Radeon R9 Fury vs GeForce GTX 980

Speed and memory

In our performance index the Radeon R9 Fury scores 12 and the GeForce GTX 980 scores 11, which makes the Radeon R9 Fury about 9% faster. That is a small gap, below what most people notice without a frame counter.

Both cards have 4 GB of video memory, so memory will not separate them.

In our estimates for popular games at 1080p on High, the biggest gap is in Call of Duty (23 against 21 fps), and the smallest is in Red Dead Redemption 2 (43 against 40 fps). Games that are light enough to run above 200 fps on both cards show little difference at all.

Power and value

The Radeon R9 Fury is rated at 275 W and the GeForce GTX 980 at 165 W. With a mid-range processor that means a power supply of about 650 W for the first and 550 W for the second. A gap of 110 W shows up in heat and fan noise, and in your electricity use over a few years.

At launch the Radeon R9 Fury cost $549 and the GeForce GTX 980 $549. Per dollar, the Radeon R9 Fury gave more performance (2.2 points per $100 against 2.0). Current prices differ, so run the same sum on what you can actually buy today.

Which one to buy

Choose the Radeon R9 Fury if you want the faster card, and it also has at least as much memory. It makes the most sense at 1440p and above, or on a monitor with a high refresh rate.

Choose the GeForce GTX 980 if the price gap matters more than the 9% speed difference, or if you want lower power draw and a quieter PC. Whichever you pick, check reviews for the games you play, because two cards with similar scores can differ in individual titles.