GeForce GTX 980 vs Quadro RTX 4000

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared Quadro RTX 4000 with GeForce GTX 980, including specs and performance data.

RTX 4000
2018
8 GB GDDR6, 160 Watt
39.67
+37.3%

RTX 4000 outperforms GTX 980 by a substantial 37% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

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

Place in the ranking110197
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation37.1311.03
Power efficiency17.1112.08
ArchitectureTuring (2018−2022)Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)
GPU code nameTU104GM204
Market segmentWorkstationDesktop
Release date13 November 2018 (6 years ago)19 September 2014 (10 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$899 $549

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

RTX 4000 has 237% better value for money than GTX 980.

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 cores23042048
Core clock speed1005 MHz1064 MHz
Boost clock speed1545 MHz1216 MHz
Number of transistors13,600 million5,200 million
Manufacturing process technology12 nm28 nm
Power consumption (TDP)160 Watt165 Watt
Texture fill rate222.5155.6
Floating-point processing power7.119 TFLOPS4.981 TFLOPS
ROPs6464
TMUs144128
Tensor Cores288no data
Ray Tracing Cores36no 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).

Bus supportno dataPCI Express 3.0
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Length241 mm267 mm
Heightno data4.376" (11.1 cm)
Width1-slot2-slot
Recommended system power (PSU)no data500 Watt
Supplementary power connectors1x 8-pin2x 6-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 typeGDDR6GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount8 GB4 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed1625 MHz7.0 GB/s
Memory bandwidth416.0 GB/s224 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 Connectors3x DisplayPort, 1x USB Type-CDual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Multi monitor supportno data4 displays
VGA аnalog display supportno data+
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) supportno data+
HDMI-+
HDCP-+
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 Boostno data2.0
GameWorks-+
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder-+
Optimus-+
BatteryBoost-+

API compatibility

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

DirectX12 Ultimate (12_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model6.56.4
OpenGL4.64.5
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.1.126
CUDA7.5+

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.

RTX 4000 39.67
+37.3%
GTX 980 28.89

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.

RTX 4000 15255
+37.3%
GTX 980 11110

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.

RTX 4000 85864
+146%
GTX 980 34883

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.

RTX 4000 78801
+96.9%
GTX 980 40029

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.

RTX 4000 94250
+219%
GTX 980 29546

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:

Full HD120−130
+30.4%
92
−30.4%
1440p65−70
+30%
50
−30%
4K50−55
+25%
40
−25%

Cost per frame, $

1080p7.49
−25.5%
5.97
+25.5%
1440p13.83
−26%
10.98
+26%
4K17.98
−31%
13.73
+31%
  • GTX 980 has 26% lower cost per frame in 1080p
  • GTX 980 has 26% lower cost per frame in 1440p
  • GTX 980 has 31% lower cost per frame in 4K

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Counter-Strike 2 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Elden Ring 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Battlefield 5 75
+0%
75
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Metro Exodus 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Battlefield 5 77
+0%
77
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Dota 2 48
+0%
48
+0%
Elden Ring 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Fortnite 105
+0%
105
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 72
+0%
72
+0%
Metro Exodus 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 194
+0%
194
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 67
+0%
67
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%
World of Tanks 270−280
+0%
270−280
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 67
+0%
67
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 55−60
+0%
55−60
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+0%
60−65
+0%
Dota 2 95−100
+0%
95−100
+0%
Far Cry 5 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 130−140
+0%
130−140
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 69
+0%
69
+0%
Valorant 110−120
+0%
110−120
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Dota 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Elden Ring 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 170−180
+0%
170−180
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
World of Tanks 180−190
+0%
180−190
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 47
+0%
47
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Far Cry 5 85−90
+0%
85−90
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Metro Exodus 65−70
+0%
65−70
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 80−85
+0%
80−85
+0%

4K
High Preset

Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Dota 2 59
+0%
59
+0%
Elden Ring 24−27
+0%
24−27
+0%
Grand Theft Auto V 59
+0%
59
+0%
Metro Exodus 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS 70
+0%
70
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 59
+0%
59
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Battlefield 5 22
+0%
22
+0%
Counter-Strike 2 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
Dota 2 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Far Cry 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Fortnite 30
+0%
30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 45−50
+0%
45−50
+0%
Valorant 40−45
+0%
40−45
+0%

This is how RTX 4000 and GTX 980 compete in popular games:

  • RTX 4000 is 30% faster in 1080p
  • RTX 4000 is 30% faster in 1440p
  • RTX 4000 is 25% faster in 4K

All in all, in popular games:

  • there's a draw in 63 tests (100%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 39.67 28.89
Recency 13 November 2018 19 September 2014
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 4 GB
Chip lithography 12 nm 28 nm
Power consumption (TDP) 160 Watt 165 Watt

RTX 4000 has a 37.3% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 4 years, a 100% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 133.3% more advanced lithography process, and 3.1% lower power consumption.

The Quadro RTX 4000 is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 980 in performance tests.

Be aware that Quadro RTX 4000 is a workstation graphics card while GeForce GTX 980 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 Quadro RTX 4000
Quadro RTX 4000
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
GeForce GTX 980

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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