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AMD Radeon RX 590 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

AMD
VS
NVIDIA
Performance
Radeon RX 5901% better
23,362.522% of 104,937
GeForce GTX 980 Ti
23,05722% of 104,937

The Radeon RX 590 has 1% better performance than the GeForce GTX 980 Ti for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 590136% better
83.7452% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 980 Ti
35.5322% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 590 has 136% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 980 Ti for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the AMD Radeon RX 590 GPU

The Radeon RX 590 is a desktop graphics card by AMD. It launched in Q4 2018 with a suggested retail price of $279. Its Polaris 30 chip that powers the GPU uses the GCN 4.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 12 nm process.

This GPU is paired with 8 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 2,000 MHz memory clock and 256 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 256 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

The RX 590 is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports HDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4a display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 175 W. AMD recommends using a power supply of at least 450 W with this card. A power supply lower than this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

The Radeon RX 590 has the 100th highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 22.26% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 23,362.5 score and $279 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 83.74. This is the 32nd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti GPU

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti is an end-of-life desktop graphics card by NVIDIA. It launched in Q2 2015 with a suggested retail price of $649. Its GM200 chip that powers the GPU uses the Maxwell 2.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 28 nm process.

This GPU is paired with 6 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 1,753 MHz memory clock and 384 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 336.6 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

The GTX 980 Ti is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 250 W. NVIDIA recommends using a power supply of at least 600 W with this card. A power supply lower than this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti has the 101st highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 21.97% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 23,057 score and $649 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 35.53. This is the 72nd best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

General Info

General overview of the GPU, including details like its manufacturer, release date, launch price, and current production status.

InfoRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
ManufacturerAMDNVIDIA
ArchitectureGCN 4.0Maxwell 2.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ4 2018Q2 2015
Launch Price (MSRP)$279$649
Production StatusActiveEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
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DIRT 5
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FPS Benchmarks

This table showcases the average frame rate (FPS) achieved both GPUs in at various resolutions. Frame rate is a crucial indicator of how smoothly the GPU can run the game. A higher FPS generally translates to a smoother gameplay experience.

  • Frames Per Second
FPS data for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Radeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
Low - 720p
137 FPS
--
Medium - 1080p
96 FPS
--
High - 1080p
86 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
60 FPS
--
QHD - 1440p
47 FPS
--
4K UHD - 2160p
32 FPS
--
FPS Source: Notebookcheck

Compare Frames Per Second (FPS)

The average frame rate (FPS) in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, higher FPS results in a smoother gameplay experience.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 590 orGeForce GTX 980 Ti
GPUFrames Per Second
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti44.9+42%
GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER37.6+19%
Radeon VII37.2+17%
GeForce RTX 306036.6+15%
Radeon RX 5700 XT33.3+5%
Radeon RX 59031.7
GeForce RTX 207031.7+0%
Radeon RX 570030.9-3%
Radeon RX 660029.3-8%
Radeon RX Vega 6428.1-11%

Compare Cost Per Frame

The average cost per frame in can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. Generally, a lower cost per frame implies better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 590 orGeForce GTX 980 Ti

Benchmark Performance

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Performance
Radeon RX 5901% better
23,362.522% of 104,937
GeForce GTX 980 Ti
23,05722% of 104,937

The Radeon RX 590 has 1% better performance than the GeForce GTX 980 Ti for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 590 is ranked 100th with a score of 23,362.5, and the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is ranked 101st with a score of 23,057.

Performance per dollar
Radeon RX 590136% better
83.7452% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 980 Ti
35.5322% of 161.45

The Radeon RX 590 has 136% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 980 Ti for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The Radeon RX 590 is ranked 32nd with a performance per dollar of 83.74, and the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is ranked 72nd with a performance per dollar of 35.53.

