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Started by Wfs0801 | | 10 answers
GTX 980/970 non-reference?
I'm new to the whole custom pc/pc gaming world and the release of the GTX 980/970 is the first new release I've been around to see. How long does it typically take for other companies to start making better versions of the reference cards? For instance, I'm a fan of the ASUS DirectCU II line. How long could we expect to wait to start seeing these hit shelves?
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September 20, 2014 1:59:57 PM

I see. The same is not true in the US. Could probably order from UK and after shipping save maybe like $10 USD, but the time wasted wouldn't be worth it.
September 20, 2014 1:52:07 PM

in UK, 780 TI is cheaper, by about £50.
September 20, 2014 1:46:55 PM

That's still $625 USD. I haven't found a version of the 980 that's over $600 yet.
September 19, 2014 6:18:05 PM

I won't be making any purchases until closer to the end of the year (aiming to catch Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on whatever I can), but I'm going to start with just 1 980 of whichever version seems to be getting the best reviews at that time. Eventually I will get a second in SLI and watercooling and all that fancy stuff, but that's further down the line.

I cannot get over the fact that the 980 is cheaper than the 780Ti though, especially since last week I almost purchased one for my current build. Glad I didn't.
September 19, 2014 1:39:50 PM

If you haven't bought any card yet, get 980. I have 2x 780 TI in SLI and I know for a fact that these will last for couple of years definitely.

780 TI - Kepler architecture
980 - Maxwell architecture

Just because 980 doesn't have as much memory bus, bandwidth etc. It doesn't mean that it will perform worse. Maxwell CUDA cores perform better than Kepler CUDA cores by 40% I assume, that's why there are less cores 2080-2880? (800 difference I believe ). 780 TI has 2880 CUDA Kepler CUDA cores and 980 has 2080 Maxwell CUDA cores. Maxwell doesn't use as many CUDA cores, therefore there's less power usage. 980 is only 5% stronger than 780 TI, and it uses around 100W less than 780 TI. Personally, it's issue that is connected to money. If you'd like to save up some £££, then I suggest to get 780 TI only if you have PSU that is sufficient for 780 TI. If you want something such as 980 get it, but sooner or later there might be 980 TI which will be far superior and even I (2x 780 TI owner) will have to upgrade if games will become so demanding (or programs etc).

It's your choice really, CPU might bottleneck your 980 in SLI (if you'll have SLI) so I'd reseach it 1st.

I own 2x 780 TI and 4790K processor and it's not bottlenecking.

Personally, I'd wait for 980 TI version (might not come out soon, but I guess it'd be worth the wait. I assume it will come out in 10 months. (same difference like in between 780 and 780 TI).

If you can't wait, get factory overclocked 980. Wait for all the versions 1st to see which one is best.
September 19, 2014 9:58:31 AM

Typically, a month or two.
In this case, however, I expect to see updated versions within a week or two.

Because of the exceptionally low power requirements, I wonder about the worth of aftermarket coolers. They seem to be totally unnecessary and good only for marketing.
The stock blower coolers are more efficient in a case.

What I WOULD look for is factory overclocked superclock versions. There seems to be lots of headroom and you would get a better binned chip with a factory guarantee of performance.
September 19, 2014 9:55:22 AM

Awesome, that much less time I have to wait to build a new pc :) 

Thanks a bunch
September 19, 2014 9:49:11 AM

Shouldn't be long. MSI and EVGA already have cards out on Newegg with their own coolers, and some with manufacturer overclocks. Given that the announcement was made earlier today, I'd expect most of the others to be released within a week or two.

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