GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile vs GTX 980 Mobile

Place in the ranking	256	168
Place by popularity	not in top-100	69
Cost-effectiveness evaluation	19.51	no data
Power efficiency	7.39	27.91
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0 (2014−2019)	Ampere (2020−2024)
GPU code name	GM204	GA106
Market segment	Laptop	Laptop
Release date	21 September 2015 (9 years ago)	12 January 2021 (3 years ago)
Launch price (MSRP)	$395.82	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 cores	2048	3840
Core clock speed	1064 MHz	900 MHz
Boost clock speed	1216 MHz	1425 MHz
Number of transistors	5,200 million	13,250 million
Manufacturing process technology	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100-200 Watt	80 Watt
Texture fill rate	136.2	171.0
Floating-point processing power	4.358 TFLOPS	10.94 TFLOPS
ROPs	64	48
TMUs	128	120
Tensor Cores	no data	120
Ray Tracing Cores	no data	30

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 size	large	large
Bus support	PCI Express 3.0	no data
Interface	MXM-B (3.0)	PCIe 4.0 x16
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 type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	6 GB
Memory bus width	256 Bit	192 Bit
Memory clock speed	7.0 GB/s	1750 MHz
Memory bandwidth	224 GB/s	336.0 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 Connectors	Dual Link DVI-I, HDMI 2.0, 3x DisplayPort 1.2	No outputs
Multi monitor support	4 displays	no data
VGA аnalog display support	+	no data
DisplayPort Multimode (DP++) support	+	no data
HDMI	+	-
HDCP	+	-
Maximum VGA resolution	2048x1536	no data
G-SYNC support	+	-
Audio input for HDMI	Internal	no data

Supported technologies

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

GameStream	+	-
GeForce ShadowPlay	+	-
GPU Boost	2.0	no data
GameWorks	+	-
H.264, VC1, MPEG2 1080p video decoder	+	-
Optimus	+	-
BatteryBoost	+	-

API compatibility

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

DirectX	12 (12_1)	12 Ultimate (12_2)
Shader Model	6.4	6.5
OpenGL	4.5	4.6
OpenCL	1.2	2.0
Vulkan	1.1.126	1.2
CUDA	+	8.6

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 980 Mobile 21.57

RTX 3060 Mobile 32.57
+51%

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 980 Mobile 17201

RTX 3060 Mobile 27419
+59.4%

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 980 Mobile 39702

RTX 3060 Mobile 57333
+44.4%

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 980 Mobile 13047

RTX 3060 Mobile 20609
+58%

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 980 Mobile 76705

RTX 3060 Mobile 104826
+36.7%

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 980 Mobile 347481

RTX 3060 Mobile 466087
+34.1%

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 HD	98 +0%	98 +0%
1440p	40−45 −65%	66 +65%
4K	45 +12.5%	40 −12.5%

