GeForce 8600M GS vs GTX 980 SLI Mobile

VS

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile and GeForce 8600M GS, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 980 SLI Mobile
2015
2x 8 GB GDDR5, 330 Watt
39.23
+21694%

GTX 980 SLI Mobile outperforms 8600M GS by a whopping 21694% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking1141398
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiency8.290.63
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2017)Tesla (2006−2010)
GPU code nameN16E-GXX SLIG86
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date22 September 2015 (9 years ago)1 May 2007 (17 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores409616
Core clock speed1126 MHz450 MHz
Boost clock speed1228 MHzno data
Number of transistors10400 Million210 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm80 nm
Power consumption (TDP)330 Watt20 Watt
Texture fill rateno data3.600
Floating-point processing powerno data0.0288 TFLOPS
ROPsno data4
TMUsno data8

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizelargemedium sized
Interfaceno dataMXM-II
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5DDR2
Maximum RAM amount2x 8 GB512 MB
Memory bus width256 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speed3500 MHz400 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data12.8 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectorsno dataNo outputs
G-SYNC support+-

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12_111.1 (10_0)
Shader Modelno data4.0
OpenGLno data3.3
OpenCLno data1.1
Vulkan-N/A
CUDA+1.1

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD1320−1
4K65-0−1

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+3300%
2−3
−3300%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 80−85
+2633%
3−4
−2633%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 65−70 0−1
Battlefield 5 120−130 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 75−80
+3800%
2−3
−3800%
Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+3300%
2−3
−3300%
Far Cry 5 80−85 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 95−100 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 190−200 0−1
Hitman 3 80−85
+1950%
4−5
−1950%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+1925%
8−9
−1925%
Metro Exodus 120−130 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 90−95 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140−150
+3425%
4−5
−3425%
Watch Dogs: Legion 120−130
+357%
27−30
−357%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 80−85
+2633%
3−4
−2633%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 65−70 0−1
Battlefield 5 120−130 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 75−80
+3800%
2−3
−3800%
Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+3300%
2−3
−3300%
Far Cry 5 80−85 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 95−100 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 190−200 0−1
Hitman 3 80−85
+1950%
4−5
−1950%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+1925%
8−9
−1925%
Metro Exodus 120−130 0−1
Red Dead Redemption 2 90−95 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140−150
+3425%
4−5
−3425%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 137
+1422%
9−10
−1422%
Watch Dogs: Legion 120−130
+357%
27−30
−357%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 80−85
+2633%
3−4
−2633%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 65−70 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 75−80
+3800%
2−3
−3800%
Cyberpunk 2077 65−70
+3300%
2−3
−3300%
Far Cry 5 80−85 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 190−200 0−1
Hitman 3 80−85
+1950%
4−5
−1950%
Horizon Zero Dawn 160−170
+1925%
8−9
−1925%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 140−150
+3425%
4−5
−3425%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 74
+722%
9−10
−722%
Watch Dogs: Legion 120−130
+357%
27−30
−357%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 90−95 0−1

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 70−75 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 55−60 0−1

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 40−45 0−1
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 40−45 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 45−50 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 30−33 0−1
Far Cry 5 45−50 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 210−220 0−1
Hitman 3 50−55
+733%
6−7
−733%
Horizon Zero Dawn 80−85
+4100%
2−3
−4100%
Metro Exodus 70−75 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 90−95 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 55−60 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 190−200 0−1

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 65−70
+3200%
2−3
−3200%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 35−40 0−1
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35 0−1
Hitman 3 30−35 0−1
Horizon Zero Dawn 180−190 0−1
Metro Exodus 45−50 0−1
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 51 0−1

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
+2500%
1−2
−2500%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 24−27 0−1
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 24−27 0−1
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14 0−1
Far Cry 5 21−24 0−1
Forza Horizon 4 50−55 0−1
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55 0−1
Watch Dogs: Legion 18−20 0−1

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+1600%
2−3
−1600%

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Horizon Zero Dawn, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 980 SLI Mobile is 4100% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, GTX 980 SLI Mobile surpassed 8600M GS in all 29 of our tests.

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 39.23 0.18
Recency 22 September 2015 1 May 2007
Chip lithography 28 nm 80 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 330 Watt 20 Watt

GTX 980 SLI Mobile has a 21694.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 8 years, and a 185.7% more advanced lithography process.

8600M GS, on the other hand, has 1550% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce 8600M GS in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile
GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
GeForce 8600M GS

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


3.3 65 votes

Rate GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
4.5 14 votes

Rate GeForce 8600M GS on a scale of 1 to 5:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.