NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data for these two NVIDIA cards shows a decisive overall winner in the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti, which takes both recorded head-to-head tests. The most lopsided result appears in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where the GTX 980 Ti scores 47,724 points against the GTX 1630's 23,695 points. That is a difference of 101.4 percent, meaning the older card more than doubles the newer one's output in this API workload. The GTX 980 Ti also wins the Geekbench OpenCL test by a wide margin, posting 43,513 points versus the GTX 1630's 24,858 points, a 75 percent advantage. These are not close contests; the GTX 980 Ti leads by a substantial amount in both compute-oriented synthetic workloads.

Looking at the aggregate benchmark scores, the GTX 980 Ti averages 28,020 points across all recorded tests, while the GTX 1630 averages 24,277 points. That puts the GTX 980 Ti roughly 15 percent ahead on average, though the head-to-head deltas are far larger because the two cards share only those two common tests. The GTX 980 Ti also sits at the 73rd percentile among all GPUs in the database, while the GTX 1630 sits at the 70th percentile. Despite the older architecture and much higher power draw, the GTX 980 Ti holds a clear performance tier above the GTX 1630 in every measured category where both appear.

The nearest rivals in the database further contextualize each card's standing. The GTX 980 Ti's closest competitors include the AMD Radeon Pro W5500X, which averages 27,973 points (just 0.2 percent behind), the AMD FirePro S7150 at 28,117 points (0.3 percent ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 7800M at 27,883 points (0.5 percent behind). The GTX 1630's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti at 24,236 points (0.2 percent behind), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at 24,170 points (0.4 percent behind), and the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT at 24,442 points (0.7 percent ahead). These groupings show that the GTX 980 Ti competes in a higher performance bracket despite its age, while the GTX 1630 lands among much newer but lower-tier parts.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from entirely different design eras. The GTX 980 Ti uses the GM200 chip built on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 8,000 million transistors into a 601 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 13.3 million per square millimeter. The GTX 1630 uses the TU117 chip based on Turing architecture, also made by TSMC but on a 12 nm process. That chip contains 4,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, for a density of 23.5 million per square millimeter. So the newer card is far more compact and transistor-dense, yet it delivers much lower absolute performance.

The compute resources differ drastically. The GTX 980 Ti carries 2,816 shading units, 176 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The GTX 1630 has only 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. Neither card includes ray tracing cores or tensor cores, so both rely purely on conventional rasterization and compute hardware. The GTX 980 Ti's raw throughput figures reflect its larger array: 6.060 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, a pixel rate of 103.3 GPixel/s, and a texture rate of 189.4 GTexel/s. The GTX 1630 manages 1.828 TFLOPS FP32, 28.56 GPixel/s, and 57.12 GTexel/s. Interestingly, the GTX 1630 does list FP16 capability at 3.656 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the GTX 980 Ti has no recorded FP16 figure, but that does not help it in the common FP32 workloads these benchmarks represent.

Clock speeds tell a contrasting story. The GTX 980 Ti runs at a 1000 MHz base and 1076 MHz boost, while the GTX 1630 runs at 1740 MHz base and 1785 MHz boost. The newer card's much higher clocks partially compensate for its smaller core, but not enough to overcome the older card's massive resource advantage. Memory speeds also differ: the GTX 980 Ti uses 1753 MHz memory with 7 Gbps effective data rate, while the GTX 1630 uses 1500 MHz memory at 12 Gbps effective. The GTX 980 Ti's memory subsystem is far wider and faster overall.

Memory Subsystem

Memory configuration is one of the starkest divides. The GTX 980 Ti has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 336.6 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 1630 has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus, yielding only 96.00 GB/s. That is a factor of 3.5 in bandwidth, which heavily impacts performance in resolution-heavy and texture-heavy workloads. The GTX 1630's narrower bus is a fundamental limitation that clock speed cannot overcome.

Power and Physical Design

Power requirements are equally divergent. The GTX 980 Ti carries a 250 W TDP, requires dual-slot cooling, and needs both a 6-pin and an 8-pin power connector, with a suggested 600 W power supply. The GTX 1630 draws only 75 W, fits a single-slot profile, needs no external power connectors, and works with a suggested 250 W power supply. Physically, the GTX 980 Ti measures 267 mm in length, 111 mm in height, and 40 mm in width. The GTX 1630 is dramatically smaller at 145 mm long, 69 mm tall, and 18 mm wide. The newer card is clearly designed for low-power, space-constrained builds, while the older one demands a full-sized chassis and robust power delivery.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in Vulkan workloads?

A: The GTX 980 Ti scores 47,724 in Geekbench Vulkan versus the GTX 1630's 23,695, a 101.4 percent lead. The gap is enough that the GTX 980 Ti effectively doubles the GTX 1630's Vulkan performance.

Q: Does the GTX 1630's newer architecture make up for its smaller core?

A: No. Despite the 12 nm Turing design and much higher clock speeds (1785 MHz boost versus 1076 MHz), the GTX 1630 still loses both head-to-head benchmarks by massive margins. The GTX 980 Ti's 2,816 shading units versus 512, and its 336.6 GB/s memory bandwidth versus 96.00 GB/s, overwhelm the clock advantage.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference?

A: The GTX 980 Ti averages 28,020 points across all recorded tests, while the GTX 1630 averages 24,277 points. That is roughly a 15 percent gap in aggregate, though the shared-test gap is much larger.

