RTX A40 vs GeForce GTX 980

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking	245	not rated
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	9.57	no data
Power efficiency	12.35	no data
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	Ampere (2020−2025)
GPU code name	GM204	GA102
Market segment	Desktop	Workstation
Release date	19 September 2014 (11 years ago)	5 October 2020 (5 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$549	no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

The higher the ratio, the better. We use the manufacturer's recommended prices.

Performance to price scatter graph

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	2048	10752
Core clock speed	1064 MHz	1305 MHz
Boost clock speed	1216 MHz	1755 MHz
Number of transistors	5,200 million	28,300 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	165 Watt	300 Watt
Texture fill rate	155.6	589.7
Floating-point processing power	4.981 TFLOPS	37.74 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	112
TMUs	128	336
Tensor Cores	no data	336
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	84
L1 Cache	768 KB	10.5 MB
L2 Cache	2 MB	6 MB

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 4.0 x16
Length	267 mm	267 mm
Height	4.376" (11.1 cm)	no data
Width	2-slot	2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)	500 Watt	no data
Supplementary power connectors	2x 6-pin	8-pin EPS
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	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	48 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	384 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s	1812 MHz
Memory bandwidth	224 GB/s	695.8 GB/s
Shared memory	-	-
Resizable BAR	-	+

Connectivity and outputs

This section shows the types and number of video connectors on each GPU. The data applies specifically to desktop reference models (for example, NVIDIA’s Founders Edition). OEM partners often modify both the number and types of ports. On notebook GPUs, video‐output options are determined by the laptop’s design rather than the graphics chip itself.

Display Connectors	Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2	3x DisplayPort
Multi monitor support	4 displays	no data
VGA аnalog display support	+	no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	+	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.

GameStream	+	-
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	-
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	-
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	+	-
Optimus	+	-
BatteryBoost	+	-

API and SDK support

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.5
OpenGL	4.5	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	1.1.126	1.2
CUDA	+	8.6
DLSS	-	+

Pros & cons summary

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Recency	19 September 2014	5 October 2020
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	48 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	165 Watt	300 Watt