NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m – Review, Price, Specification, And More
We occasionally have to purchase outdated laptops from resellers because of budgetary restrictions. We also frequently receive reconditioned laptops here, and they are always in excellent shape. I tested numerous outdated graphics cards, including the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m, because I was curious.
I tested the performance of this graphics card using an older MSI GT Series Core i7 6th Gen gaming laptop to determine how well it will hold up in 2023. Here is my honest assessment of this laptop and, more especially, its graphics card, which I conducted after running different benchmarking tests.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m Specifications
The primary specifications of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m are:
| Release Date | 1st October 2014 |
| Architecture | Maxwell |
| Technology | 28nm |
| CUDA Cores | 1280 (Unified) |
| Transistor Count | 5.2 Million |
| Core Clock Speed | 924 MHz |
| Memory Clock Speed | 2500 MHz |
| Memory Bandwidth | 120 GB/s |
| Memory Bus Width | 192 Bit |
| Memory Type | GDDR5 |
| Memory Size (VRAM) | 3GB |
| DirectX | DX 12 |
| Shader | Shader 6.4 |
| OpenGL | OpenGL 4.5 |
| OpenCL | OpenCL 1.1 |
| Vulkan | 1.1 |
| Power Consumption (TDP) | 80 Watt |
| Form Factor | Notebook |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m Benchmarks
Since the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m is pretty old, I used the older 3DMark TimeSpy benchmarking tools. Here’s what they have to reveal:
1. 3DMark Vantage (TimeSpy)
Here, two graphically demanding sequences are handled by the GPU. A lady is seen fleeing from a military facility in one shot. The other shows a scene of spacecraft combat a la Star Wars. Again, a very low score of 28,845 (17%) was achieved by this GPU.
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2. 3DMark 11 (TimeSpy)
The card’s ability to perform graphically demanding volumetric lighting and tessellation effects was tested using 3DMark 11. Here, two movies are being shown, one of which shows divers inspecting a sunken ship and the other which shows an abandoned temple in a forest. The resolution for each of these movies was 720p (1280 x 720). The score for this card is 9,878 (17%), which is once more rather low.
3. 3DMark Night Raid
The 3DMark Night Raid benchmarking tool test will play a few scenes showing a wormhole launching spaceships into another galaxy. This will be shown at 720p (1280 x 720) resolution. Here, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m has a score of 51,247 (14%), which is pretty low.
4. 3DMark FireStrike
It is recommended to utilise the 3DMark FireStrike benchmarking tool for 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution. This program displays an animated battle between a human fighter and a lava monster in real-time rendering. This video’s graphics are quite realistic, which puts a strain on the graphics system. This graphics card scored 7463 (14%), which is a very poor result.
5. Unigine Heaven 4.0
I utilized the Unigine Heaven 4.0 testing program to demonstrate the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 m’s rendering capabilities. Since it displays an aerial perspective of busy, crowded mediaeval islands filled with several 3D character models, it’s excellent for real-time rendering. With a score of only 93 (5%), this graphics card did quite poorly on this test.
6. Passmark
My understanding of the 3D graphical load that this graphics card can handle is improved by using the Passmark Performance Test Suite. This application will be tested in a variety of Direct3D 9 to 12 simulations. Additionally, 4K loads are also applied to this GPU. The score for this graphics card is 5740 (26%), which is rather low by today’s standards.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m Review
To properly figure out the actual gaming performance of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m graphics card, I needed a laptop. An older laptop that had this graphics card installed dedicatedly. Therefore, I loaned myself an older MSI GT Series Core i7 6th Gen gaming laptop.
Here are the specifications of this gaming laptop:
| OS | Windows 10 Pro |
| Display | 17.3” WideFHD LCD (1920 x 1080 resolution) |
| Processor | 6th Generation Intel Core i7 6700HQ 2.6 GHz |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m 3GB GDDR5 |
| Memory (RAM) | 16GB DDR4 (1600 MHz) |
| Storage | 1TB HDD |
This graphics card performed moderately while playing Metro 2033 Redux. Here, you need to dial back the expectations and specifics a little if you cheerfully enter subterranean train shafts. At 41 FPS, faultless gameplay is only feasible at medium. The highest setting results in a sometimes juddering 21 FPS. Here, the GTX 970M is at its breaking point.
The massive Mafia II, which Take 2 Interactive released in 2011, ran in the same way. Here, large-scale shootouts ran smoothly at 37 frames per second on extreme settings (full HD, high). High settings also reveal the disparity compared to the AMD Radeon HD 7900 – 21 vs. 31 frames per second.
We used high and super turbo settings in Mafia 2 and got somewhat poorer outcomes. High: 53.6 compared. 52.2 (Turbo Off vs. On), and Ultra 38.4 vs. 36.9, respectively (Turbo Off vs. On).
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FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Gamers have asked various questions about the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m graphics card. The answers to them are:
Ans: In 2023, no. This decade-old graphics card doesn’t have enough juice to run all modern games fluidly at 30fps at the lowest settings.
Q2. Is NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m Graphics Good For Animation Ans Video Editing?
Ans: Yes, this graphics card is good enough for animation work and video editing. However, it’s recommended to use older versions of these applications.
Final Verdict: Are Laptops With NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m Worth It In 2023?
In 2022, laptops with NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970m are not good enough.
All games of that era (pre-2013) video games can be played with at least a medium detail level thanks to the GTX 970M capabilities. It is impossible to play graphically-intensive games like Metro 2033 Redux smoothly at full fidelity. However, several, particularly older games, lacked difficulty and only partially operated in Full HD with the highest quality (The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Mafia 2).
However, if you wish to play newer games released in the PS4 and PS5 era, I would recommend buying a laptop with better specs.
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