780M SLI vs 980M

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VS
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Price now 583$
Games supported 83%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
Buy
  • Interface MXM-B (3.0)
  • Core clock speed 1038 + Boost
  • Max video memory 8 GB
  • Memory type GDDR5
  • Memory clock speed 2500 MHz
  • Maximum resolution
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M SLI
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M SLI
Buy
  • Interface
  • Core clock speed 823
  • Max video memory 2x 4096 MB
  • Memory type GDDR5
  • Memory clock speed 5000
  • Maximum resolution
Price now 149$
Games supported 84%

General info

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

Place in performance rating232221
Value for money8.0033.85
ArchitectureMaxwell (2014−2018)Kepler (2012−2018)
GPU code nameGM204N14E-GTX
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date7 October 2014 (8 years old)30 May 2013 (9 years old)
Current price$583 $149
Value for money

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

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  • 50
  • 100
  • 0
  • 50
  • 100

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 cores15363072
CUDA cores1536no data
Core clock speed1038 MHz823 MHz
Boost clock speed1127 MHzno data
Number of transistors5,200 million7080 Million
Manufacturing process technology28 nm28 nm
Thermal design power (TDP)unknown200 Watt
Texture fill rate51.84no data
Floating-point performance3,462 gflopsno data

Size and compatibility

Information on GeForce GTX 980M and GeForce GTX 780M SLI 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)no data
Supplementary power connectorsNoneno data
SLI options++

Memory

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated VRAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount8 GB2x 4 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit2x 256 Bit
Memory clock speed2500 MHz5000 MHz
Memory bandwidth160 GB/sno data
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 ConnectorsNo outputsno data
VGA аnalog display support+no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support+no data
HDMI+no data
G-SYNC support+no 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++
BatteryBoost+no data
Ansel+no data

API support

APIs supported, including particular versions of those APIs.

DirectX12 (12_1)11
Shader Model6.4no data
OpenGL4.5no data
OpenCL1.1no data
Vulkan1.1.126no data
CUDA++

Benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. Note that overall benchmark performance is measured in points in 0-100 range.


Overall score

This is our combined benchmark performance rating. 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 18.45
GTX 780M SLI 19.18
+4%
  • 3DMark Vantage Performance
  • 3DMark 11 Performance GPU
  • 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU
  • 3DMark Fire Strike Score
  • 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics
  • Unigine Heaven 3.0

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: 16%

GTX 980M 31944
GTX 780M SLI 36004
+12.7%

GeForce GTX 780M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 980M by 13% 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: 16%

GTX 980M 12517
GTX 780M SLI 14140
+13%

GeForce GTX 780M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 980M by 13% in 3DMark 11 Performance GPU.

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: 13%

GTX 980M 65241
GTX 780M SLI 66148
+1.4%

GeForce GTX 780M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 980M by 1% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.

3DMark Fire Strike Score

Benchmark coverage: 13%

GTX 980M 8343
+4.2%
GTX 780M SLI 8009

GeForce GTX 980M outperforms GeForce GTX 780M SLI by 4% in 3DMark Fire Strike Score.

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 seemingly made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic enough graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

Benchmark coverage: 13%

GTX 980M 9682
GTX 780M SLI 10091
+4.2%

GeForce GTX 780M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 980M by 4% in 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics.

Unigine Heaven 3.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark using Unigine, a 3D game engine by eponymous Russian company. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. Version 3.0 was released in 2012, and in 2013 it was superseded by Heaven 4.0, which introduced several slight improvements, including a newer version of Unigine.

Benchmark coverage: 4%

GTX 980M 111
GTX 780M SLI 133
+20.1%

GeForce GTX 780M SLI outperforms GeForce GTX 980M by 20% in Unigine Heaven 3.0.

Mining hashrates

Cryptocurrency mining performance of GeForce GTX 980M and GeForce GTX 780M SLI. Usually measured in megahashes per second.

Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 383 Mh/s no data

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

900p173no data
Full HD72
−37.5%
99
+37.5%
1440p36no data
4K27no data

Popular games

  • Full HD
    Low Preset
  • Full HD
    Medium Preset
  • Full HD
    High Preset
  • Full HD
    Ultra Preset
  • 1440p
    High Preset
  • 1440p
    Ultra Preset
  • 4K
    High Preset
  • 4K
    Ultra Preset
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 51
+30.8%
35−40
−30.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Battlefield 5 82
+24.2%
65−70
−24.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 45−50
−4.1%
50−55
+4.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Far Cry 5 58
+11.5%
50−55
−11.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 60
+13.2%
50−55
−13.2%
Forza Horizon 4 74
+10.4%
65−70
−10.4%
Hitman 3 55−60
−3.6%
55−60
+3.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−4.9%
40−45
+4.9%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 51
+21.4%
40−45
−21.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−2.8%
35−40
+2.8%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 44
+12.8%
35−40
−12.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Battlefield 5 68
+3%
65−70
−3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 45−50
−4.1%
50−55
+4.1%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Far Cry 5 53
+1.9%
50−55
−1.9%
Far Cry New Dawn 56
+5.7%
50−55
−5.7%
Forza Horizon 4 68
+1.5%
65−70
−1.5%
Hitman 3 55−60
−3.6%
55−60
+3.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 40−45
−4.9%
40−45
+4.9%
Metro Exodus 31
+0%
30−35
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 42
+0%
40−45
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 61
+41.9%
40−45
−41.9%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−2.8%
35−40
+2.8%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 26
−50%
35−40
+50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Battlefield 5 61
−8.2%
65−70
+8.2%
Cyberpunk 2077 30−35
−3.1%
30−35
+3.1%
Far Cry 5 50
−4%
50−55
+4%
Far Cry New Dawn 51
−3.9%
50−55
+3.9%
Forza Horizon 4 47
−42.6%
65−70
+42.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 33
−30.3%
40−45
+30.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 35−40
−2.8%
35−40
+2.8%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27−30
−7.1%
30−33
+7.1%
Hitman 3 30−35
−6.5%
30−35
+6.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 24−27
−3.8%
27−30
+3.8%
Metro Exodus 19
+5.6%
18−20
−5.6%
Red Dead Redemption 2 14−16
−7.1%
14−16
+7.1%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 25
+0%
24−27
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 12−14 no data
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 20
−5%
21−24
+5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%
Battlefield 5 45
+2.3%
40−45
−2.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
−9.1%
12−14
+9.1%
Far Cry 5 34
+3%
30−35
−3%
Far Cry New Dawn 38
+2.7%
35−40
−2.7%
Forza Horizon 4 39
−2.6%
40−45
+2.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Hitman 3 18−20
−5.6%
18−20
+5.6%
Horizon Zero Dawn 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Metro Exodus 12
+9.1%
10−12
−9.1%
Red Dead Redemption 2 10−11
−10%
10−12
+10%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 12
−8.3%
12−14
+8.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 22
+10%
20−22
−10%
Assassin's Creed Odyssey 12
+0%
12−14
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 9−10
+0%
9−10
+0%
Battlefield 5 23
+0%
21−24
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%
Far Cry 5 16
+0%
16−18
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 20
+5.3%
18−20
−5.3%
Forza Horizon 4 26
+0%
24−27
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%

Advantages and disadvantages


Performance rating 18.45 19.18
Recency 7 October 2014 30 May 2013
Pipelines / CUDA cores 1536 3072

Technical City couldn't decide between

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M
GeForce GTX 980M

and

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M SLI
GeForce GTX 780M SLI

The differences in performance seem too small.


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

Cast your vote

Do you think we are right or mistaken in our choice? Vote by clicking "Like" button near your favorite graphics card.


Competitors of GeForce GTX 980M by AMD

We believe that the nearest equivalent to GeForce GTX 980M from AMD is Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire, which is nearly equal in speed and is lower by 3 positions in our rating.

AMD Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire Radeon HD 8970M Crossfire
Compare

Here are some closest AMD rivals to GeForce GTX 980M:

Competitors of GeForce GTX 780M SLI by AMD

The nearest GeForce GTX 780M SLI's AMD equivalent is Radeon RX 5600M, which is faster by 2% and higher by 5 positions in our performance rating.

AMD Radeon RX 5600M Radeon RX 5600M
Compare

Here are some closest AMD rivals to GeForce GTX 780M SLI:

Similar GPU comparisons

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

User rating

Here you can see the user rating of the graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


4 194 votes

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3.4 5 votes

Rate NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M SLI on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions and comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.