NVIDIA started GeForce GTX 980 Ti sales 2 June 2015 at a recommended price of $649 . This is a desktop graphics card based on a Maxwell architecture and made with 28 nm manufacturing process. It is primarily aimed at gamer market. 6 GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 7 GHz are supplied, and together with 384 Bit memory interface this creates a bandwidth of 336.6 GB/s.

Compatibility-wise, this is dual-slot card attached via PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. Its manufacturer default version has a length of 267 mm. One 6-pin and one 8-pin connectors are required, and power consumption is at 250 Watt.

Primary details

Some basic facts about GeForce GTX 980 Ti: architecture, market segment, release date etc.

Place in performance ranking	124
Place by popularity	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	4.34
Architecture	Maxwell (2014−2018)
GPU code name	GM200
Market segment	Desktop
Release date	2 June 2015 (9 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$649

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Detailed specifications

GeForce GTX 980 Ti's specs such as number of shaders, GPU base clock, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of GeForce GTX 980 Ti's performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider its benchmark and gaming test results.

Pipelines / CUDA cores	2816	of 20480 (Data Center GPU Max NEXT)
Core clock speed	1000 MHz	of 2610 (Radeon RX 6500 XT)
Boost clock speed	1200 MHz	of 3599 (Radeon RX 7990 XTX)
Number of transistors	8,000 million	of 14400 (GeForce GTX 1080 SLI Mobile)
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	of 4 (H100 PCIe)
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	of 2400 (Data Center GPU Max Subsystem)
Texture fill rate	189.4	of 969.9 (H100 SXM5 96 GB)
Floating-point performance	6,060 gflops	of 16384 (Radeon Pro Duo)

Form factor & compatibility

This section provides details about the physical dimensions of GeForce GTX 980 Ti and its compatibility with other computer components. This information is useful when selecting a computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards, it includes details about the interface and bus (for motherboard compatibility) and additional power connectors (for power supply compatibility).

Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	267 mm
Width	2-slot
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
SLI options	+

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of memory installed on GeForce GTX 980 Ti: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Note that GPUs integrated into processors have no dedicated memory and use a shared part of system RAM instead.

Memory type	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	of 192 (Radeon Instinct MI300X)
Memory bus width	384 Bit	of 8192 (Radeon Instinct MI250X)
Memory clock speed	7000 MHz	of 23000 (GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER)
Memory bandwidth	336.6 GB/s	of 3276 (Aldebaran)
Shared memory	-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on GeForce GTX 980 Ti. As a rule, this section is relevant only for desktop reference graphics cards, since for notebook ones the availability of certain video outputs depends on the laptop model, while non-reference desktop models can (though not necessarily will) bear a different set of video ports.

Display Connectors	1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
HDMI	+
G-SYNC support	+

API compatibility

APIs supported by GeForce GTX 980 Ti, sometimes including their particular versions.

DirectX	12 (12_1)
Shader Model	6.4
OpenGL	4.6
OpenCL	1.2
Vulkan	1.1.126
CUDA	+

Benchmark performance

Synthetic benchmark performance of GeForce GTX 980 Ti. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 980 Ti 35.77

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.

Benchmark coverage: 25%

GTX 980 Ti 13809

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GTX 980 Ti 48631

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

Benchmark coverage: 17%

GTX 980 Ti 23057

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

GTX 980 Ti 16961

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 14%

GTX 980 Ti 98958

GeekBench 5 OpenCL

Geekbench 5 is a widespread graphics card benchmark combined from 11 different test scenarios. All these scenarios rely on direct usage of GPU's processing power, no 3D rendering is involved. This variation uses OpenCL API by Khronos Group.

Benchmark coverage: 9%

GTX 980 Ti 37915

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

Benchmark coverage: 8%

GTX 980 Ti 443119

GeekBench 5 Vulkan

Benchmark coverage: 6%

GTX 980 Ti 52856

GeekBench 5 CUDA

Benchmark coverage: 4%

GTX 980 Ti 35714

Octane Render OctaneBench

This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.

Benchmark coverage: 4%

GTX 980 Ti 126

SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase

Benchmark coverage: 2%

GTX 980 Ti 90

SPECviewperf 12 - Maya

This part of SPECviewperf 12 workstation benchmark uses Autodesk Maya 13 engine to render a superhero energy plant static scene consisting of more than 700 thousand polygons, in six different modes.

Benchmark coverage: 2%

GTX 980 Ti 139

Unigine Heaven 4.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark, a newer version of Unigine 3.0 with relatively small differences. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. The benchmark is still sometimes used, despite its significant age, as it was released back in 2013.

Benchmark coverage: 1%

GTX 980 Ti 2550

Gaming performance

Let's see how good GeForce GTX 980 Ti is for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in frames per second. Comparisons with game system requirements are included, but remember that sometimes official requirements may reflect reality inaccurately.

Average FPS across all PC games

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

Full HD	101
1440p	52
4K	52

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

60−65

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	60−65
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65
Battlefield 5	110−120
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75
Cyberpunk 2077	60−65
Far Cry 5	75−80
Far Cry New Dawn	90−95
Forza Horizon 4	140−150
Hitman 3	70−75
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150
Metro Exodus	100−110
Red Dead Redemption 2	85−90
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	130−140
Watch Dogs: Legion	90−95

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	60−65
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65
Battlefield 5	47
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75
Cyberpunk 2077	60−65
Far Cry 5	75−80
Far Cry New Dawn	36
Forza Horizon 4	140−150
Hitman 3	70−75
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150
Metro Exodus	49
Red Dead Redemption 2	85−90
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	130−140
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	85−90
Watch Dogs: Legion	90−95

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	46
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75
Cyberpunk 2077	60−65
Far Cry 5	75−80
Forza Horizon 4	72
Horizon Zero Dawn	140−150
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	130−140
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	59
Watch Dogs: Legion	90−95

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

85−90

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70
Far Cry New Dawn	66

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	50−55
Cyberpunk 2077	27−30
Far Cry 5	60−65
Forza Horizon 4	75−80
Hitman 3	45−50
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80
Metro Exodus	65−70
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	85−90
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	50−55
Watch Dogs: Legion	30−33

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

60−65

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30
Far Cry New Dawn	29
Hitman 3	27−30
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	23
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	44

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12
Far Cry 5	21−24
Forza Horizon 4	42
Horizon Zero Dawn	40−45
Metro Exodus	35−40
Watch Dogs: Legion	18−20

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

30−35

Closest competitors

GeForce GTX 980 Ti's performance relative to its closest rivals among desktop graphics cards.

Radeon RX 5700 104.75

Radeon RX Vega 64 103.94

GeForce RTX 2060 102.43

GeForce GTX 980 Ti 100

RTX A2000 99.66

RTX A2000 12 GB 99.3

Radeon RX 5600 XT 98.91

AMD equivalent

According to our data, the closest AMD alternative to GeForce GTX 980 Ti is Radeon RX 5600 XT, which is slower by 1% and lower by 9 positions in our ranking.