Nvidia GTX980Ti Review

[Kaapstad]

If I had to buy 4 cards tomorrow and the choice was between TXs and 980 Ti's I would go for the TXs every time as 4 up the 980 Ti's are a terrible waste of money and poor value.

The above statement may sound very odd but if you want to use all the GPU grunt available you would need to use 2160p and you would need more than 6gb making the 980 Ti's useless.

Having said that the 980 Ti's are fantastic cards and I will be getting a non reference one for some benching fun.

The bottom line when talking about graphics cards is it is a case of using the right tool for the job, there is no card that is right for all situations.

Please be nice to each other as we are only talking about graphics cards.

 

[AlienALX]

Also, a question for you guys?... which one should I go for?, an reference design, ie ASUS or EVGA (most due to they include an SLI finger) or ASUS Strix card?...

If you're even contemplating SLI, ever, then stick with blower coolers. It's not like the stock Nvidia cooler isn't good because it is.

I've been running SLI since the 8600GT and I promise you SLI without blowers or full on water is a nightmare.

 

[Mysterae]

Also, a question for you guys?... which one should I go for?, an reference design, ie ASUS or EVGA (most due to they include an SLI finger) or ASUS Strix card?...

If you're even contemplating SLI, ever, then stick with blower coolers. It's not like the stock Nvidia cooler isn't good because it is.

I've been running SLI since the 8600GT and I promise you SLI without blowers or full on water is a nightmare.

A very good question that I'm thinking about too and and answer I'm very aware of and totally agree with .

For me it's got to be a reference design for the blower for the initial period where I'll run the cards without water. Then I'd consider the model based on the circuit board as that will determine waterblock compatibility.

Then I'd consider the warranty on the product which ranges from 2 years to 5 years. There's no way I'll have the card for 5 years so a 3 year warranty is fine for me.

My 780Ti's are the EVGA Superclock version and they have been pretty solid cards for me and I like to think they retain a little extra resale value for potential buyers who can't or won't overclock. EVGA were good as gold when I RMA'd a 670 a few years back, so I'll be sticking with them, if I decide to go with the 980Ti.

 

[Dawelio]

I meant that EVGA includers a SLI finger cover lol... and no, I don't think I'll go SLI. Since I'm a single card kind of guy

Still not sure wether ASUS or EVGA though... back when the 570 were popular, I was drueling all over EVGA 570 lol. But after hearing you guys on EVGA, I've got kinda suspicious.

Although, the ASUS one is £50 more expensive than the EVGA one.

 

[AlienALX]

A very good question that I'm thinking about too and and answer I'm very aware of and totally agree with .

For me it's got to be a reference design for the blower for the initial period where I'll run the cards without water. Then I'd consider the model based on the circuit board as that will determine waterblock compatibility.

Then I'd consider the warranty on the product which ranges from 2 years to 5 years. There's no way I'll have the card for 5 years so a 3 year warranty is fine for me.

My 780Ti's are the EVGA Superclock version and they have been pretty solid cards for me and I like to think they retain a little extra resale value for potential buyers who can't or won't overclock. EVGA were good as gold when I RMA'd a 670 a few years back, so I'll be sticking with them, if I decide to go with the 980Ti.

Dude don't rule out AIO coolers. I put one on a GTX 480 Lightning and capped out at 47c after two hours of valley.

The neat thing about an AIO is that it was designed for a CPU. A much larger, hotter object. As such when you strap one to a GPU the results are awesome. All with just a 120mm fan spinning at medium speed !

I have several AIOs kicking around now. A modified H100 and two H50s. I may just strap one to my Titan Black in the Alienware I'm restoring

 

[Dawelio]

Dude don't rule out AIO coolers. I put one on a GTX 480 Lightning and capped out at 47c after two hours of valley.

The neat thing about an AIO is that it was designed for a CPU. A much larger, hotter object. As such when you strap one to a GPU the results are awesome. All with just a 120mm fan spinning at medium speed !

I have several AIOs kicking around now. A modified H100 and two H50s. I may just strap one to my Titan Black in the Alienware I'm restoring

Dude, are you related to Donald Trump or what? ^_^

 

[AlienALX]

Dude, are you related to Donald Trump or what? ^_^

Dude honestly if you could see the crap pile in my wardrobe you would laugh.

It's a shame really. I mean I've got a Titan Black, a Quadro FX 4800 and a 7990. Then two motherboards, three CPUs, two sound cards.. It just goes on. Seriously when you open the wardrobe crap starts spilling out

Good thing is that by restoring the Alienware and chucking in some nice hardware I can reduce the pile but it's to the point of being ridiculous.

And I just gave away a rig too :S

The problem is I don't like selling things. The last time I dared I sold a phone on Ebay and three weeks after it was delivered the bugger told Paypal he didn't order it and they took the money back from my bank account.

Then there's human greed.. I really don't like going there. So now I got this stupid great pile of some really nice hardware just going to waste.

