Gtx980ti Review Thread

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Trades blows with the Titan X!!

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...ce-gtx-980-ti/
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...80-ti-review/1
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/...ce_GTX_980_Ti/
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9306/t...-980-ti-review
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...ce-review.html
http://techreport.com/review/28356/n...-card-reviewed
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphic...ng-TITAN-X-650
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages...-review,1.html
http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...980-ti-review/

[shamus21]

With the speed of GPU releases over the last 18 months and next years die shrink and the new HBM memory I would not be surprised if the Titan X and the 980Ti have a very short shelf life.

[rallfo]

We're all waiting for the flagship custom cards to actually hit the shelves!

Sep 18th - GTX 980 reference launch
Sep 27th - MSI Gaming 4G in stock in UK retailers
Oct 1st - EVGA Classified in stock

So if we're lucky we're looking at a week for MSI's flagship and a month for the EVGA classified?

[kalniel]

We're all waiting for the flagship custom cards to actually hit the shelves!

I'm not.

If I was going for a 980ti I'd be happy with the nVidia reference - in fact it'd be my preference.

[kompukare]

Here are some more reviews:
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/935-...an-x-test.html
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-06/g...-nvidia-titan/

http://www.hardwareluxx.com/index.ph...80-ti-6gb.html

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2015/nvidia_...icher_im_test/

Computerbase's warm-up tests are always nice. There's not much 'throttling' (aka Boost back to normal) with this card.

Hardware.fr's thermal images are nice. While the other two have a different range of games.

[rallfo]

If I was going for a 980ti I'd be happy with the nVidia reference - in fact it'd be my preference.

Why's that? If the expected pricing is correct the flagship EVGA/MSI models will represent a good price to performance ratio and performance rivalling or even exceeding the Titan X, given how close the reference 980ti comes already.

[kalniel]

Why's that? If the expected pricing is correct the flagship EVGA/MSI models will represent a good price to performance ratio and performance rivalling or even exceeding the Titan X, given how close the reference 980ti comes already.

If I absolutely needed the small gain in performance then I could do it myself. Otherwise I don't need third parties bumping voltages just to get a bit of an e-peen rise up the charts

[jonathan_phang]

So tempted to pick up a reference one but luckily new drivers have meant I can eek out that bit more performance out of my existing CFX setup for now. Impressed with the numbers and fingers crossed this means there is something almighty coming from AMD. If it isn't then this might be the right time for me to move on the 7970 CFX setup

The only reason I would want one of the non-reference ones is if they offer quieter cooling without compromising thermals too much - which can affect OCs right (Not been up to date with Nvidias offerings for a while).

Its not cheap, its not even great value - but compared to the Titan X its a relative no-brainer for straight gaming I think

[rallfo]

If I absolutely needed the small gain in performance then I could do it myself. Otherwise I don't need third parties bumping voltages just to get a bit of an e-peen rise up the charts

You've no guarantee that your reference card will perform at 10% higher clock speeds if that's what you want. It's the luck of the chip binning draw.

When you purchase a Classified / Lightning / etc you have a chip that has been binned in that performance bracket, a guarantee and testing by the manufacturer and a board that has been designed around the power and cooling requirements.

At the end of the day it's all personal value propositions. If you're going for a 980ti in the first place you've identified a point on the price/performance curve that suits your needs and means. I'd say that paying 10-15% more for an equivalent increase in performance with an aftermarket card makes sense for many people, myself included. Certainly a 980ti factory overclocked to match the performance of the Titan X is a much better value proposition than paying 50% more for the Titan X itself imo if you're not doing compute.

Now it just so happens that some of the games I'm interested in are dipping just the wrong side of 60fps for my liking, so that extra performance represents decent value for me (I'm looking at you GTA5 with your micro-stuttering in SLI). Other people will find this absurd - 30fps is enough for anyone - while yet others are running 120/144hz monitors and demand much higher framerates than I do.

[shamus21]

So tempted to pick up a reference one but luckily new drivers have meant I can eek out that bit more performance out of my existing CFX setup for now. Impressed with the numbers and fingers crossed this means there is something almighty coming from AMD. If it isn't then this might be the right time for me to move on the 7970 CFX setup

The only reason I would want one of the non-reference ones is if they offer quieter cooling without compromising thermals too much - which can affect OCs right (Not been up to date with Nvidias offerings for a while).

Its not cheap, its not even great value - but compared to the Titan X its a relative no-brainer for straight gaming I think

And do not forget windows 10 and DX12 will also give you a boost, possible 20%.

[kalniel]

You've no guarantee that your reference card will perform at 10% higher clock speeds if that's what you want. It's the luck of the chip binning draw.

When you purchase a Classified / Lightning / etc you have a chip that has been binned in that performance bracket, a guarantee and testing by the manufacturer and a board that has been designed around the power and cooling requirements.

I'm a bit more cynical about it these days - I think what you get is in effect a better warranty, of which the cost to them of enforcing it is met by the increase premium on the cards.

IE they're just overclocked cards, and the resultingly higher failure rate is offset by the fact everyone who buys one is chipping in a premium.

At the end of the day it's all personal value propositions. If you're going for a 980ti in the first place you've identified a point on the price/performance curve that suits your needs and means. I'd say that paying 10-15% more for an equivalent increase in performance with an aftermarket card makes sense for many people, myself included.

Certainly a linear % increase in cost vs % points performance gain over a reference card would be good. I can't think of many third party cards that have delivered that though in the past.

But yes, if you want the peace of mind of a warranty that covers x clock speeds, then may be worth it. I'm not sure it is, hence I don't agree that we're 'all' waiting for third party cards.

[Marcvs]

Remember they also usually have the cost of the custom cooling too..

And for some cards IMO the stock cooling is inadequate (R9 290s anyone). I think the Tri-X edition I have probably will last longer (and not shatter my eardrums) than a regular one.. And it wasnt noticeably more expensive.

[jigger]

Hold on, whats the power consumption like thats all that matters on Nvidia cards.

[Biscuit]

People who actually bought the Titan X are probably feeling a little bit annoyed at the moment...

[kalniel]

Remember they also usually have the cost of the custom cooling too..

Which is usually less than the cost of supplying the reference cooler, if the reference cooler is a decent design. Often they pass that saving on to the consumer though, which is nice.

[shaithis]

People who actually bought the Titan X are probably feeling a little bit annoyed at the moment...

I would like to think someone who purchased a Titan X knew what they were doing.....