• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4 GB

W1zzard

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
May 14, 2004
Messages
26,956 (3.71/day)
Processor Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory 48 GB
Video Card(s) RTX 4080
Storage 2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s) 30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software Windows 10 64-bit
Today, NVIDIA releases their new GeForce GTX 980, which brings the Maxwell architecture to the high-end. It features massive power efficiency improvements and reduced noise, but also beats the GTX 780 Ti in raw performance. Pricing is quite acceptable, too, with an MSRP of $549.

Show full review
 
Last edited:

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
28,472 (4.25/day)
Location
Indiana, USA
Processor Intel Core i7 10850K@5.2GHz
Motherboard AsRock Z470 Taichi
Cooling Corsair H115i Pro w/ Noctua NF-A14 Fans
Memory 32GB DDR4-3600
Video Card(s) RTX 2070 Super
Storage 500GB SX8200 Pro + 8TB with 1TB SSD Cache
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG280K 4K 28"
Case Fractal Design Define S
Audio Device(s) Onboard is good enough for me
Power Supply eVGA SuperNOVA 1000w G3
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
Wow! This card is so bad ass.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
Messages
47 (0.01/day)
Location
Austin, TX USA
System Name Game Bench
Processor 4.4 GHz Intel Core i7-5960X
Motherboard ASUS RAMPAGE V EXTREME LGA 2011-v3 X99
Cooling AIO Corsair
Memory 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3100 MHz ADATA XPG Z1 SDRAM DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) 1404 MHz 3x EVGA SC GTX 980
Storage 2x Crucial M500 240GB SSD RAID 0
Display(s) ASUS ROG SWIFT PG278Q
Case Aerocool Strike-X Air
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply CORSAIR AX1500i
Software Windows 8.1-64 Enterprise, Adobe CS6 Master Collection
Benchmark Scores FSE 15306 http://www.3dmark.com/fs/3406834
"Oh, and AMD seems fucked." That should have been the title of the article, ha!
 
Joined
Feb 23, 2008
Messages
1,064 (0.18/day)
Location
Montreal
System Name Aryzen / Sairikiki / Tesseract
Processor 5800x / i7 920@3.73 / 5800x
Motherboard Steel Legend B450M / GB EX58-UDP4 / Steel Legend B550M
Cooling Mugen 5 / Pure Rock / Glacier One 240
Memory Corsair Something 16 / Corsair Something 12 / G.Skill 32
Video Card(s) AMD 6800XT / AMD 6750XT / Sapphire 7800XT
Storage Way too many drives...
Display(s) LG 332GP850-B / Sony w800b / Sony X90J
Case EVOLV X / Carbide 540 / Carbide 280x
Audio Device(s) SB ZxR + GSP 500 / board / Denon X1700h + ELAC Uni-Fi 2 + Senn 6XX
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME GX-750 / Corsair HX750 / Seasonic Focus PX-650
Mouse G700 / none / G602
Keyboard G910
Software w11 64
Benchmark Scores I don't play benchmarks...
Have to say, I'm freaking genuinely impressed by every single aspect of this card except the price. It's amazing how much nV has managed to suck out of the 28nm process, mad props to them.

While it doesn't seem like any game really demanding an upgrade are coming in the near future, I can't wait to see what kind of performance 20nm will bring next year.
 

Athlon2K15

HyperVtX™
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
7,909 (1.24/day)
Location
O-H-I-O
Processor Intel Core i9 11900K
Motherboard MSI Z590 Carbon EK X
Cooling Custom Water
Memory Team DDR4 4000MHz
Video Card(s) ASUS TUF RTX 3080 OC
Storage WD WN850 1TB
Display(s) 43" LG NanoCell 4K 120Hz
Power Supply Asus Thor 1200w
Mouse Asus Strix Evolve
Keyboard Asus Strix Claymore
Oh god bring on the wave of "AMD is screwed" comments...

Truth is the truth, they have been shafted for years by Nvidia and Intel.
 
Joined
May 4, 2012
Messages
412 (0.09/day)
Processor Intel i7 10700K
Motherboard Gigabyte Z490 Aorus Pro AX
Cooling Be Quiet Dark Rock Pro 4
Memory DDR4 Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHZ (2X16GB)
Video Card(s) Palit GTX1080ti Super JetStream 11GB
Storage Trandscend 370s 256GB / WD Caviar Black 2+1TB
Display(s) Acer XB270HU 144hz Gsync
Case Phanteks Eclipse P600S White
Audio Device(s) Sound Blaster ZXR
Power Supply Corsair RM1000X 1000W 80 Plus Gold
The performance is not a big wow for me. Still waiting for the 980ti.
 
