Report: Nvidia GTX 880, 880 Ti to be Cheaper than 780 Ti

By Niels Broekhuijsen
published

Not all rumours should be believed, and this is probably a prime example.

It's been a while since we saw any rumors regarding the upcoming graphics cards from Nvidia, but it seems that the rumor mill has been working hard. There is word out on the web that the new Nvidia GTX 880 and the GTX 880 Ti, the latter of which we can't even be sure will exist, will be cheaper than their GTX 780 and GTX 780 Ti predecessors.

The exact details regarding how much cheaper the cards will be remains unknown, as does the validity of this rumor, so don't get your hopes up yet. This rumor appears to stem from a forum post, so we have our doubts (it could simply be a teenager tired of not being able to afford high-end graphics cards trying to put pressure on Nvidia). We're not saying that we don't want to see it happen, we just don't think that it will. The most realistic thing to believe is that the cards will be cheaper to manufacture, but to expect this to translate to lower retail prices is a bit of a pipe dream.

Moving on, there is also a report going around that there will be a graphics card based on the GM204 GPU that will carry 8 GB of GDDR5 memory running over a 256-bit memory interface. This report stems from an import list from the website Zauba.com, where an entry is shown with the details of a test board. We're not sure whether to believe that we'll be seeing retail cards with 8 GB frame buffers as reference solutions, but rather just 4 GB. However, these are clearly labelled as test boards, so they are not representative of final products.

Despite everything, the new GPUs from Nvidia are expected to be baked on the 20 nm lithographic process, which combined with the new Maxwell architecture will make them quite efficient. Dreadful rumors aside, we do expect the new hardware to come out somewhere towards the end of 2014, early 2015. We might not immediately be looking at the high-end hardware, but we'll probably see at least one new Maxwell-based GPU coming around that time.

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Niels Broekhuijsen
Niels Broekhuijsen

Niels Broekhuijsen is a Contributing Writer for Tom's Hardware US. He reviews cases, water cooling and pc builds.

41 Comments Comment from the forums
  • dextermat
    I wish they would bring the price down and stop bundling game we don't want with them
    Reply
  • de5_Roy
    don't expect gpus fabbed on early, immature 20nm node with yield issues (if history repeats itself) to be "cheaper". those will be anything but cheaper. especially nvidia's. nvidia positions gpus with 256bit bus near the top of the price range and forces people to buy crippled, 192bit versions at high price.
    Reply
  • singlejm
    I wish they would bring the price down and stop bundling game we don't want with them
    Amen to that! 500 should get you basically the best card out there, this 800 shit (aside from insane double GPU's) is totally out of control. Keep your 150 dollar bundles that after one month are worth MAYBE 75 bucks because the games are so heavily discounted and give me back the $500 top of the line GPU's.
    Reply
  • boju
    I hope there's no negative reasons for price reductions and hoping Nvidia believes they're doing something right and their labs are producing with less hassle this time.

    Reply
  • leo2kp
    Price gouging is exactly why I haven't upgraded yet. Unfortunately I'm one of those suckers that waits to buy the fastest instead of the smartest piece of hardware. So I will be upgrading to another NVidia card eventually.
    Reply
  • rapman4488
    I wish they would bring the price down and stop bundling game we don't want with them
    Amen to that! 500 should get you basically the best card out there, this 800 shit (aside from insane double GPU's) is totally out of control. Keep your 150 dollar bundles that after one month are worth MAYBE 75 bucks because the games are so heavily discounted and give me back the $500 top of the line GPU's.
    You guys have to realize that NVIDIA isn't losing profits by adding the bundles. It's a marketing strategy that only costs the game developers. NVIDIA would be losing profits by lowering the price of their cards, not issuing the game bundles.
    Reply
  • Damn_Rookie
    8 GB VRAM on only a 256 bit bus? Unless they've sped up the VRAM substantially, surely that would be a rather foolish plan? nVidia aren't going to deliberately bottleneck an 8 GB gaming card with a bus that small, surely?

    Although a GM204 would suggest a mid range to upper mid range card, so a 256 bit bus isn't unreasonable; but that much VRAM on it?
    Reply
  • MANOFKRYPTONAK
    These prices are very ridiculous. $500 for a vanilla top of the line GPU is where the market should be, anything higher is just greed. And I feel sorry for those who pay ridiculously high prices, BUT if you have the money go ahead and get it. If no one paid those prices then Nvidia couldn't charge those prices. So we the consumer are doing it to ourselves, I hope this is true though... But I wont be surprised if its not...
    Reply
  • dstarr3
    I picked up a GTX770 over Christmas and I still think that's just about the sweet spot for 1080p gaming. I can max out everything with performance room to spare, andI doubt I'll need to replace it until 4k is mainstream. So, unless you're gaming at resolutions above 1080p, you really don't need to spend much more than $300. Let alone $500 or $700.
    Reply
  • Keyrock42
    8 GB VRAM on only a 256 bit bus? Unless they've sped up the VRAM substantially, surely that would be a rather foolish plan? nVidia aren't going to deliberately bottleneck an 8 GB gaming card with a bus that small, surely?
    Nvidia increased the size of the cache on Maxwell, eliminating the need for a wider bus.
    Reply