NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive overall victory for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070. In the two shared benchmark tests, the RTX 3070 wins both, with an average benchmark score of 17208 compared to the GTX 770's 14747. That is a 16.7% advantage in aggregate performance, but the individual test results reveal a much more complex story.

The most dramatic gap appears in Geekbench OpenCL. The RTX 3070 scores 112821, while the GTX 770 scores 15707. That is a 618.3% difference, which means the RTX 3070 delivers roughly seven times the compute throughput in this workload. This is not a marginal generational improvement, it is a complete redefinition of what the card can do. The OpenCL test stresses raw parallel compute, and the RTX 3070's 5888 shading units and 184 tensor cores simply overwhelm the GTX 770's 1536 shading units.

The second shared test, Geekbench Vulkan, is far closer. The RTX 3070 scores 21022 versus the GTX 770's 19166, a 9.7% margin. Vulkan is a lower-level API that can reduce driver overhead, and the older Kepler architecture still holds up reasonably well in this specific workload. Still, the RTX 3070 takes the win, and the delta is consistent with what you would expect from a newer architecture with more modern scheduling.

Looking at the broader benchmark suite, the RTX 3070 has a much wider range of recorded tests. It shows 22214 in Passmark G3D, 11195 in Passmark GPU Compute, and 3162 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The GTX 770 only has three recorded benchmarks, all from Geekbench, so direct comparisons are limited. However, the data that does exist points in one direction: the RTX 3070 is the stronger card in every measurable category.

The RTX 3070 sits at the 61st percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the GTX 770 sits at the 57th percentile. That 4-point difference is modest, but the gap in raw scores is more meaningful. The RTX 3070's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT (17083, only 0.7% behind), the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037, 1% behind), and the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019, 1.1% behind). It also edges out the NVIDIA Tesla K40c by 1.5%. The GTX 770's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (14692, 0.4% ahead), the NVIDIA Quadro M2000 (14532, 1.5% ahead), and it trails the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti by 2.1% and the AMD Radeon Pro 560X by 2.2%.

What this means in practice: the RTX 3070 is not just faster, it is in a different performance class. The 618.3% OpenCL lead is the headline number, but even the Vulkan result shows a clear win. The GTX 770 was a strong card in its era, but it cannot compete with the RTX 3070's compute resources.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous. If you are choosing between these two cards for any modern workload, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 is the only sensible pick. It wins both head-to-head tests, has a higher average benchmark score, and places in a higher percentile of all GPUs.

The GTX 770 is end-of-life, uses the Kepler architecture from the GeForce 700 generation, and has no ray tracing cores, no tensor cores, and no support for DirectX 12 Ultimate. Its 2 GB of GDDR5 memory is a hard limitation for any current game or application. The RTX 3070, by contrast, is from the GeForce 30-series, uses Ampere, and features 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which means hardware ray tracing and mesh shaders are available.

The GTX 770's only realistic use case today is as a legacy part in an older system where you need a working GPU for basic display output or very old games. But even then, the data shows it is far behind. The RTX 3070 is faster in every recorded benchmark, and the gap is enormous in compute-heavy workloads.

For anyone building or upgrading a system, the RTX 3070 is the card with actual longevity. It has 8 GB of memory, 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and 20.31 TFLOPS of FP32 performance. The GTX 770 has 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth and 3.333 TFLOPS. That is a 6x difference in raw floating-point throughput, matching the OpenCL score delta.

Where Each One Wins

The RTX 3070 wins everywhere both cards are measured. There is no benchmark in the database where the GTX 770 comes out ahead. But the nature of the wins differs by workload type.

In compute-heavy tasks, the RTX 3070 is in a different universe. The OpenCL score of 112821 versus 15707 is a 618.3% lead. This matters for GPU compute in scientific workloads, machine learning inference, video encoding, and any application that uses OpenCL for general-purpose processing. The tensor cores give it a massive advantage for AI-related tasks, even though the base FP32 throughput is already 6x higher.

In graphics-oriented workloads, the RTX 3070's lead is smaller but still clear. The Vulkan test shows a 9.7% advantage, which suggests that in pure rasterization, the older GTX 770 is not as far behind as the compute numbers would imply. However, the RTX 3070 also has ray tracing cores and DLSS-capable tensor cores, which are not reflected in these legacy benchmarks. In modern games that use those features, the gap would be much larger than 9.7%.