Joined
Nov 16, 2004
Messages
456 (0.06/day)
System Name Mr. Obsolete| Ms. Old
Processor Intel Core i5 3570K | Intel Core i7 6700
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-I Deluxe | Asus Maximus VIII Gene
Cooling DeepCool GAMMAXX 120 | Coolermaster i7C
Memory Kingston HyperX 1866 16GB (8x2) | Kingston HyperX 2400 16GB (8x2)
Video Card(s) Asus TUF GTX 1650 Super | Asus ROG Strix GTX 1050Ti
Storage Intel 330 180GB + WD Blue 1TB | ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB + WD Blue 1TB
Display(s) ASUS VZ239HE | ASUS VZ239HR
Case Silverstone SG13B | Silverstone PS15B
Audio Device(s) On-Board Realtek ALC898 + Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3 | ROG SupremeFX 2015 + Sound Blaster X-Fi MB3
Power Supply FSP SFX PRO 450 | Seasonic S12-III 500
Software Windows 10 Home
THAT power consumption at THIS performance level... just picked up my jaw on the floor! :peace:
 
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
229 (0.05/day)
Location
Brazil
System Name Tiffany
Processor Intel i7 4770K @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H
Cooling Corsair H100i Push-Pull
Memory Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 16GB
Video Card(s) XFX R9 290 Crossfire @ 925Mhz
Storage WD 500GB + Seagate 1 TB
Display(s) BenQ XL2420TX 120hz
Case Cooler Master CM690II Black & White
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
Software Windows 7
What an amazing card. I'm selling my R9 290 CFX ASAP. I mean, A.S.A.P.

Maxwell came along kicking the s**t out of everybody. But i wonder, just like with Kepler... Isn't the GTX 970 (220$ cheaper) a friendly fire?
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2011
Messages
540 (0.12/day)
Not even the most rabid of AMD fanboys (me included) can deny the 970 and 980 are spectacular cards. This reminds me of when Nvidia released the 8800 GTS that blew the socks off of Ati in every measure - until they released the equally impressive HD 4800. AMD better go all in with the R9 390 series.
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
11,655 (1.73/day)
System Name Compy 386
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard Asus
Cooling Air for now.....
Memory 64 GB DDR5 6400Mhz
Video Card(s) 7900XTX 310 Merc
Storage Samsung 990 2TB, 2 SP 2TB SSDs and over 10TB spinning
Display(s) 56" Samsung 4K HDR
Audio Device(s) ATI HDMI
Mouse Logitech MX518
Keyboard Razer
Software A lot.
Benchmark Scores Its fast. Enough.
Only a 9.6? Seriously, I think I just became a Nvidia fan. I wonder what it would do with a larger memory bus and liquid cooling.
I feel bad for ATI/AMD for the shit that was the 285 even more now, they are making them look like monkeys throwing poo at the circus with that fuckup.
 
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
229 (0.05/day)
Location
Brazil
System Name Tiffany
Processor Intel i7 4770K @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H
Cooling Corsair H100i Push-Pull
Memory Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 16GB
Video Card(s) XFX R9 290 Crossfire @ 925Mhz
Storage WD 500GB + Seagate 1 TB
Display(s) BenQ XL2420TX 120hz
Case Cooler Master CM690II Black & White
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Cooler Master Silent Pro 1000W
Software Windows 7
Man, AMD needs jaw-dropping performance from the R9 3xx series. Immediately.

