# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6 GB



## W1zzard (May 27, 2015)

Today, NVIDIA releases the GeForce GTX 980 Ti based on the same GPU as the Titan X, with same clocks but fewer shaders. This card is designed as preemptive strike against AMD's upcoming Fiji cards. In our testing, the $650 GTX 980 Ti can almost match the performance of the $1k Titan X.

*Show full review*


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## HumanSmoke (May 31, 2015)

Looks like a solid base to work from for vendors. An 8% deficit in cores/shader modules seems quickly regained and surpassed with the increased clocking headroom the custom designs field.


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## Luka KLLP (May 31, 2015)

Now imagine this with a high quality custom design cooler... Very curious what Asus, MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte etc will come up with


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## ShurikN (May 31, 2015)

So marginally slower than Titan X, but a lot cheaper. I expected perf more in between the Titan and the default 980.
What a spit in the face of Titan owners. Yet again. Why am not surprised.


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## the54thvoid (May 31, 2015)

Stand by for AMD leaks.  Frankly, I want to see some because this card is better than I expected it to be (apart from the cooler).  Only 2-3 weeks I guess for proper info.


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## Luka KLLP (May 31, 2015)

the54thvoid said:


> Stand by for AMD leaks.  Frankly, I want to see some because this card is better than I expected it to be (apart from the cooler).  Only 2-3 weeks I guess for proper info.


Same here. I definitely underestimated this cards performance


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## the54thvoid (May 31, 2015)

As for the overclocking Anandtech got 250Mhz too, leading to a max boost of 1477Mhz.

Results speak for themselves...


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## Fluffmeister (May 31, 2015)

Damn, Fury better be a hell of a lot cheaper or a hell of a lot faster.


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## ...PACMAN... (May 31, 2015)

I actually like the UK pricing and the performance looks awesome. Depending on Fury, this may very well be the card I choose for my new setup in the summer


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## m6tzg6r (Jun 1, 2015)

"Slight coil noise". Naughty naughty Nvidia, nobody wants any coil whine, nobody!


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## HumanSmoke (Jun 1, 2015)

the54thvoid said:


> Stand by for AMD leaks.  Frankly, I want to see some because this card is better than I expected it to be (apart from the cooler).  Only 2-3 weeks I guess for proper info.


If AMD have any smarts, they'll release at least some sanctioned benchmarks or allow previews (if the card is comparable with/better than the 980 Ti) within a few days. Uptake of $650 graphics cards isn't fast, and many will be waiting for the EVGA FTW/Classified, Asus DCu3, Galax HOF, Gigabyte G1 Gaming, MSI Lightning, and host of other SKUs as well as EK's and AC's waterblocks. But peoples patience might not last that long once these cards are outed if AMD doesn't offer some solid performance numbers by then.


m6tzg6r said:


> "Slight coil noise". Naughty naughty Nvidia, nobody wants any coil whine, nobody!


Coil whine is pervasive across both vendors and numerous AIB designs. Eradicating it is something approaching the search for the Holy Grail.


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## Asbee (Jun 1, 2015)

Lol.  Look at the chip.  1436A1 2014. 36th week.


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## xkm1948 (Jun 1, 2015)

This price is much better than I thought. Well, now I must hold on to my money for a few more weeks until AMD's fury is out, then it will be purchasing time~


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## BiggieShady (Jun 1, 2015)

Did it loose two modules both from the same cluster like this:
 
or one module from each cluster like this:
 
or it can be either way?


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## qubit (Jun 1, 2015)

Great card, but I'm sticking this generation out. It niggles me that I can't get the top GPU without spending £900 on a Titan X and even then I can't have a decent, quiet cooler like an MSI Gaming on it.

Also, I'm currently running two MSI GTX 780 Ti in SLI which appear to give roughly the same performance and are really quiet to boot. Yes, there are SLI issues sometimes, but one can't have everything. I don't seem to be missing out on any GPU features that matter by using Kepler, either. Gonna stick this generation out until Pascal and will upgrade to the top GTX model then. I'm especially intrigued by the advancements in SLI coming with Pascal, which appear to fix most or all of the problems associated with the current SLI architecture.

@W1zzard Great review as usual. Just one small point: in the positive bullet points of the conclusion you state "New software features (MFAA and DSR)". This is a tad misleading, because DSR is also available on Kepler and Fermi, which could mislead some less clued-up readers into thinking that they have to buy this generation to get that feature. I think a clarification that it works on older generations is important. Perhaps rewording it something like this would help: "New software features (MFAA and DSR - latter on Kepler and Fermi too)".


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## radrok (Jun 1, 2015)

Kinda confirms what many of us have been saying since the first accurate leaks.

This thing is the usual Nvidia's slap in the face to Titan owners, history repeats itself.


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## WarHell (Jun 1, 2015)

Is there any memory problem since it has some things disabled?


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## radrok (Jun 1, 2015)

qubit said:


> It niggles me that I can't get the top GPU without spending £900 on a Titan X and even then I can't have a decent, quiet cooler like an MSI Gaming on it.



But it would be just about having the full GPU, right? I mean two modules do not make a noticeable difference anyway.

