GeForce GTX 980M vs Radeon HD 7970

Find out if it is worth upgrading your current GPU setup by comparing GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon HD 7970. Here you can take a closer look at graphics cards specs, such as core clock speed, memory type and size, display connectors, etc. The price, overall benchmark and gaming performances are usually defining factors when it comes to choosing between GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon HD 7970. Make sure that the graphics card has compatible dimensions and will properly fit in your new or current computer case. Also these graphics cards may have different system power recommendations, so take that into consideration and upgrade your PSU if necessary.

GeForce GTX 980M is a Laptop Graphics Card

Note: GeForce GTX 980M is only used in laptop graphics. It has lower GPU clock speed compared to the desktop variant, which results in lower power consumption, but also 10-30% lower gaming performance. Check available laptop models with GeForce GTX 980M here:

Main Specs

  GeForce GTX 980M Radeon HD 7970
Power consumption (TDP) 300 Watt
Interface MXM-B (3.0) PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectors None 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin
Memory type GDDR5 GDDR5
Maximum RAM amount 8 GB 3 GB
Display Connectors No outputs 1x DVI, 1x HDMI, 2x mini-DisplayPort
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  • GeForce GTX 980M is connected by MXM-B (3.0), and Radeon HD 7970 uses PCIe 3.0 x16 interface.
  • GeForce GTX 980M has 5 GB more memory, than Radeon HD 7970.
  • GeForce GTX 980M is used in Laptops, and Radeon HD 7970 - in Desktops.
  • GeForce GTX 980M is build with Maxwell architecture, and Radeon HD 7970 - with GCN.
  • GeForce GTX 980M and Radeon HD 7970 are manufactured by 28 nm process technology.
  • Memory clock speed of GeForce GTX 980M is 1125 MHz higher, than Radeon HD 7970.

Game benchmarks

high / 1080p 35−40 35−40
ultra / 1080p 24−27 21−24
QHD / 1440p 18−20 16−18
4K / 2160p 10−11 10−11
low / 720p 60−65 60−65
medium / 1080p 45−50 40−45
The average gaming FPS of GeForce GTX 980M in Assassin's Creed Odyssey is 3% more, than Radeon HD 7970.

Full Specs

  GeForce GTX 980M Radeon HD 7970
Architecture Maxwell GCN
Code name GM204 Tahiti XT
Type Laptop Desktop
Release date 7 October 2014 22 December 2011
Pipelines 1536 2048
Core clock speed 1038 MHz
Boost Clock 1127 MHz 925 MHz
Transistor count 5,200 million 4,313 million
Manufacturing process technology 28 nm 28 nm
Texture fill rate 51.84 118.4
Floating-point performance 3,462 gflops 3,789 gflops
Length 274 mm
Memory bus width 256 Bit 384 Bit
Memory clock speed 2500 MHz 1375 MHz
Memory bandwidth 160 GB/s 264 GB/s
Shared memory - -
G-SYNC support +
DirectX 12 (12_1)
Shader Model 6.4 5.1
OpenGL 4.5 4.6
OpenCL 1.1 1.2
Vulkan 1.1.126
CUDA +
FreeSync +
CUDA cores 1536
Bus support PCI Express 3.0 PCIe 2.1 x16
SLI options +
HDMI + +
Bitcoin / BTC (SHA256) 383 Mh/s 485 Mh/s
Laptop size large
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support +
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder +
Optimus +
Eyefinity +
Design reference
CrossFire +
Ethereum / ETH (DaggerHashimoto) 20.71 Mh/s
GameStream +
GeForce ShadowPlay +
GPU Boost 2.0
GameWorks +
BatteryBoost +
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