Nvidia GTX 970 Vs AMD RX 580: Which Is Better For Gaming?

• Share on Facebook
• Tweet it
• Share on Reddit
• Pin it

In this article, I’ll test out and compare 15 different games at 1080p and 1440p resolutions to help you see the performance difference between them, and find out which is better value for money. I’m using the MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 970 4GB and Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 8GB for this review.

Model MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 Brand MSI GIGABYTE Model GTX 970 GAMING 4G GV-RX580GAMING-8GD Interface MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 Interface PCI Express 3.0 x16 PCI Express 3.0 x16 Chipset MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA AMD GPU GeForce GTX 970 Radeon RX 580 Boost Clock / Core Clock 1279 MHz (OC Mode). 1253 MHz (Gaming Mode). 1178 MHz (Silent Mode). 1355 MHz (OC Mode) / 1340 MHz (Gaming Mode) CUDA Cores / Stream Processors 1664 2304 Stream Processors Memory MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 Effective Memory Clock 7010 MHz 8000 MHz Memory Size 4GB 8GB Memory Interface 256-Bit 256-Bit Memory Type GDDR5 GDDR5 3D API MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 DirectX DirectX 12 DirectX 12 OpenGL OpenGL 4.4 OpenGL 4.5 Ports MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 HDMI 1 x HDMI 2.0 1 x HDMI (Gold Plated) Multi-Monitor Support 4 5 DisplayPort 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 3 x DP (Gold Plated) Details MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 Max Resolution SLI Support Virtual Reality Ready Yes Yes Cooler With Fan WINDFORCE 2X Operating Systems Supported Thermal Design Power 185W System Requirements Power consumption: 145W Recommended PSU: 500W System PSU Limitation: 500W Power Connector 6-Pin / 8-Pin HDCP Ready Yes Form Factor & Dimensions MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 Max GPU Length 232 mm Card Dimensions (L x H 10.91" x 5.51" 9.13" x 4.57" Slot Width Dual Slot Dual Slot Additionl Information MSI GTX 970 GIGABYTE RX 580 Date First Available December 10, 2018 December 16, 2019

Pros and Cons Listed:

[i2pc pros_icon="icon icon-plus-thick" cons_icon="icon icon-minus-thick" show_title="true" title="Nvidia GeForce GTX 970" show_button="false" pros_title="Pros" cons_title="Cons" ][i2pros]Top-notch 1080p and 1440p gaming Impressive efficiency Smaller and overclocked SKUs available [/i2pros][i2cons]More expensive than R9 290 Not able to play 4K games smoothly [/i2cons][/i2pc] [i2pc pros_icon="icon icon-plus-thick" cons_icon="icon icon-minus-thick" show_title="true" title="Radeon RX 580" show_button="false" pros_title="Pros" cons_title="Cons" ][i2pros]8GB of memory Good DX12 performance A refined take on last year's RX 480 [/i2pros][i2cons]Not substantially different from the RX 480 Uses more power than Nvidia's equivalent GTX 1060 6GB [/i2cons][/i2pc]

Comparison & Detailed Review:

Above we have shown the overview and depth specifications of both the graphics card. Now, we are sharing the full review and in-depth comparison of both graphics cards.

QUICK SPECS: GTX 970 vs RX 580

GTX 970	RX 580
Released in September 2014	Released in April 2017
1664 CUDA Cores	2304 Stream Processor
1050 MHz Base Clock	1257MHz Base Clock
1178 MHz Boost Clock	1340MHz Boost Clock
4GB GDDR5 Memory	8GB GDDR5 Memory
256-Bit Memory Interface	256-Bit Memory Interface
Memory Bandwidth 224GB/S	Memory Bandwidth 256GB/S

The RX 580 is based on the 14nm GCN 4th gen architecture and was released in April 2017, while the GTX 970 was released in September 2014 with Maxwell 2.0 architecture.

Note that things like Cuda cores and stream processors are not directly comparable, even clock speeds aren’t too comparable here given both are different architectures. Something to take note of though is that the 970 has 4GB of GDDR5 memory, while the RX 580 has 8GB, so we may see that additional memory comes in use at higher resolutions with higher settings in some titles. The 580 is also available in the lower tier 4GB model, however, we’re not looking at that here.

PERFORMANCE: GTX 970 vs RX 580

For the testing, I’m using the MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 970 4GB and Gigabyte Radeon RX 580 8GB Gaming graphics cards. Expect slightly different results with different models.

The system that I’m testing with has an Intel i7-8700K CPU overclocked to 5.0GHz in an MSI Z390 Gaming Pro Carbon motherboard, along with 16GB of T-Force Night Hawk CL16 memory from Team Group running at DDR4-3200 in dual channel.