The GTX 770's wins are not performance-based, they are practical. It uses a 28 nm process from TSMC, which was standard for its time, and it has a simpler feature set. It does not require a PCIe 4.0 slot, it works with PCIe 3.0, and its power connector setup (1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin) is more common in older power supplies than the RTX 3070's 1x 12-pin connector. But none of that translates to benchmark wins.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 has an average benchmark score of 17208, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 has 14747. That is a 16.7% difference in favor of the RTX 3070.

Q: How big is the gap in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The RTX 3070 scores 112821, while the GTX 770 scores 15707. The RTX 3070 leads by 618.3%, which is the largest recorded delta between the two cards.

Q: Does the GTX 770 win any shared benchmark?

A: No. In the two head-to-head tests (Geekbench OpenCL and Geekbench Vulkan), the RTX 3070 wins both. The wins tally is 2 for the RTX 3070 and 0 for the GTX 770.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The RTX 3070 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 448.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 770 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus with 224.4 GB/s bandwidth. The RTX 3070 has both more capacity and double the bandwidth.

Q: Which card supports ray tracing and tensor cores?

A: Only the RTX 3070. It has 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. The GTX 770 has neither, as it uses the Kepler architecture from 2013.

Q: What is the DirectX support difference?

A: The RTX 3070 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 770 supports DirectX 12 (11_0). The RTX 3070 also supports Vulkan 1.4 versus the GTX 770's Vulkan 1.2.175.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are separated by two full GPU generations and a fundamental architectural shift. The RTX 3070 uses the Ampere architecture on a GA104 chip, built on an 8 nm process at Samsung. It packs 17,400 million transistors into a 392 mm² die, giving it a transistor density of 44.4 million per mm². The GTX 770 uses the Kepler architecture on a GK104 chip, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It has 3,540 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, with a density of 12.0 million per mm².

The transistor count difference is massive: the RTX 3070 has nearly 5x more transistors. This enables the RTX 3070's 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 96 render output units. The GTX 770 has 1536 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The RTX 3070 also adds dedicated hardware that the GTX 770 lacks entirely: 46 ray tracing cores and 184 tensor cores. These are the features that enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-based upscaling, neither of which existed in the Kepler architecture.

The memory subsystem is also fundamentally different. The RTX 3070 uses GDDR6 at 14 Gbps effective, while the GTX 770 uses GDDR5 at 7 Gbps effective. Both have a 256-bit bus, but the RTX 3070's faster memory clocks give it 448.0 GB/s of bandwidth versus 224.4 GB/s. The RTX 3070 also has 8 GB of memory versus 2 GB, which is the difference between being able to hold modern game textures and being forced to use low-quality assets.

The RTX 3070 supports PCIe 4.0 x16, while the GTX 770 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. This matters for data transfer speeds, though the practical impact in gaming is smaller than the compute and memory differences. The RTX 3070 is also rated for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), which includes features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading. The GTX 770 only supports DirectX 12 (11_0), which is a baseline feature level.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every measurable specification. The RTX 3070 has a base clock of 1500 MHz and a boost clock of 1725 MHz. The GTX 770 has a base clock of 1046 MHz and a boost clock of 1085 MHz. The RTX 3070's clocks are 43% higher at base and 59% higher at boost.

The shading units differ by 4352: the RTX 3070 has 5888, the GTX 770 has 1536. The TMUs differ by 56: 184 versus 128. The ROPs differ by 64: 96 versus 32. The pixel rate is 165.6 GPixel/s for the RTX 3070 versus 34.72 GPixel/s for the GTX 770. The texture rate is 317.4 GTexel/s versus 138.9 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 20.31 TFLOPS versus 3.333 TFLOPS.

The power draw is similar, with the RTX 3070 rated at 220 W and the GTX 770 at 230 W. Both are dual-slot cards and both suggest a 550 W power supply. The power connectors differ: the RTX 3070 uses a single 12-pin connector, while the GTX 770 uses one 6-pin and one 8-pin.

Display outputs are another difference. The RTX 3070 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 770 has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2. The RTX 3070 is also shorter at 242 mm versus 267 mm, though both are taller at 112 mm versus 111 mm. The GTX 770 has a recorded width of 38 mm, while the RTX 3070's width is not listed.

The release dates are separated by over seven years: the GTX 770 launched in May 2013, and the RTX 3070 launched in August 2020. Both are now end-of-life products, but the RTX 3070's successor is the GeForce 40-series, while the GTX 770's successor is the GeForce 900-series. The launch MSRP for the RTX 3070 was 499 USD, and the GTX 770 launched at 399 USD.