GTX 980Ti finally launched - MSRP $649 - Reviews

[2is]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rue&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

They had 10 in stock last time I checked, they are sold out now. I didn't order because Newegg doesn't charge me tax :whiste:

Although now it feels like I've made a huge mistake lol.

Sweet, thanks for the link... now I have to keep checking back. Yeah, I kinda feel like i made a mistake not ordering it from nVidia lol. I'll live.

 

[Brahmzy]

I sure hope eVGA offers step up this week...

 

[2is]

Looks like Amazon is letting me place an order even though they're currently OOS. In for one and got the free 2nd day shipping. In the mean time, I suppose I can run all my "before" benchmarks and log the results.

 

[x3sphere]

LOL, nvidia exploited our backsides hard this time, no reach around even. Glad I went into it eyes wide open this release. This is much worse than Titan vs 780 was, Titan X is pointless, but 12GB VRAM, bro

I wonder if I can still even dump mine for $1100CDN each at this point and wait for the Kingpin 980ti. At current exchange rates the Titan X sells for $1300 in Canada, the 980ti should be $850. Who wants to buy a pair of TX $2100CDN all in ?

Fiji better be faster than Titan X or it's going to bomb.

If Fiji is faster and the 4GB HBM ends up not being a bottleneck (or it comes with 8GB) I think I'll sell my TX for it. Kind of feels like NV has been getting lazy with the Kepler debacle and the 970 segmented memory that they conveniently forgot to divulge.

To me it seems like there's two scenarios here...

1. Nvidia knows AMD is going to underperform, except this time since they already made fat margins off of Kepler they're going to put price pressure on AMD in an attempt to crush them. With AMD going with HBM on Fiji there may not be as much room to lower the price, putting them in a tight spot.

2. AMD's cards are really good, very competitively priced, and Nvidia wants to lure in as many buyers as quickly as possible since it'll mean they will have to drop prices to stay competitive. Could see an insta $100-150 price drop on NV's entire upper range when Fiji drops

 

[happy medium]

To me it seems like there's two scenarios here...

1. Nvidia knows AMD is going to underperform, except this time since they already made fat margins off of Kepler they're going to put price pressure on AMD in an attempt to crush them. With AMD going with HBM on Fiji there may not be as much room to lower the price, putting them in a tight spot.

2. AMD's cards are really good, very competitively priced, and Nvidia wants to lure in as many buyers as quickly as possible since it'll mean they will have to drop prices to stay competitive. Could see an insta $100-150 price drop on NV's entire upper range when Fiji drops
__________________

I know one thing, its a good time to buy a used gtx970,980,290x

 

[thilanliyan]

Yes, "Fiasco" I'm referring to the other thread where RS and I had a similar back and forth where it became more and more apparent that it will indeed be a 4GB card. While we don't know for absolute certainty yet, the circumstantial evidence and rumor mill are overwhelmingly pointing to 4GB. In fact, the only thing pointing to anything other than 4GB is hopes and dreams.

I'm not disagreeing that it's 4GB, but to call an unreleased card (especially one with a different type of memory tech) a fiasco is getting into the overly dramatic isn't it? Assuming you are talking about Fiji, and not a Hawaii rebrand.

Without knowing any performance numbers (unless you are in the know), how can it be a fiasco? For all we know, due to the massive bandwidth from HBM, and memory compression a la Tonga, 4GB could be plenty for ultra resolutions.

 

[Grooveriding]

If Fiji is faster and the 4GB HBM ends up not being a bottleneck (or it comes with 8GB) I think I'll sell my TX for it. Kind of feels like NV has been getting lazy with the Kepler debacle and the 970 segmented memory that they conveniently forgot to divulge.

To me it seems like there's two scenarios here...

1. Nvidia knows AMD is going to underperform, except this time since they already made fat margins off of Kepler they're going to put price pressure on AMD in an attempt to crush them. With AMD going with HBM on Fiji there may not be as much room to lower the price, putting them in a tight spot.

2. AMD's cards are really good, very competitively priced, and Nvidia wants to lure in as many buyers as quickly as possible since it'll mean they will have to drop prices to stay competitive. Could see an insta $100-150 price drop on NV's entire upper range when Fiji drops

I have the same train of thought. Nvidia already knows how Fiji performs and the 980ti launch feels rushed to me, they could of left Titan X out there a while longer to make some more high margin sales. 980ti has killed the Titan X, I wouldn't be surprised if we even see a $100 price drop to TX at some point. There is no DP argument for the card this time, it's just a gaming card with way more VRAM than needed.

