![]() ![]() But if you’re one of the gamers who still plays at 1080p and uses an older GPU (and there’s a lot of you out there still, according to Steam’s monthly poll), this chart will hopefully help you decide if it’s worth an upgrade to the newest higher-end video card. The first would be that it’s a mistake to benchmark games at 1080p on these cards. As for looking at the numbers, you could leap to a couple of quick conclusions. The others, I had to test my dexterity while avoiding exposed circuitry. I could grip the 980 firmly while nudging aside wayward cables and getting it in place. (The 290X’s benchmarks sadly don’t appear down below I apparently didn’t file proper union forms and it refused to finish working for me during the tail end of my benchmarking.) Of the three cards, only the 980 has a backplate. I’ve got fairly slender hands, but it was still a bit of a tight squeeze when popping the GTX 980, GTX 780 Ti, and AMD’s R9 290X in and out of my case. That’s especially true if you’re building into a small form factor case (that’d be me) while in a particular hurry (me again) speeding along becomes just that much smoother. (In some cases, it doesn’t at all.) But there’s a rather tangible benefit to opting for a GTX 980, and it comes right out of the box-that backplate makes putting this card into a system super easy. As you’ll see below in the benchmarks table, the GTX 980 does generally outperform the GTX 780 Ti, but not by much. ![]() ![]() You get a little more out of the experience. ![]() You keep what you had, but it becomes easier to get around you can access your stuff more quickly you work more efficiently. It’s the Little Things The difference between using a GTX 980 and its most recent predecessor is akin to that subtle effect of thoughtfully rearranging the furniture in your house. I’ve been in a very upbeat mood this week. It’s that little grin that you just can’t wipe off your face because you’re just so pleased by the experience. If you can afford it, PC gaming can spark that same kind of smile that folks who’ve driven a Tesla get. Second, I readily acknowledge that the GTX 980 is absolutely a higher-end card (it’s now the top single-GPU card in NVIDIA’s lineup)-and that you don’t have to have a higher-end card to get enjoyable PC gaming. (Though if you're wondering, the 980 is a pretty quiet card. Testing acoustics and power consumption extends beyond the equipment I have at the moment, so this is more of a quick look at how the GTX 980 does for gaming. First, a little transparency: having started at IGN just last week, my test lab is still in a fledgling state. ![]()
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December 2022
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