GeForce Ti Showdown: GTX 980 Ti vs GTX 1080 Ti vs RTX 2080 Ti

A History Lesson in Ti

NVIDIA has always left the best for last in its GeForce GTX and GeForce RTX graphics cards with its Ti, or Titanium range of GeForce graphics cards. Ti cards are the fastest of the series, until you get to the TITAN family -- which usually have the absolute best the GPU architecture at the time offers, as well as more and sometimes faster VRAM.

NVIDIA launched its first Ti series graphics card with the GeForce2 Ti at the time, which was second only to the higher-end GeForce2 Ultra at the time. This is all the way back in 2001, with the GeForce 2 succeeding the GeForce 256 in 1999. NVIDIA followed up the GeForce2 Ti with the GeForce3 Ti500 graphics card in October 2001.

Next up was the GeForce4 family of graphics cards which really unleashed the Ti cards, with NVIDIA launching the GeForce4 Ti4200, Ti4200 8x, Ti4400, Ti4400 8x, Ti4600, and the Ti4600 8x. The GeForce4 Ti4800 8x was also known as the GeForce4 Ti4400SE -- with these cards coming out between 2002-2003.

But when NVIDIA launched the GeForce FX family of graphics cards, it dropped the Ti branding and opted for some XT, Ultra, and PCX series graphics cards instead. NVIDIA stuck with the no-Ti rule with the GeForce 6000 series, with its flagship card launching in 2004 as the GeForce 6800 Ultra.

After that NVIDIA launched the GeForce 7000 series cards, which still had no Ti family of cards but there was the first-ever GTX branded card in the GeForce 7900 GTX. NVIDIA had a dual-GPU graphics card in the GeForce 7900 GX2 and GeForce 7950 GX2. Man those were the days, seriously -- and we're talking 2006 here.

Nope, the GeForce 8000 series graphics cards didn't feature a Ti or Titanium model, but it did have the GeForce 8800 GTX and GeForce GTX 8800 Ultra which were ridiculously powerful at the time -- at least back in 2006/2007 when they launched. Two of those cards in SLI were monstrous setups of the day.

Then came the GeForce 9000 series in 2008, where NVIDIA with the ridiculous 3-way GPU capable GeForce 9800 GTX and GeForce 9800 GTX+ with another dual-GPU card in the GeForce 9800 GX2.

After that was some nomenclature changes, with NVIDIA moving away form the 4-digit GeForce names to 3-digit (GeForce 9800 down to GeForce GTX 280). Speaking of the GTX 280, NVIDIA had the GeForce GTX series in full swing here with the GTX 280, GTX 285, and the dual-GPU GeForce GTX 295 and plenty of others.

Ti was still absent with the infamous GeForce GTX 400 series graphics cards and its GeForce GTX 480 AKA leafblower.

Personal note: this is when I started working with TweakTown as I started conversing with the then GPU Editor Shawn Baker. We talked all day, all week, all month long about Fermi and its failures on the infamous Overclockers Australia forums.

After that the Ti is still missing in 2011 with the launch of the GeForce GTX 500 series led by the GeForce GTX 580 and dual-GPU GeForce GTX 590 graphics cards. The GeForce 600 series quickly came and went as well, led by the GeForce GTX 680 and dual-GPU GeForce GTX 690 graphics cards.

NVIDIA strike back with Maxwell and the launch of the GeForce 700 series.

NVIDIA broke out of the gate with the far-out-it's-fast GeForce GTX 780 graphics card in May 2013, but in May 2013 the company surprised with its GeForce GTX 780 Ti -- the return of Titanium.

NVIDIA didn't stop with the return of Titanium with the GTX 780 Ti, but it also released the beast that was TITAN. NVIDIA released the GeForce GTX TITAN in February 2013, followed up a year later by the GeForce GTX TITAN Black, and even the dual-GPU beast in the GeForce G TX TITAN Z.

The company didn't stop with Maxwell and rode the lightning right into the GeForce 900 series, led by the kick ass GeForce 980 Ti (which I'm benchmarking here today) and the newer GeForce GTX TITAN X graphics cards. This all happened in 2014 with GeForce GTX 980 starting out, led in June 2015 with the GeForce GTX 980 Ti.

Oh boy, did NVIDIA turn the heat up in 2016 with the release of its GeForce 10 series graphics cards led by the GeForce GTX 1080 -- and not even a year later the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. NVIDIA also unleashed a new TITAN in the TITAN X and TITAN Xp graphics cards in 2016 and 2017, respectively.

After that NVIDIA came back with a vengeance and changed up its GeForce branding from GTX to RTX with Turing and the GeForce 20 series. NVIDIA's new flagship debuted with the slightly lower-end cards, with the new GeForce RTX 2080 Ti launching inside of the same month as the GeForce RTX 2080 and GeForce RTX 2070 graphicsi cards.

It wouldn't be a new graphics card launch without a new TITAN, but NVIDIA took this one to the next level and strapped 24GB of GDDR6 onto the TITAN RTX -- up from the 8GB on the RTX 2070/2080 and 11GB on the RTX 2080 Ti.

