Radeon RX 590 vs GeForce GTX 980 Ti

Place in the ranking	133	227
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	14.27	25.50
Power efficiency	9.94	9.65
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	GCN 4.0 (2016−2020)
GPU code name	GM200	Polaris 30
Market segment	Desktop	Desktop
Release date	2 June 2015 (9 years ago)	15 November 2018 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$649	$279

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RX 590 has 79% better value for money than GTX 980 Ti.

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	2816	2304
Core clock speed	1000 MHz	1469 MHz
Boost clock speed	1075 MHz	1545 MHz
Number of transistors	8,000 million	5,700 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	175 Watt
Texture fill rate	189.4	222.5
Floating-point processing power	6.06 TFLOPS	7.119 TFLOPS
ROPs	96	32
TMUs	176	144

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).

Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	PCIe 3.0 x16	PCIe 3.0 x16
Length	267 mm	241 mm
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)	600 Watt	no data
Supplementary power connectors	1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin	1x 8-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	GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	8 GB
Memory bus width	384 Bit	256 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s	2000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	336.5 GB/s	256.0 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	Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2	1x HDMI, 3x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support	4 displays	no data
HDMI	+	+
HDCP	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
G-SYNC support	+	-
Audio input for HDMI	Internal	no data

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

FreeSync	-	+
GameStream	+	-
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	-
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 (12_0)
Shader Model	6.4	6.4
OpenGL	4.5	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	1.1.126	1.2.131
CUDA	+	-

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.

Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark 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 35.78
+47.1%

RX 590 24.33

Passmark

This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark. 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.

GTX 980 Ti 13808
+47.1%

RX 590 9390

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.

GTX 980 Ti 23057

RX 590 23363
+1.3%

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.

GTX 980 Ti 48631
+0.4%

RX 590 48454

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.

GTX 980 Ti 16961
+0.9%

RX 590 16814

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.

GTX 980 Ti 98958
+14%

RX 590 86825

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.

GTX 980 Ti 443119
+11.4%

RX 590 397712

SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase

GTX 980 Ti 90
+25.4%

RX 590 72

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	99 +1%	98 −1%
1440p	49 −14.3%	56 +14.3%
4K	53 +43.2%	37 −43.2%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

60−65
+55%

40−45

−55%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	75−80 +16.9%	65 −16.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65 −38.7%	86 +38.7%
Battlefield 5	110−120 −17.2%	136 +17.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75 +5.8%	69 −5.8%
Cyberpunk 2077	60−65 +55%	40−45 −55%
Far Cry 5	75−80 −13.9%	90 +13.9%
Far Cry New Dawn	90−95 +0%	90 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	180−190 −50.5%	274 +50.5%
Hitman 3	75−80 +55.1%	45−50 −55.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	150−160 −98%	301 +98%
Metro Exodus	110−120 −6%	124 +6%
Red Dead Redemption 2	85−90 −5.8%	91 +5.8%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	120−130 −8.5%	140 +8.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 −121%	272 +121%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	75−80 −48.7%	113 +48.7%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65 −17.7%	73 +17.7%
Battlefield 5	47 −160%	122 +160%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75 +14.1%	64 −14.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	60−65 +55%	40−45 −55%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +6.8%	74 −6.8%
Far Cry New Dawn	36 −97.2%	71 +97.2%
Forza Horizon 4	180−190 −42.3%	259 +42.3%
Hitman 3	75−80 +55.1%	45−50 −55.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	150−160 −88.8%	287 +88.8%
Metro Exodus	49 −98%	97 +98%
Red Dead Redemption 2	85−90 +16.2%	74 −16.2%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	120−130 +13.2%	114 −13.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	155 +192%	50−55 −192%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 −112%	261 +112%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	46 +17.9%	39 −17.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	60−65 +0%	62 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	70−75 +58.7%	46 −58.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	60−65 +55%	40−45 −55%
Far Cry 5	75−80 +43.6%	55 −43.6%
Forza Horizon 4	72 −26.4%	91 +26.4%
Hitman 3	75−80 +55.1%	45−50 −55.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	150−160 +58.3%	96 −58.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	120−130 +29%	100 −29%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	59 +15.7%	51 −15.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 +251%	35 −251%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

85−90
+34.4%

−34.4%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	65−70 +47.8%	45−50 −47.8%
Far Cry New Dawn	55−60 +48.6%	35−40 −48.6%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	35−40 +52%	24−27 −52%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40 −41%	55 +41%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	40−45 +10.5%	38 −10.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	27−30 +80%	14−16 −80%
Far Cry 5	40−45 +46.4%	27−30 −46.4%
Forza Horizon 4	200−210 +46.8%	130−140 −46.8%
Hitman 3	45−50 +55.2%	27−30 −55.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn	75−80 +6.9%	72 −6.9%
Metro Exodus	65−70 +15.5%	58 −15.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	85−90 +21.4%	70 −21.4%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	50−55 +66.7%	30−33 −66.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	180−190 −11.5%	203 +11.5%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

60−65
+41.9%

−41.9%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	30 −30%	39 +30%
Far Cry New Dawn	29 +11.5%	26 −11.5%
Hitman 3	27−30 +52.6%	18−20 −52.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn	170−180 +200%	57 −200%
Metro Exodus	35 −2.9%	36 +2.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	44 +37.5%	32 −37.5%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	18 −5.6%	19 +5.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 −90.9%	42 +90.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +10%	20 −10%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 +83.3%	6−7 −83.3%
Far Cry 5	21−24 +23.5%	17 −23.5%
Forza Horizon 4	42 −9.5%	46 +9.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	45−50 +20%	40 −20%
Watch Dogs: Legion	18−20 +38.5%	13 −38.5%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

30−35
+3.3%

−3.3%

This is how GTX 980 Ti and RX 590 compete in popular games:

GTX 980 Ti is 1% faster in 1080p
RX 590 is 14% faster in 1440p
GTX 980 Ti is 43% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 980 Ti is 251% faster.
in Battlefield 5, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the RX 590 is 160% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 980 Ti is ahead in 45 tests (63%)
RX 590 is ahead in 25 tests (35%)
there's a draw in 2 tests (3%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	35.78	24.33
Recency	2 June 2015	15 November 2018
Maximum RAM amount	6 GB	8 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	250 Watt	175 Watt

GTX 980 Ti has a 47.1% higher aggregate performance score.

RX 590, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 3 years, a 33.3% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 133.3% more advanced lithography process, and 42.9% lower power consumption.

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti is our recommended choice as it beats the Radeon RX 590 in performance tests.

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