NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 vs NVIDIA RTX A400 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data shows a clear overall winner in raw performance, but the RTX A400 secures two notable victories that matter for specific workloads. Across the nine shared tests, the GeForce GTX 970 wins seven, while the RTX A400 takes two. The most dominant GTX 970 win comes in the Passmark DirectX 11 test, where it scores 71 against the A400’s 37, a 91.9% advantage. That is the single largest delta between the two cards in any test.

In Passmark DirectX 9, the GTX 970 scores 143 versus 87, a 64.4% lead, and in the Passmark G3D test it posts 9638 against 5983, a 61.1% margin. The GTX 970 also wins Passmark GPU Compute with 4073 versus 2557, a 59.3% advantage, and Passmark DirectX 12 with 41 versus 27, a 51.9% lead. In Passmark DirectX 10, the margin is 43.8%, with the GTX 970 scoring 46 against the A400’s 32. In Geekbench OpenCL, the GTX 970 records 29982 versus 22844, a 31.2% win.

The RTX A400’s two wins are both meaningful. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 22237 against the GTX 970’s 20005, a 10% advantage. In Passmark G2D, it posts 899 versus 764, a 15% lead. These are not trivial margins; the Vulkan result, in particular, indicates that the newer architecture’s async compute and driver optimizations give it an edge in modern low-level graphics APIs.

The overall average benchmark score tells the same story: the GTX 970 averages 7157 across all recorded tests, while the RTX A400 averages 6078. The GTX 970 sits at the 39th percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the A400 sits at the 35th. The GTX 970’s nearest rivals include the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 (avg score 7170, delta -0.2%) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE (avg score 7171, delta -0.2%), meaning it is essentially tied with those parts. The A400’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce MX230, which matches it exactly at 6077 (delta 0%), and the AMD Radeon 760M trails by 1% at 6019. These rival comparisons contextualize the results: the GTX 970 is a mid-range part from its era, while the A400 sits in a similar tier for its generation, but the older card simply has more raw compute headroom.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is substantial, spanning a decade of process technology and design philosophy. The GTX 970 uses the GM204 chip built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on TSMC’s 28 nm process. It packs 5,200 million transistors on a 398 mm² die, resulting in a transistor density of 13.1 million per square millimeter. The RTX A400, by contrast, uses the GA107 chip on Ampere architecture, fabricated on Samsung’s 8 nm process. It contains 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, yielding a much higher density of 43.5 million per square millimeter. That density difference is a direct result of the process node shrink and architectural evolution.

The GTX 970’s compute configuration is far larger in terms of raw units: 1664 shading units, 104 texture mapping units, and 56 ROPs. The RTX A400 has 768 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. However, the A400 adds hardware that the GTX 970 entirely lacks: 6 ray tracing cores and 24 tensor cores. These are dedicated units for ray-traced workloads and AI-accelerated tasks, respectively, and they are central to the A400’s positioning as a workstation card. The GTX 970 has no such specialized hardware, reflecting its 2014 gaming-focused design.

Clock speeds also differ significantly. The GTX 970 runs at a base of 1050 MHz and boosts to 1178 MHz. The RTX A400 runs at a base of 1417 MHz and boosts to 1762 MHz. Despite the A400’s higher clocks, the GTX 970’s much larger shader count gives it the edge in raw FP32 throughput: 3.920 TFLOPS versus 2.706 TFLOPS. The A400 does offer FP16 at a 1:1 ratio (2.706 TFLOPS), while the GTX 970 has no listed FP16 capability, so the A400 is more versatile for mixed-precision workloads.

Memory subsystems diverge sharply. The GTX 970 uses 4 GB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A400 also has 4 GB, but it is GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, yielding only 96.00 GB/s. The GTX 970’s bandwidth advantage is massive, more than double, which explains its dominance in texture-heavy and compute-heavy benchmarks. The A400’s narrower bus is a deliberate trade-off for lower power and a smaller physical footprint.

The API support also reflects the architectural gap. The GTX 970 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the A400 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), meaning the A400 can run newer rendering features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading that the GTX 970 cannot. Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 970 is the clear winner for raw rasterization performance and legacy API workloads. Its Passmark DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12 scores are all substantially higher, with deltas ranging from 43.8% to 91.9%. This makes it the better choice for older games, DirectX 11 titles, and any application that relies on traditional pixel-pushing. The Passmark G3D score of 9638 versus 5983 confirms that overall 3D rendering performance favors the GTX 970 by a wide margin. Similarly, its Passmark GPU Compute score of 4073 versus 2557 indicates that general-purpose GPU compute (OpenCL-style workloads) is significantly faster on the GTX 970. The Geekbench OpenCL result, 29982 versus 22844, reinforces that conclusion with a 31.2% lead.