The road of Titanium has been long, and they represent some of the best of the best in GeForce graphcis cards.

But how does the older GeForce GTX 980 Ti perform in 2020? Surprisingly well. The same goes for the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti but we already knew that... and the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti? Well, we know that thing is a beast in its own right.

However, I've thrown in a bunch of other graphics cards into the benchmark charts to see how the Ti series graphics cards match up today in 2020 against the likes of AMD's new Navi-based Radeon RX 5000 series, as well as the older HBM2-powered Vega-based Radeon RX Vega graphics cards.

Let's do this!

Graphics Cards Used

1. NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

• Released: September 2018 
• GPU: Turing TU102 
• GPU cores: 4352 
• Boost GPU clock: 1545MHz 
• VRAM: 11GB GDDR6 @ 14Gbps 
• Memory bandwidth: 616GB/sec 
• PCIe power connectors: 2 x 8-pin 
• TDP: 250W 
• Price: $1080 

2. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

• Released: March 2017 
• GPU: Pascal GP102 
• GPU cores: 3584 
• Boost GPU clock: 1582MHz 
• VRAM: 11GB GDDR5X @ 11Gbps 
• Memory bandwidth: 484GB/sec 
• PCIe power connectors: 6 + 8-pin 
• TDP: 250W 
• Price: $699 

3. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

• Released: June 2015 
• GPU: Maxwell GM200 
• GPU cores: 2816 
• Boost GPU clock: 1076MHz 
• VRAM: 6GB GDDR5 @ 7Gbps 
• Memory bandwidth: 336GB/sec 
• PCIe power connectors: 6 + 8-pin 
• TDP: 250W 
• Price: $649 

GPU Test Rig Specs

Welcome to the latest revision of our GPU test bed, with our system being upgraded from the Intel Core i9-9900K t. The CPU is cooled by the Corsair H115i PRO cooler, with the. We've stayed with GIGABYTE for our motherboard 

We approached our friends at HyperX for a kit of their kick ass HyperX Predator DDR4-2933MHz RAM (HX429C15PB3AK4/32), with 2 x 8GB sticks for a total of 16GB DDR4-2933. The RAM stands out through every minute of our testing as it has beautiful RGB lights giving the system a slick look while benchmarking our lives away, while the Z370 AORUS Gaming 7 motherboard joins in with its own array of RGB lighting.

 Test System Specifications

• CPU: Intel Core i9-9900k @stock
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H115i PRO 
• Memory: 16GB (2x8GB) HyperX Predator DDR4-2933 
• SSD: 1TB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2 
• SSD: 512GB Toshiba OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2 
• Power Supply: EVGA 1000W platinum
• Case: InWin X-Frame 
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

3DMark Fire Strike - 1440p

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

3DMark Fire Strike - 4K

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

3DMark TimeSpy

3DMark TimeSpy Extreme

Heaven - 1080p

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

Heaven - 1440p

Heaven - 4K

1080p Benchmarks

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

1080p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

If you want to hit 1080p 60FPS in Shadow of War then the older GeForce GTX 980 Ti -- then starting off this Ti Showdown article shows off the strength of the GTX 980 Ti which hits 74FPS in Shadow of War. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is still super-strong with 127FPS average, equaling the Radeon RX 5700 XT and just under the GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER. The GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is head and shoulders above everything else at 161FPS.

Moving onto Metro Exodus we have 40FPS average from the GTX 980 Ti, which sees the Maxwell-based car drop down to the same performance as the low-end RX 5500 XT. The GTX 1080 Ti is still taking big swings up at 74FPS average, just 2FPS shy of the RTX 2070 SUPER at 76FPS -- but the RTX 2080 Ti is the Ti champ here with 101FPS average.

Far Cry New Dawn can still be enjoyed on the GTX 980 Ti with 84FPS, but the GTX 1080 Ti pushes a huge 112FPS while the RTX 2080 Ti hits the ceiling at 115FPS. Shadow of the Tomb Raider has virtually identical results with the GTX 980 Ti hitting 82FPS, while the GTX 1080 Ti reaches 132FPS and the RTX 2080 Ti hits the ceiling of 150FPS at 1080p.

1440p Benchmarks

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

1440p Benchmark Performance Thoughts

You probably wouldn't buy a GTX 980 Ti for AAA gaming at 1440p but that doesn't mean it can't do it -- Shadow of War is pretty punishing on the memory interface and the GTX 980 Ti holds up with 53FPS average. It loses to the GTX 1070 Ti and RX 5500 XT, while the GTX 1080 Ti is strong with 91FPS and the RTX 2080 Ti commands leadership positions with 131FPS average.

Metro Exodus isn't easy at 1440p for any card, with the previous-gen Maxwell-based GTX 980 Ti hitting 33FPS average. The newer GTX 1080 Ti is fairing much better here with 58FPS, while the RTX 2080 Ti is a massive leader with 80FPS average.