Cost per frame, $

1080p	4.04	no data
1440p	9.90	no data
4K	8.80	no data

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077

35−40

−186%

103
+186%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 −42.9%	70−75 +42.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40 −100%	76 +100%
Battlefield 5	70−75 −45.2%	100−110 +45.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	45−50 −46.7%	65−70 +46.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 −139%	86 +139%
Far Cry 5	50−55 −43.1%	70−75 +43.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	55−60 −39%	80−85 +39%
Forza Horizon 4	130−140 −29.1%	170−180 +29.1%
Hitman 3	40−45 −141%	106 +141%
Horizon Zero Dawn	100−110 −35.2%	140−150 +35.2%
Metro Exodus	75−80 −113%	164 +113%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 −35.6%	80−85 +35.6%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	70−75 −55.4%	110−120 +55.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion	95−100 −21.6%	110−120 +21.6%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 −42.9%	70−75 +42.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40 −68.4%	64 +68.4%
Battlefield 5	70−75 −45.2%	100−110 +45.2%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	45−50 −46.7%	65−70 +46.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 −91.7%	69 +91.7%
Far Cry 5	50−55 −43.1%	70−75 +43.1%
Far Cry New Dawn	55−60 −39%	80−85 +39%
Forza Horizon 4	130−140 −29.1%	170−180 +29.1%
Hitman 3	40−45 −145%	108 +145%
Horizon Zero Dawn	100−110 −80%	189 +80%
Metro Exodus	75−80 −67.5%	129 +67.5%
Red Dead Redemption 2	55−60 −72.9%	102 +72.9%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	70−75 −114%	158 +114%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	124 +82.4%	65−70 −82.4%
Watch Dogs: Legion	95−100 −62.9%	158 +62.9%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	45−50 −42.9%	70−75 +42.9%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	35−40 −47.4%	56 +47.4%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	45−50 −46.7%	65−70 +46.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	35−40 −72.2%	62 +72.2%
Far Cry 5	50−55 −43.1%	70−75 +43.1%
Forza Horizon 4	130−140 −29.1%	170−180 +29.1%
Hitman 3	40−45 −118%	96 +118%
Horizon Zero Dawn	100−110 −14.3%	120 +14.3%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	70−75 −89.2%	140 +89.2%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	44 −77.3%	78 +77.3%
Watch Dogs: Legion	95−100 +111%	46 −111%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

55−60

−62.7%

96
+62.7%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5	40−45 −47.6%	60−65 +47.6%
Far Cry New Dawn	30−35 −47.1%	50−55 +47.1%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	21−24 −52.2%	35−40 +52.2%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	21−24 −129%	48 +129%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	24−27 −52%	35−40 +52%
Cyberpunk 2077	12−14 −200%	39 +200%
Far Cry 5	24−27 −46.2%	35−40 +46.2%
Forza Horizon 4	120−130 −49.6%	180−190 +49.6%
Hitman 3	24−27 −146%	64 +146%
Horizon Zero Dawn	45−50 −88.9%	85 +88.9%
Metro Exodus	40−45 −102%	85 +102%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	45−50 −115%	101 +115%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	24−27 −69.2%	40−45 +69.2%
Watch Dogs: Legion	120−130 +10.3%	116 −10.3%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

35−40

−116%

80
+116%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5	21−24 −45.5%	30−35 +45.5%
Far Cry New Dawn	16−18 −52.9%	24−27 +52.9%
Hitman 3	16−18 −141%	41 +141%
Horizon Zero Dawn	110−120 −39.1%	160−170 +39.1%
Metro Exodus	24−27 −150%	60 +150%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt	30 −83.3%	55 +83.3%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey	12−14 −61.5%	21−24 +61.5%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	12−14 +9.1%	11 −9.1%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	12−14 −66.7%	20−22 +66.7%
Cyberpunk 2077	5−6 −200%	15 +200%
Far Cry 5	12−14 −50%	18−20 +50%
Forza Horizon 4	30−33 −50%	45−50 +50%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	24−27 −131%	60 +131%
Watch Dogs: Legion	10−11 −90%	19 +90%

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2

18−20

−132%

44
+132%

This is how GTX 980 Mobile and RTX 3060 Mobile compete in popular games:

A tie in 1080p
RTX 3060 Mobile is 65% faster in 1440p
GTX 980 Mobile is 13% faster in 4K

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

in Watch Dogs: Legion, with 1080p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the GTX 980 Mobile is 111% faster.
in Cyberpunk 2077, with 1440p resolution and the Ultra Preset, the RTX 3060 Mobile is 200% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

GTX 980 Mobile is ahead in 4 tests (6%)
RTX 3060 Mobile is ahead in 68 tests (94%)

Pros & cons summary

Performance score	21.57	32.57
Recency	21 September 2015	12 January 2021
Maximum RAM amount	4 GB	6 GB
Chip lithography	28 nm	8 nm
Power consumption (TDP)	100 Watt	80 Watt

RTX 3060 Mobile has a 51% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, a 50% higher maximum VRAM amount, a 250% more advanced lithography process, and 25% lower power consumption.

The GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile is our recommended choice as it beats the GeForce GTX 980 Mobile in performance tests.

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