GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q vs GTX 1080 Mobile

Aggregate performance score

We've compared GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile and GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

GTX 1080 Mobile
2016
8 GB GDDR5, 150 Watt
35.54
+34.2%

GTX 1080 Mobile outperforms GTX 1080 Max-Q by a substantial 34% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking140207
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Cost-effectiveness evaluation42.16no data
Power efficiency16.2412.11
ArchitecturePascal (2016−2021)Pascal (2016−2021)
GPU code nameGP104GP104
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date15 August 2016 (8 years ago)27 June 2017 (7 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)$499.99 no data

Cost-effectiveness evaluation

Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.

no data

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores25602560
Core clock speed1607 MHz1290 MHz
Boost clock speed1771 MHz1468 MHz
Number of transistors7,200 million7,200 million
Manufacturing process technology16 nm16 nm
Power consumption (TDP)150 Watt150 Watt
Maximum GPU temperature94 °Cno data
Texture fill rate283.4234.9
Floating-point processing power9.068 TFLOPS7.516 TFLOPS
ROPs6464
TMUs160160

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Laptop sizelargelarge
Bus supportPCIe 3.0no data
InterfacePCIe 3.0 x16PCIe 3.0 x16
Supplementary power connectorsno dataNone
SLI options+-

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeGDDR5GDDR5X
Maximum RAM amount8 GB8 GB
Memory bus width256 Bit256 Bit
Memory clock speed10 GB/s1251 MHz
Memory bandwidth320 GB/s320.3 GB/s
Shared memory--

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display ConnectorsDP 1.42, HDMI 2.0b, DL-DVINo outputs
Multi monitor support+no data
G-SYNC support++

Supported technologies

Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.

GPU Boost3.0no data
VR Ready++
Ansel+no data

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX12 (12_1)12 (12_1)
Shader Model6.46.4
OpenGL4.54.6
OpenCL1.21.2
Vulkan1.2.1311.2.131
CUDA+6.1

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

GTX 1080 Mobile 35.54
+34.2%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 26.49

3DMark 11 Performance GPU

3DMark 11 is an obsolete DirectX 11 benchmark by Futuremark. It used four tests based on two scenes, one being few submarines exploring the submerged wreck of a sunken ship, the other is an abandoned temple deep in the jungle. All the tests are heavy with volumetric lighting and tessellation, and despite being done in 1280x720 resolution, are relatively taxing. Discontinued in January 2020, 3DMark 11 is now superseded by Time Spy.

GTX 1080 Mobile 28527
+21.2%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 23540

3DMark Vantage Performance

3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.

GTX 1080 Mobile 48874
+23.5%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 39562

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics

Fire Strike is a DirectX 11 benchmark for gaming PCs. It features two separate tests displaying a fight between a humanoid and a fiery creature made of lava. Using 1920x1080 resolution, Fire Strike shows off some realistic graphics and is quite taxing on hardware.

GTX 1080 Mobile 21394
+17.6%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 18192

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1080 Mobile 126690
+10.6%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 114542

3DMark Ice Storm GPU

Ice Storm Graphics is an obsolete benchmark, part of 3DMark suite. Ice Storm was used to measure entry level laptops and Windows-based tablets performance. It utilizes DirectX 11 feature level 9 to display a battle between two space fleets near a frozen planet in 1280x720 resolution. Discontinued in January 2020, it is now superseded by 3DMark Night Raid.

GTX 1080 Mobile 409018
+5.4%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 387951

3DMark Time Spy Graphics

GTX 1080 Mobile 6917
+17.9%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 5869

Unigine Heaven 3.0

This is an old DirectX 11 benchmark using Unigine, a 3D game engine by eponymous Russian company. It displays a fantasy medieval town sprawling over several flying islands. Version 3.0 was released in 2012, and in 2013 it was superseded by Heaven 4.0, which introduced several slight improvements, including a newer version of Unigine.

GTX 1080 Mobile 225
+14.3%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 197

SPECviewperf 12 - Showcase

GTX 1080 Mobile 104
+6.6%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 97

SPECviewperf 12 - Maya

This part of SPECviewperf 12 workstation benchmark uses Autodesk Maya 13 engine to render a superhero energy plant static scene consisting of more than 700 thousand polygons, in six different modes.

