Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Review

[jessedb]

Well, I went with the GTX 970 because the price vs performance wasn't worth it. Would it be worth spending $650 for a 980 ti vs buying a second 970 for $350 to pair with what I have now? Or maybe I'll just wait a few years, putting my money aside. What would 2k buy me in a couple of years, compared to what I have now? I think this is a wait and see moment, considering that VR has a real chance of booming right now.

 

[jessedb]

wasn't worth it vs the gtx 980 cost...

 

[uglyduckling81]

I understand this card is designed to be used on higher resolutions but considering 95% of all gamers play on 1080p I think it would be fair to include it's 1080p performance.
On a plus I am loving the fact they are pushing for higher resolutions so I can sit back on 1080p for years and not have to spend high end to get high end performance.
I assume the 970 is still the king of 1080p gaming going from what I can see on other websites reviews which include 1080p comparisons.

 

[ak47jar3d]

Interesting release! 980 ti renders Titan x, gtx 980, and r9 295 irrelevant.

 

[de5_Roy]

very nice, informative review.

i didn't expect a launch review so soon, considering when titan x came out and the previous 780ti launch. the pricing is just as unexpected. card performance, construction look good.. but everything i dislike about nvidia's 28nm maxwell gpus is still present. can't shrug off the feeling that these are stopgaps till the gpus fabbed on the finfet processes come out (and display port 1.3).

 

[jasonelmore]

WTF $650?!?!?

i thought this was gonna be $550 and sold my 980 for $450.... welp guess i'm gonna have to back out of my ebay auction.. Not gonna pay $300 for 20 FPS i dont really need at 1200p.

just didnt want my 980 to depreciate down to 300 bucks or something silly like that.

 

[Kridian]

If the AMD 390X is going to be priced above $800 and with only 4GB Vram, they will indeed lose my purchase for the 980Ti.

 

[photonboy]

update on GPU and FAN SPEED:

I did some more research and 1000MHz is the base, and 1075MHz is the boost. So 1075MHz is the frequency to go by however it's not quite that simple.

You can OVERCLOCK however if you go too high the GPU will not be able to maintain the boost frequency so there's an optimal configuration.

You can for example increase the GPU temperature max allowed by several degrees but then it's likely the FAN SPEED will increase and/or you'll be more prone to overheat and downclock slightly. So again, a bit complicated.

The example I saw showed that setting the BOOST to around 1400MHz with 110% power target (and possibly raise GPU frequency) was possible depending on silicon lottery however FAN NOISE was close to 50% and louder than most people might like.

So for FAN NOISE alone (I'm sensitive) I'm holding off for a non-reference model though if that's not too big a deal the reference model sounds great for the price (which includes Batman AK).

 

[PaulBags]

I hate the idea of crippled chips. If these are slightly malformed chips with the dodgy shaders fused off then that's understandable, if not they should have just made a 6GB Titan X.

Either way let manufacturers make non-reference cards.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

This GTX 980 Ti seems significantly better price/performance than the GTX 980. I will be recommending these for higher end builds.

Actually with the price drop of the 980 it's about the same.

 

[GTXNEXUS]

What am I gonna do with my 2 980s? It just sounds like a disaster to me that now the 980ti is even more cost efficient...I am not upgrading nor do I have the money to but it just feels like shit...really got to watch Nvidia for my next upgrade, it is probably time to go red....

 

[dragonsqrrl]

If the AMD 390X is going to be priced above $800 and with only 4GB Vram, they will indeed lose my purchase for the 980Ti.

Recent rumors suggest that the 390X will be a Hawaii refresh set to compete with the 980. Fiji will take on a new elevated branding, similar to Titan. Unfortunately all recent indications point to Fiji being limited to 4GB at launch. And I wouldn't take leaked pricing too seriously, it's almost always inflated.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

WTF $650?!?!?

i thought this was gonna be $550 and sold my 980 for $450.... welp guess i'm gonna have to back out of my ebay auction.. Not gonna pay $300 for 20 FPS i dont really need at 1200p.

just didnt want my 980 to depreciate down to 300 bucks or something silly like that.

Well, I'm afraid that just means your expectations were completely out of line with reality. I don't think any informed enthusiast was expecting the 980Ti to come in at $550. In fact I think most people are actually surprised by the $650 price point given it's performance proximity to Titan X.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

no it is not and he is a very rude person.

not all people live in USA and have good salaries.

People in Romania Graduated from uni for example earn around 500 euro per month only. and is ALL spent on living and eating and clothes and rent , at the end of the month nothing remains.

in places like India or Ukraine or Africa or Asia is even lower.

If there's one thing I've learned about the Tom's Hardware community over the past 6 years, it's that the site seems to be unusually popular amongst Eastern Europeans for some reason.

and those work 10 times harder than any one in USA ...

Wow, that was kind of rude.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

waiting for AMD card . and I hope AMD wins this round. too tired from Nvidia pricing.

I hope you're not expecting any dramatic price reductions with AMD's 300 series lineup, if nothing else for AMD's sake.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Cool. I'm glad NVidia kept the silver finish, the Black finish on the GTX TITAN X is not that great.

I'm extremely surprised that NVidia made a GPU that costs around 4/6ths of the Titan X but performs nearly identically? Strange in my opinion.

 

[Calculatron]

I'm writing this as seriously as I can, not being a fanboy: What is the purpose of the Titan X at this point? It lost its DP performance that made it a fantastic workstation-gaming hybrid. Also, it really sucks for people who bought a Titan X just a little over a month ago? That's ~$350 down the drain pretty much. Yea the Titan X has all that extra VRAM, but for what? 3 4K displays maybe, at which point a 980ti SLI would probably lose by about ~5% due to a few less CUDA cores.

