GeForce RTX 5080 vs GTX 980 SLI Mobile

Place in the ranking	116	3
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	no data	41.79
Power efficiency	8.21	18.55
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2017)	Blackwell 2.0 (2025)
GPU code name	N16E-GXX SLI	GB203
Market segment	Laptop	Desktop
Release date	22 September 2015 (9 years ago)	30 January 2025 (recently)
Launch price (MSRP)	no data	$999

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores	4096	10752
Core clock speed	1126 MHz	2295 MHz
Boost clock speed	1228 MHz	2617 MHz
Number of transistors	10400 Million	45,600 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	330 Watt	360 Watt
Texture fill rate	no data	879.3
Floating-point processing power	no data	56.28 TFLOPS
ROPs	no data	128
TMUs	no data	336
Tensor Cores	no data	336
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	84

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 size	large	no data
Interface	no data	PCIe 5.0 x16
Length	no data	304 mm
Width	no data	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	no data	1x 16-pin
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 type	GDDR5	GDDR7
Maximum RAM amount	2x 8 GB	16 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	3500 MHz	1875 MHz
Memory bandwidth	no data	960.0 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 Connectors	no data	1x HDMI 2.1b, 3x DisplayPort 2.1b
HDMI	-	+
G-SYNC support	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12_1	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	no data	6.8
OpenGL	no data	4.6
OpenCL	no data	3.0
Vulkan	-	1.4
CUDA	+	10.1

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 HD	130 −48.5%	193 +48.5%
1440p	60−65 −157%	154 +157%
4K	69 −47.8%	102 +47.8%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	no data	5.18
1440p	no data	6.49
4K	no data	9.79

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2	80−85 −159%	210−220 +159%
Cyberpunk 2077	80−85 −138%	200−210 +138%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5	100−110 −12.5%	110−120 +12.5%
Counter-Strike 2	80−85 −159%	210−220 +159%
Cyberpunk 2077	80−85 −138%	200−210 +138%
Forza Horizon 4	190−200 −136%	450−500 +136%
Forza Horizon 5	100−110 −207%	300−350 +207%
Metro Exodus	90−95 −106%	190−200 +106%
Red Dead Redemption 2	75−80 −103%	150−160 +103%
Valorant	150−160 −410%	800−850 +410%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5	100−110 −12.5%	110−120 +12.5%
Counter-Strike 2	80−85 −159%	210−220 +159%
Cyberpunk 2077	80−85 −138%	200−210 +138%
Dota 2	120−130 −42.3%	170−180 +42.3%
Far Cry 5	95−100 −60.2%	157 +60.2%
Fortnite	170−180 −79.1%	300−350 +79.1%
Forza Horizon 4	190−200 −136%	450−500 +136%
Forza Horizon 5	100−110 −207%	300−350 +207%
Grand Theft Auto V	120−130 −146%	300−310 +146%
Metro Exodus	90−95 −106%	190−200 +106%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	200−210 −7%	210−220 +7%
Red Dead Redemption 2	75−80 −103%	150−160 +103%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	141 −23.4%	170−180 +23.4%
Valorant	150−160 −410%	800−850 +410%
World of Tanks	270−280 +0%	270−280 +0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	100−110 −12.5%	110−120 +12.5%
Counter-Strike 2	80−85 −167%	222 +167%
Cyberpunk 2077	80−85 −138%	200−210 +138%
Dota 2	120−130 −144%	300−310 +144%
Far Cry 5	95−100 −111%	200−210 +111%
Forza Horizon 4	190−200 −136%	450−500 +136%
Forza Horizon 5	100−110 −207%	300−350 +207%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	200−210 −7%	210−220 +7%
Valorant	150−160 −410%	800−850 +410%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2	70−75 −132%	160−170 +132%
Grand Theft Auto V	70−75 −133%	170−180 +133%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	160−170 −116%	350−400 +116%
Red Dead Redemption 2	35−40 −138%	90−95 +138%
World of Tanks	250−260 −106%	500−550 +106%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	70−75 −19.2%	85−90 +19.2%
Cyberpunk 2077	40−45 −138%	95−100 +138%
Far Cry 5	120−130 −26%	160−170 +26%
Forza Horizon 4	110−120 −146%	280−290 +146%
Forza Horizon 5	65−70 −262%	230−240 +262%
Metro Exodus	85−90 −94.1%	160−170 +94.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	65−70 −146%	170−180 +146%
Valorant	120−130 −361%	550−600 +361%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2	16−18 −541%	109 +541%
Dota 2	75−80 −140%	180−190 +140%
Grand Theft Auto V	75−80 −144%	190−200 +144%
Metro Exodus	30−35 −342%	140−150 +342%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS	120−130 −63.3%	200−210 +63.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2	24−27 −146%	60−65 +146%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	75−80 −144%	190−200 +144%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5	45−50 −97.8%	90−95 +97.8%
Counter-Strike 2	16−18 −112%	36 +112%
Cyberpunk 2077	16−18 −135%	40−45 +135%
Dota 2	75−80 −144%	190−200 +144%
Far Cry 5	55−60 −81%	100−110 +81%
Fortnite	55−60 −71.4%	95−100 +71.4%
Forza Horizon 4	65−70 −146%	160−170 +146%
Forza Horizon 5	35−40 −330%	150−160 +330%
Valorant	65−70 −448%	350−400 +448%

This is how GTX 980 SLI Mobile and RTX 5080 compete in popular games:

RTX 5080 is 48% faster in 1080p
RTX 5080 is 157% faster in 1440p
RTX 5080 is 48% faster in 4K

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

in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the RTX 5080 is 541% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

RTX 5080 is ahead in 43 tests (98%)
there's a draw in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	37.57	92.58
Recency	22 September 2015	30 January 2025
Chip lithography	28 nm	4 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	330 Watt	360 Watt

GTX 980 SLI Mobile has 9.1% lower power consumption.

RTX 5080, on the other hand, has a 146.4% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, and a 600% more advanced lithography process.

The GeForce RTX 5080 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile in performance tests.

Be aware that GeForce GTX 980 SLI Mobile is a notebook card while GeForce RTX 5080 is a desktop one.

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