If it's like that I can understand 



WarHell said:


> Is there any memory problem since it has some things disabled?



96 ROPs points to single memory partition without strange 970ish allocations, I'm 99% sure it doesn't have memory "tricks"


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## xenocide (Jun 1, 2015)

WarHell said:


> Is there any memory problem since it has some things disabled?


 
It says at least twice in the review that there are not.


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## Darller (Jun 1, 2015)

radrok said:


> Kinda confirms what many of us have been saying since the first accurate leaks.
> 
> This thing is the usual Nvidia's slap in the face to Titan owners, history repeats itself.



Why do you say that?  I'm pretty sure TITAN owners knew what they were getting into... I sure did, and I don't feel slighted in the least.  I've been using these babies for months, and enjoying every minute of it.  The release of these cards doesn't change that one iota.


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## 2big2fail (Jun 1, 2015)

WarHell said:


> Is there any memory problem since it has some things disabled?



No, it doesn't. The reason this is the case is because the 980ti doesn't make use of all its memory address space. If nvidia put 12Gb on this card, then yes, it would have the same problem, i.e. 10.5 GB out of 12GB.


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## qubit (Jun 1, 2015)

HumanSmoke said:


> Coil whine is pervasive across both vendors and numerous AIB designs. Eradicating it is something approaching the search for the Holy Grail.


I really don't like coil whine and as you say, it happens everywhere. Certainly all of my cards have it to some degree or another.

Anyway, in my opinion, it's only as noticeable as it is, because the cards are built down to a price. Using an "overpowered" power regulation circuitry with higher capacity (likely physically larger) and _higher quality_ coils would eliminate it, or make it so quiet that you'd have to put your ear to it to hear it. It would achieve this by effectively running that circuitry at something like half its rated power perhaps, along with those improved quality components.

I remember forum members from the Fermi era mentioning that there were such cards with almost no coil whine. I think they may have been EVGA custom builds and significantly more expensive than the standard cards.


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## Darller (Jun 1, 2015)

qubit said:


> I really don't like coil whine and as you say, it happens everywhere. Certainly all of my cards have it to some degree or another.
> 
> Anyway, in my opinion, it's only as noticeable as it is, because the cards are built down to a price. Using an "overpowered" power regulation circuitry with higher capacity (likely physically larger) and _higher quality_ coils would eliminate it, or make it so quiet that you'd have to put your ear to it to hear it. It would achieve this by effectively running that circuitry at something like half its rated power perhaps, along with those improved quality components.
> 
> I remember forum members from the Fermi era mentioning that there were such cards with almost no coil whine. I think they may have been EVGA custom builds and significantly more expensive than the standard cards.



I only notice Coil Whine when I'm pushing 500+ FPS in old benchmarks... I've literally never heard it otherwise.  It's curious how some people are so sensitive to it, and others like myself are not.  I have Tinnitus too, and high pitched noises are usually death for my ears, but in this case I'm thankfully tone deaf.

Aside from my anecdote, isn't there some way to use clear nail polish or something to eliminate coil whine?  One of my friends is sensitive to it and I recall him using that solution a long time ago.  It still doesn't sound all that safe to me though...


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## jchambers2586 (Jun 1, 2015)

Time for 970SLI  more performance.


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## HumanSmoke (Jun 1, 2015)

2big2fail said:


> No, it doesn't. The reason this is the case is because the 980ti doesn't make use of all its memory address space. If nvidia put 12Gb on this card, then yes, it would have the same problem, i.e. 10.5 GB out of 12GB.


Well, no it wouldn't.
IF the cut GM200-310 had disabled ROPs and their attendant 32kB L2 cache per ROP while maintaining the attendant memory controller it would have the issue. The GM200-310 in the 980 Ti retains the full 96 ROPs and 3MB of L2, so it doesn't.
I'd swear that the number of people who are unaware of the actual facts actually grows as the correct information becomes more widely disseminated - it's like stepping into BizarroPowerUp by mistake, or a guerrilla marketers training ground.


radrok said:


> This thing is the usual Nvidia's slap in the face to Titan owners, history repeats itself.


How many - in your estimation - prospective Titan X buyers would have been unaware that Nvidia would launch a reduced cost 980 Ti in short order - and very likely in the same time frame as AMD's launch - at a much reduced cost?
I don't know of many people who would spend $1K on an individual hardware component that aren't in some way attuned to - at least, the consumer side of the industry.
For those that are willing to spunk $1K on a card without investigating the options, industry forecasts, a general consensus of forum posters, and historical fact?....Maybe you're familiar with the saying " There ain't no cure for stupid"


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## qubit (Jun 1, 2015)

Darller said:


> I only notice Coil Whine when I'm pushing 500+ FPS in old benchmarks... I've literally never heard it otherwise.  It's curious how some people are so sensitive to it, and others like myself are not.  I have Tinnitus too, and high pitched noises are usually death for my ears, but in this case I'm thankfully tone deaf.
> 
> Aside from my anecdote, isn't there some way to use clear nail polish or something to eliminate coil whine?  One of my friends is sensitive to it and I recall him using that solution a long time ago.  It still doesn't sound all that safe to me though...


