GTX 970/980 Release: When is the last time you were this excited about a video card?

[boozzer]

I have never been excited about gpus the closest I got to that feeling is for 8800gt.

 

[nitromullet]

Which one was that leaf blower Nv card that got all the hate? I got mine when they did preorders only, used it a bit, and made a hundred bucks after just a month. That was exciting.

That would be the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra.

http://techreport.com/review/4966/nvidia-geforce-fx-5800-ultra-gpu

 

[CrystalBay]

What about excitement since S3 Virge ?:biggrin:

 

[loafbred]

I've bought many video cards since PC gaming became popular, the majority of which were in the $150 to $200 price range (only a couple were higher). I just ordered an MSI GTX 970, which is the first time I've bought a card in the same week that it released. I'm really impressed with this one. I had been pondering the value of upgrading my two HD 6950's to two R9 280's (waiting for a price drop), but the GTX 970 put that notion to rest.

 

[ViRGE]

What about excitement since S3 Virge ?:biggrin:

Did someone call for me?

 

[Hauk]

That would be the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra.

http://techreport.com/review/4966/nvidia-geforce-fx-5800-ultra-gpu

The leaf blower! had one..

 

[Hauk]

Did someone call for me?

so cool that you didn't need a heatsink..

 

[amenx]

If the 970/980 came out on 20nm as originally planned. Now that would have been exciting.

 

[MegaWorks]

Excited!! It had to be the Rage Fury MAXX, I would just stare at it for hours! :awe: I still rememeber running out of my high school class to get one, what a huge disappointment! :\

 

[Hauk]

If the 970/980 came out on 20nm as originally planned. Now that would have been exciting.

Still on 28nm, varying performance increase over existing flagship, yes it's understandable why some may not see this GPU as significant. From Ryan's review:

"Through these changes NVIDIA has been able to come close to doubling their performance per watt versus Kepler, which is nothing short of amazing given the fact that all of this is being done on the same 28nm process as Kepler."

The architectural improvements are significant. Imagine two 980's on a single PCB, or carrying the architectural improvements forward to 20nm.

 

[KaRLiToS]

I will be excited when I'll see some 20nm/16nm cards.

The third gen of 28nm doesn't impress me at all.

 

[SeanJ76]

These 970/980's are not impressive at all........can't even beat the previous year's card.....what a joke!

 

[BrightCandle]

I must admit I don't really understand the mass excitement for the 970/980 card. The performance jump from the existing high end is minimal and all it has going for it really is a small price reduction and some new features. Its certainly nothing out of the ordinary yet. The features are cool but the lack of performance improvement, due to the lack of new silicon process, is really what lets it down. Presumably people would be just as excited if Nvidia dropped the price of the 780 and ti cards down to the same levels?! That I don't understand, sure price matters but every few years we get a reduction in price at the same performance level, usually more than this.

 

[Attic]

With the 970 at least, I think it was the trifecta of price/performance/power.

The performance I agree isn't super impressive, but relative to price and power that performance is great.

Just feels like to me that nVidia got it right on the 970 at least.

 

[CakeMonster]

Your "performance" argument is circular. If you only said price/power then your post would make sense.

The price reduction is just on time generation wise. I (and I presume many others) are just disappointed that there is virtually no faster single chip available. At this point in time that should be expected in addition to the inevitable price reduction.

 

[Phil1977]

8800GT. It was a game changer for value customers like me

 

[Attic]

Your "performance" argument is circular. If you only said price/power then your post would make sense.

The price reduction is just on time generation wise. I (and I presume many others) are just disappointed that there is virtually no faster single chip available. At this point in time that should be expected in addition to the inevitable price reduction.

True. If the performance was 150% if the 780 then the 970 would hit my trifecta more square, the performance aspect is not impressive on its own for new generation. It is impressive relative to price/power.


It might be interesting to see whose upgrading to the 970 and from what vs what got folks into the 8800 series. If I remember correctly I went from 7800gt to 8800gts 640 (my vote and loved that card). Is the 970 getting 780 or 290 owners or 280x and 680 owners? I'm hearing a lot of folks are upgrading from fairly "new" cards.

 

[ksheets]

I went to Microcenter Friday and picked up the Gigabyte 970 card, upgrading from 560Ti SLI setup. Unbelievably, MC also had ONE Swift PG278Q in stock which took me by surprise because I didn't think they would be back in stock for a few weeks...

I REALLY didn't plan on dropping that much money, but how could I turn it down?
Gsync along with this new card REALLY is a game changer though, everything is so smooth- I played some titanfall and crysis3 last night. They're almost like brand new to me again

 

[Attic]

I went to Microcenter Friday and picked up the Gigabyte 970 card, upgrading from 560Ti SLI setup. Unbelievably, MC also had ONE Swift PG278Q in stock which took me by surprise because I didn't think they would be back in stock for a few weeks...

I REALLY didn't plan on dropping that much money, but how could I turn it down?
Gsync along with this new card REALLY is a game changer though, everything is so smooth- I played some titanfall and crysis3 last night. They're almost like brand new to me again

Yep, that's awesome, know the feeling.

 

[fleshconsumed]

It might be interesting to see whose upgrading to the 970 and from what vs what got folks into the 8800 series. If I remember correctly I went from 7800gt to 8800gts 640 (my vote and loved that card). Is the 970 getting 780 or 290 owners or 280x and 680 owners? I'm hearing a lot of folks are upgrading from fairly "new" cards.

I briefly entertained "upgrading" from my 290 to 970 after getting caught in the excitement of new release and seeing the low power numbers. I decided to stay with 290 though. 970 would have been a "sidegrade" for me really, and I don't think I could sell my 290 for more than $220 net, so I'd have to pay $120+ to switch. Not really worth it when my 290 is already almost as fast and under AIO red mod, so it stays whisper quiet and cool. The bitcoin craze which had a huge part in running up the GPU prices in the last year has finally died down so I'm thinking prices are going to be a lot more reasonable in the future, and I'm sure 20nm is going to get released next year. All of these factors convinced me to keep my 290. I like playing with new toys as much as anybody, but "upgrading" to 970 would be a waste of money. Sigh...