GTX 980Ti finally launched - MSRP $649 - Reviews

[iiiankiii]

I would go with a water cooler but the problem is my case is too small (SG10, mATX) and I don't have room for the 120 mm radiator. It has to be an air cooler. I think I can push my card to 1600 Mhz if I had adequate cooling and modded BIOS.

You can use the TITAN ACX COOLER on your gtx 980ti. They come with the top plate to help cool the front VRAM And VRM. It's easy to install, too. But, like I said, you still need proper cooling on the back of the card. EK backplate works. I'm not sure if the eVGA backplate actually helps cool or just for aesthetic.

 

[badb0y]

You can use the TITAN ACX COOLER on your gtx 980ti. They come with the top plate to help cool the front VRAM And VRM. It's easy to install, too. But, like I said, you still need proper cooling on the back of the card. EK backplate works. I'm not sure if the eVGA backplate actually helps cool or just for aesthetic.

Oh wow, I didn't know EVGA sold those like that. I will probably go with this then. Thanks for letting me know :thumbsup:

 

[exar333]

Dunno who would pay $800-900 for a Ti. Might as well pick up a used Titan X at that price.

$800-900 would still be a better buy vs. TX for a highly-customized PCB. Less shaders, but a lot more OC potential, if thats what you want.

 

[ryanrulez4ever]

ive placed an order for the Zotac arctic storm variant , does that mean the the water cooling is mandatory or is it optional, can i run the card without any liquid in my machine

 

[Aikouka]

ive placed an order for the Zotac arctic storm variant , does that mean the the water cooling is mandatory or is it optional, can i run the card without any liquid in my machine

Based on what I see, it's a hybrid setup, which means you can use either water or air... or technically both; however, that would be excessive and a bit of overkill. If you wanted to water cool it, you could probably build a simple loop for around $200 total (including tubes, fittings, etc.).

 

[MrTeal]

Based on what I see, it's a hybrid setup, which means you can use either water or air... or technically both; however, that would be excessive and a bit of overkill. If you wanted to water cool it, you could probably build a simple loop for around $200 total (including tubes, fittings, etc.).

Another option (if you can fit a 2x140mm rad) would be to buy an H240-X, and tap into the loop after the CPU. It would give a lot of the benefit of WC without as much work.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00P2SJQR8/

 

[ryanrulez4ever]

i dont want to use the water cooling for now, i think the 3 fans should suffice as i would be doing very mild overclocking on it

 

[RussianSensation]

ive placed an order for the Zotac arctic storm variant , does that mean the the water cooling is mandatory or is it optional, can i run the card without any liquid in my machine

It's optional. It's like the Asus Poseidon series.

What display are you running? I just bought a BenQ BL3200. It's not old at all and runs at DL-DVI 2560x1440 60hz.

Mini-DP is great because it has a small footprint, allows for a lot of connections in a small space (perfect for single-slot cards) and adapters for HDMI are easy to come by.

One of my Sapphire cards came with a free Active minDP to Dual-Link DVI adapter.

Today, we can buy a $15 Active DisplayPort 1.2A to Dual Link DVI output adapter, supports 2560x1600 @ 60Hz:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042801&p_id=12783&seq=1&format=2

Because it's Active, it will allow Eyefinity and NV Surround too. It's also 6" which is long enough. It's not like in the past where this cost $100.

Why are people freaking out so much over DVI getting killed off? Also, removing DL-DVI from a reference card is GOOD because it allows people who want a single slot WC card to have that option, while it also allows AIBs to differentiate by offering DL-DVI as a 'feature.' This way both groups of PC gamers are satisfied since they have either/or options and AMD/NV and their AIBs are happy since they have differentiating feature set. Today, DL-DVI is hurting the gamers who don't want it and it hardly allows AIBs to differentiate themselves from the reference cards that already have them.

Ahem... some of us still use DVI!

Frankly, I can't stand how DisplayPort doesn't hold the connection when the monitor is turned off. Because it "disappears" from Windows, it messes up your window positions. I've had to "fix" this problem by actually using the "turn off display after..." feature; however, I'd still rather manually turn them on and off.

