GeForce GTX 960M vs 980M
Aggregate performance score
We've compared GeForce GTX 980M and GeForce GTX 960M, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.
980M outperforms 960M by a whopping 116% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 275 | 460 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 9.92 | 1.49 |
| Architecture | Maxwell (2014−2018) | Maxwell (2014−2018) |
| GPU code name | GM204 | N16P-GX |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 7 October 2014 (9 years ago) | 12 March 2015 (9 years ago) |
| Current price | $583 | $799 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
GTX 980M has 566% better value for money than GTX 960M.
Detailed specifications
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 cores | 1536 | 640 |
| CUDA cores | 1536 | 640 |
| Core clock speed | 1038 MHz | 1096 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1127 MHz | 1202 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 5,200 million | 1,870 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | unknown | 75 Watt |
| Texture fill rate | 51.84 | 47.04 |
| Floating-point performance | 3,462 gflops | 1,505 gflops |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on GeForce GTX 980M and GeForce GTX 960M 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 size | large | medium sized |
| Bus support | PCI Express 3.0 | PCI Express 3.0 |
| Interface | MXM-B (3.0) | MXM-B (3.0) |
| Supplementary power connectors | None | no data |
| 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 | 8 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 2500 MHz | 2500 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 160 GB/s | 80 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 | No outputs | No outputs |
| VGA аnalog display support | + | + |
| DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support | + | + |
| HDMI | + | + |
| G-SYNC support | + | 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 | 2.0 |
| GameWorks | + | + |
| H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder | + | + |
| Optimus | + | + |
| BatteryBoost | + | + |
| Ansel | + | + |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 12 (11_0) |
| Shader Model | 6.4 | 5.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| OpenCL | 1.1 | 1.2 |
| Vulkan | 1.1.126 | 1.1.126 |
| CUDA | + | + |
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.
980M outperforms 960M by 116% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Passmark
This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. 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.
Benchmark coverage: 25%
980M outperforms 960M by 116% in Passmark.
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%
980M outperforms 960M by 137% 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%
980M outperforms 960M by 124% 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%
980M outperforms 960M by 117% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.
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.
Benchmark coverage: 9%
980M outperforms 960M by 104% in GeekBench 5 OpenCL.
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%
980M outperforms 960M by 45% in 3DMark Ice Storm GPU.
GeekBench 5 Vulkan
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 Vulkan API by AMD & Khronos Group.
Benchmark coverage: 5%
980M outperforms 960M by 193% in GeekBench 5 Vulkan.
GeekBench 5 CUDA
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 CUDA API by NVIDIA.
Benchmark coverage: 4%
980M outperforms 960M by 82% in GeekBench 5 CUDA.
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%
980M outperforms 960M by 97% in Unigine Heaven 3.0.
Octane Render OctaneBench
This is a special benchmark measuring graphics card performance in OctaneRender, which is a realistic GPU rendering engine by OTOY Inc., available either as a standalone program, or as a plugin for 3DS Max, Cinema 4D and many other apps. It renders four different static scenes, then compares render times with a reference GPU which is currently GeForce GTX 980. This benchmark has nothing to do with gaming and is aimed at professional 3D graphics artists.
Benchmark coverage: 4%
980M outperforms 960M by 106% in Octane Render OctaneBench.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 maya-04
Benchmark coverage: 3%
980M outperforms 960M by 444% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 maya-04.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 sw-03
Benchmark coverage: 3%
980M outperforms 960M by 571% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 sw-03.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 snx-02
Benchmark coverage: 3%
980M outperforms 960M by 176% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 snx-02.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 catia-04
Benchmark coverage: 3%
980M outperforms 960M by 144% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 catia-04.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 creo-01
Benchmark coverage: 3%
960M outperforms 980M by 28% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 creo-01.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 mediacal-01
Benchmark coverage: 3%
980M outperforms 960M by 863% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 mediacal-01.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 showcase-01
Benchmark coverage: 3%
980M outperforms 960M by 203% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 showcase-01.
SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 energy-01
Benchmark coverage: 3%
960M outperforms 980M by 198% in SPECviewperf 12 - specvp12 energy-01.
SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase
Benchmark coverage: 2%
980M outperforms 960M by 203% in SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase.
SPECviewperf 12 - Maya
This part of SPECviewperf 12 workstation benchmark uses Autodesk Maya 13 engine to render a superhero energy plant static scene consisting of more than 700 thousand polygons, in six different modes.
Benchmark coverage: 2%
980M outperforms 960M by 444% in SPECviewperf 12 - Maya.
SPECviewperf 12 - Catia
Benchmark coverage: 2%
980M outperforms 960M by 144% in SPECviewperf 12 - Catia.
SPECviewperf 12 - Solidworks
Benchmark coverage: 2%
980M outperforms 960M by 571% in SPECviewperf 12 - Solidworks.
SPECviewperf 12 - Siemens NX
Benchmark coverage: 2%
980M outperforms 960M by 176% in SPECviewperf 12 - Siemens NX.
SPECviewperf 12 - Creo
Benchmark coverage: 2%
960M outperforms 980M by 28% in SPECviewperf 12 - Creo.
SPECviewperf 12 - Medical
Benchmark coverage: 2%
980M outperforms 960M by 863% in SPECviewperf 12 - Medical.
SPECviewperf 12 - Energy
Benchmark coverage: 2%
960M outperforms 980M by 198% in SPECviewperf 12 - Energy.
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:
| 900p | 173
+82.1%
| 95
−82.1%
|
| Full HD | 74
+106%
| 36
−106%
|
| 1440p | 31
+121%
| 14
−121%
|
| 4K | 28
+100%
| 14
−100%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33 | no data |
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 51 | no data |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 30−35 | no data |
| Battlefield 5 | 67 | no data |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 35−40 | no data |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33 | no data |
| Far Cry 5 | 62 | no data |
| Far Cry New Dawn | 59 | no data |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 74 | no data |
| Hitman 3 | 35−40 | no data |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 75−80 | no data |
| Metro Exodus | 65 | no data |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55 | no data |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 60−65 | no data |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 55−60 | no data |
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 44 | no data |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 30−35 | no data |
| Battlefield 5 | 57 | no data |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 35−40 | no data |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33 | no data |
| Far Cry 5 | 52 | no data |
| Far Cry New Dawn | 47 | no data |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 191 | no data |
| Hitman 3 | 35−40 | no data |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 75−80 | no data |
| Metro Exodus | 55 | no data |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55 | no data |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 60−65 | no data |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 61 | no data |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 55−60 | no data |
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 26 | no data |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 30−35 | no data |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 35−40 | no data |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 30−33 | no data |
| Far Cry 5 | 38 | no data |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 47 | no data |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 75−80 | no data |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 60−65 | no data |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 33 | no data |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 55−60 | no data |
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 50−55 | no data |
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 33 | no data |
| Far Cry New Dawn | 35 | no data |
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 20 | no data |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 16−18 | no data |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 24−27 | no data |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 10−12 | no data |
| Far Cry 5 | 34 | no data |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 39 | no data |
| Hitman 3 | 21−24 | no data |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 35−40 | no data |
| Metro Exodus | 38 | no data |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 35−40 | no data |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 21−24 | no data |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 12−14 | no data |
1440p
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 30−35 | no data |
4K
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 16 | no data |
| Far Cry New Dawn | 17 | no data |
| Hitman 3 | 14−16 | no data |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 21−24 | no data |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 12 | no data |
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 22 | no data |
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 12 | no data |
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 10−11 | no data |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 10−11 | no data |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 4−5 | no data |
| Far Cry 5 | 12 | no data |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 26 | no data |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 21−24 | no data |
| Metro Exodus | 20 | no data |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 8−9 | no data |
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 16−18 | no data |
This is how GTX 980M and GTX 960M compete in popular games:
- GTX 980M is 82% faster in 900p
- GTX 980M is 106% faster in 1080p
- GTX 980M is 121% faster in 1440p
- GTX 980M is 100% faster in 4K
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 19.02 | 8.79 |
| Recency | 7 October 2014 | 12 March 2015 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 8 GB | 4 GB |
The GeForce GTX 980M is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 960M in performance tests.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