Now let’s see the results:

Assassin’s Creed: Origins

Let’s start out Assassin’s Creed: Origins, which was tested with all settings maxed out. In terms of average FPS the GTX 970 was 5FPS ahead of the 580 at 1080p, though this lowers to 6FPS lead at 1440p.

Battlefield 1

Battlefield 1 was tested in campaign mode rather than multiplayer, as it’s easier to consistently reproduce the test run. I found both cards to deliver a playable experience with high settings, with the RX 580 just 12FPS ahead at 1080p and 10FPS ahead at 1440p.

Apex Legends

Apex Legends was tested with the built-in benchmark using high settings, and the RX 580 was coming out ahead here, just 1FPS faster at 1080p, and no difference at 1440p.

Anthem

Anthem was tested with the built-in benchmark using Vulkan with Async compute enabled maxed out at ultra settings. This was an interesting result, while I expected the GTX 970 to do well with Vulkan, I didn’t expect the results to be this close. In terms of average FPS, the RX 580 was only 1FPS ahead at 1080p and 1440p.

Far Cry New Dawn

Far Cry New Dawn was tested using the built-in benchmark with high settings, and the RX 580 was ahead in all regards this time. At 1080p we’re looking at almost a 1FPS more and 2FPS more at 1440p.

Resident Evil 2

Resident Evil 2 was also tested using the built-in benchmark with high settings. In this test, the RX 580 was 9FPS ahead of the GTX 970 at 1080p, lowers slightly to 6FPS at 1440p.

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus was tested using the replay feature with the exact same replay on both graphics cards. While I thought the game ran fine even at 1440p on either card even with high settings in use, the RX 580 was a fair bit ahead here, with 4FPS ahead at 1080p and 3FPS ahead at 1440p.

World War Z

World War Z was tested with the built-in benchmark at high settings. The actual game performs a fair bit ahead of this, so this is more of a synthetic test rather than representative of actual gameplay, but it does allow me to accurately compare between the two graphics cards. With that in mind, the RX 580 was 30FPS ahead of the GTX 970 at 1080p, however, the gap lowers at 1440p with the RX 580 with just a 22FPS lead.

Gears of War 5

Gears of War 5 was also tested using the built-in benchmark with high settings. At 1080p the RX 580 was 8FPS ahead of the GTX 970. At 1440p, this game saw the gap narrow, with the RX 580 giving higher 4FPS.

F1 2019

F1 2019 was tested using the built-in benchmark at high settings. The GTX 970 is performing quite well here, seeing nice improvements over the RX 580. With that said though, the RX 580 was still 8FPS ahead of the GTX 970 at 1080p and 6FPS ahead at 1440p.

GreedFall

GreedFall was tested with the Ulletical FPS benchmark, and both cards were delivering under 60FPS, although at 1080p there was just 8FPS difference, however, the RX 580 was ahead of the GTX 970 at both resolutions.

Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 was tested in the practice range as I can easily perform the same test run compared to playing with bots or other players which will differ every time. Both of these cards were not capable of providing a great experience at 1440p. In terms of the differences at 1080p the RX 580 was 4FPS ahead of the GTX 970, then at 1440p, this lowers slightly to the RX 580 being 3FPS ahead of the GTX 970.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare

Call of Duty Modern Warfare was tested using the replay feature with the exact same replay at high settings, and the RX 580 was a fair bit ahead in this game, 9FPS faster than the GTX 970 at 1080p and 6FPS at 1440p.

Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a resource-intensive game and was tested with high settings. In my opinion, this one doesn’t need a high frame rate to play, I can get by with a solid 30 FPS, so both cards were giving me a playable experience at 1440p. As for the differences, at 1080p the RX 580 was 3FPS ahead of the GTX 970. At 1440p the RX 580 is now 4FPS ahead of the RX 580.

Need For Speed: Heat

Need For Speed: Heat was tested with the built-in benchmark and high settings in use, and is another resource-heavy game. At 1080p the RX 580 was 6FPS ahead, lowers a little at 1440p to a 4FPS lead.

CONCLUSION & PRICE

Now for the MAIN difference, the price. The prices will change over time. In the US, my MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 970 4GB is going for $435. The Gigabyte RX 580 I’m using currently goes for around $200 USD, although there are other models for the $190 mark at the moment.

Personally, I will pick RX 580 here. The RX 580 is $200 cheaper than the GTX 970. And the RX 580 is performing much faster than GTX 970.

Jaskaran Singh

Jaskaran, a tech enthusiast from childhood, inspired by his father, began his tech journey by rooting Android phones. He now writes on various tech topics, aiming to simplify complex ideas for a broad audience. His writing is direct, concise, and flows effortlessly, making tech topics accessible and engaging.