So I'd like to believe they are rushing 980ti out because it's a good strategy to mop up buyers before they see Fiji and realize it's the better card. Once they've sunk their cash on 980ti they're locked up for a few years most likely given the average upgrade cycle.

4GB is more than enough unless you are getting into multiple 4K screens as far as I'm concerned. We never heard any complaints from 980 users. I'm sure the marketing will highlight it, but I've never seen 4GB be an issue for anyone at sane resolutions leading all the way up to 4K. Never mind almost everyone is still gaming at 1080p with some migration starting to happen to 2560x1440p.

AMD should of had Fiji already out though. If Fiji is really fast and performs better than the TX, the 980ti is going to steal lots of sales from the card by virtue of being out and available now.

 

[happy medium]

For all we know, due to the massive bandwidth from HBM, and memory compression a la Tonga, 4GB could be plenty for ultra resolutions.
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I'm actually leaning towards this because I just cant believe AMD would release a card as fast as the gtx980ti with only 4gb of memory. They must have a trick up their sleeve or something.

 

[Silverforce11]

LOL, nvidia exploited our backsides hard this time, no reach around even. Glad I went into it eyes wide open this release. This is much worse than Titan vs 780 was, Titan X is pointless, but 12GB VRAM, bro

I wonder if I can still even dump mine for $1100CDN each at this point and wait for the Kingpin 980ti. At current exchange rates the Titan X sells for $1300 in Canada, the 980ti should be $850. Who wants to buy a pair of TX $2100CDN all in ?

Fiji better be faster than Titan X or it's going to bomb.

I'm confident full GM200 6GB custom models will come in a few months. How about Titan X + out of box 1.3Ghz+ boost for $799?

 

[happy medium]

Nvidia already knows how Fiji performs and the 980ti launch feels rushed to me,

I was chating with a editor /reviewer and he told me he had the gtx980ti for allmost 2 weeks.

 

[2is]

I'm not disagreeing that it's 4GB, but to call an unreleased card (especially one with a different type of memory tech) a fiasco is getting into the overly dramatic isn't it? Assuming you are talking about Fiji, and not a Hawaii rebrand.

Without knowing any performance numbers (unless you are in the know), how can it be a fiasco? For all we know, due to the massive bandwidth from HBM, and memory compression a la Tonga, 4GB could be plenty for ultra resolutions.

I'm not sure I get your beef with my usage of the word.

Again, I'm referring to a previous thread where there was ongoing debates about a top end card shipping with 4GB, the fiasco that ensued about the topic. RS was bringing up the same arguments that I and others had already addressed, specifically about my buying habits which he is more concerned with than anyone else, myself included. So I referred to that thread as the "4gb fiasco" so he knows what I'm talking about.

 

[maddie]

Hm, saw this and got worried about the 980Ti having the VRAM issue like the 970. From Anandtech's review:

"As for texel and pixel fillrates, the results are both as-expected and a bit surprising. On the expected side, we see the GTX 980 Ti trail GTX Titan X by a bit, again taking a hit from the SMM loss. On the other hand we’re seeing a larger than expected drop in the pixel fill rates. GTX 980 Ti loses some rasterization throughput from the SMM loss, but a 15% drop in this test is much larger than 2 SMMs. Just to be sure we checked to make sure the ROP/MC configuration of GTX 980 Ti was unchanged at 96 ROPs, so we’re at a bit of a loss to explain the difference at this time."




This is the same disparity noticed between the 980 and the 970 at launch that ultimately hinted towards the segmented VRAM. What's up with that?

If the ROP count are unchanged but that test sees such a drop, then yes, its most likely a 970 setup with two vram segment, fast & slow.

But it wont matter since the 970 got away with false advertisement, I doubt people care anymore what NV puts on the box as its specs, as long as performance is good and price is not a major rip off, it'll sell out.

If Fiji is faster and the 4GB HBM ends up not being a bottleneck (or it comes with 8GB) I think I'll sell my TX for it. Kind of feels like NV has been getting lazy with the Kepler debacle and the 970 segmented memory that they conveniently forgot to divulge.

To me it seems like there's two scenarios here...

1. Nvidia knows AMD is going to underperform, except this time since they already made fat margins off of Kepler they're going to put price pressure on AMD in an attempt to crush them. With AMD going with HBM on Fiji there may not be as much room to lower the price, putting them in a tight spot.

2. AMD's cards are really good, very competitively priced, and Nvidia wants to lure in as many buyers as quickly as possible since it'll mean they will have to drop prices to stay competitive. Could see an insta $100-150 price drop on NV's entire upper range when Fiji drops

@x3sphere

The above posts should interest you with the segmented memory issue.