 

[Dawelio]

Dude honestly if you could see the crap pile in my wardrobe you would laugh.

It's a shame really. I mean I've got a Titan Black, a Quadro FX 4800 and a 7990. Then two motherboards, three CPUs, two sound cards.. It just goes on. Seriously when you open the wardrobe crap starts spilling out

Good thing is that by restoring the Alienware and chucking in some nice hardware I can reduce the pile but it's to the point of being ridiculous.

And I just gave away a rig too :S

The problem is I don't like selling things. The last time I dared I sold a phone on Ebay and three weeks after it was delivered the bugger told Paypal he didn't order it and they took the money back from my bank account.

Then there's human greed.. I really don't like going there. So now I got this stupid great pile of some really nice hardware just going to waste.

Could always give me =00=

 

[AlienALX]

Price has already dropped in the USA apparently.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Price has already dropped in the USA apparently.

$499 USD then £399 GBP I was hearing - thats a big cut and is going to hurt AMD considering they called it Fiji/Fury to bump the price up away from the 300's and allow them to get Titan X money

 

[Dawelio]

$499 USD then £399 GBP I was hearing - thats a big cut and is going to hurt AMD considering they called it Fiji/Fury to bump the price up away from the 300's and allow them to get Titan X money

Well atleast in my currency, the difference between $499 and £399 is quite huge, how can that be?... shouldn't they cost about the same?...

And is this for the 980 or 980Ti?... as if it's 980Ti then it would be quite lol and very cheap.

 

[AlienALX]

AMD are going to have to release cheaper now. There's just no getting around it because Nvidia are like a little yippy dog biting their ankles.

IMO Maxwell is old tech when compared to the 390x and HBM. It's kind of like buying X79 instead of X99. Why would you?

I know that a lot of stuff you read about in rumours turns out to be utter BS but some of it always turns out to be true. HBM is a step forward no matter what.

Don't get me wrong Maxwell is very quick and I have doubts about AMD's new core being quicker but it's all about HBM for me.

 

[Dicehunter]

Apparently the price big drop is only for north america from what I've been reading around the place.

 

[AlienALX]

Apparently the price big drop is only for north america from what I've been reading around the place.

Well I said wait three weeks but it's turned out to be three days.

They probably won't drop here until DSR time has expired. Otherwise every card ordered would go back.

But I was absolutely 100% right.

Nvidia are acting very worried right now and you really must ask yourself why.

Panic..

 

[Dicehunter]

Well I said wait three weeks but it's turned out to be three days.

They probably won't drop here until DSR time has expired. Otherwise every card ordered would go back.

But I was absolutely 100% right.

Nvidia are acting very worried right now and you really must ask yourself why.

Panic..

No need to panic at all, Quite excited to see it TBH

 

[Dawelio]

Well I said wait three weeks but it's turned out to be three days.

They probably won't drop here until DSR time has expired. Otherwise every card ordered would go back.

But I was absolutely 100% right.

Nvidia are acting very worried right now and you really must ask yourself why.

Panic..

DSR?... Distance Selling Regulations?...

 

[TPC]

the 980 Ti has dropped 50€ here already, but most prices will update on Monday, so it'll be even more I guess

 

[AlienALX]

DSR?... Distance Selling Regulations?...

Yeah. You get seven days to return for a no questions asked refund. It's to cover buyer's remorse, items not looking like they do in a photo etc.

They'll wait til the 7 days are up and then lower the price. That way they won't have to take back hundreds of cards.

Ah well. I guess a few hundred people just worked out what I have recently.. hopefully they'll learn from it.

Posts merged - Please do not double post

No need to panic at all, Quite excited to see it TBH

I mean Nvidia dude.

They have about two weeks to sell as many as they can, because if HBM is all that and AMD undercut them they won't sell many more.

 

[Dicehunter]

I mean Nvidia dude.

They have about two weeks to sell as many as they can, because if HBM is all that and AMD undercut them they won't sell many more.

Memory bandwidth only gets you so far, You need the horses to back it up, They need to have the Fury's core be faster than the TX/Ti by a good chunk otherwise it's just the 290X/780 Ti/Titan Black all over again -_-

 

[NeverBackDown]

Memory bandwidth only gets you so far, You need the horses to back it up, They need to have the Fury's core be faster than the TX/Ti by a good chunk otherwise it's just the 290X/780 Ti/Titan Black all over again -_-

Memory bandwidth can still get you far if they designed for it and it outmet the needs that GDDR5 could meet. In games i'm unsure how it would work, obviously they would need huge loads at 4k. Also remember that the HBM isn't just capable of higher bandwidth, the latency is much much lower due to arch designs and the fact they are so close to the core. Latency is probably more important currently than top end bandwidth I would feel like at this current moment for games. Also have to remember that they are running at 500mhz and outpacing GDDR5 by loads. So another way to think of it is GDDR5 OC'd by another couple ghz(example) so it's just a faster version- how that translates to games, we will see