Power, Temperature and Noise
GeForce GTX 980 tops all but the Tomb Raider performance charts. This kind of perf has historically meant it should come near the bottom of the power consumption chart.
The energy-efficient architecture and 165W TDP combine to give it the lowest system-wide power consumption of all cards, including the older GTX 680. GTX 780 Ti, often bested by a small margin, consumes an extra 35 per cent total PC energy while the Radeon R9 290X, a slower GPU, consumes over 70 per cent more.
Nvidia programs modern GeForces to hit 80°C under load. The premise is that a lack of cooling noise should be prioritised over lower temperatures.
It is the fastest single-GPU in our line-up. GeForce GTX 980 is the most energy efficient and quietest high-end card, too. Indeed, it's very difficult to hear the fan above the background noise.