Q: How do these cards compare to their nearest rivals?

A: The GTX 980 Ti sits within 0.7 percent of the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20, AMD Radeon RX 7800M, AMD FirePro S7150, and AMD Radeon Pro W5500X. The GTX 1630 sits within 0.9 percent of the AMD Radeon RX 6800S, AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti. Both cards are closely matched to their direct competitors in the database.

Q: Which card needs more power from the system?

A: The GTX 980 Ti requires a 250 W TDP, dual-slot cooling, a 6-pin plus 8-pin power connector, and a suggested 600 W power supply. The GTX 1630 needs only 75 W, single-slot cooling, no power connector, and a suggested 250 W power supply.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The GTX 980 Ti has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 336.6 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 1630 has 4 GB of GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s bandwidth.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across nearly every core specification. The GTX 980 Ti uses the GM200 chip on 28 nm process with 8,000 million transistors and a 601 mm² die. The GTX 1630 uses the TU117 chip on 12 nm with 4,700 million transistors and a 200 mm² die. Transistor density is 13.3M per mm² for the GTX 980 Ti versus 23.5M per mm² for the GTX 1630.

Clock speeds: the GTX 980 Ti runs at 1000 MHz base and 1076 MHz boost, while the GTX 1630 runs at 1740 MHz base and 1785 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 1753 MHz (7 Gbps effective) for the GTX 980 Ti versus 1500 MHz (12 Gbps effective) for the GTX 1630.

Compute resources: the GTX 980 Ti has 2,816 shading units, 176 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The GTX 1630 has 512 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The GTX 980 Ti produces 6.060 TFLOPS FP32, 103.3 GPixel/s pixel rate, and 189.4 GTexel/s texture rate. The GTX 1630 produces 1.828 TFLOPS FP32, 28.56 GPixel/s, and 57.12 GTexel/s, plus 3.656 TFLOPS FP16.

Memory: the GTX 980 Ti has 6 GB GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 336.6 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 1630 has 4 GB GDDR6 on a 64-bit bus with 96.00 GB/s. Power: the GTX 980 Ti has a 250 W TDP, dual-slot width, 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors, and a suggested 600 W PSU. The GTX 1630 has a 75 W TDP, single-slot width, no power connector, and a suggested 250 W PSU. Dimensions: the GTX 980 Ti is 267 mm by 111 mm by 40 mm; the GTX 1630 is 145 mm by 69 mm by 18 mm. Display outputs: the GTX 980 Ti offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.2; the GTX 1630 offers 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 1x DisplayPort 1.4a. Release dates differ: June 2015 for the GTX 980 Ti versus June 2022 for the GTX 1630. The GTX 980 Ti had a launch MSRP of 649 USD; the GTX 1630 has no recorded launch MSRP.

Where Each One Wins

The GTX 980 Ti wins outright in every recorded benchmark category. In Geekbench OpenCL, it leads by 75 percent, and in Geekbench Vulkan, it leads by 101.4 percent. Its higher average benchmark score of 28,020 versus 24,277 confirms that this is not a workload-specific fluke but a consistent performance advantage. The GTX 980 Ti also wins on memory bandwidth by a factor of 3.5, on shading units by a factor of 5.5, and on FP32 throughput by a factor of 3.3. Any compute-heavy task, high-resolution gaming, or texture-intensive application will favor the GTX 980 Ti.

The GTX 1630 wins on efficiency and physical footprint. Its 75 W TDP requires no external power connector and only a 250 W suggested power supply, making it suitable for small form factor systems or prebuilt office machines with limited power delivery. Its 145 mm length and single-slot design fit where the GTX 980 Ti's 267 mm dual-slot card cannot. The GTX 1630 also runs at much higher clocks (1785 MHz boost versus 1076 MHz), which helps in lightly threaded or clock-bound scenarios, though no benchmark in the database confirms a win there. Its FP16 capability at 3.656 TFLOPS could benefit specific compute workloads, but again, no recorded test shows an advantage.

For practical use, the GTX 980 Ti is the choice for anyone who needs raw compute performance and has the power budget and chassis space. The GTX 1630 is the choice for anyone who needs a low-power, compact card for basic display output or light workloads, where its smaller core and memory subsystem are acceptable trade-offs.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1630 in every benchmark where both appear. Two wins out of two head-to-head tests, with leads of 75 percent and 101.4 percent, place the GTX 980 Ti in a different performance class. Its average score of 28,020 versus 24,277 reinforces that positioning. Anyone selecting between these two for compute, gaming, or general GPU-accelerated tasks should choose the GTX 980 Ti without hesitation, provided their system can handle its 250 W TDP, dual-slot size, and 600 W suggested power supply.

The GTX 1630's advantages are purely practical. It consumes only 75 W, needs no power connector, fits in a single slot at 145 mm length, and runs on a 250 W suggested power supply. For a media PC, a low-profile workstation, or a secondary display machine, the GTX 1630 makes sense. But for performance, the GTX 980 Ti wins decisively, and the benchmark data shows no scenario where the GTX 1630 catches up. The older card's larger core, wider memory bus, and higher throughput simply overwhelm the newer card's clock speed and process node advantages. The verdict is clear: the GTX 980 Ti for performance, the GTX 1630 for efficiency and size.