The 295x2 looks utterly pathetic now. I'm beyond impressed.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
4,686 (0.80/day)
System Name Obelisc
Processor i7 3770k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling H110
Memory 16GB(4x4) @ 2400 MHz 9-11-11-31
Video Card(s) GTX 780 Ti
Storage 850 EVO 1TB, 2x 5TB Toshiba
Case T81
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium HD
Power Supply EVGA 850 T2 80+ TITANIUM
Software Win10 64bit
Interesting they chose power consumption over big performance gains yet again. Given AMDs usual approach to closing performance gap, "overclock it till it competes" at the expense of everything else, I fear the power efficiency and noise gap will never close. It things like that which are why nvidia is considered the premium card brand.
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2011
Messages
528 (0.11/day)
System Name As Himself
Processor 2700X
Motherboard Asrock 370X ThaiChi
Cooling Custom Liquid
Memory 4133MHz Team
Video Card(s) Radeon VII
Storage Samsung 512 SSD's
Display(s) Asus "24 144Hz
Case Tt P5
Audio Device(s) Asus Essence One Muses/Sparkos
Power Supply EVGA 1200
Mouse RAT ProX
Keyboard Drop CTRL
Software W10 steam futuremark
Man, AMD needs jaw-dropping performance from the R9 3xx series. Immediately.

The 295x2 looks utterly pathetic now. I'm beyond impressed.
did you read the review???
 
Joined
May 4, 2009
Messages
1,970 (0.36/day)
Location
Bulgaria
System Name penguin
Processor R7 5700G
Motherboard Asrock B450M Pro4
Cooling Some CM tower cooler that will fit my case
Memory 4 x 8GB Kingston HyperX Fury 2666MHz
Video Card(s) IGP
Storage ADATA SU800 512GB
Display(s) 27' LG
Case Zalman
Audio Device(s) stock
Power Supply Seasonic SS-620GM
Software win10
This is the new GTX8800! :eek:
 
Joined
Sep 7, 2011
Messages
2,785 (0.61/day)
Location
New Zealand
System Name MoneySink
Processor 2600K @ 4.8
Motherboard P8Z77-V
Cooling AC NexXxos XT45 360, RayStorm, D5T+XSPC tank, Tygon R-3603, Bitspower
Memory 16GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600C8
Video Card(s) GTX 780 SLI (EVGA SC ACX + Giga GHz Ed.)
Storage Kingston HyperX SSD (128) OS, WD RE4 (1TB), RE2 (1TB), Cav. Black (2 x 500GB), Red (4TB)
Display(s) Achieva Shimian QH270-IPSMS (2560x1440) S-IPS
Case NZXT Switch 810
Audio Device(s) onboard Realtek yawn edition
Power Supply Seasonic X-1050
Software Win8.1 Pro
Benchmark Scores 3.5 litres of Pale Ale in 18 minutes.
I feel bad for ATI/AMD for the shit that was the 285 even more now, they are making them look like monkeys throwing poo at the circus with that fuckup.
OK, that's an image I didn't need in my head :laugh:

How weird is the turnaround? Four years ago AMD were putting out an awesome Cypress GPU that killed on both performance and power usage metrics, and Nvidia were relegated to the sidelines and couldn't get a fully enabled GF 100 out the door. Now we have Nvidia going for dial-you-own performance/power and AMD debut a GPU for the first time in recent memory with a salvage part.
 
Joined
Apr 29, 2014
Messages
4,180 (1.15/day)
Location
Texas
System Name SnowFire / The Reinforcer
Processor i7 10700K 5.1ghz (24/7) / 2x Xeon E52650v2
Motherboard Asus Strix Z490 / Dell Dual Socket (R720)
Cooling RX 360mm + 140mm Custom Loop / Dell Stock
Memory Corsair RGB 16gb DDR4 3000 CL 16 / DDR3 128gb 16 x 8gb
Video Card(s) GTX Titan XP (2025mhz) / Asus GTX 950 (No Power Connector)
Storage Samsung 970 1tb NVME and 2tb HDD x4 RAID 5 / 300gb x8 RAID 5
Display(s) Acer XG270HU, Samsung G7 Odyssey (1440p 240hz)
Case Thermaltake Cube / Dell Poweredge R720 Rack Mount Case
Audio Device(s) Realtec ALC1150 (On board)
Power Supply Rosewill Lightning 1300Watt / Dell Stock 750 / Brick
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Logitech G19S
Software Windows 11 Pro / Windows Server 2016
The funny thing I look back on is all the people saying the GTX 980 was not going to compete with the GTX 780ti and yet it seems to be a winner all around.

One heck of a card in all honesty even at that price since the performance matches. The 4k power of this card is what makes it so appealing to me on top of the overclocking performance!

