Home Gaming GTX 980 benchmarks leak, and don’t disappoint

GTX 980 benchmarks leak, and don’t disappoint

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Funny Spongebob and Patrick Surprised Face Wallpaper

The closer we get to the supposed reveal date for Nvidia’s new range of graphics cards, the more leaks appear on the big blue internet. Last week it was seemingly confirmed that the green team would be letting their cards loose this month, and now we might have an idea of just how powerful they’re going to be out the gate.

A few months ago a leaked 3DMark score for the GTX 880 (which may have no been rebranded to the GTX 980) suggested that the new Maxwell-based card would trump the GTX 780Ti by a massive 35%. These new leaks seem far more grounded, although they still suggest an interesting outcome. Despite the age of the 780Ti, it seems Nvidia is ok with a new card effectively writing it off the market.

From the graph below (courtesy of Videocardz) it’s clear that the stock GTX 980 is around 10% more powerful than the stock GTX 780Ti. At its highest clock speed of 1190 MHz, the 980 is supposedly 15% faster than the GeForce GTX 780 Ti and 14% faster than the Radeon R9 290X. This is especially impressive if the other rumour regarding the new Maxwell chip is to be believed as well, with the estimated price sitting at $499 – lower than that of most of the 780Ti’s on the market right now.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GeForce GTX 970 3DMark Firestrike Performance

But we’re not just looking at the GTX 980 here – how about that GTX 970? According to the graph, the rumored $399 Maxwell card delivers near Titan performance for the fraction of the cost, proving once again that Nvidia’s ridiculously priced monster really has no reason to be in your sights.

Still, it’s interesting to see that even a GTX 980 SLI solution still sits underneath the Red team’s dual R2 295X2. Still working with rumoured pricing, a SLI 980 setup would cost in the region of $1000, which would undercut the R2 295X2 but $500 – had AMD not slashed the price just a few days ago. What an odd coincidence, right?

Again, these all fall under the big rumour banner until Nvidia officially announces anything solid. Right now the GTX 980 will supposedly sport 4GB of DDR5 memory across a 256-bit bus. Other than that, take everything with a pinch of salt. At least until later this month.

Last Updated: September 8, 2014

103 Comments

  1. Still very happy with my 7870 OC!

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      September 8, 2014 at 09:12

      I’m still rocking the Radeon 6800 O_o

      Reply

      • Sith JJ

        September 8, 2014 at 09:30

        Red Team!

        Reply

        • Spaffy

          September 8, 2014 at 09:43

          Hell yea.
          Made the move 3 cards back. No looking back.
          5770
          6850
          7870

          Reply

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 09:44

            I had the 650ti last. Was Nvidia all my life until now. No looking back.

          • Spaffy

            September 8, 2014 at 09:48

            Had a power hungry 275gtx. Everytime I switched the computer on the lights would dip.

          • Spaffy

            September 8, 2014 at 09:53

            The older Nvidia cards were still kwaai.
            I built my son a pc this weekend with old spares I had lying around.
            Found a Leadtek 6800 le AGP and stuffed it in there. Loaded some older games incl. Orange box and was genuinely surprised at how well this card handles everything at max.

            Spent alot of time “testing” his pc lol

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 09:56

            I had two Leadtek cards. One, I think, was a GTX250. Was a nice card that. Good to start there on Orange Box dude. That’s proper education right there.

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:00

            I had the Leadtek 4800Ti. That was a BEAST. Then I bricked it by trying to flash a new BIOS on to it…..

          • Spaffy

            September 8, 2014 at 10:02

            Yea. Too bad I couldn’t find the original one though.
            I still recall the first time I shat myself when that first crab jump up at you.

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 10:05

            “first crab”

            AND YOU WENT BACK TO HER?

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:07

            yoh

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 10:10

            XD

          • Spaffy

            September 8, 2014 at 10:22

            Ah, the memories…
            I’m still scratching hehe

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 09:54

            my 560Ti is still a beast in relative terms. Alone it can handle 1080 games on high. In SLI I am doing Ultra at 1080 for all my games.

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 09:55

            Honestly, all my problems came in with software. I had endless problems with my Nvidia drivers and that kak GeForce experience. The cards were all very solid.

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 09:59

            I don’t understand. My GeForce Experience is great and the only time I have issues is when I try Beta Drivers and they do some funny stuff with games.

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 10:02

            I used driver sweepers. Reinstalled that GeForce doo over and over. Then it says I have to update driver, then it can’t connect to the server, then I have to roll back a driver, then it tells me my driver is old. I just couldn’t cope man. But I’ve heard many other people love it and have had no problems.
            I just can’t afford to pull out any more hair. Got my AMD card, installed drivers, and games that didn’t work on my Nvidia suddenly worked too. I suppose it’s all about the software mix that you have on your pc.

