NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 Comparison

The RTX 2060 and GTX 770 are separated by nearly six years of GPU architecture, and the benchmark data reflects that gap as a chasm. The RTX 2060 wins both head-to-head tests decisively, with a 313.9% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and a 243.6% lead in Geekbench Vulkan. The GTX 770 holds a slight edge in average benchmark score percentile (57th vs 58th for the RTX 2060), but that is a statistical artifact of the older card having fewer benchmark entries. For any modern workload, the RTX 2060 is the only rational choice; the GTX 770 belongs in a museum or a retro gaming rig.

The Verdict

Choose the RTX 2060 if you plan to run any game or application released after 2015. Its 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, 1920 shading units, and 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 compute make it a capable 1080p and entry-level 1440p card. The data shows it delivers 313.9% higher OpenCL performance and 243.6% higher Vulkan performance than the GTX 770. It also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) versus the GTX 770’s older DirectX 12 (11_0) feature level, meaning newer titles will run with better API support.

Pick the GTX 770 only if you have a strict legacy requirement. Its 2 GB of GDDR5 memory is a hard ceiling for modern textures, and its 3.333 TFLOPS FP32 is roughly half the RTX 2060’s compute throughput. The GTX 770 does have a higher launch MSRP (399 USD vs 349 USD for the RTX 2060), but that historical price does not translate into any performance advantage today. The RTX 2060 is the superior card in every measurable way.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 2060 in raw compute?

A: The RTX 2060 delivers 6.451 TFLOPS of FP32 compute versus 3.333 TFLOPS for the GTX 770. That is roughly 93% higher theoretical throughput, though real-world benchmark deltas are even larger due to architectural efficiency gains.

Q: Does the GTX 770 support hardware ray tracing?

A: No. The GTX 770 has no RT cores (the RTX 2060 has 30) and no tensor cores (the RTX 2060 has 240). The GTX 770 also lacks the Turing feature set entirely.

Q: Which card has better API support for modern games?

A: The RTX 2060 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 770 is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and Vulkan 1.2.175. This means the RTX 2060 can handle newer rendering features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading.

Q: Is the GTX 770 more power-efficient?

A: No. The GTX 770 has a higher TDP of 230 W versus 160 W for the RTX 2060, despite delivering far less performance. The RTX 2060 also suggests a 450 W PSU versus 550 W for the GTX 770.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 2060 has 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth with a 192-bit bus and GDDR6 memory. The GTX 770 has 224.4 GB/s with a 256-bit bus and GDDR5. The RTX 2060 wins despite the narrower bus because GDDR6 is much faster.

Q: Can the GTX 770 handle 4K gaming?

A: Based on the data, no. With 2 GB of VRAM and 34.72 GPixel/s pixel rate (versus 80.64 GPixel/s for the RTX 2060), the GTX 770 would run out of memory and fill-rate headroom almost immediately at 4K.

Architecture Differences

The RTX 2060 uses the TU106 chip built on Turing architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 12 nm process. It packs 10,800 million transistors on a 445 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 24.3M / mm². Turing introduced dedicated RT cores (30 on this card) for ray tracing and tensor cores (240) for AI workloads, plus support for DirectX 12 Ultimate. The shading unit count is 1920, with 120 TMUs and 48 ROPs.

The GTX 770 uses the GK104 chip built on Kepler architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on an older 28 nm process. It contains 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, with a lower density of 12.0M / mm². Kepler has no RT or tensor cores, and its shading units number 1536, with 128 TMUs and 32 ROPs. The GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 at feature level 11_0, which is a generation behind the RTX 2060’s 12_2.

The process node difference is critical: 12 nm versus 28 nm explains why the RTX 2060 fits nearly three times the transistors into a die that is only 51% larger. That density translates directly into higher clocks, more compute units, and better efficiency. The RTX 2060 also has a much higher boost clock (1680 MHz vs 1085 MHz), further widening the performance gap.

