GeForce GTX 590 vs GTX 980M

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 980M with GeForce GTX 590, including specs and performance data.

GTX 980M
2014
8 GB GDDR5
19.12
+120%

GTX 980M outperforms GTX 590 by a whopping 120% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking293496
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluationno data0.77
Power efficiency13.161.64
ArchitectureMaxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)Fermi 2.0 (2010−2014)
GPU code nameGM204GF110
Market segmentLaptopDesktop
Release date7 October 2014 (10 years ago)24 March 2011 (13 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)no data$699

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

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 cores15361024
Core clock speed1038 MHz607 MHz
Boost clock speed1127 MHzno data
Number of transistors5,200 million3,000 million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm40 nm
Power consumption (TDP)unknown365 Watt
Maximum GPU temperatureno data97 °C
Texture fill rate51.8438.91
Floating-point processing power1.659 TFLOPS1.244 TFLOPS
ROPs6448
TMUs9664

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).

Laptop sizelargeno data
Bus supportPCI Express 3.016x PCI-E 2.0
InterfaceMXM-B (3.0)PCIe 2.0 x16
Lengthno data279 mm
Heightno data4.376" (111 mm) (11.1 cm)
Widthno data2-slot
Supplementary power connectorsNone2x 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 typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount8 GB3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)
Memory bus width256 Bit768-bit (384-bit per GPU)
Memory clock speed2500 MHz1707 MHz
Memory bandwidth160 GB/s327.7 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 ConnectorsNo outputsThree Dual Link DVI-IMini DisplayPort
Multi monitor supportno data+
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI++
Maximum VGA resolutionno data2048x1536
G-SYNC support+-
Audio input for HDMIno dataInternal

Supported technologies

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

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

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (11_0)
Shader Model6.45.1
OpenGL4.54.2
OpenCL1.11.1
Vulkan1.1.126N/A
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 980M 19.12
+120%
GTX 590 8.69

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 980M 7352
+120%
GTX 590 3341

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 980M 12517
+36.6%
GTX 590 9167

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 980M 31944
+24.2%
GTX 590 25720

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 980M 9682
+44.9%
GTX 590 6680

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.

GTX 980M 23790
+85.7%
GTX 590 12811

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:

900p173
+268%
47
−268%
Full HD71
−52.1%
108
+52.1%
1200p240−250
+114%
112
−114%
1440p34
+143%
14−16
−143%
4K28
+133%
12−14
−133%

Cost per frame, $

1080pno data6.47
1440pno data49.93
4Kno data58.25

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Elden Ring 60−65
+150%
24−27
−150%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 56
+100%
27−30
−100%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+129%
35−40
−129%
Metro Exodus 60
+161%
21−24
−161%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+83.3%
24−27
−83.3%
Valorant 75−80
+148%
30−35
−148%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 59
+111%
27−30
−111%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Dota 2 40
+29%
30−35
−29%
Elden Ring 60−65
+150%
24−27
−150%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+75.7%
35−40
−75.7%
Fortnite 88
+72.5%
50−55
−72.5%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+129%
35−40
−129%
Grand Theft Auto V 60
+93.5%
30−35
−93.5%
Metro Exodus 40
+73.9%
21−24
−73.9%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 182
+168%
65−70
−168%
Red Dead Redemption 2 40−45
+83.3%
24−27
−83.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 58
+123%
24−27
−123%
Valorant 75−80
+148%
30−35
−148%
World of Tanks 230
+78.3%
120−130
−78.3%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 50
+78.6%
27−30
−78.6%
Counter-Strike 2 30−35
+100%
16−18
−100%
Cyberpunk 2077 35−40
+124%
16−18
−124%
Dota 2 65−70
+119%
30−35
−119%
Far Cry 5 65−70
+75.7%
35−40
−75.7%
Forza Horizon 4 80−85
+129%
35−40
−129%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 49
−38.8%
65−70
+38.8%
Valorant 75−80
+148%
30−35
−148%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 30−33
+200%
10−11
−200%
Elden Ring 30−35
+158%
12−14
−158%
Grand Theft Auto V 30−33
+173%
10−12
−173%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 160−170
+302%
40−45
−302%
Red Dead Redemption 2 16−18
+143%
7−8
−143%
World of Tanks 130−140
+106%
60−65
−106%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 34
+113%
16−18
−113%
Counter-Strike 2 16−18
+60%
10−11
−60%
Cyberpunk 2077 14−16
+150%
6−7
−150%
Far Cry 5 50−55
+183%
18−20
−183%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+172%
18−20
−172%
Metro Exodus 38
+153%
14−16
−153%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 24−27
+160%
10−11
−160%
Valorant 45−50
+123%
21−24
−123%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+400%
3−4
−400%
Dota 2 41
+116%
18−20
−116%
Elden Ring 14−16
+180%
5−6
−180%
Grand Theft Auto V 41
+116%
18−20
−116%
Metro Exodus 12
+200%
4−5
−200%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 48
+92%
24−27
−92%
Red Dead Redemption 2 12−14
+100%
6−7
−100%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 41
+116%
18−20
−116%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 17
+143%
7−8
−143%
Counter-Strike 2 14−16
+400%
3−4
−400%
Cyberpunk 2077 6−7
+200%
2−3
−200%
Dota 2 30−35
+68.4%
18−20
−68.4%
Far Cry 5 24−27
+150%
10−11
−150%
Fortnite 21
+133%
9−10
−133%
Forza Horizon 4 27−30
+180%
10−11
−180%
Valorant 21−24
+175%
8−9
−175%

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

  • GTX 980M is 268% faster in 900p
  • GTX 590 is 52% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 980M is 114% faster in 1200p
  • GTX 980M is 143% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 980M is 133% faster in 4K

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

  • in Counter-Strike 2, with 4K resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 980M is 400% faster.
  • in PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 590 is 39% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 980M is ahead in 62 tests (98%)
  • GTX 590 is ahead in 1 test (2%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 19.12 8.69
Recency 7 October 2014 24 March 2011
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 3072 MB (1536 MB per GPU)
Chip lithography 28 nm 40 nm

GTX 980M has a 120% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 3 years, a 166.7% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 42.9% more advanced lithography process.

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

Be aware that GeForce GTX 980M is a notebook card while GeForce GTX 590 is a desktop one.


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

Vote for your favorite

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
GeForce GTX 980M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590
GeForce GTX 590

Other comparisons

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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