[VC]NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, GTX 980 SLI, GTX 970, 3DMark performance

[JDG1980]

I have a hard time seeing the case for the GTX 980 if it indeed debuts at $599. For people who game at 1440p or less, the GTX 970 should be adequate, and for higher resolutions like triple-monitor HD (5760x1080) and 4K, I am still skeptical that a GTX 980 SLI configuration will be able to beat the R9 295 X2, given its memory bandwidth limitations.

Incidentally, the "inflation" argument doesn't hold any water. Inflation has been under 2% for the past couple of years.

 

[nvgpu]

http://videocardz.com/52362/only-at-vc-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-final-specifications

What you didn’t know, is that GM204 has 64 Raster Operating Units. Yes, GM204 has 64 ROPs, that’s more than Kepler GK110.

There are 5.2 billion transistors packed into GM204, and the GPU has a die size of 398 mm2.

Other interesting technology is Third Generation Delta Color Compression. This technology will help increase memory efficiency, which is definitely required with 256b interface.

The final buzzword for you is Multi-Pixel Programmable Sampling, technology improving sample randomization, and reducing quantization artifacts.

The biggest news here is that GTX 980 has only a TDP of 165W. That’s amazing power reduction compared to 250W GK110.

Last but not least, I can now confirm that GeForce GTX 980 has HDMI 2.0 support.

 

[sontin]

165W and 4,7TFLOPs - that are insane 28,48 GFLOPs/Watt.

Wow. And official downsampling option and HDMI 2.0?!

This is the first time in recent years that nVidia would be a leader in display input options.

 

[Erenhardt]

Well... They are free to charge whatever they please - example TitanZ.

Offering the same performance for the same price though the years would lead us to something ridiculous like 1M$ GPUs.

Graphics cards are not something that will be consumed, or will degrade over time (sort of) the way cars for example do. The card will work the same for its whole lifetime.
They need to offer more for the same price to make people upgrade their setups.

And that's the issue here. How many of us had upgrade itch. The desire to get new part just for the sake of getting it, without even looking at the economic aspect, ignoring abysmal value the upgrade offers. We see this behavior way too often, and the effects we see now.

 

[stahlhart]

Everyone take the rhetoric down a notch. They're just video cards.
-- stahlhart

 

[tviceman]

If gm204 really has 64 ROP's then I hope some of these leaked benches are fake and its faster than advertised, especially at $599.

 

[JohnWayne74]

http://videocardz.com/52379/gainward-geforce-gtx-980-and-gtx-970-pictured


Gainward's cards

 

[JohnWayne74]

I have a hard time seeing the case for the GTX 980 if it indeed debuts at $599. For people who game at 1440p or less, the GTX 970 should be adequate, and for higher resolutions like triple-monitor HD (5760x1080) and 4K, I am still skeptical that a GTX 980 SLI configuration will be able to beat the R9 295 X2, given its memory bandwidth limitations.

Incidentally, the "inflation" argument doesn't hold any water. Inflation has been under 2% for the past couple of years.

The 599.99 price is very disappointing.

 

[Silverforce11]

If gm204 really has 64 ROP's then I hope some of these leaked benches are fake and its faster than advertised, especially at $599.

64 ROPs would mean its overkill for 1080/1440p & targeted at 4K resolution... but 256 bit bus?

Illogical.

 

[wand3r3r]

The phantom looks pretty different, I think I like it.

 

[tviceman]

64 ROPs would mean its overkill for 1080/1440p & targeted at 4K resolution... but 256 bit bus?

Illogical.

Lets wait for reviews. I am sick of this being perpetuated over and over again.

 

[FatherMurphy]

A 165W TDP? That's 5W less than my GTX670 but providing ~75% or more performance on the same node.

1) That's an engineering marvel that we can all appreciate, whatever expectations you might have held for ultimate performance.

2) I think this card (GTX980) is designed to replace, not surpass, the GTX780ti but shore up its deficiencies (namely, 4k resolution by having 64 ROPs). I have read many forums where people are upset because they probably don't have a reason to replace their 780ti with this card, but people with GTX680s/670s and GTX770s/760s certainly do.

3) The projected price point of $600 is disappointing but, again, as a replacement for te 780ti, it is coming in at or below the MSRP of the 780ti for the same performance, more features, significantly less power draw, and better display output options. It's like a more future proof 780ti.

Still, would've jumped on this card launch day if it was $500, but won't be doing so if it is $600. Alas.

 

[DarkKnightDude]

Well no reason to get a new card if that pricing is true till whatever is beyond this series. What's next? GTX1080?

 

[SirPauly]

Nice to see some new goodies -- pricing aside -- impressive engineering considering the node.

 

[JoeRambo]

Hard to believe that it has just 128TMUs. Sure 750TI has just 40, but 128 could be rather low?

