NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card Review
Test System Setup

We would like to thank the following companies for supplying and supporting us with our test system hardware and equipment: Intel, ASUS and Corsair.
Sitting with the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4GB, we've got a bunch of high-end video cards from both AMD and NVIDIA. From the NVIDIA side, we've got the reference GTX 770 2GB, ASUS GTX 780 ROG Poseidon Platinum 3GB OC and reference GTX 780 Ti 3GB to round things off.
As for the AMD side, we've got the HIS R9 290 4GB IceQ X2 Turbo and the HIS R9 290X iPower IceQ X2 Turbo 4GB, which we overclocked to 1100MHz on the core and 5700MHz QDR on the 4GB of memory.
The FPS Numbers Explained
When we benchmark our video cards and look at the graphs, we aim to get to a certain level of FPS which we consider playable. While many may argue that the human eye can't see over 24 FPS or 30 FPS, any true gamer will tell you that as we climb higher in Frames Per Seconds (FPS), the overall gameplay feels smoother. There are three numbers we're looking out for when it comes to our benchmarks.
30 FPS - It's the minimum number we aim for when it comes to games. If you're not dropping below 30 FPS during games, you're going to have a nice and smooth gaming experience. The ideal situation is that even in a heavy fire fight, the minimum stays above 30 FPS making sure that you can continue to aim easily or turn the corner with no dramas.
60 FPS - It's the average we look for when we don't have a minimum coming at us. If we're getting an average of 60 FPS, we should have a minimum of 30 FPS or better and as mentioned above, it means we've got some smooth game play happening.
120 FPS - The new number that we've been hunting down over recent months. If you're the owner of a 120 Hz monitor, to get the most out of it you want to get around the 120 FPS mark. Moving from 60 FPS / 60 Hz to 120 FPS / 120 Hz brings with it a certain fluidity that can't really be explained, but instead has to be experienced. Of course, if you're buying a 120 Hz monitor to take advantage of 3D, an average of 120 FPS in our benchmark means that in 3D you will have an average of 60 FPS, which again means you should expect some smooth gameplay.
Why are some graphs incomplete?
Adding new game benchmarks is a long, tedious and time consuming task as every video card has to be re-tested in those new benchmarks. Because of that reason we have always just evaluated our benchmark line up every six months. To stay up to date and current with the latest benchmarks and games available, we've changed our approach to adding new benchmarks.
Our benchmark line up will progress and be updated as newer more intensive games with benchmarks comes to light. While this will mean that initially you may only see a single video card in those particular graphs, as the weeks go on and we test more and more video cards, the results will grow quickly. This will help keep our benchmark line up as up to date as possible as we introduce and remove games on a constant basis.
PRICING: You can find products similar to this one for sale below.
United States: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon's website.
United Kingdom: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon UK's website.
Canada: Find other tech and computer products like this over at Amazon Canada's website.
- Page 1 [Introduction and Package]
- Page 2 [Video Card Details and Specifications]
- Page 3 [Test System Setup & FPS Numbers Explained]
- Page 4 [Benchmarks - 3DMark]
- Page 5 [Benchmarks - 3DMark Sky Diver & Catzilla]
- Page 6 [Benchmarks - Unigine Heaven & Phantasy Star Online 2]
- Page 7 [Benchmarks - Lost Planet 2 & Just Cause 2]
- Page 8 [Benchmarks -Metro Last Light & Nexuiz]
- Page 9 [Benchmarks - Sniper Elite V2 & Sleeping Dogs]
- Page 10 [Benchmarks - Hitman Absolution & Tomb Raider]
- Page 11 [Benchmarks - BioShock Infinite & Battlefield 4]
- Page 12 [Benchmarks - GRID Autosport]
- Page 13 [Benchmarks - High Quality AA and AF]
- Page 14 [Benchmarks - 4K - 3840 x 2160 Testing]
- Page 15 [Temperature & Sound Testing]
- Page 16 [Power Consumption Testing]
- Page 17 [Pricing, Availability, and Final Thoughts]
Recommended for You
- We at TweakTown openly invite the companies who provide us with review samples / who are mentioned or discussed to express their opinion of our content. If any company representative wishes to respond, we will publish the response here.
Related Tags
Latest News Posts
- GeForce GTX 1180 alleged specs, beats the $1200 TITAN Xp
- PUBG's first world tournament: $2 million in prizes and more
- Fortnite is coming to China, with Tencent securing rights
- COD: Black Ops 4 multiplayer could be inspired by Overwatch
- AMD Combat Crate: CPU, GPU, motherboard combo from MSI
Forum Activity
- WD My Passport Wireless SSD 500GB Review
- Legacy Mode
- Possible Router Issues
- ADATA Premier Memory Cards
- Can't complete BIOS recovery
Press Releases
- Micron Launches Industry's First Enterprise SATA Solid State Drives Built on Leading 64-layer 3D NAND Technology
- Micron, Rambus, Northwest Logic and Avery Design to Deliver a Comprehensive GDDR6 Solution for Next-Generation Applications
- Toshiba Memory America Unveils UFS Devices Utilizing 64-Layer, 3D Flash Memory
- ASUS Announces GeForce GTX 1070 Ti Series Gaming Graphics Cards
- ASUS Announces ASUS Hangouts Meet Hardware Kit