NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti vs NVIDIA RTX A5000 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The benchmark data presents a clear and consistent picture: the NVIDIA RTX A5000 wins every recorded head-to-head test against the GeForce GTX 980 Ti. The A5000 secures victories in all three shared workloads, which cover DirectX 12 gaming performance, OpenCL compute, and Vulkan graphics. The GTX 980 Ti does not register a single win in any of the overlapping benchmarks.

When examining the broader benchmark suites, the RTX A5000 demonstrates strength across a wide range of workloads. Its PassMark G3D score of 22,541 indicates strong general 3D rendering performance, while its PassMark GPU Compute score of 12,455 shows substantial compute throughput. The A5000 also posts a Geekbench OpenCL score of 157,905 and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 137,828, both of which dwarf the GTX 980 Ti's corresponding figures.

The GTX 980 Ti, by contrast, has a more limited benchmark footprint in the database. Its recorded results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1,321, a Geekbench Metal score of 19,520, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 43,513, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 47,724. The Geekbench Metal result is notable as it represents a workload the RTX A5000 does not have a recorded score for, though this is a single platform-specific test rather than a general performance advantage.

The percentile rankings reinforce the performance hierarchy. The RTX A5000 sits at the 78th percentile among all GPUs, while the GTX 980 Ti ranks at the 73rd percentile. The average benchmark scores also reflect this gap: the A5000 averages 33,622 across its recorded benchmarks, compared to 28,020 for the GTX 980 Ti. This difference of roughly 20% in average score is substantial, though the individual workload deltas are even larger.

Architecture Differences

The two cards come from fundamentally different eras of NVIDIA's GPU design. The RTX A5000 uses the GA102 chip built on Ampere architecture, manufactured by Samsung on an 8 nm process. This is a massive chip containing 28,300 million transistors on a 628 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.1 million transistors per square millimeter. The GTX 980 Ti, in contrast, uses the GM200 chip based on Maxwell 2.0 architecture, fabricated by TSMC on a 28 nm process. This older chip packs 8,000 million transistors onto a 601 mm² die, giving it a considerably lower density of 13.3 million transistors per square millimeter.

The transistor budget difference is stark: the A5000 has more than 3.5 times the transistor count of the GTX 980 Ti. This allows the Ampere card to field 8,192 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The Maxwell card operates with 2,816 shading units, 176 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The A5000 also brings dedicated ray tracing cores (64 of them) and tensor cores (256 of them), hardware that simply does not exist on the GTX 980 Ti. These specialized units enable features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI-accelerated workloads, capabilities that are entirely absent from the older architecture.

The A5000's FP32 compute reaches 27.77 TFLOPS, and its FP16 performance matches at 27.77 TFLOPS with a 1:1 ratio. The GTX 980 Ti delivers 6.060 TFLOPS of FP32 and has no recorded FP16 capability. Pixel fill rates also differ significantly: the A5000 achieves 162.7 GPixel/s versus 103.3 GPixel/s for the GTX 980 Ti. Texture fill rates show an even larger gap at 433.9 GTexel/s versus 189.4 GTexel/s.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The three directly comparable benchmarks show the RTX A5000 winning by margins that range from substantial to overwhelming. Starting with 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the A5000 scores 3,783 against the GTX 980 Ti's 1,321. This represents a 186.4% advantage for the Ampere card, meaning it delivers nearly three times the performance in this modern DirectX 12 workload. The gap here reflects not just raw compute power but also architectural efficiencies and feature support.

The Geekbench OpenCL result widens the gap considerably. The A5000 posts 157,905 points, while the GTX 980 Ti manages 43,513. The delta reaches 262.9%, which is the largest percentage advantage recorded in any head-to-head comparison between these two cards. This result underscores the A5000's compute-oriented design, as OpenCL workloads often scale with shading unit count and memory bandwidth.

Geekbench Vulkan shows a similar pattern. The A5000 scores 137,828 versus 47,724 for the GTX 980 Ti, a 188.8% difference. Vulkan is a low-level graphics API that can expose architectural strengths and weaknesses directly, and the A5000's newer design clearly benefits from this exposure.

In all three cases, the A5000's wins are decisive. No benchmark in the shared set comes close to a competitive margin. The smallest delta is the 3DMark result at 186.4%, which is still a near-tripling of the GTX 980 Ti's score.

Specification Differences

Several specification fields differ between the two cards, and these differences explain much of the performance gap.

Process node: The A5000 uses an 8 nm Samsung process, while the GTX 980 Ti uses a 28 nm TSMC process.

Transistors: The A5000 contains 28,300 million transistors, the GTX 980 Ti contains 8,000 million.

Die size: The A5000 measures 628 mm², the GTX 980 Ti measures 601 mm².

Transistor density: The A5000 achieves 45.1 million transistors per mm², the GTX 980 Ti achieves 13.3 million per mm².

Base clock: The A5000 runs at 1170 MHz, the GTX 980 Ti at 1000 MHz.

