GeForce GTX 965M SLI vs GTX 980M

Place in the ranking	287	312
Place by popularity	not in top-100	not in top-100
Power efficiency	13.26	no data
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	Maxwell (2014−2017)
GPU code name	GM204	no data
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	7 October 2014 (10 years ago)	5 January 2015 (9 years ago)

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	1536	2048
Core clock speed	1038 MHz	924 MHz
Boost clock speed	1127 MHz	950 MHz
Number of transistors	5,200 million	2x 5200 Million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	unknown	no data
Texture fill rate	51.84	no data
Floating-point processing power	1.659 TFLOPS	no data
ROPs	64	no data
TMUs	96	no data

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 size	large	large
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	no data
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	2x 4 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	128 Bit
Memory clock speed	2500 MHz	5000 MHz
Memory bandwidth	160 GB/s	no data
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 data
VGA аnalog display support	+	no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	+	no data
HDMI	+	-
G-SYNC support	+	-

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	+	-
Ansel	+	no data

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12_1
Shader Model	6.4	no data
OpenGL	4.5	no data
OpenCL	1.1	no data
Vulkan	1.1.126	-
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 19.07
+10%

GTX 965M SLI 17.34

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

GTX 965M SLI 14428
+15.3%

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

GTX 965M SLI 10207
+5.4%

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.

GTX 980M 65241
+27.5%

GTX 965M SLI 51182

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.

GTX 980M 327632
+30.9%

GTX 965M SLI 250259

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 +15.3%	150−160 −15.3%
Full HD	69 −5.8%	73 +5.8%
1440p	36 +20%	30−35 −20%
4K	28 +16.7%	24−27 −16.7%

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

30−33
+11.1%

27−30

−11.1%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	51 +30.8%	35−40 −30.8%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 +10.3%	27−30 −10.3%
Battlefield 5	67 +17.5%	55−60 −17.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +8.6%	35−40 −8.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 +11.1%	27−30 −11.1%
Far Cry 5	62 +55%	40−45 −55%
Far Cry New Dawn	59 +25.5%	45−50 −25.5%
Forza Horizon 4	196 +78.2%	110−120 −78.2%
Hitman 3	35−40 +12.1%	30−35 −12.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 +7%	85−90 −7%
Metro Exodus	65 +10.2%	55−60 −10.2%
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55 +8.5%	45−50 −8.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	100 +75.4%	55−60 −75.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +4.7%	85−90 −4.7%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	68 +74.4%	35−40 −74.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 +10.3%	27−30 −10.3%
Battlefield 5	57 +0%	55−60 +0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +8.6%	35−40 −8.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 +11.1%	27−30 −11.1%
Far Cry 5	52 +30%	40−45 −30%
Far Cry New Dawn	47 +0%	45−50 +0%
Forza Horizon 4	191 +73.6%	110−120 −73.6%
Hitman 3	35−40 +12.1%	30−35 −12.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 +7%	85−90 −7%
Metro Exodus	55 −7.3%	55−60 +7.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2	50−55 +8.5%	45−50 −8.5%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 +10.5%	55−60 −10.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	121 +203%	40−45 −203%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +4.7%	85−90 −4.7%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	26 −50%	35−40 +50%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	30−35 +10.3%	27−30 −10.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	35−40 +8.6%	35−40 −8.6%
Cyberpunk 2077	30−33 +11.1%	27−30 −11.1%
Far Cry 5	38 −5.3%	40−45 +5.3%
Forza Horizon 4	47 −134%	110−120 +134%
Hitman 3	35−40 +12.1%	30−35 −12.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn	90−95 +7%	85−90 −7%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	60−65 +10.5%	55−60 −10.5%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	33 −21.2%	40−45 +21.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	85−90 +4.7%	85−90 −4.7%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

50−55
+8.5%

45−50

−8.5%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	33 +0%	30−35 +0%
Far Cry New Dawn	32 +23.1%	24−27 −23.1%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	20 +17.6%	16−18 −17.6%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	16−18 +13.3%	14−16 −13.3%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	21−24 +10.5%	18−20 −10.5%
Cyberpunk 2077	10−12 +22.2%	9−10 −22.2%
Far Cry 5	24 +20%	20−22 −20%
Forza Horizon 4	134 +42.6%	90−95 −42.6%
Hitman 3	21−24 +10%	20−22 −10%
Horizon Zero Dawn	35−40 +11.4%	35−40 −11.4%
Metro Exodus	38 +22.6%	30−35 −22.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	35−40 +15.2%	30−35 −15.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	21−24 +15.8%	18−20 −15.8%
Watch Dogs: Legion	110−120 +8.7%	100−110 −8.7%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

30−35
+10.7%

27−30

−10.7%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	16 −6.3%	16−18 +6.3%
Far Cry New Dawn	17 +30.8%	12−14 −30.8%
Hitman 3	14−16 +7.7%	12−14 −7.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn	95−100 +10.1%	85−90 −10.1%
Metro Exodus	18 +0%	18−20 +0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	22 +29.4%	16−18 −29.4%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	12 +20%	10−11 −20%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	9−10 +12.5%	8−9 −12.5%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	10−11 +11.1%	9−10 −11.1%
Cyberpunk 2077	4−5 +33.3%	3−4 −33.3%
Far Cry 5	12 +33.3%	9−10 −33.3%
Forza Horizon 4	26 +13%	21−24 −13%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	21−24 +16.7%	18−20 −16.7%
Watch Dogs: Legion	8−9 +14.3%	7−8 −14.3%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

16−18
+13.3%

14−16

−13.3%

This is how GTX 980M and GTX 965M SLI compete in popular games:

GTX 980M is 15% faster in 900p
GTX 965M SLI is 6% faster in 1080p
GTX 980M is 20% faster in 1440p
GTX 980M is 17% faster in 4K

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

in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 980M is 203% faster.
in Forza Horizon 4, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 965M SLI is 134% faster.

All in all, in popular games: