NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 represent two distinct generations of NVIDIA’s high-end graphics, with the TITAN arriving roughly two years after the 570. The benchmark data shows a clear performance hierarchy, but the relationship between the two is more nuanced than a simple sweep. In the only head-to-head benchmark available, the TITAN wins decisively, yet the GTX 570 holds its own ground in the broader performance percentile rankings, making the choice between them dependent on specific workload priorities.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX TITAN is the outright winner in raw compute performance, as evidenced by its Geekbench OpenCL score of 24,873 compared to the GTX 570’s 13,515. This represents a commanding 84% advantage in the head-to-head comparison. The TITAN’s dominance in this metric is not marginal; it is a substantial leap that reflects a fundamentally different class of hardware. For users prioritizing general-purpose GPU compute, OpenCL acceleration, or any workload that scales with shading unit count and memory bandwidth, the TITAN is the clear choice.

The GTX 570, despite being older and significantly slower in raw throughput, does not present a single benchmark win in the provided data. Its advantage lies not in performance but in efficiency and accessibility. With a TDP of 219 W versus the TITAN’s 250 W, the 570 draws less power. It also requires a 550 W suggested PSU compared to the TITAN’s 600 W, and uses two 6-pin power connectors instead of the TITAN’s 6-pin plus 8-pin combination. For systems with older power supplies or tighter thermal envelopes, the GTX 570 presents a lower-strain option, though this is a trade-off against a massive performance deficit.

Another area where the GTX 570 competes is in its percentile ranking. The TITAN sits at the 56th percentile of all GPUs, while the 570 is at the 54th percentile. This is a narrow gap, suggesting that in the broader context of all GPUs, the 570 is not as far behind as the raw OpenCL score might imply. However, this percentile proximity is misleading when comparing the two directly, as the TITAN’s average benchmark score of 14,373 is only 6.3% higher than the 570’s 13,515. This discrepancy between the head-to-head OpenCL result and the average scores indicates that the TITAN’s advantage is highly workload-specific, likely favoring compute-heavy tasks over gaming or other mixed workloads where the 570’s Fermi architecture remains competitive.

The Verdict

Choose the GTX TITAN if your primary concern is maximum compute performance. The data is unambiguous: an 84% lead in OpenCL over the GTX 570 is a generational gap that no other metric can bridge. The TITAN’s 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, 384-bit bus, and 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth are simply in a different league than the 570’s 1280 MB, 320-bit bus, and 152.0 GB/s. For any professional workload involving rendering, simulation, or data processing that leverages OpenCL, the TITAN is the only rational choice.

Choose the GTX 570 if you are constrained by power delivery or system compatibility, and your workloads do not heavily utilize OpenCL. The 570’s lower TDP of 219 W, 550 W suggested PSU, and dual 6-pin connectors make it a drop-in replacement for many older systems that cannot accommodate the TITAN’s power requirements. Furthermore, the 570’s 54th percentile ranking versus the TITAN’s 56th shows that in general mixed-use scenarios, the performance gap narrows considerably. If you are gaming or running older applications that do not scale with the TITAN’s massive shading unit count, the 570 remains a functional, if not faster, alternative.

The data does not support a recommendation for the GTX 570 on raw performance grounds. It loses the only head-to-head benchmark and has a lower average score. However, for users who already own a 570 or have a system that cannot support a 250 W card with an 8-pin connector, the 570 is a viable stopgap. The TITAN’s 84% OpenCL lead is the defining statistic of this comparison, and it should guide any decision where performance is the sole criterion.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The single head-to-head benchmark is Geekbench OpenCL. The TITAN scores 24,873, while the GTX 570 scores 13,515. This is a delta of 84% in favor of the TITAN, marking it as the winner of this test. This result is consistent with the architectural differences between the two cards, as the TITAN’s GK110 chip with 2,688 shading units and 224 texture mapping units provides a massive parallel compute resource that the 570’s GF110 chip with 480 shading units and 60 TMUs cannot match.

The magnitude of this win is significant. An 84% improvement means that for every 1.84 units of work the TITAN completes, the 570 completes only 1.0. This is not a slight edge; it is a near-doubling of compute throughput. The TITAN’s FP32 performance of 4.709 TFLOPS compared to the 570’s 1,405.4 GFLOPS (approximately 1.41 TFLOPS) corroborates this, showing a 3.35x advantage in raw floating-point throughput. The texture rate tells a similar story: 196.2 GTexel/s versus 43.92 GTexel/s, a 4.47x difference.

