GTX 980, no longer GTX 880 discussion thread

[17seconds]

So the rumor mill is heating up. I know most people are expecting the GTX 880 in September, but according to the latest, Nvidia will skip the 800 moniker and go straight to the GTX 980 and GTX 970. Apparently, since there is already a GTX 800M series for laptops, they wanted to sync up the naming conventions with the new GTX 900M series and the new GTX 900 desktop series.
http://videocardz.com/51426/nvidia-to-skip-geforce-800-...
http://wccftech.com/nvidia-rumored-launch-geforce-gtx-9...


And the release dates?
•NVIDIA Second Generation Maxwell Announcement — September 9-10th
•NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 NDA lift date — September 19th

Of course, these are all officially "rumors", but that's how it goes. Rumors get updated and each time we get a little closer to the truth.

I just thought with so many people looking to purchase new high-end cards, this seems like a good time to hold off for a couple weeks to see what this new generation holds and whether that current generation card you've had your eye on will get a price drop.

 

[17seconds]

It was also mentioned that the GTX 960 would be out around October.

 

[Mousemonkey]

It does seem a bit odd that they would miss out the 8xx series in desktop cards, Maxwell on 28nm?

I'm not getting any stirrings in the trouser department over this.

 

[renz496]

So will GTX960 going to perform as fast as 780?

 

[Samuel Marlow]

So will GTX960 going to perform as fast as 780?

i dont think so. it seems to be all about power consumption now. and since most games are going to be console based. And since the 780 and the 780ti's are about 4 times as power as a playstation 4. there is really no need to go all out for games. Just more memory for video editing and less power consumption.

 

[renz496]

Well it seems so. But I think nvidia/amd still want much better performance. Maybe not for games but for pro market such as HPC nvidia/amd needs the performance increase so they can meet their roadmap performance target. That market segment never have enough performance

 

[17seconds]

There was a leaked benchmark showing the 880/980 to be about 20% faster than the 780 Ti. Another report I read was speculating that the 970 would be in between the 780 and 780 Ti. Bottom line is, it's hard to tell for sure at this point.

I'm not as excited about these cards as I am for the full GM110 cards on 20nm. I still think anyone thinking about buying a high end card right now really needs to wait 2 or 3 weeks before they decide.

 

[renz496]

Is there a chance for nvidia going to 'refresh' GM204 (and lower) to 20nm node or what ever next die shrink nvidia decides to use?

 

[17seconds]

Is there a chance for nvidia going to 'refresh' GM204 (and lower) to 20nm node or what ever next die shrink nvidia decides to use?

I think that's definitely going to be the case. We're just getting started here with Maxwell. 20nm was always the goal, but you know the story with TSMC very well. I think these 28nm GTX 900 cards are going to be very good, in order to justify their designation as the "new generation". Maxwell has been talked about for years, we've all seen the product roadmaps showing big performance gains. I don't think Nvidia would release these suckers if they weren't worthy of a GTX 980 nameplate.

 

[renz496]

But rather than performance I'm more interested to see if there will be something new with second gen maxwell that is not exist on first gen maxwell (GM107)

 

[17seconds]

But rather than performance I'm more interested to see if there will be something new with second gen maxwell that is not exist on first gen maxwell (GM107)

Yes, they have always debuted several new pieces of technology along with their new generation cards. Turbo Boost was one that came with Kepler.

 

[17seconds]

Some more info about the Nvidia "Game 24" event where they will apparently announce/reveal the GTX 980 & 970 on 9/19/14.
http://wccftech.com/nvidia-announces-game-24-event-980-970-announcement/

 

[17seconds]

And a new MSI Twin Frozr V heatsink to go along with the new GTX 970/980's.
http://wccftech.com/msi-teases-geforce-gtx-980-geforce-gtx-970-gpus-generation-twin-frozr-cooling-solution/

 

[renz496]

so all is left is to wait for the official announcement

 

[zaysk]

Yes! I've been putting away money for a few months now in anticipation of the 980. Can't wait for these cards to be announced and released. Hopefully it's at least equal to a 780ti with more VRAM, that'll make me a very happy guy.

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date, 17seconds.

 

[CGurrell]

If that heatsink is for the 970/980 cards (which I think it is) then power consumption has definitely been considered. Look at the PCI-E Power connectors, 2x6-pin. Now unless I'm mistaken, a 6-pin PCI-E power cable is rated at 75W, so 2 6-pin cables would be 150W, plus the 75W provided by the PCI-E slot. That's a maximum 225W TDP on at least the 970 (They could change the power options easily for the 980).

 

[ayb88]

I wonder what pricing will look like for the GTX 980. Will they also be releasing a ti version? Perhaps that'll be next year. I'm currently running gtx 670 in sli. Thinking about upgrading to the 980 once unveiled, and benched. Depending on the price point obvi.

 

[17seconds]

The article mentions $499 for the 980 and $399 for the 970 .... potentially.

 

[Sedare]

Really liking the price point. So that could potentially translate to 549/599 for the overclocked 980's and 459/499 for OC'd 970s that the companies will put out.

With lower power consumption does this mean one wouldn't need a 1200 watt PSU to do Dual-SLI? I have an 860 Watt right now with one 780 so not having to buy another PSU to achieve sli would be nice.

 

[17seconds]

850 watts is good for dual 780s, so you would be good with dual Maxwells as well.

 

[Sedare]

Cool. Thank you.

 

[renz496]

The article mentions $499 for the 980 and $399 for the 970 .... potentially.

970 should be at 350. just like 470 and 570. 960 should be 230 tops. just like when 460 first comes out. it will be even better if they can price 960 for 200 from the start.

 

[17seconds]

The last quarter was a down period in terms of sales for both companies. With reduced demand should come lower prices. I wouldn't be at all surprised if these cards came in at an attractive price level. Particularly if these are coming from a mature 28 nm process and are cheaper to produce than they would be if it was 20 nm.

 

[17seconds]

Looks like they are definitely going to be "reasonably" priced and 4GB, probably faster than current generation as well.
http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-replace-gtx-780-gtx-780-ti-custom-980s-8gb-vram/

 

[17seconds]

So the previous article mentioned that there would only be reference models for the first few weeks or so. But the latest shows a listing for the overclocked, completely custom Asus GTX 970 Strix card.
http://videocardz.com/52125/asus-strix-gtx-970-asus-gtx-980-listed