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:09

            Yeah, that’s also true hey.

            Although I have seen GeForce experience freak out if Internet Explorer had any proxy settings ticked (Even on Auto) or if IE was set to work offline.

            Since so many people use FF or chrome they often miss the fact that IE is causing kak with clients connecting. Even Battlenet, Origin and u(can’t)Play freak out.

            Either way. To each their own and we must use what makes us happy.

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 10:10

            True. I’ve never considered that. Maybe my IE is getting de moer in because I’m ignoring him, now he’s causing kak 😉

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:11

            I’ve had it happen to me so often. Some issue will cause IE to go in to offline mode without me knowing and suddenly game clients battle to connect. It is so frustrating that they read their settings from IE. Pain in the gat!

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 10:14

            I really had no clue. My IE has never been updated, so maybe that’s been saving me from it.
            Speaking of Uplay, I tried the new Splinter Cell Blacklist the weekend. Worst menu ever. I think they appointed a dyslexic Labrador to design the ergonomics of the menus.

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:15

            yoh 0_o

          • Mossel

            September 8, 2014 at 10:35

            Dammit I still need to do that benchmark test! Keep forgetting… *sets reminder

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:36

            lol

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 09:46

            I jumped from the 4860 (if I remember correct) to the 7870 OC, blew my damn mind

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 09:46

            That’s what she said.

          • Spaffy

            September 8, 2014 at 09:47

            Joh. 0-0
            Moerse difference

          • Andre Gabriel Coetzee

            September 8, 2014 at 10:01

            I`m still happy with mine as well. I have a factory overclocked 7850, which I overclocked even further. My core clock is @ 1150 mhz and memory clock @ 1350mhz. I can jam Lichdom Battlemage on high and even the new metro 2033 – redux on high with a very smooth framerate. I`m still happy with mine, I`m not worried about maxing out every single game. Therefore I am still happy as well. xD

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            September 8, 2014 at 10:04

            That. Running everything maxed all the time is a suckers game.

          • Snyp3r

            September 9, 2014 at 11:55

            I’m about to jump from a late 2009 mac (core 2 duo 2.66ghz, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600) to a i7-4790k 4.4ghz, gtx 980, im guessing my mind will also blow into tiny, tiny pieces 😛

    • Spaffy

      September 8, 2014 at 09:41

      MSI 7870 twinfrozr OC

      🙂

      Reply

      • Sith JJ

        September 8, 2014 at 09:42

        Love my MSi cards

        Reply

      • Admiral Chief Assassin

        September 8, 2014 at 09:44

        I have the Gigabyte one

        Reply

      • juslovemusic

        September 9, 2014 at 20:13

        I just sold mine and upgraded to a gtx 780 but that msi 7870 was a beast with the factory overclock alone.

        Reply

  2. Alien Emperor Trevor

    September 8, 2014 at 09:05

    I should start breeding. I heard there’s a good market for kid knees among former adventurers.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      September 8, 2014 at 09:10

      First you need a women that wants to touch you.

      Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        September 8, 2014 at 09:12

        FOILED AGAIN!

        Reply

        • Sith JJ

          September 8, 2014 at 09:32

          *once again

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            September 8, 2014 at 09:35

            Also true. Why must you ruin my Monday?

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 09:37

            Monday ruined my Monday.

        • Sageville

          September 8, 2014 at 12:53

          *yet again….

          Reply

    • Sith JJ

      September 8, 2014 at 09:37

      I don’t know if breeding is the answer. I think one smart-ass is enough. 😉

      Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      September 8, 2014 at 09:45

      Its only 1% to 2% faster than the 780ti hardly the material that you would sell body parts for 🙂 The graph is pretty clear …

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

        September 8, 2014 at 09:53

        I think he was just making a long winded arrow to the knee joke man

        Reply

        • Sith JJ

          September 8, 2014 at 09:54

          Long winded is Trevor’s second name.

          Reply

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 09:55

            That’s not what she said…..

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 10:01

            No, “long winded” as in “farts for an extended period”

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:10

            huehuehue

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            September 8, 2014 at 10:01

            That must have been before the baked beans breakfast.

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:10

            loooooooool

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 10:11

            *pwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap*

      • fanboy

        September 8, 2014 at 21:20

        its 10% faster stock for stock

        Reply

  3. Rags

    September 8, 2014 at 09:33

    Videocardz. Not really a credible source. 😛

    Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      September 8, 2014 at 09:34

      But they have a “Z” instead of an “S” as the end of their name, surely they must be hardcore & legit?

