NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti – Achieving 4K at a Lesser Cost

NVIDIA recently welcomed the GeForce GTX 980 Ti to its line of graphics cards, offering quality performance that can achieve 4K in many of the latest video games while only costing the user $649. This is a nice price when compared to the thousand dollar Titan X which also provides 4K capabilities.

The GeForce GTX 980 Ti, based on the GM200 GPU, features 2816 CUDA cores and 6GB of GDDR5 memory. It runs a base clock frequency of 1000MHz and boost clock speed of 1075MHz, though that can be overclocked to much higher numbers.

The GTX 980 Ti also comes with a 384-bit memory interface that runs at 7GHz effective memory clock speed and has a peak memory bandwidth that is 50% higher than the GTX 980. Also, looking at previous cards, the 980 Ti is three times faster than the 680 and 65% faster than the 780 Ti.

Visit GeForce.com for full information on the GeForce GTX 980 Ti

Having just recently pressed the Titan X to the max with 4K gaming, it’s very exciting to see just how much the GTX 980 Ti can handle when compared to the Titan X. The 980 Ti proves to hold its own when playing many of the latest games at 4K, making it an ideal card to consider. Below are some of my experiences with the 980 Ti at 4K and 1440p.

I’m still running on older parts which include an i5 2500 and a P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3 motherboard. My PC also features HyperX Fury 8×2 1866MHz memory, two Solid-State Drives and an 850w PSU.

During my tests with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti I try to get the most out of the games with maximum settings while still keeping a decent frame rate at 4K and 1440p. This means that higher numbers can be found with the frames per second for those who don’t mind giving up a little bit of quality.

Each video shares what settings I’m running the games at and includes statistical information at the top left of the screen.

Project CARS
Project CARS is a game I focused on a lot with the 980 Ti on maximum settings at 4K. It ended up being a tough one to judge as the changing environment can play a big part on the frames per second. In the videos below I show both a 4K and 1440p video playing Project CARS on the same track, though the first half of the video is played with 36 cars in a thunderstorm while the second half of the video is with 12 cars in clear conditions.

The amount of cars in each race seems to drag on the card quite a bit. While in the middle of the pack during the thunderstorm I noticed the frames per second dropping into the low teens, but when escaping from the group the FPS goes back up to about 30. However, with only 12 cars in sunny conditions, I began with 30 FPS while in the middle of the pack and then moved up to 60 once breaking away from the group.

Project CARS can easily be enjoyed in 4K with the GTX 980 Ti, but weather conditions and the amount of cars can provide some tough conditions along the way. I also recorded video with those same situations at 1440p for comparison. Both videos are below.

Crysis 3
Crysis 3 struggled somewhat at 4K maximum settings as it would dip below 30. Changing everything from very high (maximum) to high gave me about 10 more FPS to work with, providing a more enjoyable upper 30 FPS for 4K gameplay. Gamers will definitely want to play around a bit with the quality settings for 4K play. 1440p ran at around 50 FPS with dips into the mid 40’s and spikes up to 60 FPS making it the better experience with the 980 Ti.

The Witcher 3
Much like the Titan X, running The Witcher 3 in 4K drops the game on average to below 30 FPS. In towns and in the middle of action is when this is the most noticeable as I will normally see about 25 to 26 FPS, although I did have some consistency at 28 to 30 FPS. Running at 1440p gave me the more natural 60 FPS while running in the middle of an open field. However, during combat and in towns I saw the average drop to about 50 FPS.

1440p is far more the enjoyable experience at maximum settings which reach 60 FPS. However, players can tweak the quality settings at 4K to achieve a more respectable FPS. Placing everything on low settings at 4K saw the frames per second reach the upper 40’s.

Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider is a great 4K experience at maximum settings with the 980 Ti as I obtained around 45 FPS on average, enjoying a very smooth experience. It probably wouldn’t take much reduction in quality to achieve 60 FPS, but I felt the game ran respectably well without tweaking anything.

NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 980 Ti packs a Titan-like punch for gamers looking to get into 4K gaming. 4K is easily achievable with respectable frame rates in most games except for the ones that are very demanding and ask the most out of any card. But even if 4K isn’t an option, 1440p ends up being a great choice that almost always achieves upwards of 60 FPS on maximum settings.

Simply leave a request in the comments below if you would like to see a specific game in 4K or 1440p with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti.

Here are more 4K performance videos with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti

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