Arc A380 vs GeForce GTX 970
Performance-wise the Arc A380 is out front, significantly faster, roughly 20% up on the GeForce GTX 970. It is also the stronger value pick here, so it's the easy recommendation if your budget allows.
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Arc A380 vs GeForce GTX 970: In-Depth Breakdown
Performance: Arc A380 vs GeForce GTX 970
The Arc A380 is significantly faster, around 20% ahead of the GeForce GTX 970. Both cards sit in the same broad class, well suited to entry-level 1080p.
Price & Value
Right now the Arc A380 starts at $180 CAD against $288 CAD for the GeForce GTX 970. Because it's both faster and competitively priced, the Arc A380 wins on performance-per-dollar by about 92%. The GeForce GTX 970 is trading below its $329 CAD MSRP — a genuine deal.
Power & Efficiency
The Arc A380 sips power at 75W next to the GeForce GTX 970's 145W, and still leads on performance-per-watt — quieter, cooler, and gentler on your PSU. Its more modern Alchemist architecture on a TSMC N6 process is part of why it does more with each watt.
VRAM & Future-Proofing
The Arc A380's 6GB (vs 4GB on the GeForce GTX 970) gives it more room for 4K textures and memory-hungry creative or AI workloads.
Generation & Longevity
The Arc A380 is roughly 8 years newer than the GeForce GTX 970 (Alchemist vs Maxwell), so it generally benefits from a more modern architecture and longer driver-support runway.
Features & Ecosystem
Beyond raw numbers, the Arc A380 brings Intel XeSS upscaling and AV1 encoding, while the GeForce GTX 970 offers NVIDIA DLSS upscaling/frame generation and stronger ray tracing. If you lean on upscaling or ray tracing, that ecosystem difference can matter as much as the frame-rate gap.
Which should you buy: Arc A380 or GeForce GTX 970?
The Arc A380 is the all-round winner here — it's faster and the better value, so buy it if it fits your budget. Only consider the GeForce GTX 970 if you find it at a steep discount.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Arc A380 better than the GeForce GTX 970?
Which is better for 4K gaming, the Arc A380 or the GeForce GTX 970?
Is the GeForce GTX 970 worth the extra $108 CAD over the Arc A380?
Does the Arc A380 have enough VRAM advantage to matter?
Which should you buy: Arc A380 or GeForce GTX 970?
Technical Specifications Comparison
Architecture & Cores
| Specification | Arc A380 | GeForce GTX 970 |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Alchemist | Maxwell |
| Process Node | TSMC N6 | TSMC 28nm |
| CUDA Cores (Shading Units / CUDA Cores) | 1,024 | 1,664✓ |
| Ray Tracing Cores | 8 | — |
| Tensor / AI Cores | 128 | — |
Clock Speeds
| Specification | Arc A380 | GeForce GTX 970 |
|---|---|---|
| Base Clock | 2,000 MHz✓ | 1,050 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 2,450 MHz✓ | 1,178 MHz |
Memory
| Specification | Arc A380 | GeForce GTX 970 |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM Capacity | 6 GB✓ | 4 GB |
| Memory Type | GDDR6 | GDDR5 |
| Memory Bus | 96-bit | 256-bit✓ |
| Memory Speed | 15.5 Gbps✓ | 7 Gbps |
| Bandwidth | 186 GB/s | 224.3 GB/s✓ |
Connectivity & Power
| Specification | Arc A380 | GeForce GTX 970 |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 | PCIe 3.0 x16 |
| TDP | 75 W✓ | 145 W |
| Power Connectors | 1x 8-pin | 2x 6-pin |
| Released | Jun 2022 | Sep 2014 |