GTX 1080 Mobile 149
+21.8%
GTX 1080 Max-Q 122

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD115
+13.9%
101
−13.9%
1440p71
+9.2%
65
−9.2%
4K53
+12.8%
47
−12.8%

Cost per frame, $

1080p4.35no data
1440p7.04no data
4K9.43no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+41.9%
40−45
−41.9%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 59
−32.2%
78
+32.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 78
+73.3%
45−50
−73.3%
Battlefield 5 115
−0.9%
116
+0.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 93
+72.2%
50−55
−72.2%
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+41.9%
40−45
−41.9%
Far Cry 5 97
+2.1%
95
−2.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 129
+9.3%
118
−9.3%
Forza Horizon 4 214
−21.5%
260
+21.5%
Hitman 3 91
+68.5%
50−55
−68.5%
Horizon Zero Dawn 188
+56.7%
120−130
−56.7%
Metro Exodus 140
+5.3%
133
−5.3%
Red Dead Redemption 2 92
+35.3%
65−70
−35.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 129
−34.1%
173
+34.1%
Watch Dogs: Legion 150
+41.5%
100−110
−41.5%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 106
−15.1%
122
+15.1%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 68
+51.1%
45−50
−51.1%
Battlefield 5 107
+2.9%
104
−2.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 86
+59.3%
50−55
−59.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+41.9%
40−45
−41.9%
Far Cry 5 102
+32.5%
77
−32.5%
Far Cry New Dawn 100
+12.4%
89
−12.4%
Forza Horizon 4 195
−23.1%
240
+23.1%
Hitman 3 87
+61.1%
50−55
−61.1%
Horizon Zero Dawn 186
−9.1%
203
+9.1%
Metro Exodus 126
+14.5%
110
−14.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2 82
+20.6%
65−70
−20.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 120−130
−3.1%
132
+3.1%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 145
+154%
55−60
−154%
Watch Dogs: Legion 149
+40.6%
100−110
−40.6%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 53
−1.9%
54
+1.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 59
+31.1%
45−50
−31.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 66
+22.2%
50−55
−22.2%
Cyberpunk 2077 60−65
+41.9%
40−45
−41.9%
Far Cry 5 77
+24.2%
62
−24.2%
Forza Horizon 4 102
−3.9%
106
+3.9%
Hitman 3 76
+40.7%
50−55
−40.7%
Horizon Zero Dawn 123
+15%
107
−15%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 120−130
+14.3%
112
−14.3%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 74
+15.6%
64
−15.6%
Watch Dogs: Legion 51
+6.3%
48
−6.3%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 83
+22.1%
65−70
−22.1%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 80
+11.1%
72
−11.1%
Far Cry New Dawn 69
+19%
58
−19%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 42
−2.4%
43
+2.4%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 46
+76.9%
24−27
−76.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 49
+63.3%
30−33
−63.3%
Cyberpunk 2077 27−30
+58.8%
16−18
−58.8%
Far Cry 5 47
+11.9%
42
−11.9%
Forza Horizon 4 193
−23.3%
238
+23.3%
Hitman 3 54
+68.8%
30−35
−68.8%
Horizon Zero Dawn 89
+17.1%
76
−17.1%
Metro Exodus 74
+10.4%
67
−10.4%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 85−90
+4.9%
81
−4.9%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 50−55
+51.5%
30−35
−51.5%
Watch Dogs: Legion 144
−2.1%
140−150
+2.1%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 72
+63.6%
40−45
−63.6%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 40
+14.3%
35
−14.3%
Far Cry New Dawn 39
+21.9%
32
−21.9%
Hitman 3 34
+61.9%
21−24
−61.9%
Horizon Zero Dawn 89
−4.5%
93
+4.5%
Metro Exodus 45
+21.6%
37
−21.6%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 51
+13.3%
45
−13.3%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 31
+19.2%
26
−19.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 27
+92.9%
14−16
−92.9%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 27
+80%
14−16
−80%
Cyberpunk 2077 10−12
+57.1%
7−8
−57.1%
Far Cry 5 26
+30%
20
−30%
Forza Horizon 4 61
+10.9%
55
−10.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 45−50
+4.3%
46
−4.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion 21
+75%
12−14
−75%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 39
+69.6%
21−24
−69.6%

This is how GTX 1080 Mobile and GTX 1080 Max-Q compete in popular games:

  • GTX 1080 Mobile is 14% faster in 1080p
  • GTX 1080 Mobile is 9% faster in 1440p
  • GTX 1080 Mobile is 13% faster in 4K

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, with 1080p resolution and the High Preset, the GTX 1080 Mobile is 154% faster.
  • in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the GTX 1080 Max-Q is 34% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • GTX 1080 Mobile is ahead in 58 tests (81%)
  • GTX 1080 Max-Q is ahead in 14 tests (19%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 35.54 26.49
Recency 15 August 2016 27 June 2017

GTX 1080 Mobile has a 34.2% higher aggregate performance score.

GTX 1080 Max-Q, on the other hand, has an age advantage of 10 months.

The GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile
GeForce GTX 1080 Mobile
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q
GeForce GTX 1080 Max-Q

Comparisons with similar GPUs

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Community ratings

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Questions & comments

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