GeForce GTX 980M vs Radeon RX 6500M

G3D Mark is a standard benchmark that measures graphics performance in real-world gaming scenarios. It simplifies comparing cards from different brands, where higher scores directly correlate with better fps and smoother gaming experiences.

GeForce GTX 980M vs Radeon RX 6500M FPS Benchmarks

Predicted gaming performance across popular games. Tested paired with Ryzen 7 9800X3D to isolate GPU performance.

Search any supported game below to compare 1080p FPS for both components.

GeForce GTX 980M vs Radeon RX 6500M: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict

See where each GPU makes more sense in practice: raw FPS, VRAM, features, power draw, pricing, and long-term headroom.

GeForce GTX 980M

2014

Why buy it

✅Competitive enough if your priority is price, power, or specific feature preference.

Trade-offs

❌Lower average FPS than Radeon RX 6500M across 50 tracked games in our benchmark data.
❌No equivalent frame-generation stack like FSR Frame Generation + AFMF (2023).
❌2014 hardware with 4 GB of VRAM already sits in legacy territory for modern games.
❌100% higher power demand at 100W vs 50W.

Radeon RX 6500M

2022

Why buy it

✅1.5% more average FPS across 50 tracked games in our benchmark data.
✅Access to a newer frame-generation stack with FSR Frame Generation + AFMF (2023).
✅Better long-term bet: RDNA 2.0 (2020−2025) on 6nm gives it a newer hardware base for upcoming games.
✅Draws 50W instead of 100W, a 50W reduction.

Trade-offs

❌Fewer clear downsides in this head-to-head, aside from the usual pricing and availability swings.

Quick Answers

Which GPU is faster for gaming right now?

Radeon RX 6500M is the faster gaming card right now. In our data, it leads by 1.5% in average FPS across 50 tracked games in our benchmark data and by 1.2% in PassMark G3D (7,443 vs 7,353), so the answer here is pretty clean.

Which GPU is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond?

Radeon RX 6500M is the safer long-term pick for 2026 and beyond. The case is simple: the newer feature stack, with FSR 3 (2023) and FSR Frame Generation + AFMF (2023), while GeForce GTX 980M is limited to no meaningful modern upscaling stack and no comparable frame-generation support, a 6nm process instead of 28nm, 16 vs 0 ray-tracing units, and a newer 2022 generation instead of 2014. That gives it the more rounded hardware package for newer games.

Which GPU is the better buy today?

Radeon RX 6500M makes the most sense today based on the pricing and value data we have for this matchup.

GeForce GTX 980M vs Radeon RX 6500M Technical Specifications

Side-by-side specs, architecture details, clocks, memory, power, and platform differences.

GeForce GTX 980M

The GeForce GTX 980M is manufactured by NVIDIA. It was released in October 7 2014. It features the Maxwell 2.0 architecture. The core clock ranges from 1038 MHz to 1127 MHz. It has 1536 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 100W. Manufactured using 28 nm process technology. G3D Mark benchmark score: 7,353 points.

Radeon RX 6500M

The Radeon RX 6500M is manufactured by AMD. It was released in January 4 2022. It features the RDNA 2.0 architecture. The core clock ranges from 2000 MHz to 2400 MHz. It has 1024 shading units. The thermal design power (TDP) is 50W. Manufactured using 6 nm process technology. It features 16 dedicated ray tracing cores for enhanced lighting effects. G3D Mark benchmark score: 7,443 points.

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Graphics Performance

The GeForce GTX 980M scores 7,353 and the Radeon RX 6500M reaches 7,443 in the G3D Mark benchmark — just a 1.2% difference, making them near-identical in rasterization performance. The GeForce GTX 980M is built on Maxwell 2.0 while the Radeon RX 6500M uses RDNA 2.0, both on 28 nm vs 6 nm. Shader units: 1,536 (GeForce GTX 980M) vs 1,024 (Radeon RX 6500M). Raw compute: 1.659 TFLOPS (GeForce GTX 980M) vs 4.915 TFLOPS (Radeon RX 6500M). Boost clocks: 1127 MHz vs 2400 MHz.