Boost clock: The A5000 boosts to 1695 MHz, the GTX 980 Ti to 1076 MHz.

Memory clock: The A5000 uses 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), the GTX 980 Ti uses 1753 MHz (7 Gbps effective).

Memory size: The A5000 has 24 GB of GDDR6, the GTX 980 Ti has 6 GB of GDDR5.

Memory bandwidth: The A5000 delivers 768.0 GB/s, the GTX 980 Ti delivers 336.6 GB/s.

Shading units: The A5000 has 8,192, the GTX 980 Ti has 2,816.

TMUs: The A5000 has 256, the GTX 980 Ti has 176.

ROPs: Both have 96.

Ray tracing cores: The A5000 has 64, the GTX 980 Ti has none.

Tensor cores: The A5000 has 256, the GTX 980 Ti has none.

Pixel rate: The A5000 achieves 162.7 GPixel/s, the GTX 980 Ti achieves 103.3 GPixel/s.

Texture rate: The A5000 achieves 433.9 GTexel/s, the GTX 980 Ti achieves 189.4 GTexel/s.

FP32: The A5000 reaches 27.77 TFLOPS, the GTX 980 Ti reaches 6.060 TFLOPS.

TDP: The A5000 draws 230 W, the GTX 980 Ti draws 250 W.

Power connectors: The A5000 uses a single 8-pin, the GTX 980 Ti uses a 6-pin plus an 8-pin.

Suggested PSU: The A5000 recommends 550 W, the GTX 980 Ti recommends 600 W.

Bus interface: The A5000 uses PCIe 4.0 x16, the GTX 980 Ti uses PCIe 3.0 x16.

Display outputs: The A5000 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a, the GTX 980 Ti has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.2.

DirectX support: The A5000 supports 12 Ultimate (12_2), the GTX 980 Ti supports 12 (12_1).

Card width: The A5000 has no recorded width, the GTX 980 Ti is 40 mm wide.

Release date: The A5000 launched in 2021, the GTX 980 Ti in 2015.

Launch MSRP: The GTX 980 Ti launched at 649 USD; the A5000 has no recorded launch MSRP.

FAQ

Q: Which card is faster in DirectX 12 gaming workloads?

A: The RTX A5000 scores 3,783 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, which is 186.4% higher than the GTX 980 Ti's 1,321. The A5000 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the GTX 980 Ti only supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: How large is the compute performance gap between these two cards?

A: In Geekbench OpenCL, the A5000 scores 157,905 versus 43,513 for the GTX 980 Ti, a difference of 262.9%. The A5000 also delivers 27.77 TFLOPS of FP32 compute compared to 6.060 TFLOPS for the GTX 980 Ti.

Q: Does the GTX 980 Ti have ray tracing or tensor cores?

A: No. The GTX 980 Ti has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The RTX A5000 includes 64 ray tracing cores and 256 tensor cores.

Q: How do the memory subsystems compare?

A: The A5000 has 24 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 768.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 980 Ti has 6 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus with 336.6 GB/s bandwidth. Both use the same bus width, but the A5000 has four times the capacity and more than double the bandwidth.

Q: Which card has better Vulkan performance?

A: The A5000 scores 137,828 in Geekbench Vulkan, which is 188.8% higher than the GTX 980 Ti's 47,724. Both cards support Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The A5000 has a TDP of 230 W and requires a 550 W power supply. The GTX 980 Ti has a TDP of 250 W and requires a 600 W power supply. Despite being more powerful, the A5000 consumes less power.

The Verdict

The data leaves no room for ambiguity. The NVIDIA RTX A5000 outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti in every directly comparable benchmark, with margins ranging from 186.4% to 262.9%. The A5000's advantages in shading units, memory bandwidth, transistor count, and specialized hardware such as ray tracing and tensor cores create a performance gap that the GTX 980 Ti cannot close.

For users running DirectX 12 workloads, the A5000 offers nearly triple the performance. For compute-heavy tasks measured by OpenCL, the advantage grows even larger. The A5000 also brings architectural features that simply do not exist on the GTX 980 Ti, including dedicated ray tracing hardware and tensor cores, making it suitable for workloads that require these capabilities.

The GTX 980 Ti, however, remains a functional card for its era. Its 73rd percentile ranking among all GPUs shows it was a capable performer in its time, and its 6 GB of GDDR5 memory and 6.060 TFLOPS of FP32 compute were respectable figures for a 2015 release. The card's 649 USD launch MSRP positioned it as a high-end consumer product, and its dual-slot design with a 267 mm length matches the A5000's physical footprint.

The choice between these two cards depends entirely on the workload. The RTX A5000 is the clear choice for any modern application that can leverage its compute power, ray tracing, or large memory pool. The GTX 980 Ti would only be relevant for legacy software or systems that cannot accommodate the A5000's requirements. Given the A5000's lower TDP of 230 W versus 250 W, it even manages to deliver superior performance while consuming less power. The verdict from the recorded data is straightforward: the RTX A5000 is the superior hardware by every measurable metric in the database.