Specification Differences

| Specification | RTX 2060 | GTX 770 |

|---|---|---|

| Process Node | 12 nm | 28 nm |

| Transistors | 10,800 million | 3,540 million |

| Die Size | 445 mm² | 294 mm² |

| Base Clock | 1365 MHz | 1046 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1680 MHz | 1085 MHz |

| Memory | 6 GB GDDR6 | 2 GB GDDR5 |

| Memory Bus | 192 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 336.0 GB/s | 224.4 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1920 | 1536 |

| TMUs | 120 | 128 |

| ROPs | 48 | 32 |

| RT Cores | 30 | None |

| Tensor Cores | 240 | None |

| Pixel Rate | 80.64 GPixel/s | 34.72 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 201.6 GTexel/s | 138.9 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 6.451 TFLOPS | 3.333 TFLOPS |

| TDP | 160 W | 230 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 550 W |

| Display Outputs | 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, 2x DP 1.4a, 1x USB-C | 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, 1x DP 1.2 |

| DirectX | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 (11_0) |

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.2.175 |

| Length | 229 mm (9 inches) | 267 mm (10.5 inches) |

The table shows the RTX 2060 wins on nearly every technical specification except TMU count (120 vs 128) and memory bus width (192 vs 256 bit). The GTX 770’s wider bus is irrelevant because GDDR5 at 7 Gbps cannot match GDDR6 at 14 Gbps effective. The RTX 2060’s memory bandwidth advantage is 50% higher despite the narrower bus.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The two available head-to-head tests are both compute-oriented, and the RTX 2060 crushes the GTX 770 in each.

Geekbench OpenCL: The RTX 2060 scores 65,014 versus 15,707 for the GTX 770. That is a 313.9% delta in favor of the RTX 2060. This test stresses raw compute throughput across shading units, and the RTX 2060’s 1920 units at higher clocks, combined with Turing’s improved instruction efficiency, produce a four-fold performance advantage. The GTX 770’s 1536 Kepler units are simply outclassed.

Geekbench Vulkan: The RTX 2060 scores 65,846 versus 19,166 for the GTX 770, a 243.6% delta. Vulkan is a lower-level API that exposes hardware capabilities more directly, and the RTX 2060’s modern architecture benefits disproportionately. The GTX 770’s Vulkan 1.2.175 driver support also lags behind the RTX 2060’s Vulkan 1.4, which may affect optimization.

In both tests, the RTX 2060’s wins are not marginal — they are generational blowouts. The GTX 770’s average benchmark score of 14,747 sits at the 57th percentile of all GPUs, while the RTX 2060’s average of 15,290 is at the 58th percentile. That close percentile ranking is misleading because the GTX 770 only has three benchmark entries (all Geekbench tests), while the RTX 2060 has ten, including Passmark tests where it scores 14,111 in G3D and 5,488 in GPU compute.

Where Each One Wins

RTX 2060 wins in: everything that matters for modern use. Compute workloads (OpenCL, Vulkan), modern DirectX 12 Ultimate games, ray tracing (with 30 RT cores), AI tasks (with 240 tensor cores), high-resolution texturing (6 GB VRAM), and any application that benefits from higher memory bandwidth (336.0 GB/s vs 224.4 GB/s). It also wins on power efficiency: 160 W TDP versus 230 W, requiring a 450 W PSU instead of 550 W.

GTX 770 wins in: legacy compatibility scenarios. Its 256-bit memory bus and 128 TMUs give it a slight theoretical edge in fill-rate-bound older games that were optimized for Kepler-era hardware. It also has a higher launch MSRP (399 USD), though that is irrelevant to current purchasing decisions. The GTX 770’s dual DVI outputs and HDMI 1.4a may be useful for connecting to very old monitors, while the RTX 2060 offers HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4a, and a USB-C output.

For anyone building a new system or upgrading an old one, the data is unambiguous: the RTX 2060 outperforms the GTX 770 by 243.6-313.9% in compute benchmarks, uses less power, and supports modern APIs. The GTX 770 is a historical artifact that should only be considered for vintage builds or as a display adapter for pre-2013 software.