GTX 970 went from ~ten-15% faster four years agone to a pct faster in 2022 against the Radeon R9 290 based on our 33 game test sample that includes many newer titles.

Despite its 3.5GB of fast VRAM, the GTX 970 remains the more than reliable performer which might surprise some of you, especially later you've no doubt heard over and over again how information technology's doomed and will be completely useless before likewise long. It's as well the cooler GPU but almost important of all, either solution will let you play games at 1080p comfortably all these years afterwards.

The doomsday scenario notwithstanding hasn't happened and with a few minor tweaks the GTX 970 tin can carve its way through the latest and greatest titles at 1080p without an event. To give credit where credit is due, the Radeon R9 290 is besides extremely impressive in 2022.

We're completely attributing the R9 290's improvement to AMD's driver development and not anything to do with the partitioned VRAM buffer or Nvidia neglecting commuter back up. The 'fine wine' hither is all about AMD getting on top of driver optimization over the past few years.

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