GeForce GTX 1060 3GB vs GeForce GTX 980

Intro

Compare those specs to the GeForce GTX 980, which has a GPU core clock speed of 1126 MHz, and 4096 MB of GDDR5 RAM set to run at 1750 MHz through a 256-bit bus. It also is comprised of 2048 SPUs, 128 TAUs, and 64 Raster Operation Units.

Display Graphs

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Benchmarks

These are real-world performance benchmarks that were submitted by Hardware Compare users. The scores seen here are the average of all benchmarks submitted for each respective test and hardware.

Zcash Mining Hash Rate

GeForce GTX 980		408 Sol/s
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		290 Sol/s
	Difference: 118 (41%)

Ethereum Mining Hash Rate

GeForce GTX 980		20 Mh/s
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		19 Mh/s
	Difference: 1 (5%)

3DMark Fire Strike Graphics Score

GeForce GTX 980		13552 points
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		12185 points
	Difference: 1367 (11%)

Power Usage and Theoretical Benchmarks

Power Consumption (Max TDP)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		120 Watts
GeForce GTX 980		165 Watts
	Difference: 45 Watts (38%)

Memory Bandwidth

Theoretically, the GeForce GTX 980 should be a small bit faster than the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB in general. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		224000 MB/sec
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		196608 MB/sec
	Difference: 27392 (14%)

Texel Rate

The GeForce GTX 980 is much (more or less 33%) faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 1060 3GB. (explain)

GeForce GTX 980		144128 Mtexels/sec
GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		108432 Mtexels/sec
	Difference: 35696 (33%)

Pixel Rate

The GeForce GTX 1060 3GB will be a little bit (about 0%) better at anti-aliasing than the GeForce GTX 980, and able to handle higher resolutions while still performing well. (explain)

GeForce GTX 1060 3GB		72288 Mpixels/sec
GeForce GTX 980		72064 Mpixels/sec
	Difference: 224 (0%)

Please note that the above 'benchmarks' are all just theoretical - the results were calculated based on the card's specifications, and real-world performance may (and probably will) vary at least a bit.

Price Comparison

Specifications

Memory Bandwidth: Memory bandwidth is the maximum amount of information (counted in MB per second) that can be moved past the external memory interface in one second. It is worked out by multiplying the card's bus width by its memory speed. If it uses DDR RAM, it should be multiplied by 2 once again. If it uses DDR5, multiply by ANOTHER 2x. The better the memory bandwidth, the faster the card will be in general. It especially helps with anti-aliasing, HDR and high resolutions.

Texel Rate: Texel rate is the maximum amount of texture map elements (texels) that can be processed per second. This number is calculated by multiplying the total amount of texture units of the card by the core clock speed of the chip. The better this number, the better the video card will be at handling texture filtering (anisotropic filtering - AF). It is measured in millions of texels applied in one second.

Pixel Rate: Pixel rate is the maximum amount of pixels the video card could possibly record to the local memory per second - measured in millions of pixels per second. The number is calculated by multiplying the amount of Raster Operations Pipelines by the the card's clock speed. ROPs (Raster Operations Pipelines - sometimes also referred to as Render Output Units) are responsible for outputting the pixels (image) to the screen. The actual pixel output rate is also dependant on lots of other factors, especially the memory bandwidth of the card - the lower the bandwidth is, the lower the ability to reach the max fill rate.