NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980

VS
Performance
GeForce RTX 206054% better
27,162.526% of 104,598
GeForce GTX 980
17,604.517% of 104,598

The GeForce RTX 2060 has 54% better performance than the GeForce GTX 980 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

Performance per dollar
GeForce RTX 2060143% better
77.8348% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 980
32.0720% of 161.45

The GeForce RTX 2060 has 143% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 980 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

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Summary

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About the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 is a desktop graphics card that launched in Q1 2019 with a MSRP of $349. It is built on the Turing GPU microarchitecture (codename TU106) and is manufactured on a 12 nm process.

Memory

The RTX 2060 has 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, with a 1,750 MHz memory clock and a 192 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 336 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The RTX 2060 includes 1,920 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,365 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,680 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 120 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 48 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing. Additionally, the GPU features 240 tensor cores optimized for AI-accelerated workloads and 30 RT cores dedicated to real-time ray tracing calculations.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The RTX 2060 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4a, USB Type-C display connections. NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 160 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The RTX 2060 has the 88th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 25.97% of the performance of the best benchmarked GPU, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Its 27,162.5 score and $349 launch price (MSRP) gives it a performance per dollar of 77.83. This is the 39th best in value for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

About the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 GPU

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 is an end-of-life desktop graphics card that released in Q3 2014 with a MSRP of $549. It is built on the Maxwell 2.0 GPU microarchitecture (codename GM204) and is manufactured on a 28 nm process.

Memory

The GTX 980 has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 1,753 MHz memory clock and a 256 bit interface. This gives it a memory bandwidth of 224.4 Gb/s, which affects how fast it can transfer data to and from memory. GPU memory stores temporary data that helps the GPU with complex math and graphics operations. More memory is generally better, as not having enough can cause performance bottlenecks.

Cores and Clock Speeds

The GTX 980 includes 2,048 CUDA cores, the processing units for handling parallel computing tasks. The GPU operates at a core clock speed of 1,127 MHz and can dynamically boost its clock speed up to 1,216 MHz. Complementing the processing units are 128 texture mapping units (TMUs) for efficient texture filtering and 64 render output units (ROPs) for pixel processing.

Compatibility & Power Consumption

The GTX 980 occupies 2 PCIe expansion slots. It supports DVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 display connections. NVIDIA recommends a power supply of at least 450 W to handle the GPU's thermal design power (TDP) of 165 W.

Benchmark Performance & Value

The GTX 980 has the 127th best 3DMark 11 Performance GPU score among the 543 benchmarked GPUs in our database. It achieves 16.83% 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 76th 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 RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
ManufacturerNVIDIANVIDIA
ArchitectureTuringMaxwell 2.0
Market SegmentDesktopDesktop
Release DateQ1 2019Q3 2014
Launch Price (MSRP)$349$549
Production StatusActiveEnd-of-life
ShopCheck PriceCheck Price

Gaming Performance

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Select a game to compare FPS metrics

Display FPS for Crysis Remastered
Crysis Remastered
Display FPS for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Display FPS for Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Yakuza: Like a Dragon
Display FPS for Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Assassin's Creed Valhalla
Display FPS for DIRT 5
DIRT 5
Display FPS for Watch Dogs: Legion
Watch Dogs: Legion
Display FPS for FIFA 21
FIFA 21

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 Crysis Remastered
Crysis Remastered
GeForce RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
Low - 720p
--
--
Medium - 1080p
138 FPS
--
High - 1080p
71 FPS
--
Ultra - 1080p
50 FPS
--
QHD - 1440p
28 FPS
--
4K UHD - 2160p
18 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 RTX 2060 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 RTX 2060 orGeForce GTX 980
GPUCost Per Frame
Radeon RX 5700 XT14.25-28%
GeForce RTX 306014.49-27%
Radeon RX 570015.17-23%
GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER16.22-18%
GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER17.51-12%
GeForce RTX 206019.83
Radeon RX Vega 6421.32+8%
GeForce RTX 207022.28+12%
Radeon VII22.77+15%
GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER22.84+15%

Benchmark Performance

#
Performance
GeForce RTX 206054% better
27,162.526% of 104,598
GeForce GTX 980
17,604.517% of 104,598

The GeForce RTX 2060 has 54% better performance than the GeForce GTX 980 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce RTX 2060 is ranked 88th with a score of 27,162.5, and the GeForce GTX 980 is ranked 127th with a score of 17,604.5.

Performance per dollar
GeForce RTX 2060143% better
77.8348% of 161.45
GeForce GTX 980
32.0720% of 161.45

The GeForce RTX 2060 has 143% better value for the money than the GeForce GTX 980 for the 3DMark 11 Performance GPU benchmark.

The GeForce RTX 2060 is ranked 39th with a performance per dollar of 77.83, and the GeForce GTX 980 is ranked 76th 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 RTX 2060 or
GPUBenchmark Performance
GeForce RTX 306028,375+4%
GeForce GTX 1070 Ti27,503+1%
GeForce RTX 206027,162.5
GeForce GTX 107024,652-9%
Radeon RX 59023,362.5-14%
Radeon RX 48017,919-34%
Radeon RX 47017,624.5-35%
GeForce GTX 98017,604.5-35%
Radeon R9 FURY17,543-35%
GeForce GTX 1060 (6 GB)17,401-36%

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 RTX 2060 or

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 RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
3DMark Time Spy Graphics
7,732
--
3DMark Time Spy Score
7,878
--
3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
107,083
(+25.43%)
85,374
3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
19,338
(+49.47%)
12,938
3DMark 11 Performance Score
22,982
(+62.2%)
14,169
Cinebench R15 OpenGL 64 Bit
--
109.6
PassMark G3D Mark
14,147
(+27.44%)
11,101
PassMark G2D Mark
740
791
(+6.89%)
Unigine Heaven 3.0 DirectX 11
--
129.7
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.

SpecGeForce RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
CodenameTU106GM204
ArchitectureTuringMaxwell 2.0
Process Size12 nm28 nm
Transistors10,800 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 RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
Memory Size6 GB4 GB
Memory TypeGDDR6GDDR5
Memory Bandwidth336 Gb/s224.4 Gb/s
Memory Clock1,750 MHz1,753 MHz
Memory Interface192 bit256 bit
L1 Cache64 KB48 KB
L2 Cache3 MB2 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 RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
Slots2 slots2 slots
Bus InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Thermal Design Power (TDP)160 W165 W
Suggested PSU450 W450 W
Power Connectors1x 8-pin2x 6-pin
OutputsDVI, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4a, USB Type-CDVI, 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 RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
CUDA Cores1,9202,048
Stream Multiprocessors (SM)30--
Texture Mapping Units (TMU)120128
Render Output Units (ROP)4864
Tensor Cores240--
Ray Tracing Cores30--
Core Clock Speed1,365 MHz1,127 MHz
Core Clock Speed (Boost)1,680 MHz1,216 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 RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
Pixel Fill Rate80.64 GPixel/s77.82 GPixel/s
Texture Fill Rate201.6 GTexel/s155.6 GTexel/s
FP32 Performance6.45 TFLOPS4.98 TFLOPS
FP64 Performance201.6 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 RTX 2060GeForce GTX 980
DirectX12 Ultimate (12_2)12 (12_1)
OpenCL3.03.0
OpenGL4.64.6
Shader Model6.86.8

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