Truth is the truth, they have been getting fucked ass and mouth for years by Nvidia and Intel.
I would not say that, AMD has had the Dual GPU crown continuously for quite some time with the only exception being the 690 vs 7990. As for single GPU the 7970 and GTX 680 were neck and neck with the 7970 being a better card for high resolution as with the same argument when comparing the GTX 780ti to the R9 290X. Its a newer generation card, of course its going to be better...

I see some major price cuts in my crystal ball ;)!

But out of all that, the real winner here is the GTX 970.
 
Joined
Jan 15, 2014
Messages
13 (0.00/day)
System Name Rosebud
Processor i7-5960x
Motherboard ASRock X99 OC Formula
Cooling NZXT Kraken X60
Memory 16GB Corsair LPX 2600
Video Card(s) 2 x EVGA GTX 780Ti Classified
Storage 240GB Samsung 840 EVO / 240GB OCZ 460 / 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300
Display(s) BenQ XL2420TE
Case NZXT Phantom 630 White
Audio Device(s) Logitech Z623 2.1 / Creative Tactic 3D Rage Headset
Power Supply EVGA G2 1300W
Software Windows 8.1 Pro
Bah, nothing special besides consumption (that is not very important to the majority of people). It is a OCed 780Ti with 4GB of RAM and $50 cheaper.

The 970 is really good for the price.
 
Joined
Feb 2, 2011
Messages
561 (0.12/day)
System Name Salamander
Processor Ryzen 5 3600 @ 4.325ghz 1.206v
Motherboard Asrock X370 Taichi
Cooling EK Supremacy Evo | Black Ice Nemesis 360GTS XFlow | Noiseblocker BlackSilent Pro 120mm x 3
Memory Team T-Force Xtreem 2x8GB DDR4 3733 @ 3733mhz c16 1.4v | IF @ 1866mhz
Video Card(s) XFX RX-470 RS Single Fan flashed to RX-570 @ stock water-cooled
Storage Samsung 850 Evo 256gb M.2 | Crucial M4 128GB | WD Blue 1TB | WD Blue 500GB 2.5" | Toshiba 2TB 2.5"
Display(s) LG 27MP68VQ 27" 1920x1080 75hz IPS Freesync monitor
Case Fractal Design Define C
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Gold 650w
Mouse Steelseries Kana White
Keyboard Steelseries 6GV2 Cherry MX Black
Software Windows 10 Pro N
yeah, classifying these two cards I'd take the GTX 970 for more performance on my buck while the GTX 980 for performance per watt. And I guess this is common amongst some type of people in every card launch. Praise the card on how good it is through other card's disadvantage.
 

fullinfusion

Vanguard Beta Tester
Joined
Jan 11, 2008
Messages
9,909 (1.67/day)
Nice card for sure, and I love the big ass cooler, and the back plate! :rockout:but IMO Even though AMD is a few months behind I believe this card is going to drop an easy $100 in price once AMD bring out it's 3 series cards.
 
Joined
Aug 30, 2009
Messages
4,012 (0.75/day)
Location
Sarasota, Florida, USA
System Name Awesomesauce 4.3 | Laptop (MSI GE72VR 6RF Apache Pro-023)
Processor Intel Core i7-5820K 4.16GHz 1.28v/3GHz 1.05v uncore | Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.1GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-X99-UD5 WiFi LGA2011-v3| Stock
Cooling Corsair H100i v2 w/ 2x EK Vardar F4-120ER + various 120/140mm case fans | Stock
Memory G.Skill RJ-4 16GB DDR4-2666 CL15 quad channel | 12GB DDR4-2133
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid SC2 11GB @ 2012/5151 boost | NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB +200/+500 + Intel 530
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 500GB + Seagate 3TB 7200RPM + others | Kingston 256GB M.2 SATA + 1TB 7200RPM
Display(s) Acer G257HU 1440p 60Hz AH-IPS 4ms | 17.3" 1920*1080 60Hz wide angle TN notebook panel
Case Fractal Design Define XL R2 | MSI
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster Z | Realtek with quad stereo speakers and subwoofer
Power Supply Corsair HX850i Platinum | 19.5v 180w Delta brick
Software Windows 10 Pro x64 | Windows 10 Home x64
At least I got my R9 290 from Xazax for $225, but damn, I want one (or two) for my 5820K/X99 setup arriving next week.
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
3,275 (0.46/day)
Location
Sunny California
Processor Intel Core i9 13900KF
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero EVA Edition
Cooling Asus Ryujin II 360 EVA Edition
Memory 4x16GBs DDR5 6800MHz G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo Series
Video Card(s) Zotac RTX 4090 AMP Extreme Airo
Storage 2TB Samsung 980 Pro OS - 4TB Nextorage G Series Games - 8TBs WD Black Storage
Display(s) LG C2 OLED 42" 4K 120Hz HDR G-Sync enabled TV
Case Asus ROG Helios EVA Edition
Audio Device(s) Denon AVR-S910W - 7.1 Klipsch Dolby ATMOS Speaker Setup - Audeze Maxwell
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 1300W
Mouse Asus ROG Keris EVA Edition - Asus ROG Scabbard II EVA Edition
Keyboard Asus ROG Strix Scope EVA Edition
VR HMD Samsung Odyssey VR
Software Windows 11 Pro 64bit
Thanks for the review W1zz.