My bet is on (2) with slight amount of (1).

Ryan Smith @ Anandtech. This sounds like a man who knows something we don't. He's advising people to wait.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9306/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-ti-review/18
That said however, today’s launch is just the first part of a larger battle between NVIDIA and AMD. With AMD scheduled to launch their next-generation high-end card in June, the launch of the GTX 980 Ti is in many ways NVIDIA striking first and striking hard. By pushing GTX Titan X-like performance down to $650, NVIDIA has set the bar for AMD. AMD needs to either beat GTX 980 Ti/Titan X if they want to take back the performance crown, or they need to deliver their card for less than $650. It goes without saying that NVIDIA has given AMD a very high bar to beat, but AMD has proven to be quite resourceful in the past, so it shall be interesting to see just what AMD’s response is to the GTX 980 Ti.

As for this moment, the high-end video card market is essentially in a holding pattern. The GeForce GTX 980 Ti is a fine card for the price – a GTX Titan X for $649 – however with AMD’s new flagship card on the horizon buyers are likely better off waiting to see what AMD delivers before making such a purchase, if only to see if it further pushes down video card prices.

 

[Silverforce11]

I was chating with a editor /reviewer and he told me he had the gtx980ti for allmost 2 weeks.

I think he means rush in terms of Titan X launch, obsolete it 3 months later with 980Ti. Wait for custom 980Ti models that clock to 1.3 or 1.4Ghz boost out of box, it will be Titan X +10% performance. That is straight, Titan X killer right there for what, $699? So soon the mighty reign is over... why kill it so quickly?

 

[Grooveriding]

I'm confident full GM200 6GB custom models will come in a few months. How about Titan X + out of box 1.3Ghz+ boost for $799?

They should all be doing 1.3 right now. Most can do closer to 1.4ghz with the additional voltage available. The reference cooler and TDP cap is inadequate for maintaining those clocks and the cards throttle, but the cards are capable of those speeds if you mod the BIOS and turn up the fan. GM200 doesn't clock as high as GM204, it's about 100mhz less on average unless you overvolt it with a custom BIOS, but it's already within 5% of stock 980SLI with that sort of overclock.

With 1.3V I can get 1500 out of one of my cards, but the other only does 1400 no matter the voltage.

I think custom cards will be doing 1400 and holding that clock with ease by just moving the slider over in Afterburner, just need a better cooler than the reference one. Put an open air blower on, and a factory BIOS that raises the TDP cap. MSI Gaming, Gigabyte WF etc. should deliver that sort of performance consistently.

 

[Silverforce11]

They should all be doing 1.3 right now. Most can do closer to 1.4ghz with the additional voltage available. The reference cooler and TDP cap is inadequate for maintaining those clocks and the cards throttle, but the cards are capable of those speeds if you mod the BIOS and turn up the fan. GM200 doesn't clock as high as GM204, it's about 100mhz less on average unless you overvolt it with a custom BIOS, but it's already within 5% of stock 980SLI with that sort of overclock.

With 1.3V I can get 1500 out of one of my cards, but the other only does 1400 no matter the voltage.

I think custom cards will be doing 1400 and holding that clock with ease by just moving the slider over in Afterburner, just need a better cooler than the reference one. Put an open air blower on, and a factory BIOS that raises the TDP cap. MSI Gaming, Gigabyte WF etc. should deliver that sort of performance consistently.

Oh yes, we all know its capable, just held back by the reference Titan X design, a combination of blower cooler and low power limit.

What do you think a custom Titan X is? Exactly that just with out of box boost to much higher clocks while running cool & quiet.

So certainly, another full GM200 6GB SKU is coming.

 

[Grooveriding]

I think he means rush in terms of Titan X launch, obsolete it 3 months later with 980Ti. Wait for custom 980Ti models that clock to 1.3 or 1.4Ghz boost out of box, it will be Titan X +10% performance. That is straight, Titan X killer right there for what, $699? So soon the mighty reign is over... why kill it so quickly?

Yeah. Reviewers having the cards for 2 weeks doesn't speak one way or another to whether they pushed the launch up or not. Availability over the next few weeks might though. If the cards are always OOS that might be an indication.

Even that is hard to judge on. Every new GPU is OOS when it launches because demand is highest at launch.

 

[DownTheSky]

Great card :thumbsup:

 

[boozzer]

how can you guys not realized this yet? 980 ti is 650$ that means amd got a card with similar performance at 650 or lower!

or same price but even more performance!!!

we need damn benchmarks yesterday!

