290, 780ti or 980?

[kalniel]

980 the 780ti is going to be discontinued

Do read the thread before commenting maybe

[Revvvhead]

GTX 970 looks like a great deal. Faster than a 780Ti and 40% cheaper than a 980. Can't go wrong for that price/performance.

[mynameissi]

Well I got the card this morning and installed it over lunch.

First thing is its a big card, about 33% longer than my 560gtxs. The shroud is made from not cheap feeling plastic, the whole thing feels very solid, no flex or wobble unlike the shrouds on my KFA2 560s and the MSI Frozer 460s I had before that.

Took out the old card and put in the new, did a clean remove/install of the drivers and good to go in under 10 mins.

At idle you can't hear the graphics card at all and even under load its far quieter than my old 560 SLi set up.

Ran some quick benchmarks which I've listed below with the score etc that Tomshardware has in its charts for a reference 780ti (I know I have a different cpu etc so this is not very scientific)

Metro Benchmark
FPS avg73, min 8 Toms =78

Heaven
FPS avg 94, min 40 Toms = 86.6

3DMark Firestrike
score 9560 Toms = 10800

So basically a fairly mixed bag. The Metro benchmark seems about ok, but concerned with the min FPS of 8 that I got repeatedly. Thats the same min FPS as my SLI 560s, although well over double the avg. I also noticed from the graph that the fps was very inconsistant, almost looked like microstutter (although not when you were looking at the screen)! My single 560 gave a much smoother trace but obv at very very low avg fps.

Heaven benchmark is looking pretty good, but rather alarmed by the 3DMARK one. Over 1k score below the reference 780ti. Hell its even below the reference 780 going by Toms figures. Thing I noticed from a really quick look at the 3DMARK results page is that I couldn't see a Zotac 780ti above 9700 score or so, but loads of other brands getting way higher. I've not investigated this further yet.

I also ran MSI Afterburner torture test on the highest settings it will do and after 10 mins of cpu @98% load the fan was only just audible, fan speed was 68% and temp was 74 degress with a room temp of 25 degrees.

I should also mention is that I could hear a clicking sound from the card when I first installed it, almost like a fan was wobbling/rubbing, but that seems to have disappeared this evening.

I have loaded up a couple of games eg CoD Ghosts, Civ5, Skyrim and turned them to max settings and the difference is unbelievable from what I had before. Using Fraps I can see I rarely drop below 60fps in any of them, and the smooth frame rates with all the extra graphics turned on is a major step up in gaming pleasure

Thanks. Really useful to know this stuff
Ill do the same for my 780, see how it does compared to others. Mines EVGA, so I'm expecting good results

[camalbitboy]

If budget is your absolute priority then you've probably made the right call in terms of card. Prices of 780Tis will probably drop now that the 980 has been released.

FWIW I was waiting for the release in order to get a 780Ti at a lower price but, given the pretty reasonably entry price for the 980, I think I might have to end up getting the new shiny!

The 780tis already dropped from cheapest £550 6 weeks ago to £385. Over the last few days at scan the non zotac 780TIs actually went up by £10 by the time I bought (they have gone up even more today).

The 980 is replacing 780TIs and given the unknown price point of the 980s, plus the 15-20% early adopter price hike they normally see (plus no stock available for a bit) means I'm happy with the price. The risk was cheap 780TIs dissapearing and having to wait around for 980s to drop to a decent price for pretty much the same performance.

The Zotac 980 is available now at £45 more than the zotac 780ti, which given the performance difference seems about right. I wouldn't be paying the £467 for the stock clocked PNY780ti that scan are asking at the moment!

[automaton]

reviews gtx 980
Anandtech
Techpowerup
HardwareCanucks
Hardocp
Guru3d, GB G1 Gaming
Bit-Tech
PCPerspective
TechReport
***********
Hexus
MaximumPC
Techspot
BSN
Tweaktown, SLI review
Overclockersclub
Hardware.fr (french)
Hardware.info
ComputerBase
HardwareLuxx
Tom's Hardware
Lab501
******

[Grassy]

You could get a Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 for £299, better than a 290 version imo.

[Muninn]

I'm currently weighing up this exact issue for a new build. I'm very tempted by the 980 especially after seeing how well it benchmarks and the fact it's not a significant increase over the 780ti in terms of cost. The only thing troubling me is the reduced number of stream processors on the 980 compared to the 780Ti; anyone seen any benchmarks on CUDA performance between the two cards?

[iggy]

You can pick up a 290 or 290x for ludicrously cheap on ebay. You could probably get 2 for 300 quid or so.

[deFiniLoGy]

I'd say go for a 970

Best Bang for the Buck atm IMO

[camalbitboy]

You can pick up a 290 or 290x for ludicrously cheap on ebay. You could probably get 2 for 300 quid or so.

But as I have an SLI capable mobo and not a crossfire one 2 x 290s wouldn't work. Plus I'm not a fan of second hand high end kit as you have no warrenty and chances are the previous owner thrashed it! Too many new parts have failed on me and I've had to claim on warrenty to dick about with ebay I'm afraid.

[camalbitboy]

Your probably right, £250 for the performance that the 970 gives is pretty damn good value. I'd agree this is the current price/performance king.

I'm happy with my 780ti for £350 for the extra performance and longevity till my next card. Scan are doing a Gainward Phantom for £335 now which is slower clocked than my Zotac but cheaper than what I paid.

980s are £430s to £450 if you can even find them so at the moment I'd suggest people pick up a 780ti at those prices untill the 980 prices come down (and actually become available)

[PowerPie5000]

But as I have an SLI capable mobo and not a crossfire one 2 x 290s wouldn't work

Your board supports both SLI and Crossfire, but i'd personally grab a pair of 970s if you still want an SLI setup .

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

SLI drivers are a bit hit and miss with the GTX970 and GTX980 ATM it appears.

[1stCowGirl]

congratz for the 780Ti.
now can you tell your VRM temps under load (use gpu-z)?
if you dont have a sensor there then its ok (i believe they dont want us to know the vrm temps), measure your GPU-CORE temp, if it goes above 78c, then add 20c to it and you will get the VRM temp. if its under 78, then add 15c to it and thats the vrm temp.

[RobbieRoy]

congratz for the 780Ti.
now can you tell your VRM temps under load (use gpu-z)?
if you dont have a sensor there then its ok (i believe they dont want us to know the vrm temps), measure your GPU-CORE temp, if it goes above 78c, then add 20c to it and you will get the VRM temp. if its under 78, then add 15c to it and thats the vrm temp.

Sorry for perhaps being a little behind the curve, but why the two different additions according to core temp?

[Rens11]

980 all the way cooler less watts and more powerful. If your budget can stretch to £500 its worth it