But 165 watts made my jaw really drop, the fact that Nvidia can get away with such perf/watt on 1.2Ghz clock is epic.

 

[sontin]

No, there are only 8TMUs in each SMM.

 

[Kenmitch]

Everyone here seems to lack common sense and critical thinking ability. It's really simple, there's nothing complex to think about.

If you already have a GTX 780 or GTX 780 Ti, you can wait for GM200 or Pascal. That's your upgrade. No one is forcing you to upgrade every cycle.

Many people don't have a high end Kepler GPU and they already told Nvidia they want a high performance GPU without "noisy fans and take up a lot of heat" 2 years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SfPLhTgRPQ

So Nvidia is giving them what they want, a power efficient Maxwell GPU with high performance. There's plenty of people with older generation Tesla/Fermi GPU that has been waiting for this since the upgrade cycles have grown to 4 years or so.

Also go look up the word inflation, cost of materials keep rising every year yet you think you should get a free ride?

New member, heavily pro NVidia user name, preaching all things NVidia, trashing AMD, NVidia launch days away....Makes a person wonder doesn't it.

Your stance on the subject matter seems too strong to me. Almost like your doing more marketing than hype for your favorite team! Maybe it's the blue shades I'm wearing currently?

So why don't you people stop whining and go and buy that 300W AMD card with hybrid Asetek CLC and fan cooling solution that was leaked recently?

After all, AMD is losing money almost every quarter and they're willing to sell products at low prices. I bet it will be priced low enough despite the high BOM costs of the Asetek CLC and you'll be singing and dancing in the rain about it.

Warning issued for inflammatory language.
-- stahlhart

This comment reinforces my thoughts about your intentions here.

Enthusiasts GPUs have always been in the $500-$600 range, if you don't like it, there's always the $200-$300 GPU that has always been the best bang for buck and the GTX 960 looks to be a winner there.

Again, no one is putting a gun to your head and say you must buy this enthusiast GPU.

It's not cheap to develop GPU families, just look at what you have to invest in to make them.

http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2011/05/16/sneak-peak-inside-nvidia-emulation-lab/

https://communities.netapp.com/community/netapp-blogs/netapp-360/blog/2014/04/07/announcing-latest-epic-story-nvidia

Multi-million dollar emulators & data storage in the petabyte range, cost of electricity to run and cool them 24/7, cost of paying employees salaries, etc.

Jen-Hsun also said it costs almost a couple of billion dollars investment in R&D for the Kepler family. Think about that, 2 BILLION dollars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq202LKkeHI

Also "Perf per watt equals perf" for those that still don't get it.

As long as your happy it's all that matters I guess.

I wonder why Intel doesn't take the same stance. Seems to me like Intel pumps a lot more $'s into R&D but they don't in turn keep upping the anty to the party....Go figure!

 

[Termie]

I'll just say this: a 165W TDP, 4K performance above that of the 780Ti, and HDMI 2.0 make this a game-changing HTPC gaming card.

Shame about the high price. $600 makes sense, but $550 would really seal the deal.

 

[Paul98]

Seems both NV and AMD are releasing cards that should replace a lower end card than they are. Yet the lack of shrink has screwed us. 980 should replace 770 and the 285 the somewhere around 260 to 270.

 

[tviceman]

I'll just say this: a 165W TDP, 4K performance above that of the 780Ti, and HDMI 2.0 make this a game-changing HTPC gaming card.

Shame about the high price. $600 makes sense, but $550 would really seal the deal.

$600 is likely too high to make this launch an enticing purchase for most people with gtx680+ performance. I will reserve final judgement for reviews, but it needs to come in 15% or better over a 780 TI. On the otherhand, I think all the 4k fears and did will be silenced.

 

[sontin]

Seems both NV and AMD are releasing cards that should replace a lower end card than they are. Yet the lack of shrink has screwed us. 980 should replace 770 and the 285 the somewhere around 260 to 270.

Seriously, stop comparing GM204 to Tonga.
GM204 will be around 60% faster than a GTX770 while using less power.

R9 285 is as fast and uses as much power as the r9 280. So there is no progression in opposite to GM204.

Even if nVidia sold GM204 for much less AMD would always lower prices much more.

 

[RussianSensation]

A 165W TDP? That's 5W less than my GTX670 but providing ~75% or more performance on the same node.

1) That's an engineering marvel that we can all appreciate, whatever expectations you might have held for ultimate performance.

:thumbsup:

I am looking forward to an 1100mhz+, 3072+ CUDA core, 96 ROP, 384-bit bus (with new colour compression) GM210. That would slaughter a 780Ti :biggrin:

I'll just say this: a 165W TDP, 4K performance above that of the 780Ti, and HDMI 2.0 make this a game-changing HTPC gaming card.

