If you still pine for your old Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 and wonder if it is worth to change it with the slightly less older GTX 1060, but you cannot find something essential that sets them apart, then we are here to help you out.
Before we head to the numbers, let us look under the hood and see what each graphics card has inside. Then, we will talk about gaming performance and test the 970 vs 1060 and see the FPS for top games like GTA V, The Witcher III, Assassins Creed: Odyssey, and more.
GeForce GTX 1060 vs GTX 970
When we say performance, we think of core clock speed and high core clock speed.
The GeForce GTX 1060 has 1506MHz, and can reach 1709MHz, in Turbo Mode, and its memory clock operates at 2002MHz. Meanwhile, the GTX 970 has 1050MHz, goes up to 1178MHz in Turbo Mode, with the memory clock operating at 1753MHz.
The GTX 1060 has the upper hand when it comes to better driver support, as it is newer than the GTX 970.
Nonetheless, both GPUs offer great performance, capable to run demanding games at high settings and reasonable FPS.
The GeForce GTX 1060 comes with more video memory than the GTX 970, which means that it can display game textures at a higher resolution with no problem, but the overall memory performance is similar in both cards.
Another improvement over the GTX 970 is that the GeForce GTX 1060 is cooler thanks to the new nanotechnology, making it run cooler and get to a higher clock frequency than the older GTX. Moreover, the GTX 1060 only needs 120 Watts to run compared to the GTX 970, which needs 145 Watts.
FPS Benchmarks On Ultra – 1080p
Grand Theft Auto V – 56 FPS (GTX 1060), 46.3 FPS (GTX 970)
The Witcher III – 54 FPS (GTX 1060), 48 FPS (GTX 970)
Rise of the Tomb Raider – 72 FPS (GTX 1060), 62.9 FPS (GTX 970)
PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds – 92.4 FPS (GTX 1060), 81.8 FPS (GTX 970)
Middle-earth: Shadow of War – 59 FPS (GTX 1060), 60.3 FPS (GTX 970)
Assassins Creed: Odyssey – 41.9 FPS (GTX 1060), 37.1 FPS (GTX 970)
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus – 103 FPS (GTX 1060), 38 FPS (GTX 970)
Apart from the last result, which is quite baffling, the overall gaming performance of the two graphics cards is similar, with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 being slightly better than the GTX 970.
Henry Lares is still early into his career as tech reporter but has already had his work published in many major publications including Tech Crunch and the Huffington Post. In regards to academics, Henry earned an engineering degree from Apex Technical School. Henry has a passion for emerging technology and covers upcoming products and breakthroughs in science and tech.