RTX 2070 Max-Q vs GTX 980 Mobile

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Combined performance score

GTX 980 Mobile
22.12

RTX 2070 Max-Q outperforms GTX 980 Mobile by 37% in our combined benchmark results.

General info

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

Place in performance ranking232168
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Value for money29.6618.21
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Turing (2018−2021)
GPU code nameN16E-GXXN18E-G2 MAX-Q TU106
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date22 September 2014 (9 years old)6 January 2019 (5 years old)
Launch price (MSRP)$395.82 no data
Current price$251 (0.6x MSRP)$1311
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

GTX 980 Mobile has 63% better value for money than RTX 2070 Max-Q.

Technical specs

General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores20482304
CUDA cores2048no data
Core clock speed1064 MHz885-1080 MHz
Boost clock speed1216 MHz1185-1305 MHz
Number of transistors5,200 million10,800 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm12 nm
Power consumption (TDP)100-200 Watt80-90 Watt
Texture fill rate144 billion/sec170.6
Floating-point performance4,358 gflopsno data

Size and compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 980 Mobile and GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.

Laptop sizelargelarge
Bus supportPCI Express 3.0no data
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone
SLI options+no data

Memory

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 typeGDDR5GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount4 GB8 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed7.0 GB/s12000 MHz
Memory bandwidth224 GB/s384.0 GB/s
Shared memory--

Video outputs and ports

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 ConnectorsDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2No outputs
Multi monitor support4 displaysno data
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI+no data
HDCP+no data
Maximum VGA resolution2048x1536no data
G-SYNC support++
Audio input for HDMIInternalno data

Technologies

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

GameStream+no data
GeForce ShadowPlay+no data
GPU Boost2.0no data
GameWorks+no data
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder+no data
Optimus+no data
BatteryBoost+no data
VR Readyno data+

API support

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 Ultimate (12_1)
Shader Model6.46.5
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.1.1261.2.131
CUDA+7.5

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. 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 Mobile 22.12
RTX 2070 Max-Q 30.39
+37.4%

RTX 2070 Max-Q outperforms GTX 980 Mobile by 37% in our combined benchmark results.


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 Mobile 39702
RTX 2070 Max-Q 48510
+22.2%

RTX 2070 Max-Q outperforms GTX 980 Mobile by 22% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.

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 Mobile 17201
RTX 2070 Max-Q 22089
+28.4%

RTX 2070 Max-Q outperforms GTX 980 Mobile by 28% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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 Mobile 13047
RTX 2070 Max-Q 17335
+32.9%

RTX 2070 Max-Q outperforms GTX 980 Mobile by 33% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

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 Mobile 76705
RTX 2070 Max-Q 106564
+38.9%

RTX 2070 Max-Q outperforms GTX 980 Mobile by 39% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

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 Mobile 347481
RTX 2070 Max-Q 413114
+18.9%

RTX 2070 Max-Q outperforms GTX 980 Mobile by 19% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.

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 HD99
+0%
99
+0%
1440p40−45
−50%
60
+50%
4K45
+15.4%
39
−15.4%

Performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
−41.7%
50−55
+41.7%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 45−50
−57.8%
71
+57.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 35−40
−87.2%
73
+87.2%
Battlefield 5 70−75
−26%
92
+26%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 55−60
−39.7%
80−85
+39.7%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
−41.7%
50−55
+41.7%
Far Cry 5 55−60
−77.6%
103
+77.6%
Far Cry New Dawn 55−60
−57.6%
93
+57.6%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
−61.3%
121
+61.3%
Hitman 3 65−70
−80%
117
+80%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
−95.7%
92
+95.7%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−139%
86
+139%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
−104%
98
+104%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−105%
88
+105%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 45−50
−40%
63
+40%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 35−40
−56.4%
61
+56.4%
Battlefield 5 70−75
−20.5%
88
+20.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 55−60
−62.1%
94
+62.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
−41.7%
50−55
+41.7%
Far Cry 5 55−60
−63.8%
95
+63.8%
Far Cry New Dawn 55−60
−49.2%
88
+49.2%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
−57.3%
118
+57.3%
Hitman 3 65−70
−53.8%
100
+53.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 45−50
−51.1%
71
+51.1%
Metro Exodus 35−40
−69.4%
61
+69.4%
Red Dead Redemption 2 35−40
−33.3%
48
+33.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
−77.1%
85
+77.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 84
−45.2%
122
+45.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−79.1%
77
+79.1%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 45−50
−11.1%
50
+11.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 35−40
−38.5%
54
+38.5%
Battlefield 5 70−75
−21.9%
89
+21.9%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
−41.7%
50−55
+41.7%
Far Cry 5 55−60
−55.2%
90
+55.2%
Far Cry New Dawn 55−60
−33.9%
79
+33.9%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
−30.7%
98
+30.7%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 44
−45.5%
64
+45.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 40−45
−18.6%
51
+18.6%

1440p
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 30−35
−41.2%
45−50
+41.2%
Hitman 3 35−40
−47.2%
50−55
+47.2%
Horizon Zero Dawn 27−30
−79.3%
52
+79.3%
Metro Exodus 21−24
−45.5%
30−35
+45.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
−70.6%
29
+70.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 27−30
−69%
49
+69%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 24−27
−37.5%
33
+37.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 21−24
−52.4%
30−35
+52.4%
Battlefield 5 45−50
−53.1%
75
+53.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 12−14
−61.5%
21−24
+61.5%
Far Cry 5 35−40
−73.7%
66
+73.7%
Far Cry New Dawn 40−45
−67.4%
72
+67.4%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
−40%
60−65
+40%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
−56%
35−40
+56%
Watch Dogs: Legion 16−18
−56.3%
24−27
+56.3%

4K
High Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 16−18
−47.1%
24−27
+47.1%
Hitman 3 21−24
−38.1%
27−30
+38.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 14−16
−7.1%
15
+7.1%
Metro Exodus 12−14
−69.2%
22
+69.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
−58.3%
19
+58.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 14−16
−93.3%
29
+93.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 30
−50%
45
+50%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 14−16
−42.9%
20
+42.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 12−14
−50%
18−20
+50%
Battlefield 5 24−27
−61.5%
42
+61.5%
Cyberpunk 2077 5−6
−80%
9−10
+80%
Far Cry 5 18−20
−83.3%
33
+83.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 21−24
−90.5%
40
+90.5%
Forza Horizon 4 30−35
−35.5%
40−45
+35.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 10−11
−50%
14−16
+50%

This is how GTX 980 Mobile and RTX 2070 Max-Q compete in popular games:

1080p resolution:

  • RTX 2070 Max-Q is 0% faster than GTX 980 Mobile

1440p resolution:

  • RTX 2070 Max-Q is 50% faster than GTX 980 Mobile

4K resolution:

  • GTX 980 Mobile is 15.4% faster than RTX 2070 Max-Q

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

  • in Red Dead Redemption 2, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the RTX 2070 Max-Q is 139% faster than the GTX 980 Mobile.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Without exception, RTX 2070 Max-Q surpassed GTX 980 Mobile in all 68 of our tests.

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance score 22.12 30.39
Recency 22 September 2014 6 January 2019
Maximum RAM amount 4 GB 8 GB
Chip lithography 28 nm 12 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 100 Watt 80 Watt

The GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 980 Mobile in performance tests.


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

User ratings

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Mobile
GeForce GTX 980 Mobile
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q
GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q

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