I don't see that:

1) The price is way too high for an HTPC gaming system. HTPCs tend to have low-end to mid-range GPUs.

2) 165W TDP is way too high for an HTPC videocard. I mean you need to add 100W of power at least for an i5/i7 base system so really this system would use 265W. Let's say there is a hypothetical 250W TDP GM210, your total system power would be 350W. Either way the Titan cooler can cope with 165W or 250W TDP with the blower exhaust still being relatively quiet and you'd still be able to use a fanless 400-520W PSU with GM210 in a small case. So I don't see any advantage of a 165W 980 over a 250W TDP GM210 in a living room since both would be similarly quiet and run cool without overclocking. When you'll be gaming in the living room, the sound of your TV/speakers will drown your system noise anyway.

This is more of a showcase of the excellent engineering of Maxwell architecture but the rumored $500+ price tag and possibly only up to 15% increase over 780Ti after 1 year really takes away a lot of the excitement. I think most people would rather choose a $700 GM210 with 250W than a $500 GM204 with 165W. I think GM204 will be a real breakthrough for laptops though. Hopefully by fall 2015 we can see a GM204 laptop with Skylake 14nm. That would be pretty sweet.

On the otherhand, I think all the 4k fears and did will be silenced.

No way, 15% or even 20% over 780TI for 4K is a drop in the bucket. We need a single GPU = 290X in CF for a real 4K gaming breakthrough. A single 980 will do little for 4K gaming overall since you can't even get 60 fps at 4K with dual 290Xs overclocked.

And this is for 1-2 year old games. 980 is supposed to last until Pascal or 2 years+. I sure hope we'll see next gen PC games in the next 2 years and if so, any advantage 980 has over 780Ti at 4K will be wiped out by these games' corresponding increases in geometry, shader and texture complexity.

 

[96Firebird]

I mean all the data is there to call it a mid-range card...

HTPCs tend to have low-end to mid-range GPUs.

So do you think this card is "mid-range" or not? I'm seeing both here...

 

[RussianSensation]

So do you think this card is "mid-range" or not? I'm seeing both here...

It's a mid-range card in the Maxwell stack over the next 2 years. But if it's priced $500-600, it's not what you call an HTPC candidate which is often served by cards like 750Ti and 270. I mean if someone is putting a $500+ card into an HTPC, why wouldn't they use a 780Ti already? As I said take any small case and a 165W 980 or a 780Ti blower 250W, it's not like the latter system is going to blow up your living room with heat and noise. You could easily put together an HTCP with a 295X2 since it will run both cool and quiet but do you know anyone who would call a 295X2 an HTPC gaming card? No....

Ask yourself this, 980s at $599 x2 would be going head-to-head against a 295X2 which beats a 780Ti by 66% at 1440p and mops the floor with it at 4K. Not only that but 290s provide 95% of that performance for $700!

295X2 vs. 780Ti at 4K

73% faster in Bioshock Infinite
75% faster in Thief
75% faster in BF4
75% faster in Far Cry 3

So many people here keep saying that AMD is not competitive but for enthusiasts specifically - 4K and multi-monitor - it's NV that's catching up to AMD, not the other way around. If a 980 is only 15% faster than 780TI, 980s will have a heck of a hard time beating the cool and quiet $999 295X2 at 4K. Worse yet, dual after-market 290s for $700 or 970s for $800 will make a single 980 priced at $600 look absolutely ridiculous for 4K. I am not saying NV won't price 980 at $600 since many people purchased 780Ti for $700 over dual 290s but that's why I think NV only cares about what its loyal customers will be willing to pay since 290s will still slaughter a $600 980 for price/performance at high rez gaming.

What makes it so hard to predict pricing is that even if NV priced this card at $600-700, even just 15% faster, its loyal customer base would be lining up.

 

[Face2Face]

It's a mid-range card in the Maxwell stack over the next 2 years. But if it's priced $500-600, it's not what you call an HTPC candidate which is often served by cards like 750Ti and 270. I mean if someone is putting a $500+ card into an HTPC, why wouldn't they use a 780Ti already? As I said take any small case and a 165W 980 or a 780Ti blower 250W, it's not like the latter system is going to blow up your living room with heat and noise. You could easily put together an HTCP with a 295X2 since it will run both cool and quiet but do you know anyone who would call a 295X2 an HTPC gaming card? No....

I think Termie was also making the point for HDMI 2.0 as well. There will be a slew of cheap 4K HDMI 2.0 TV's on sale around the Holidays, which would make a GTX 980 a decent option for an HTPC. It has official HDMI 2.0 support, low power consumption, and should handle most less demanding games @ 4K/60Hz with some settings turned down.