It is worth remembering the TITAN’s average benchmark score across all tests is 14,373, which is only 858 points higher than the 570’s 13,515. This suggests that the OpenCL test is an outlier in favor of the TITAN. In other potential benchmarks, such as gaming or Vulkan, the gap might be much smaller. The TITAN does have a Geekbench Vulkan score of 10,027, but the 570 has no Vulkan score listed, so a direct comparison is impossible. The data available, however, shows a clear and substantial win for the TITAN in the only test where both cards appear.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN has an average benchmark score of 14,373, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 has an average score of 13,515. The TITAN is higher by 858 points.

Q: Is the GTX 570 competitive with the TITAN in overall GPU rankings?

A: Yes, the percentile rankings are close. The TITAN is at the 56th percentile of all GPUs, and the GTX 570 is at the 54th percentile, a gap of only 2 percentile points.

Q: What is the biggest performance difference between the two cards?

A: The biggest difference is in the Geekbench OpenCL test, where the TITAN scores 24,873 versus the GTX 570’s 13,515, an 84% advantage for the TITAN.

Q: Does the GTX 570 support Vulkan?

A: The data lists the GTX 570’s Vulkan API as null, while the TITAN supports Vulkan 1.2.175. This indicates the 570 lacks Vulkan support in the provided specifications.

Q: Which card has more memory?

A: The GTX TITAN has 6 GB of GDDR5 memory, while the GTX 570 has 1280 MB (1.25 GB) of GDDR5 memory. The TITAN also has a wider 384-bit memory bus compared to the 570’s 320-bit bus.

Q: What are the power connector requirements for each card?

A: The GTX TITAN requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin power connector, with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The GTX 570 requires two 6-pin connectors, with a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures. The GTX TITAN uses the GK110 chip based on the Kepler architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,080 million transistors into a 561 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 12.6 million transistors per square millimeter. In contrast, the GTX 570 uses the GF110 chip based on the Fermi 2.0 architecture, also fabricated at TSMC but on a larger 40 nm process. The GF110 contains 3,000 million transistors on a 520 mm² die, resulting in a density of just 5.8 million transistors per square millimeter.

This architectural gap manifests in every compute unit. The TITAN has 2,688 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The GTX 570 has 480 shading units, 60 TMUs, and 40 ROPs. These are not incremental differences; the TITAN has 5.6 times as many shading units and 3.7 times as many TMUs. The TITAN’s memory subsystem is also superior, with 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus achieving 288.4 GB/s of bandwidth, versus the 570’s 1280 MB on a 320-bit bus for 152.0 GB/s.

The TITAN also supports a newer PCIe interface, PCIe 3.0 x16, while the 570 is limited to PCIe 2.0 x16. Display outputs differ as well, with the TITAN offering 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2, while the 570 offers 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a. The TITAN supports Vulkan 1.2.175, while the 570’s Vulkan support is listed as null. Both cards support DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but the underlying hardware generations are separated by a significant architectural evolution.

Specification Differences

The most glaring specification difference is in memory. The TITAN offers 6 GB of GDDR5, while the GTX 570 offers 1280 MB. The TITAN’s memory clock runs at 1502 MHz (6 Gbps effective), compared to the 570’s 950 MHz (3.8 Gbps effective). This leads to a bandwidth of 288.4 GB/s for the TITAN versus 152.0 GB/s for the 570. The TITAN also has a wider 384-bit memory bus versus the 570’s 320-bit.

Compute specifications diverge sharply. The TITAN has 2,688 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The GTX 570 has 480 shading units, 60 TMUs, and 40 ROPs. Pixel rate is 49.06 GPixel/s for the TITAN versus 21.96 GPixel/s for the 570. Texture rate is 196.2 GTexel/s versus 43.92 GTexel/s. FP32 performance is 4.709 TFLOPS for the TITAN versus 1,405.4 GFLOPS for the 570.

Power and physical specifications differ. The TITAN has a TDP of 250 W and requires a 600 W suggested PSU with 1x 6-pin and 1x 8-pin connectors. The GTX 570 has a TDP of 219 W and requires a 550 W PSU with 2x 6-pin connectors. Both are dual-slot cards with a length of 267 mm (10.5 inches). The TITAN has listed dimensions of 111 mm height and 38 mm width, while the 570’s height and width are not provided. The TITAN uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the 570 uses PCIe 2.0 x16. The TITAN’s display outputs include DisplayPort 1.2, while the 570 uses mini-HDMI 1.3a. The TITAN’s process node is 28 nm with 7,080 million transistors, while the 570 is 40 nm with 3,000 million transistors.