It is all about the Benjamins; it made sense for Nvidia to release the Titan X when they did, because there are people throwing tons of money to have the biggest and the best. Why not reap that money while they can, before AMD releases their counter?

Now, with the release of the 980 TI, they have competition at each price-point that is taking up that much more of the pie from AMD.

What is terrible is that while we can blame Nvidia all we want for poor release schedule, the reality of the situation is that the schedule is dictated by customers' buying habits. They know what the customer's want, and they are going to try to extract the most amount of money they can while giving it. Remember how the GTX 960 was postponed for so long, because the 970 and 980 were selling so well?

 

[wxyzsupermod]

Why would anyone get either I see the 295x2 on top and it costs only 650 right now same as 980ti and less than titan x and an in between amount of vram

 

[rdc85]

Miss the old days, when we can buy top gpu for $300~ ish....

for the card, can only said it somewhat expected...

 

[rayden54]

How important is gaming to you if you spend $500 on GPU and $500 on a monitor?

I guess i am the only one paying for rent out there.

How important is gaming to you if you spend $500 on GPU and $500 on a monitor?

I guess i am the only one paying for rent out there.

How important is gaming to you if you spend $500 on GPU and $500 on a monitor?

I guess i am the only one paying for rent out there.

If you don't have $1000 of discretionary income each year, you need a better job. Better question would be, what adult doesn't have $1000 for a graphics card and a monitor?

If you put it that way it is a fair point.

Like hell it is.

It's a bullshit argument that I am SICK of seeing. Even if you do happen to be lucky enough to have a decent job (and have you looked at the economy lately) thinking like that is a great way to end up broke.

Just think for a second: what do you think people are doing with their $1000 graphics card and monitor: staring at them? No that graphics card goes in their $1000 gaming rig (if you don't have $2000 in discretionary income each year...) and spending hundreds of dollars on the latest and greatest AAA games (if you don't have $2500 in discretionary income each year...).

Money does not work that way.

Usually people realize that buying a car has a bunch of associated costs and are smart enough to try to factor them in. They'll run the cost / benefit analysis. Then they'll decide if that car really is worth it.

I don't know what it is about gaming and computers that makes people forget stuff like that. That if you really do just have $1000 discretionary fund and you blow it all on a frivolous purchase you're screwed. Or that just because you have the money to buy one thing doesn't mean you have the money to something else too.

tl;dr - For spending $1000 on a graphics card and monitor to make sense, your discretionary fund had better be a lot bigger than $1000-so much so that you are not an average earner.

 

[rdc85]

for the price income thing, every one is different..

if someone have very good income and wanna blow it's money then why not, they deserve it since they got the money,
for someone with average income in 3rd world, me can only envy.. but me/we don't have right to "judge" other people life..
u either let it go, or try make a better income... start a business or such..

btw 1000$ for single gpu is outrageous "IMO"..

edit: real experience, my official salary is average/low in my country,
but my side income from business is good enough..
so try find new way to make money.. (legally)

 

[randomizer]

I'd really like to replace my GTX 560 Ti 448 core with this since it's not really cut out for 2560x1440. I just don't feel like spending 1000AUD on a product that is obsolete in a relatively short amount of time. Maybe a 970... or maybe I'll wait another few years...

 

[uglyduckling81]

Why would anyone get either I see the 295x2 on top and it costs only 650 right now same as 980ti and less than titan x and an in between amount of vram

Last weekend the 295x2 was only $550. Was such a good deal.

 

[uglyduckling81]

How important is gaming to you if you spend $500 on GPU and $500 on a monitor?

I guess i am the only one paying for rent out there.

How important is gaming to you if you spend $500 on GPU and $500 on a monitor?

I guess i am the only one paying for rent out there.

How important is gaming to you if you spend $500 on GPU and $500 on a monitor?

I guess i am the only one paying for rent out there.

If you don't have $1000 of discretionary income each year, you need a better job. Better question would be, what adult doesn't have $1000 for a graphics card and a monitor?

If you put it that way it is a fair point.

Like hell it is.

It's a bullshit argument that I am SICK of seeing. Even if you do happen to be lucky enough to have a decent job (and have you looked at the economy lately) thinking like that is a great way to end up broke.

Just think for a second: what do you think people are doing with their $1000 graphics card and monitor: staring at them? No that graphics card goes in their $1000 gaming rig (if you don't have $2000 in discretionary income each year...) and spending hundreds of dollars on the latest and greatest AAA games (if you don't have $2500 in discretionary income each year...).

Money does not work that way.

Usually people realize that buying a car has a bunch of associated costs and are smart enough to try to factor them in. They'll run the cost / benefit analysis. Then they'll decide if that car really is worth it.

I don't know what it is about gaming and computers that makes people forget stuff like that. That if you really do just have $1000 discretionary fund and you blow it all on a frivolous purchase you're screwed. Or that just because you have the money to buy one thing doesn't mean you have the money to something else too.

tl;dr - For spending $1000 on a graphics card and monitor to make sense, your discretionary fund had better be a lot bigger than $1000-so much so that you are not an average earner.

I can afford to spend that amount of money but it doesn't mean I'm going to,
Home loan, kids, holidays all deserve that money more than an overly expensive GPU.
On the other hand I spend a whole lot of hours gaming each year so if I look at it as a $/hr ratio $1000 is about the cheapest entertainment I could think of. A lot better than a $15 movie ticket. Or even the cost of fuel to drive to the beach.
I'm still not buying a stupidly overpriced bit of hardware though.

 

[cats_Paw]

I have a rather stupid question... why do they "disable" part of the GPU?
Does taht mean that those parts are there but you dont get to use them?