GeForce GTX 980 Ti: specs and benchmarks

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Aggregated performance score

It provides good gaming and benchmark performance at 35.67% of a leader's which is GeForce RTX 4090.

RTX 4090GeForce RTX4090
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Summary

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 7.0 GB/s are supplied, and together with 384 Bit memory interface this creates a bandwidth of 336.5 GB/s.

Compatibility-wise, this is dual-width card attached via PCIe 3.0 x16 interface. Its manufacturer default version has a length of 10.5" (26.7 cm). 6-pin + 8-pin power connector is required, and power consumption is at 250 Watt.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking130
Place by popularitynot in top-100
Value for money4.18
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)
GPU code nameGM200
Market segmentDesktop
Release date2 June 2015 (8 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$649
Current price$1195 (1.8x MSRP)of 168889 (A100 PCIe 80 GB)

Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

Technical specs

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 cores2816of 20480 (Data Center GPU Max NEXT)
CUDA cores2816
Core clock speed1000 MHzof 2610 (Radeon RX 6500 XT)
Boost clock speed1075 MHzof 3599 (Radeon RX 7990 XTX)
Number of transistors8,000 millionof 14400 (GeForce GTX 1070 SLI Mobile)
Manufacturing process technology28 nmof 4 (Radeon 780M)
Power consumption (TDP)250 Wattof 2400 (Data Center GPU Max Subsystem)
Texture fill rate176 billion/secof 969.9 (H100 SXM5 96 GB)
Floating-point performance6,060 gflopsof 16384 (Radeon Pro Duo)

Size and 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).

Bus supportPCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16
Length10.5" (26.7 cm)
Height4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)600 Watt
Supplementary power connectors6-pin + 8-pin
SLI options+

Memory

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 typeGDDR5
Maximum RAM amount6 GBof 192 (Radeon Instinct MI300X)
Memory bus width384 Bitof 8192 (Radeon Instinct MI250X)
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/sof 23000 (GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER)
Memory bandwidth336.5 GB/sof 3276 (Aldebaran)
Shared memory-

Video outputs and ports

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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor support4 displays
HDMI+
HDCP+
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536
G-SYNC support+
Audio input for HDMIInternal

Technologies

Technological solutions and APIs supported by GeForce GTX 980 Ti. You'll probably need this information if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GameStream+
GeForce ShadowPlay+
GPU Boost2.0
GameWorks+

API support

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

DirectX12 (12_1)
Shader Model6.4
OpenGL4.5of 4.6 (GeForce RTX 4090)
OpenCL1.2
Vulkan1.1.126
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 35.67

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 13811

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 37536

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

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 Vulkan API by AMD & Khronos Group.

Benchmark coverage: 5%

GTX 980 Ti 52856

GeekBench 5 CUDA

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 CUDA API by NVIDIA.

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 HD101
1440p49
4K50

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 60−65

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 65−70
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 60−65
Battlefield 5 100−110
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 95−100
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
Far Cry 5 90−95
Far Cry New Dawn 85−90
Forza Horizon 4 110−120
Hitman 3 110−120
Horizon Zero Dawn 75−80
Red Dead Redemption 2 55−60
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 65−70
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 60−65
Battlefield 5 100−110
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 38
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
Far Cry 5 90−95
Far Cry New Dawn 85−90
Forza Horizon 4 110−120
Hitman 3 110−120
Horizon Zero Dawn 75−80
Metro Exodus 60−65
Red Dead Redemption 2 55−60
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 33
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 85−90
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 46
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 60−65
Battlefield 5 94
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
Far Cry 5 77
Far Cry New Dawn 85−90
Forza Horizon 4 72
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 59
Watch Dogs: Legion 65−70

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 54
Hitman 3 65−70
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
Metro Exodus 35−40
Red Dead Redemption 2 27−30
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 50−55

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 35−40
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 35−40
Battlefield 5 75−80
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
Far Cry 5 60−65
Far Cry New Dawn 65−70
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 45−50
Watch Dogs: Legion 30−35

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 32
Hitman 3 35−40
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
Metro Exodus 24−27
Red Dead Redemption 2 18−20
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
Battlefield 5 40
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
Far Cry 5 30
Far Cry New Dawn 35−40
Forza Horizon 4 42
Watch Dogs: Legion 18−20

Relative performance

GeForce GTX 980 Ti's performance compared to nearest competitors among desktop video cards.


GeForce GTX 980 Ti 100
RTX A2000 99.66

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 5 positions in our ranking.

RX 5600 XTRadeon RX5600 XT
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Here are some closest AMD rivals to GeForce GTX 980 Ti:

Similar GPUs

Here is our recommendation of several graphics cards that are more or less close in performance to the one reviewed.

GTX 1070GeForce GTX1070
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RX Vega 56Radeon RXVega 56
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RX Vega 64Radeon RXVega 64
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Titan X PascalTitan XPascal
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GTX 1070 TiGeForce GTX1070 Ti
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GTX 1070 SLIGeForce GTX1070 SLI
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Recommended processors

These processors are most commonly used with GeForce GTX 980 Ti according to our statistics.

User Ratings

Here you can see the user rating of the graphics card, as well as rate it yourself.


4.3 1365 votes

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Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about GeForce GTX 980 Ti, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.