Not to mention Windows Media Center DOES NOT support DisplayPort connections for any protected content, which means that anything that I record off HBO must be played over a HDMI or DVI connection.

That's what AIB cards are for. To provide specific needs such as yours. If NV/AMD stop putting DVI on reference cards, doesn't mean MSI/EVGA or Gigabyte will. Sooner or later DVI is going to die like VGA because it's an inferior connector.

Sooner or later it's Game Over for DL-DVI, the clock has already started ticking:

Intel’s incredibly fast Thunderbolt 3 switches to USB-C connector

Sooner or later most of us will upgrade to FreeSync/GSync monitors, whether in 5 or 10 years, it's going to happen. That will finish off DL-DVI completely for gaming.

 

[DrBoss]

I'm looking forward to seeing specs for some of the more exotic non-reference designs. Still tapping my toes in anticipation of the Lightning (Duo Frozr?), through an article today on Guru 3D seems to indicate it's 2 months out. Any chance these halo cards (Lightning, HoF, Kingpin) will have truly unlocked voltage instead of the hamstrung Maxwell voltage regulations that we've become accustom to?

 

[Riceninja]

Lightning edition... if it's 1300/1400 mhz out the box, instant buy. Even Gaming 6G at 1178 / 1279 is fairly attractive.

 

[Aikouka]

Sooner or later most of us will upgrade to FreeSync/GSync monitors, whether in 5 or 10 years, it's going to happen. That will finish off DL-DVI completely for gaming.

G-Sync is the reason why I'm even using DisplayPort to begin with. Prior to getting my ROG Swift, I was using two DVI connections.

Also, I don't suspect that USB 3.1 will be a major player in the non-micro desktop market. It'll be a good thing for stuff like NUCs or laptops, but there's just not much of a reason for high-end desktops to use it. Also, most of those stats don't even support high-end laptops. For example, 100W cannot handle a high-end mobile GPU like a 980M. The video connection will probably be fine with dedicated GPUs since we already have switching graphics that support the same port (Optimus, Enduro or manual). Although, it's kind of amusing in a way, because it seems that we got away from the usage of "squid cables" (break-out cables), but now we're going back to them.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

My reference Asus 980TI arrived last Friday and I managed to install it last night. All I can say is it is a nice improvement overall. I'm sure I'm starving it a bit with my aging 3770, but if I had to guess I would say that I am seeing at least a 30-40% overall improvement over my old EVGA 780TI superclocked.

Now to sell my 780TI. If anyone is interested here is a link to the FS/FT board for it:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2434240

 

[Majic 7]

Got my ASUS reference in today and am more than happy with it. Went up from 35 to 60 fps with everything cranked to ultra now except DOF, light shafts, vignetting, blur and hair off in Witcher 3. Went from 49 to 60 with nearly everything cranked now in FC 4. Feeling very not screwed.

 

[RussianSensation]

Lightning edition... if it's 1300/1400 mhz out the box, instant buy. Even Gaming 6G at 1178 / 1279 is fairly attractive.

Zotac AMP! 980Ti Extreme - 1355mhz Boost, vastly superior cooler to the $820 CDN reference card.

$872 CDN before tax, available June 19th. For us, it's still crazy steep considering after tax in Ontario, this is a $985 card.

 

[Majcric]

Got my ASUS reference in today and am more than happy with it. Went up from 35 to 60 fps with everything cranked to ultra now except DOF, light shafts, vignetting, blur and hair off in Witcher 3. Went from 49 to 60 with nearly everything cranked now in FC 4. Feeling very not screwed.

What card did you have before? and your rez now if you don't mind my asking?

Mine should arrive tomorrow. The first thing I'll do is check for coil whine as I do with all my cards.

 

[2is]

2560x1600 if he's gaming on the monitor listed in his sig.

 

[Majic 7]

What card did you have before? and your rez now if you don't mind my asking?

Mine should arrive tomorrow. The first thing I'll do is check for coil whine as I do with all my cards.

I had an original Titan. No coil whine for me but I did have to wiggle connections before I got a clear output. Monitor kept spazzing on me. Just a little panic. Still using the 3011.

 

[moonbogg]

Enabled pci-e 3.0 on my X79. Gave me another 1000 points! Nothing else changed. I expect slightly higher FPS at the upper ranges, but I'll test tomorrow.