The RTX A400 wins where modern APIs and specialized features come into play. Its Geekbench Vulkan score of 22237 versus 20005 shows that in Vulkan, a low-overhead API, the A400 has a 10% advantage. This is notable because Vulkan is increasingly common in newer games and professional visualization tools. The A400’s Passmark G2D score of 899 versus 764 (a 15% lead) suggests better 2D desktop and interface rendering performance, which may be relevant for workstation use cases involving multiple high-resolution displays or CAD-like 2D views.

The A400 also brings features the GTX 970 cannot match: ray tracing cores and tensor cores. While the benchmark suite does not include ray tracing or AI-specific tests, the presence of these units means the A400 is capable of hardware-accelerated ray tracing and DLSS-style AI processing, workloads that are simply unsupported on the GTX 970. For a professional user running modern rendering engines with ray-traced effects, the A400 is the only viable choice of these two, despite its lower raw compute.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification category. The GTX 970 uses the GM204 chip on Maxwell 2.0, while the A400 uses GA107 on Ampere. The process nodes are 28 nm (TSMC) versus 8 nm (Samsung). Transistor counts are 5,200 million versus 8,700 million, and die sizes are 398 mm² versus 200 mm². Transistor density is 13.1M per mm² versus 43.5M per mm².

Clock speeds: the GTX 970 has a base of 1050 MHz and boost of 1178 MHz; the A400 has a base of 1417 MHz and boost of 1762 MHz. Memory clocks are 1753 MHz (7 Gbps effective) for the GTX 970 versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for the A400. Memory type is GDDR5 versus GDDR6, bus width is 256-bit versus 64-bit, and bandwidth is 224.4 GB/s versus 96.00 GB/s.

Compute units: the GTX 970 has 1664 shading units, 104 TMUs, and 56 ROPs; the A400 has 768 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The A400 adds 6 RT cores and 24 tensor cores; the GTX 970 has none. Pixel rates are 65.97 GPixel/s versus 28.19 GPixel/s, and texture rates are 122.5 GTexel/s versus 42.29 GTexel/s. FP32 is 3.920 TFLOPS versus 2.706 TFLOPS; the A400 adds FP16 at 2.706 TFLOPS (1:1), while the GTX 970 has none listed.

Power and physical specs differ greatly. The GTX 970 has a TDP of 148 W, is dual-slot, requires two 6-pin power connectors, and needs a 300 W PSU. The A400 has a 50 W TDP, is single-slot, requires no power connectors, and needs only a 250 W PSU. The GTX 970 is 267 mm long, 111 mm tall, and 40 mm wide; the A400 is 163 mm long and 69 mm tall. The GTX 970 uses PCIe 3.0 x16, while the A400 uses PCIe 4.0 x8. Display outputs: the GTX 970 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.2; the A400 has 4x mini-DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 970 supports DirectX 12 (12_1); the A400 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The GTX 970 is end-of-life, released 2014-09-18, with a launch MSRP of 329 USD; the A400 is active, released 2024-04-15, with no launch MSRP recorded.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in overall 3D performance?

A: The GeForce GTX 970 is significantly faster, with a Passmark G3D score of 9638 versus 5983 for the RTX A400, a 61.1% advantage. Its average benchmark score is 7157 versus 6078.

Q: Does the RTX A400 win any benchmarks?

A: Yes, it wins two of the nine shared tests. It scores 22237 in Geekbench Vulkan versus 20005 for the GTX 970 (a 10% lead) and 899 in Passmark G2D versus 764 (a 15% lead).

Q: Why does the GTX 970 have so much higher memory bandwidth?

A: The GTX 970 uses a 256-bit memory bus with GDDR5, giving it 224.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The RTX A400 uses a 64-bit bus with GDDR6, giving it only 96.00 GB/s. The GTX 970’s bandwidth is more than double.

Q: Can the RTX A400 do ray tracing or AI workloads?

A: Yes, it has 6 ray tracing cores and 24 tensor cores. The GTX 970 has neither, so those workloads are only supported on the A400.

Q: What are the power requirements for each card?

A: The GTX 970 has a 148 W TDP, requires two 6-pin power connectors, and needs a 300 W PSU. The RTX A400 has a 50 W TDP, requires no power connectors, and needs only a 250 W PSU.

Q: Which card is better for modern DirectX 12 Ultimate features?

A: The RTX A400, because it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 970 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). This means the A400 can handle newer rendering features that the GTX 970 cannot.