GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs GeForce GTX 980

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 980, which has GPU core speed of 1126 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 memory set to run at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 2048 Stream Processors, 128 Texture Address Units, and 64 ROPs.

Display Graphs

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Benchmarks

These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.

Zcash Mining Hash Rate

GeForce GTX 980		408 Sol/s
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		290 Sol/s
	Difference: 118 (41%)

Ethereum Mining Hash Rate

GeForce GTX 980		20 Mh/s
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		19 Mh/s
	Difference: 1 (5%)

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score

GeForce GTX 980		13552 points
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		12185 points
	Difference: 1367 (11%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 980		165 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically speaking, the GeForce GTX 980 should perform a bit faster than the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		224000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		196608 MB/sec
	Difference: 27392 (14%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 will be quite a bit (about 33%) faster with regards to AF than the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		144128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		108432 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 35696 (33%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB is a small bit (more or less 0%) faster with regards to full screen anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 980, and also should be capable of handling higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		72288 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 980		72064 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 224 (0%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the max amount of data (measured in MB per second) that can be transported across the external memory interface in one second. It's calculated by multiplying the bus width by the speed of its memory. If it uses DDR type memory, it should be multiplied by 2 again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with AA, High Dynamic Range and higher screen resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This figure is calculated by multiplying the total texture units of the card by the core speed of the chip. The higher this number, the better the video card will be at texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the most pixels the graphics card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. Pixel rate is worked out by multiplying the amount of Render Output Units by the clock speed of the card. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for filling the screen with pixels (the image). The actual pixel fill rate also depends on lots of other factors, most notably the memory bandwidth - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the potential to reach the max fill rate.