 

[exar333]

Zotac AMP! 980Ti Extreme - 1355mhz Boost, vastly superior cooler to the $820 CDN reference card.

$872 CDN before tax, available June 19th. For us, it's still crazy steep considering after tax in Ontario, this is a $985 card.

I definitely want to see a review on this version. The 980 Amp Extreme was a bit of a 'bust' because it still limited power and there wasn't a way around that. You could volt the card to the moon, but with the wattage limited, it was hamstrung. Hoping the 980Ti allows for some ways around that...

So frustrating to buy a NV card these days if you intend to OC it. You have to do a lot of homework not only on the card physically, but how the BIOS and software will impact you as well. :/

 

[2is]

Seems nVidia is reluctant to venture above PCI Express power limit specification. Maybe we'll get lucky and that limit is bumped up to 300+ watts with PCIe 4.0

 

[moonbogg]

1367mhz boost and an extra 275 on the ram. No throttling with temp limit at 83, fan profile ramped to 75% or so to keep it there. No voltage added. I'll back the GPU down to boost at 1300 and i'll be happy there. Will keep fans lower and things nice and reasonable. Actually this is only a few hundred extra and this was at 1367 boost. This is SO not worth it LOL. Going back to stock. Screw this.

 

[RussianSensation]

1367mhz boost and an extra 275 on the ram. No throttling with temp limit at 83, fan profile ramped to 75% or so to keep it there. No voltage added. I'll back the GPU down to boost at 1300 and i'll be happy there. Will keep fans lower and things nice and reasonable. Actually this is only a few hundred extra and this was at 1367 boost. This is SO not worth it LOL. Going back to stock. Screw this.

Computerbase.de had a video where 980Ti at 58% was already a jet engine. Legit Reviews paints an even glimmer situation, with 980Ti @ 60% fan speed louder than a reference 290X once overclocked.

With 2 of those cards in SLI, maybe a mild overclock is a better balance or going water which I don't think you want to do. Luckily since you were upgrading from 670s 2GB, even at stock speeds and having > 2GB of VRAM gave you a huge boost.

Looks like when the reviewers showed the reference 980Ti being loud once overclocked, they really were truthful.

So frustrating to buy a NV card these days if you intend to OC it. You have to do a lot of homework not only on the card physically, but how the BIOS and software will impact you as well. :/

It's a double-edged sword. On one hand having very little voltage adjustment makes it safer because it's much harder to destroy the ASIC and it also achieved a much better balance of perf/watt in overclocked states than what one would be able to achieve with overvolting+overclocking. On the other hand, not having the option of manually setting the voltage levels inhibits overclocking for those users who are less concerned about power usage or risk of destroying their card through overvolting. There are some other benefits though such as EVGA's 5- or 10-year warranties. Besides XFX, it's not possible to get long warranties on Radeon cards which can be a big deal for someone spending $1300 on 2 flagship cards in a pair. I do think it's odd that Zotac over-engineered the 980 series last time but those cards couldn't even overclock any better.

 

[moonbogg]

It gets loud no matter what. Its still hard to hear anything over my ridiculous Corsair H80 If I change any cooling system, it will be that thing first.

 

[ocre]

who sticks the ear on the "edge of the motherboard" anyway?

I think that makes no sense at all. Zip

 

[RussianSensation]

who sticks the ear on the "edge of the motherboard" anyway?

I think that makes no sense at all. Zip

What? Are you now defending above R9 290X reference sound levels on an overclocked reference 980Ti? I am pretty sure someone who pays $1300 USD for dual 980Ti cards finds this unacceptable. I know I would. For a $650 card, this cooler is worthless for overclocking, sorry. It's just as bad as the reference 290X that everyone ripped apart.

I want you to go to this video on this page, turn up your speakers and tell me that's acceptable for a $650 videocard:

http://www.computerbase.de/2015-06/geforce-gtx-980-ti-test-nvidia-titan/8/

That's only at 52% fan speed, not 70% or even 100%. That's a disaster for a flagship videocard for anyone who doesn't game with closed headphones or noise cancelling IEMs.