      Reply

      • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

        September 8, 2014 at 09:58

        But… But there are no numbers in the name!!!!

        If it was Vid3oCardz or something then we would be cooking!

        Reply

      • Sith JJ

        September 8, 2014 at 09:58

        No doubt Trevz

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          September 8, 2014 at 10:01

          Don’t speak Sith JZ ;P

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 10:01

            BWHAHAHAHAHA JZ

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 10:03

            No!
            No no no no no

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 10:04

            At one point, you can’t belief

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 10:07

            I don’t know if that makes me angry or depressed.

          • Admiral Chief Assassin

            September 8, 2014 at 10:12

            Just try reading some numbers and taking a shower

          • Sith JJ

            September 8, 2014 at 10:15

            Well, at least if I take a shower I know I’m cured of all diseases.

          • Brady miaau

            September 8, 2014 at 10:10

            Yeah, Sith, like Latin, is dead and better left to writing.

    • Unknown

      September 8, 2014 at 15:07

      Yeah, a clickbait site of the worst kind. Very telling that this ‘article’ of theirs talks about the amount of ‘hours’ they claim it took them to compile this particular a$$pull into a single graph.

      Reply

  4. Reaver

    September 8, 2014 at 09:35

    “the 980 is supposedly 15% faster than the GeForce GTX 780 Ti and 14% faster than the Radeon R9 290X”

    can’t read it like that, have to take 780ti and r9 290x as reference, then it becomes 17% and 15.8% respectively

    Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      September 8, 2014 at 09:43

      But then we look at the graph and realize its between 1% and 2% faster …. not sure where you are pulling 15% out 17% and 15.8% out.

      Reply

      • Reaver

        September 8, 2014 at 11:31

        article is a bit unclear which versions are being compared. i’m assuming the 15% comes from comparing the highest clocked 980 (as mentioned) to the lowest clocked 780ti (stock speed I presume). so that’s where i’m…pulling it out

        Reply

  5. Spaffy

    September 8, 2014 at 09:42

    “leaked” is the in thing these days.
    Look at that 780ti though o_0

    Reply

  6. Johan du Preez

    September 8, 2014 at 09:42

    Wow amazing an entire 1% to 2% fast, its hardly fast compared to the 780 ti. Its not worth upgrading if you already own a 7 series card.

    Reply

    • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

      September 8, 2014 at 09:52

      Nope. But definitely going to be worth looking in to if you own a 600 or 500 series card considering they will be going for cheaper than current 700 series cards. If the high end card prices are to be believed then I think their mid range cards should be even more affordable and will probably provide more than “mid range” performance.

      Reply

      • Johan du Preez

        September 8, 2014 at 10:23

        You are spot on 🙂 Its just that everyone is throwing 15% faster around but no one actually looks at the speeds and realize its 1% faster

        Reply

        • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

          September 8, 2014 at 10:33

          Well if you take the reference results:

          GTX 980 (1127/1753 MHz): 12328

          GTX 780Ti(928/1750 MHz): 11096

          That’s 10% differance.

          1% extra over 11096 would only be an extra 110.96

          Reply

  7. CypherGate

    September 8, 2014 at 09:44

    Asus 460GTX Direct CU! lol

    Reply

  8. Sith JJ

    September 8, 2014 at 09:48

    This is all wonderful and gravy but the last 8 games I played didn’t even require half of what I have. And I enjoyed the crap out of them.

    Reply

  9. geelslang

    September 8, 2014 at 10:09

    My 3 year old 560ti is finally starting to show its age. Would be nice to see what the 960(ti) can do or even what the 970 retail price would be. Then hopefully Im good for another 3 years,.

    Reply

    • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

      September 8, 2014 at 10:10

      Really? My 560Ti is still going like a champ. It can run current gen games on high in 1080 no problem. In SLI I can bump up to ultra again.

      What CPU and stuff do you have?

      Reply

      • geelslang

        September 8, 2014 at 10:19

        It actually run all games perfectly fine as long as I do not max the settings, but I have to throw a few high – medium settings if I want a smooth experience. When I first bought the card I though Ill have to replace it after 1-2 years, its really was a good card for the money.

        I have an i7 2600k. Im hoping my CPU wont be a bottleneck when I upgrade, but think it will be ok.

        Reply

        • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

          September 8, 2014 at 10:21

          Huh. I don’t have the same issue. With my single card I can’t do ultra but as long as everything is high with Ambient Occlusion and AA off I get a perfectly smooth gameplay.