I'm amazed at the efficiency of this architecture, can't wait for big Maxwell at 20nm, Nvidia seems to have found the same secret sauce recipe Intel found years ago when they abandoned the Netburst architecture. Compared to Fermi, Maxwell truly is an outstanding feat of thermal and power efficiency engineering.
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2005
Messages
7,062 (1.04/day)
Location
Asked my ISP.... 0.0
System Name Lynni PS \ Lenowo TwinkPad T480
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Raphael \ i7-8550U Kaby Lake-R
Motherboard ASRock B650M PG Riptide Bios v. 2.02 AMD AGESA 1.1.0.0 \ Lenowo 20L60036MX Bios 1.47
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 Chromax.Black (Only middle fan) \ Lenowo WN-2
Memory G.Skill Flare X5 2x16GB DDR5 6000MHZ CL36-36-36-96 AMD EXPO \ Willk Elektronik 2x16GB 2666MHZ CL17
Video Card(s) Asus GeForce RTX™ 4070 Dual OC GPU: 2325-2355 MEM: 1462| Nvidia GeForce MX™ 150 2GB GDDR5 Micron
Storage Gigabyte M30 1TB|Sabrent Rocket 2TB| HDD: 10TB|1TB \ SKHynix 256GB 2242 3x2
Display(s) LG UltraGear 27GP850-B 1440p@165Hz | LG 48CX OLED 4K HDR | AUO 14" 1440p IPS
Case Fractal Design Meshify 2 Tempered Glass White/Black | Lenowo T480 chassis
Audio Device(s) Steelseries Arctis Pro Wireless
Power Supply Be Quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W Goldie | 65W
Mouse Logitech G305 Lightspeedy Wireless | Lenowo TouchPad & Logitech G305
Keyboard Akko 3108 DS Horizon V2 Cream Yellow | T480 UK Lumi
Software Win11 Pro 23H2 UK
Benchmark Scores 3DMARK: https://www.3dmark.com/3dm/89434432? GPU-Z: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/details/v3zbr
could look like i found my new card for my 27inch 2560x1440@120hz and it don't use much power either compared to my GTX 780:lovetpu:
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
11,655 (1.73/day)
System Name Compy 386
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard Asus
Cooling Air for now.....
Memory 64 GB DDR5 6400Mhz
Video Card(s) 7900XTX 310 Merc
Storage Samsung 990 2TB, 2 SP 2TB SSDs and over 10TB spinning
Display(s) 56" Samsung 4K HDR
Audio Device(s) ATI HDMI
Mouse Logitech MX518
Keyboard Razer
Software A lot.
Benchmark Scores Its fast. Enough.
OK, that's an image I didn't need in my head :laugh:

How weird is the turnaround? Four years ago AMD were putting out an awesome Cypress GPU that killed on both performance and power usage metrics, and Nvidia were relegated to the sidelines and couldn't get a fully enabled GF 100 out the door. Now we have Nvidia going for dial-you-own performance/power and AMD debut a GPU for the first time in recent memory with a salvage part.
I am really excited to see what this would do on a mature 20nm process, 165W now, and with a shrink perhaps 25-35W less and generally you get a frequency bump from it as well, at this rate we could see 2Ghz GPU cores with 14nm.

AMD has been suffering from their poor management, and what seems to be an unsure direction and forced melding of ATI into the ranks. I really hope they get something better and more reasonable than the broken card they tried to pass off in the next 6 months.

I think the 970 is the card I am going to buy for GTA5.
 
Top