NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090

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GeForce GTX 970 compared with GeForce RTX 5090

	NVIDIAGeForce GTX 970	NVIDIAGeForce RTX 5090
Overview
Released
Released	September 2014	January 2025
Performance
Chip maker
Chip maker	NVIDIA	NVIDIA
Architecture
Architecture	Maxwell	Blackwell
Shader cores
Shader cores	1,664	21,760
Boost clock
Boost clock	1,178 MHz	2,407 MHz (better)
Architecture
Architecture	Main figures follow NVIDIA's retained 900-series table. The photo shows MSI's GTX 970 4GD5 partner board. NVIDIA's September 18 launch release says the cards are now available; later coverage commonly dates launch September 19.	GB202 GPU; 170 SMs, 680 texture units, 176 ROPs
Manufacturing process
Manufacturing process	–	TSMC 4nm (4N NVIDIA custom process); 92.2 billion transistors; 750 mm² die
Ray tracing
Ray tracing	No dedicated RT Cores	170 fourth-generation RT Cores; 318 RT TFLOPS
AI cores
AI cores	No Tensor Cores	680 fifth-generation Tensor Cores; 3352 AI TOPS
Upscaling and frame generation
Upscaling and frame generation	No NVIDIA DLSS	DLSS 4.5 with Super Resolution, DLAA, Ray Reconstruction, Frame Generation, Multi Frame Generation and Dynamic Multi Frame Generation
Base clock
Base clock	1050 MHz reference; MSI GTX 970 4GD5 lists 1051 MHz base and 1178 MHz boost.	2.01 GHz
Cache
Cache	–	96 MB L2
Memory
Video memory
Video memory	4 GB GDDR5	32 GB GDDR7 (better)
Memory bus
Memory bus	256-bit	512-bit (better)
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	–	1,792 GB/s
Memory detail
Memory detail	7 Gbps GDDR5. NVIDIA confirms 4 GB is usable, divided into a primary 3.5 GB segment and a slower 512 MB segment. EVGA's stock 04G-P4-1970 datasheet lists 7010 MHz effective and 224.3 GB/s; that board figure is not used as a universal main bandwidth value.	GDDR7 at 28 Gbps
Connections and power
Board power
Board power	145 W (better)	575 W
Interface
Interface	PCIe 3.0	PCIe 5.0
Display outputs
Display outputs	MSI GTX 970 4GD5 has 3 × DisplayPort 1.2, 1 × HDMI 1.4a/2.0 and 1 × dual-link DVI-I; up to 4 displays.	3 × DisplayPort 2.1b (UHBR20), 1 × HDMI 2.1b; up to 4 displays; HDCP 2.3
Maximum resolution
Maximum resolution	7680 × 4320 (MSI GTX 970 4GD5)	4K at 480 Hz or 8K at 165 Hz with DSC
Power connector
Power connector	2 × 6-pin (reference)	1 × 600 W PCIe Gen 5 cable, or 4 × PCIe 8-pin cables with the adapter in the box
Recommended power supply
Recommended power supply	500 W	1000 W
Slot width
Slot width	–	2-slot (Founders Edition)
Size (reference card)
Size (reference card)	269 × 111 × 38 mm and 890 g (pictured MSI GTX 970 4GD5); EVGA stock 04G-P4-1970 is 241.3 × 111.15 mm, dual-slot.	304 × 137 mm, 2-slot (Founders Edition)
Video encode and decode
Video encode and decode	–	3 × ninth-generation NVENC, 2 × sixth-generation NVDEC; AV1 encode and decode