You can still get over 60FPS average in Far Cry New Dawn with the GTX 980 Ti, while the GTX 1080 Ti pushes 99FPS and the RTX 2080 Ti with 110FPS. Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 2560 x 1440 sees the GTX 980 Ti with 54FPS average, 2FPS slower than the RX 5500 XT while the GTX 1080 Ti is a monster with 99FPS average and the RTX 2080 Ti even more so with 134FPS average.

4K Benchmarks

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a sequel to the popular Shadow of Mordor, which was powered by the Lithtech engine. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.

Metro Exodus is one of the hardest tests that our graphics cards have to go through, with 4A Games' latest creation being one of the best looking games on the market. It is a serious test that pushes GPUs to their limits, and also features RTX technologies like DLSS.

Far Cry New Dawn was developed by Ubisoft, and is powered the Dunia Engine, an engine that has been modified over the years for Far Cry and last used in Far Cry 5. Dunia Engine itself was a modified version of CRYENGINE, scaling incredibly well on all sorts of hardware.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is one of the latest games to join our graphics card benchmark lineup, with the game built using the Foundation engine as a base, the same engine in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Eidos Montreal R&D department made lots of changes to the engine during the development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to make it one of the best-looking games out right now.

4K Benchmark Performance Thoughts

This is where I'm the most interested to see how they perform: 3840 x 2160, or 4K.

NVIDIA's older GeForce GTX 980 Ti is still alright at 4K in Shadow of War with 33FPS average, but the new lower-end champion in the Radeon RX 5500 XT is a mini high-res champ (at least compared to an older-gen high-end card) with 36FPS average. The GTX 1080 Ti chews through Shadow of War at 4K with 58FPS average, while the RTX 2080 Ti handles it like it's 1080p with a huge 87FPS.

Metro Exodus pushes the GTX 980 Ti into second-to-last place at 4K with 20FPS average, the same as the RX 5500 XT. But the GTX 1080 Ti is still strong(er) with 36FPS and the RTX 2080 Ti is slaying it here at 4K with 51FPS average.

Far Cry New Dawn still crushes the GTX 980 Ti at 4K, reducing it to just 34FPS -- but the GTX 1080 Ti is close to twice as fast with 61FPS average, and the RTX 2080 Ti out in front with 81FPS average. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is also punishing on the GTX 980 Ti which reduces it to just 28FPS average, the GTX 1080 Ti is still awesome at 58FPS while the RTX 2080 Ti is far ahead with 82FPS average.

Temps & Power

NVIDIA is notorious for seeing its reference and Founders Edition cards cooking, but it's the GTX 1080 Ti that leads here with 84C. The Maxwell-based GTX 980 Ti is 1C cooler at 83FPS, and even the dual-fan RTX 2080 Ti cooks at 78C, too.

Power Consumption

NVIDIA has been making some pretty huge improvements in efficiency in its GPUs over the years, leaning on node process improvements from Maxwell to Pascal to Turing along the way.

The previous-gen GeForce GTX 980 Ti still uses around 230-250W on its own and 315W in my Intel Core i7-8700K test bed. This is virtually identical power consumption as the flagship GeForce RTX 2080 Ti -- which is mind blowing considering how much faster the RTX 2080 Ti it barely uses any more power than a two-generation-old Ti champ like the GTX 980 Ti.

There were some great power improvements made on the GTX 1080 Ti over the GTX 980 Ti, but NVIDIA kinda unleashed the power on the RTX 2080 Ti in both ways (power consumption, and raw GPU grunt).

Final Ti Thoughts

Seriously, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is still a monster card and if you can buy one second hand on the cheap, would you do it?

AMD unleashed its new Radeon RX 5500 XT graphics card not too long ago Even this lower-end Radeon RX 5500 XT takes some swings at the previous-gen champion in the GeForce GTX 980 Ti in virtually all the tests I ran and at all resolutions, too.

• Radeon RX 5500 XT (brand new): $179-$199 
• GeForce GTX 980 Ti (second hand): $150+ 
• GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (second hand): $400+ 
• GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (brand new): $1200+ 

As you can see from some quick second hand pricing I looked at in preparation for this article, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is at least $150 second hand. With virtually identical performance to the GTX 980 Ti, the new RX 5500 XT offers everything the GTX 980 Ti can performance wise, but brand new for less than $200.

Not only that, but the Radeon RX 5500 XT is a much more efficient card in both GPU temps and power consumption. The RX 5500 XT (MSI's GAMING X variant) comes in at just 67C. Meanwhile, power consumption on the RX 5500 XT is much better at just 130W or so (190W for the full system) versus 230W for the GTX 980 Ti (315W for the full system).

Still, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is a champion in its own right for lasting this long -- if you purchased one at launch and haven't upgraded yet, you can see from these benchmarks that you would have to buy a GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, RTX 2080 SUPER, or RTX 2080 Ti to get the performance leap you're expecting.

if you want no-holds-barred performance then pull the trigger on the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER -- and if you want the best of the best, grab the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti. It handles everything you throw at it, and does so very efficiently on power consumption. The RTX 2080 Ti Founders Edition does run super hot, but I would always suggest getting a custom-cooled AIB partner card from the likes of MSI, EVGA, ZOTAC, or ASUS.