Review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 (28nm Maxwell)

Conclusion

Nvidia's introduction of the GTX 980 and GTX 970 graphics cards redefines the high-end GeForce positioning for the next few months. Based on the premise that energy efficiency and die space are just as important as in-game frames per second, the new GPUs serve to replace existing Kepler parts - GeForce GTX 770, GTX 780 and GTX 780 Ti - rather than extend the single-GPU performance lead.

The GeForce GTX 980 represents a small performance leap over the GTX 780 Ti and a more pronounced one above the Radeon R9 290X. Owners of those types of cards shouldn't be distressed by the new 9-series GPU, but it's clearly a better solution no matter how you dice it up. Users coming from older cards, such as the GeForce GTX 680 or Radeon HD 6970, should view the GTX 980 in a different light; it's the best single-GPU card in almost any metric we care to evaluate it against.

In many ways the GTX 980 reminds us of the approach Intel is taking with CPUs. Each subsequent generation improves pure performance a reasonable degree but advances energy efficiency by a tremendous amount. No other GPU can match the GTX 980's qualities at 250W, let alone 165W.

The GeForce GTX 980 is a well-refined GPU that overclocks rather well. But it's our second-favourite Maxwell, particularly at the $549 price point. The GeForce GTX 970 offers, on paper, around 90 per cent of the performance - think Radeon R9 290X territory - at a ($329) £250 price point and with almost half the energy consumption of AMD's lead GPU. Expect it to sell like the proverbial hotcakes.

Where does this leave AMD? Nothing much has changed, because it still has the world's fastest graphics card, Radeon R9 295X2, and continues to provide solid value across the entire product stack. Nvidia's new GPUs and AMD's aggressive pricing is good news for the gamer, who can now take advantage of better-than-ever graphics on the right side of £300.

Nvidia is yet to reveal the full might of the Maxwell architecture, and that will come with the GM210 in due course, but for now, the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 set new standards in the premium space.

The Good

Great performance
Very impressive energy efficiency
Excellent architecture
Overclocks well
Better than the GTX 780 Ti in every regard

The Bad

Not the full-fat, performance Maxwell
Won't manage 60fps at high-quality 4K
No Nvidia-bundled games

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Nvidia GeForce GTX 980

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A wide range of Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 graphics cards are available to purchase from Scan Computers*.

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