 

[Jacky60]

Great to see my 295x2s still rule, can't see any need to upgrade just yet.

 

[flem]

YOUR OPINION NEEDED PLEASE:

I am going to buy a 980ti, but I need some assistance. Is the reference cooler sufficient if I don't OC my GPU? I will be gaming at 1440p. I read that some of the third party coolers like the EVGA ACX 2.0, Gigabyte Gaming, Zotac Amp, can run up to 15° cooler than the reference cooler. The Anandtech review talked like the stock aluminum blower is the shizzle...is it? Should I wait until the tricked out versions come out?

Specs: i7-2600K at 4.5GHz / 8GB RAM at 1,866 / 1,000w PSU / Acer XB270HU 1440P 144Hz IPS G-Sync Monitor

 

[waldoh]

1 980 ti = 3rd party cooler
sli 980 ti = reference (if case has poor airflow)

if case has good airflow = 3rd party (single + sli)

YOUR OPINION NEEDED PLEASE:

I am going to buy a 980ti, but I need some assistance. Is the reference cooler sufficient if I don't OC my GPU? I will be gaming at 1440p. I read that some of the third party coolers like the EVGA ACX 2.0, Gigabyte Gaming, Zotac Amp, can run up to 15° cooler than the reference cooler. The Anandtech review talked like the stock aluminum blower is the shizzle...is it? Should I wait until the tricked out versions come out?

Specs: i7-2600K at 4.5GHz / 8GB RAM at 1,866 / 1,000w PSU / Acer XB270HU 1440P 144Hz IPS G-Sync Monitor

 

[JDG1980]

YOUR OPINION NEEDED PLEASE:

I am going to buy a 980ti, but I need some assistance. Is the reference cooler sufficient if I don't OC my GPU? I will be gaming at 1440p. I read that some of the third party coolers like the EVGA ACX 2.0, Gigabyte Gaming, Zotac Amp, can run up to 15° cooler than the reference cooler. The Anandtech review talked like the stock aluminum blower is the shizzle...is it? Should I wait until the tricked out versions come out?

Specs: i7-2600K at 4.5GHz / 8GB RAM at 1,866 / 1,000w PSU / Acer XB270HU 1440P 144Hz IPS G-Sync Monitor

The stock blower is the best blower currently in existence. However, this card uses about 250W of power on maximum load, and that is enough to stress even Nvidia's excellent design. TPU reports that the card runs into its 84-degree temperature limit as a result of the stock design.

My suggestion is to wait a month or so. That's enough time to see how both Fiji and aftermarket GTX 980 Ti cards perform. I think that the EVGA hybrid watercooled design for GTX 980 Ti is going to be tough to beat, especially if the Fiji $849 rumors are true - then again, the same sites that were rumoring that also thought that the 980 Ti was going to be $799. Again, I think you should just wait and see what happens. At the price point you're looking at, things are only going to get better. The only deals that might go away are on the much cheaper ($250-$320) AMD Hawaii cards that are currently being cleared out.

 

[Dave3000]

I don't think I'm going to upgrade to a GTX 980ti. I have car payments to make and want to pay off my vehicle quickly and even if I could sell my 780ti I don't think it would be worth it for me. My 780ti is still a good card by today's standards.

 

[2is]

YOUR OPINION NEEDED PLEASE:

I am going to buy a 980ti, but I need some assistance. Is the reference cooler sufficient if I don't OC my GPU? I will be gaming at 1440p. I read that some of the third party coolers like the EVGA ACX 2.0, Gigabyte Gaming, Zotac Amp, can run up to 15° cooler than the reference cooler. The Anandtech review talked like the stock aluminum blower is the shizzle...is it? Should I wait until the tricked out versions come out?

Specs: i7-2600K at 4.5GHz / 8GB RAM at 1,866 / 1,000w PSU / Acer XB270HU 1440P 144Hz IPS G-Sync Monitor

The reference cooler is plenty sufficient to effectively dissipate the heat up to it's 250watt TDP limit as well as the 10% over drive for a peak of 275watt tdp limit.

If you're going to get into bios modding to remove that limit and go well above it, then you may want to look at other coolers.

 

[flem]

1 980 ti = 3rd party cooler
sli 980 ti = reference (if case has poor airflow)

if case has good airflow = 3rd party (single + sli)

I will be running a single card with decent airflow so I guess I will wait for a better cooler. Hopefully I won't melt my GTX670 in the meantime. Any recommendation on which company makes the best cooler: EVGA, MSI, GIGABYTE, etc?