NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
VS
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
VS
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060

General info

The general info section in the graphics cards comparison list contains information about the date of release, type, overall rating and other useful data for identifying winner between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980  vs  NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060.

114
Place in performance rating
31
56.16
Value for money (0-100)
1.25
Maxwell
Architecture
Ampere
GM204
Code name
GA106
Desktop
Type
Desktop
19 September 2014 (7 years ago)
Release date
12 January 2021
$549
Launch price (MSRP)
$329
$503 (0.9x MSRP)
Price now
$420
25.30
Value for money
GM204
GPU code name
Desktop
Market segment

Technical specs

Which GPU is better between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980  vs  NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 in the fabrication process, power consumption, and also base and turbo frequency of the GPU is the most important part containing in the graphics cards hierarchy.

2048
Pipelines
3584
no data
Core clock speed
1320 MHz
1216 MHz
Boost Clock
1778 MHz
5,200 million
Transistor count
13,250 million
28 nm
Manufacturing process technology
8 nm
165 Watt
Power consumption (TDP)
170 Watt
144 billion/sec
Texture fill rate
198.0
4,981 gflops
Floating-point performance
2048
CUDA cores
8.6
2048
Pipelines / CUDA cores
1216 MHz
Boost clock speed
5,200 million
Number of transistors
165 Watt
Thermal design power (TDP)

Compatibility, dimensions and requirements

Let’s discuss how graphics cards NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 come in different sizes (length), connector types and types of interfaces.

PCIe 3.0 x16
Interface
PCIe 4.0 x16
10.5" (26.7 cm)
Length
242 mm 9.5 inches
2x 6-pins
Supplementary power connectors
1x 12-pin (8+4)
+
SLI options
500 Watt
Recommended system power (PSU)
PCI Express 3.0
Bus support
PCIe 4.0 x16
no data
Width
112 mm 4.4 inches
4.376" (11.1 cm)
Height

Memory

Graphics cards memory plays important role both in gaming and in applications for graphics. The card will perform much quicker and better, if it has more memory capacity and right memory type. What is the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 vs NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060.

GDDR5
Memory type
GDDR6
4 GB
Maximum RAM amount
12 GB
256 Bit
Memory bus width
192 bit
7.0 GB/s
Memory clock speed
224 GB/s
Memory bandwidth
360.0 GB/s
-
Shared memory

Video outputs and ports

Let’s find out the difference in extra ports between two graphics cards. What's the difference between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 vs NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060.

Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2
Display Connectors
+
G-SYNC support
4 displays
Multi monitor support
+
HDCP
2048x1536
Maximum VGA resolution
Internal
Audio input for HDMI
+
HDMI
1x
no data
DisplayPort support
3x
+
VGA аnalog display support
+
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support

Technologies

Let’s have a look what is the difference. It is worthwhile to note that NVIDIA and AMD are using different technologies.

+
3D Vision
2.0
GPU Boost
+
CUDA
+
GeForce Experience
+
Surround
+
Adaptive Vertical Sync
+
Optimus
+
GameStream
+
GeForce ShadowPlay
+
GameWorks
+
BatteryBoost
+
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder

API support

The confrontation between the two contenders NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 is practically over. The hardware support (API) does not greatly affect the overall performance, it is not considered in synthetic benchmarks and other performance tests. 

12 (12_1)
DirectX
12 Ultimate (12_2)
4.5
OpenGL
4.6
1.1.126
Vulkan
1.2
6.4
Shader Model
1.2
OpenCL
3.0

Gaming performance

Select form the list the required name to identify gaming performance for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 graphics cards. The result shows how fast the game will run and whether it can be run on this computer. The different monitor resolutions – from low to 4K – are used for testing. Find out is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 or NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 good for gaming.


low
1280x720
med.
1920x1080
high
1920x1080
ultra
1920x1080
QHD
2560x1440
4K
3840x2160
Horizon Zero Dawn (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060
Death Stranding (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060
F1 2020 (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060
Gears Tactics (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060
Doom Eternal (2020) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060
Legend
5 Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60 Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
? Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.

Advantages of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980

49.95% faster in synthetic tests

Less power consumption (165 Watt vs 170 Watt)

Advantages of NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060

Cheaper ($420 vs $503 (0.9x MSRP))

More pipelines (3584 vs 2048)

Finer manufacturing process technology (8 nm vs 28 nm)

More maximum RAM amount (12 GB vs 4 GB)

More memory bandwidth (360.0 GB/s vs 224 GB/s)

VR Ready

Multi Monitor

So, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 or NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060?

Judging by the results of synthetic and gaming tests, we recommend NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 .

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 versus NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3060 performance benchmarks comparison

Overall benchmark performance

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Ice Storm GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Ice Storm GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Unigine Heaven 4.0

Benchmark Unigine Heaven 4.0: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Unigine Heaven 4.0 test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Benchmark 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Score

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Score: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Score test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Benchmark 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Fire Strike Graphics test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

Benchmark 3DMark 11 Performance GPU: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark 11 Performance GPU test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

3DMark Vantage Performance

Benchmark 3DMark Vantage Performance: Graphic cards performance test result. Check 3DMark Vantage Performance test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Unigine Heaven 3.0

Benchmark Unigine Heaven 3.0: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Unigine Heaven 3.0 test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Octane Render OctaneBench

Benchmark Octane Render OctaneBench: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Octane Render OctaneBench test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

Passmark

Benchmark Passmark: Graphic cards performance test result. Check Passmark test results of GPUs on hitesti.com

User rating

4.7 Out of 222 Hitesti Score
4.3 Out of 29 Hitesti Score