Feature	GeForce GTX 980M	Radeon RX 6500M
G3D Mark Score	7,353	7,443+1%
Architecture	Maxwell 2.0	RDNA 2.0
Process Node	28 nm	6 nm
Shading Units	1536+50%	1024
Compute (TFLOPS)	1.659 TFLOPS	4.915 TFLOPS+196%
Boost Clock	1127 MHz	2400 MHz+113%
ROPs	64+100%	32
TMUs	96+50%	64
L1 Cache	576 KB+125%	256 KB
L2 Cache	2 MB+100%	1 MB

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Advanced Features (DLSS/FSR)

The clearest feature edge for the Radeon RX 6500M is support for FSR Frame Generation + AFMF. In games that support it, that can smooth out motion and lift perceived FPS. The GeForce GTX 980M does not have comparable native support in the same tier.The GeForce GTX 980M gets NVIDIA DLSS, which still tends to look cleaner in motion. The Radeon RX 6500M leans on FSR, which is flexible and widely supported, but usually a bit rougher at the same settings.

Feature	GeForce GTX 980M	Radeon RX 6500M
Upscaling Tech	Upscaling support	FSR 3
Frame Generation	Not Supported	FSR Frame Generation + AFMF
Ray Reconstruction	No	No
Low Latency	NVIDIA Reflex	AMD Anti-Lag

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Video Memory (VRAM)

Both cards ship with 4 GB of video memory. Memory bandwidth: 160 GB/s (GeForce GTX 980M) vs 144 GB/s (Radeon RX 6500M) — a 11.1% advantage for the GeForce GTX 980M. Memory bus width is 256-bit on the GeForce GTX 980M and 64-bit on the Radeon RX 6500M. L2 Cache: 2 MB (GeForce GTX 980M) vs 1 MB (Radeon RX 6500M) — the GeForce GTX 980M has significantly larger on-die cache to reduce VRAM reliance.

Feature	GeForce GTX 980M	Radeon RX 6500M
VRAM Capacity	4 GB	4 GB
Memory Type	GDDR5	GDDR6
Memory Bandwidth	160 GB/s+11%	144 GB/s
Bus Width	256-bit+300%	64-bit
L2 Cache	2 MB+100%	1 MB

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Display & API Support

DirectX support: 12.1 (GeForce GTX 980M) vs 12 (12_2) (Radeon RX 6500M). Vulkan: 1.1 vs 1.4. OpenGL: 4.5 vs 4.6. Maximum simultaneous displays: 4 vs 3.

Feature	GeForce GTX 980M	Radeon RX 6500M
DirectX	12.1	12 (12_2)
Vulkan	1.1	1.4+27%
OpenGL	4.5	4.6+2%
Max Displays	4+33%	3

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Media & Encoding

Hardware encoder: NVENC 2.0 (GeForce GTX 980M) vs VCN 3.0 (Radeon RX 6500M). Decoder: PureVideo HD VP6 vs VCN 3.0. Supported codecs: MPEG-2,H.264 (GeForce GTX 980M) vs H.264,HEVC,VP9 (Decode Only) (Radeon RX 6500M).

Feature	GeForce GTX 980M	Radeon RX 6500M
Encoder	NVENC 2.0	VCN 3.0
Decoder	PureVideo HD VP6	VCN 3.0
Codecs	MPEG-2,H.264	H.264,HEVC,VP9 (Decode Only)

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Power & Dimensions

The GeForce GTX 980M draws 100W versus the Radeon RX 6500M's 50W — a 66.7% difference. The Radeon RX 6500M is more power-efficient. Recommended PSU: 350W (GeForce GTX 980M) vs 350W (Radeon RX 6500M). Power connectors: 1x 6-pin vs Mobile.