PC Part DB: Build Smarter: Compare PC part benchmarks & specsPC PART DB

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980

NVIDIA
VS
NVIDIA
Performance
GeForce GTX 590
9,166.59% of 104,937
GeForce GTX 98092% better
17,604.517% of 104,937

The GeForce GTX 980 has 92% better performance than the GeForce GTX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 590
13.118% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 980145% better
32.0720% of 161.45

The GeForce GTX 980 has 145% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Shop GeForce GTX 590
Shop GeForce GTX 980
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Summary

#

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 GPU

The GeForce GTX 590 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card by NVIDIA. It launched in Q1 2011 with a suggested retail price of $699. Its GF110 chip that powers the GPU uses the Fermi 2.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 40 nm process.

This GPU is paired with 1,536 MB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 854 MHz memory clock and 384 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 164 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

The GTX 590 is a dual slot graphics card, taking up 2 PCIe slots. It supports DVI, mini-DisplayPort display ports. This desktop card has a TDP of 365 W. NVIDIA recommends using a power supply of at least 750 W with this card. A power supply lower than this might result in system crashes and potentially damage your hardware.

The GeForce GTX 590 has the 185th highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 8.74% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 9,166.5 score and $699 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 13.11. This is the 91st best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 GPU

The GeForce GTX 980 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card by NVIDIA. It launched in Q3 2014 with a suggested retail price of $549. Its GM204 chip that powers the GPU uses the Maxwell 2.0 architecture and is fabricated on the 28 nm process.

This GPU is paired with 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. Its 1,753 MHz memory clock and 256 bit interface gives it a bandwidth of 224.4 Gb/s. This impacts how much data it can store, and how fast it transfers the data to and from memory.

The GTX 980 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 165 W. NVIDIA 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 GeForce GTX 980 has the 125th highest 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 540 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 16.78% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 17,604.5 score and $549 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 32.07. This is the 74th 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.

InfoGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
ManufacturerNVIDIANVIDIA
ArchitectureFermi 2.0Maxwell 2.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2011Q3 2014
Launch Price (MSRP)$699$549
Production StatusEnd-of-lifeEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

#

Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Just Cause 4
Just Cause 4
Display FPS for Darksiders III
Darksiders III
Display FPS for Battlefield V
Battlefield V
Display FPS for Hitman 2
Hitman 2
Display FPS for Assassin´s Creed Odyssey
Assassin´s Creed Odyssey
Display FPS for Forza Horizon 4
Forza Horizon 4
Display FPS for Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
More games to choose from
More Games

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 Just Cause 4
Just Cause 4
GeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
Low - 720p
--
109 FPS
Medium - 1080p
--
77 FPS
High - 1080p
--
67 FPS
Ultra - 1080p
--
62 FPS
QHD - 1440p
--
44 FPS
4K UHD - 2160p
--
24 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:GeForce GTX 590 orGeForce GTX 980

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:GeForce GTX 590 orGeForce GTX 980
GPUCost Per Frame
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)13.53-42%
Radeon RX Vega 6413.71-41%
Radeon VII15.3-35%
GeForce GTX 97016.53-29%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti22.46-4%
GeForce GTX 98023.36

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce GTX 590
9,166.59% of 104,937
GeForce GTX 98092% better
17,604.517% of 104,937

The GeForce GTX 980 has 92% better performance than the GeForce GTX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 590 is ranked 185th with a score of 9,166.5, and the GeForce GTX 980 is ranked 125th with a score of 17,604.5.

Performance per dollar
GeForce GTX 590
13.118% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 980145% better
32.0720% of 161.45

The GeForce GTX 980 has 145% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 590 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce GTX 590 is ranked 91st with a performance per dollar of 13.11, and the GeForce GTX 980 is ranked 74th with a performance per dollar of 32.07.

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:GeForce GTX 590 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
Radeon RX 48017,919+95%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5+92%
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5+92%
Radeon R9 FURY17,543+91%
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)17,401+90%
GeForce GTX 68010,216.5+11%
GeForce GTX 1050 Ti9,453+3%
GeForce GTX 5909,166.5
GeForce GTX 10508,571-6%
Radeon R7 3708,518.5-7%

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:GeForce GTX 590 or
GPUPerformance Per Dollar
Radeon R9 280X36.09+175%
GeForce GTX 980 Ti35.53+171%
GeForce GTX 98032.07+145%
Radeon R9 FURY31.95+144%
Radeon R9 290X29.45+125%
Radeon HD 687017.65+35%
Radeon HD 797014.15+8%
GeForce GTX 59013.11
GeForce GTX 47012.44-5%
Radeon HD 645011.33-14%

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
BenchmarkGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
--
85,374
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
--
12,938
3DMark 11 Performance Score
8,057.5
14,169
(+75.85%)
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
--
109.6
PassMark G3D Mark
3,341
11,123
(+232.92%)
PassMark G2D Mark
392
789
(+101.28%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
--
129.7
Benchmarks Source: Notebookcheck

Technical Specs

#

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.

SpecGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
CodenameGF110GM204
ArchitectureFermi 2.0Maxwell 2.0
Process Size40 nm28 nm
Transistors3,000 million5,200 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
Memory Size1,536 MB4 GB
Memory TypeGDDR5GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth164 Gb/s224.4 Gb/s
Memory Clock854 MHz1,753 MHz
Memory Interface384 bit256 bit
L1 Cache64 KB48 KB
L2 Cache768 KB2 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 2.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)365 W165 W
Suggested PSU750 W450 W
Power Connectors2x 8-pin2x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, mini-DisplayPortDVI, 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
CUDA Cores5122,048
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)16--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)64128
Render Output Units (ROP)4864
Core Clock Speed607 MHz1,127 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)--1,216 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
Pixel Fill Rate19.46 GPixel/s77.82 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate38.91 GTexel/s155.6 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance1,244 GFLOPS4.98 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance155.5 GFLOPS155.6 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.

SpecGeForce GTX 590GeForce GTX 980
DirectX12 (11_0)12 (12_1)
OpenCL1.13.0
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model5.16.7 (6.4)

Check out these comparisons for similar GPUs:

Looking for alternatives? Check out these similar GPUs:

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