Relative Performance

The average score in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative performance. Generally, powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 590 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce RTX 306028,375+21%
GeForce GTX 1070 Ti27,503+18%
GeForce RTX 206027,162.5+16%
GeForce GTX 107024,652+6%
Radeon RX 59023,362.5
GeForce GTX 980 Ti23,057-1%
Radeon RX 6500 XT22,954-2%
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti22,891.5-2%
GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER21,982-6%
GeForce GTX 166021,131-10%

Relative Value For Money

The average performance per dollar in the benchmark test can be compared to similar GPUs to assess relative value. A higher score implies a better value for your money.

Choose Baseline GPU:Radeon RX 590 or
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
GeForce RTX 3060 Ti89.43+7%
GeForce RTX 306086.25+3%
Radeon RX 59083.74
GeForce GTX 1660 Ti82.05-2%
Radeon RX 48078.25-7%
GeForce GTX 108048.85-42%
Radeon R9 390X41.83-50%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti35.53-58%
GeForce GTX 98032.07-62%
Radeon R9 FURY31.95-62%

Benchmark Scores

This table showcases the average performance scores achieved by both GPUs across industry-standard benchmark tests. These scores provide a valuable insight into overall performance. Powerful GPUs tend to have higher scores.

  • Popular
BenchmarkRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
4,871.5
5,058
(+3.83%)
3DMark Time Spy Score
5,271
(+4.87%)
5,026
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
86,825
98,958
(+13.97%)
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
16,813.5
16,961
(+0.88%)
3DMark Night Raid Graphics
62,469
--
3DMark 11 Performance Score
20,421.5
(+11.57%)
18,303
PassMark G3D Mark
9,414
13,813
(+46.73%)
PassMark G2D Mark
792
858
(+8.33%)
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

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Graphics Processor

General information about the graphics processing unit like their architecture, manufacturing process size, and transistor count. Newer GPU architectures generally bring efficiency improvements and may introduce technologies that enhance graphical capabilities.

SpecRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
CodenamePolaris 30GM200
ArchitectureGCN 4.0Maxwell 2.0
Process Size12 nm28 nm
Transistors5,700 million8,000 million

Memory Details

Memory specifications like their capacity, bandwidth, and clock speeds. GPU memory stores graphics data like frames, textures, and shadows which helps display rendered images. These specs are crucial for graphics-intense applications like gaming and 3D modeling.

SpecRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
Memory Size8 GB6 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth256 Gb/s336.6 Gb/s
Memory Clock2,000 MHz1,753 MHz
Memory Interface256 bit384 bit
L1 Cache16 KB48 KB
L2 Cache2 MB3 MB

Board Compatibility

Compatibility information like their slot size, bus interface, power consumption, and display support. These specs are useful for verifying compatibility with your motherboard, power supply, and monitor.

SpecRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)175 W250 W
Suggested PSU450 W600 W
Power Connectors1x 8-pin1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
OutputsHDMI 2.0b, DisplayPort 1.4aDVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2

Cores & Clock Speeds

Processing power information like its cores and clock speed. These specs impact how fast they can process graphics. Each type of core or component serves a specific computational purpose.

SpecRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
Stream Processors (SP)2,304--
CUDA Cores--2,816
Compute Units (CU)36--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)144176
Render Output Units (ROP)3296
Core Clock Speed1,469 MHz1,000 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,545 MHz1,076 MHz

Theoretical Performance

Theoretical performance numbers derived from the raw specifications of the different components like core count and clock speeds. While these provide a glimpse into peak processing power, they do not represent real-world performance.

SpecRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
Pixel Fill Rate49.44 GPixel/s103.3 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate222.5 GTexel/s189.4 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance7.12 TFLOPS6.06 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance445 GFLOPS189.4 GFLOPS

API Support

Graphics API versions supported by these graphics cards. APIs evolve over time, introducing new features and functionalities. Older GPUs may not support recent versions.

SpecRadeon RX 590GeForce GTX 980 Ti
DirectX12 (12_0)12 (12_1)
OpenCL2.13.0
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.76.7

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* Performance rating, performance per dollar, and rankings are based on the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark and MSRP.