          But then I got a bargain for a 2nd 560Ti. It was a good move 🙂

          Reply

          • geelslang

            September 8, 2014 at 10:31

            I do not turn AA off, normally keep it on some low setting like 2x, maybe thats something to look at. But yes, truth be told I can still buy any game with confidence without even looking at the required specs. I dont think I want to wait untill next year for the next batch of cards to release so the 900 series it is, only question that remains is 960 or the 970? Plus the Witcher 3 is coming. You have 2 x 560tis, probably pointless for you to upgrade.

            Then Ill be back to: boot game, settings, graphics, set to ultra, start new game.

          • Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora

            September 8, 2014 at 10:36

            AA makes the biggest difference on the 560Ti’s.

            Wait for the official test results but I reckon at the pricepoint a 960 is going to be best bang for buck (As is the usual case for nVidia and the x60 numbered cards) and I reckon it will be cheaper than the current crop of x60 numbered cards (if the above “leak” has any truth regarding price)

          • FoxOneZA

            September 8, 2014 at 11:46

            Try running your games through D3Overdriver. It helps to give a smooth framerate and prevent dips in performance without resorting to overclocking.

  10. Ryanza

    September 8, 2014 at 10:23

    The last Nvidia card I had was a 8600gts. Now I have a 7970ghz. I don’t see the need to upgrade anytime soon. If I cross fire with this card, how many years will it take before I upgrade again.

    Reply

    • Ryanza

      September 8, 2014 at 11:07

      Oh yes, I forgot to add. The Witcher 3 please bring my graphic card to it’s knees. I’m looking for reasons to upgrade.

      http://i.imgur.com/jlV1Tos.jpg?1

      Reply

      • Spaffy

        September 8, 2014 at 11:11

        It will.

        Reply

        • Ryanza

          September 8, 2014 at 11:32

          Well I had the 5870 before this card and from all the games only Batman AC did I need to dial back settings.

          I would hope that The Witcher 3 would break graphics cards but the developers have said that it can be compared to The Witcher 2 with more detail.
          So The Witcher 3 will look good but the wow that The Witcher 2 brought, will not be there.

          Reply

  11. UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

    September 8, 2014 at 11:15

    YES! It runs as fast as my card! Fuck this had me worried that my recent purchase was a mistake.

    o/

    Reply

    • FoxOneZA

      September 8, 2014 at 11:48

      AMD have both the low-end and high end of the market sealed. I’m looking forward to the R9 285 that steals the 760’s crown for only $250.

      Reply

      • UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy

        September 8, 2014 at 12:11

        I run a 780 GTX Lightning atm. Runs epic! I am more a Nvidia and Intel fan than AMD.

        Just runs smoother than AMD in my experience. I have owned both sides and Intel + Nvidia just performs better for me with less hassle.

        Reply

      • Jack

        September 8, 2014 at 15:28

        lol the R9 285 is a disaster sucks more power than a titan -_-

        Reply

  12. Sageville

    September 8, 2014 at 12:51

    That sad day, when your graphics card is no longer featured in the GPU score comparisons….

    Reply

  13. Mahesh Walatara

    September 8, 2014 at 14:03

    My next card, along with a 4k Monitor 🙂

    Reply

  14. Norm

    September 8, 2014 at 14:35

    But will it play Ryse?

    Reply

  15. techguy101

    September 8, 2014 at 15:21

    I seriously doubt this is true. Every other source says the 980 will be between the 780 and 780Ti. It makes the most since financially, and there’s no way we would get it for $500 if it best the 780Ti. Nvidia would be shooting themselves in the foot.

    Reply

  16. Michael

    September 8, 2014 at 16:02

    Am I reading this incorrectly, look at 103% and 104%, looks like a re-branded GTX 780Ti?

    Reply

  17. hmmmm

    September 8, 2014 at 17:55

    why isn’t there a “void” watermark on the green bars.

    Reply

  18. fanboy

    September 8, 2014 at 21:16

    how so? your gpu score is 13875
    my 670 sli gets only 12400
    so 780ti<980 stock <670 sli

    Reply

  19. Justin Shepherd

    September 8, 2014 at 22:40

    Very disappointing.
    I’ll stick with my 290x x2

    Reply

  20. Cubey42

    September 8, 2014 at 22:41

    These aren’t even rumor numbers, these are predictions.

    Reply

  21. maroon1

    September 8, 2014 at 23:07

    As long it match GTX 780 Ti and consume less power, then that is good enough

    Reply

  22. Cats869

    September 11, 2014 at 02:55

    Got a R9 290X about a month ago, still happy with my purchase, not because it performs still decently compared to the new GTX 980 but that I also got it for 360ish dollars, used but Sapphire Tri-X overclock and no issues so far. A card to last me for sometime, makes me one happy PC gamer.

    Reply

  23. Pedro Nery

    September 15, 2014 at 08:40

    im not that happy with my crossfire 6970 🙁

    Reply

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