If you heard the obvious buzz coming from some of my cards, you wouldn't be calling us "sensitive". My old GTX 285 was particularly annoying for this - even with vsync on - and could be clearly heard through a closed case. The fact that my cases permanently have the side panel off really doesn't help! 

How noticeable it is depends on a lot of factors, but taking the human out of the equation, it boils down to the sheer volume and tone of it. Running at very high fps will make for a very annoying whine as you've noticed. Sometimes a card or cards in SLI will do something like 3000 fps when starting a game and it's going through the intros, which makes them sound severely tortured and not a place I'd be happy to keep them at as I reckon they're quite stressed out like this.

Nail varnish does work in some cases, but I prefer not to mod my cards, especially as something like that is noticeable on a visual inspection should I have to RMA it and would likely cause it to be rejected.


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## MSnyder (Jun 1, 2015)

I just don't understand why they wouldn't disable the fans under idle...makes no sense to me.


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## HumanSmoke (Jun 1, 2015)

qubit said:


> If you heard the obvious buzz coming from some of my cards, you wouldn't be calling us "sensitive". My old GTX 285 was particularly annoying for this - even with vsync on - and could be clearly heard through a closed case. The fact that my cases permanently have the side panel off really doesn't help!


Yes. Definitively comes down to pitch/oscillation. My EVGA GTX 780 has a fairly low pitch and is noticeable but not annoying ( the Gigabyte GTX 780 GHz Edition exhibits no coil whine), but I had a PNY GTX 280 and XFX (reference) HD 5970 that were both annoying as hell.


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## Vicious2500 (Jun 1, 2015)

Now to see how much the EVGA versions will cost.


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## Darller (Jun 1, 2015)

qubit said:


> If you heard the obvious buzz coming from some of my cards, you wouldn't be calling us "sensitive". My old GTX 285 was particularly annoying for this - even with vsync on - and could be clearly heard through a closed case. The fact that my cases permanently have the side panel off really doesn't help!
> 
> How noticeable it is depends on a lot of factors, but taking the human out of the equation, it boils down to the sheer volume and tone of it. Running at very high fps will make for a very annoying whine as you've noticed. Sometimes a card or cards in SLI will do something like 3000 fps when starting a game and it's going through the intros, which makes them sound severely tortured and not a place I'd be happy to keep them at as I reckon they're quite stressed out like this.
> 
> Nail varnish does work in some cases, but I prefer not to mod my cards, especially as something like that is noticeable on a visual inspection should I have to RMA it and would likely cause it to be rejected.



I'm thankful for my hearing problems, then.  LOL  They must have shielded me from it, because what you describe would drive me nuts.


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## dados8756 (Jun 1, 2015)

TITAN X user dont cry plzzz :'(... i think its still worth u pay more 400$ for 2-3 more fps... if u mad just huntdown Jen-Hsun Huang n fapped his Pen*s in public...


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## chinmi (Jun 1, 2015)

There's no way amd's card gonna beat nvidia's card now.


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## RealNeil (Jun 1, 2015)

Good review.

Nice GPU too. Things are beginning to get interesting on the GPU front.


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## radrok (Jun 1, 2015)

Darller said:


> Why do you say that?  I'm pretty sure TITAN owners knew what they were getting into... I sure did, and I don't feel slighted in the least.  I've been using these babies for months, and enjoying every minute of it.  The release of these cards doesn't change that one iota.



Because it's kinda what happened with the OG Titan, I waited out this time around because I could and knew (my current setup plays everything fine and maxed).
 I'll basically get more performance than two Titan X by spending the same amount on three 980Tis


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## nunyabuisness (Jun 1, 2015)

Luka KLLP said:


> Now imagine this with a high quality custom design cooler... Very curious what Asus, MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte etc will come up with


EVGA has released a hybrid cooler. acx 2.0 . aus has a 3 fan ROG . and strix.. so yep this gonna b good


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## FreedomEclipse (Jun 1, 2015)

time to trade my 970 SLi for a 980Ti perhaps?


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## MSnyder (Jun 1, 2015)

970 SLI for  ONE 980 Ti is a poor choice in my opinion comparing performance per dollar between the two.

Edit: Unless you need to step up your resolution or if things aren't already working to your fps satisfaction.


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## GhostRyder (Jun 1, 2015)

Well, a lot cheaper than I was expecting though I had heard rumors it was going to be $650.  That is actually a decent deal especially when you look at the performance numbers compared to the others, this is still expensive but compared to the rest of the lineup this is actually a relatively decent deal for the performance.

I still find it a bit problematic when they keep doing this to the Titan.  I mean this card is significantly better for a buy than Titan is and its at the point Titan is less relevant than last round.  While that is a choice and most probably understood that I still find it a bad thing as it kills especially considering the huge price difference.

The only real disappointment is the power limits and overclocking, I mean I was hoping for a lot more personally but maybe I have high expectations.  Oh well, it still does a decent job and I bet under water we could see a much better card.  Bring on some lightning's/classified's!


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## Darller (Jun 1, 2015)

GhostRyder said:


> Well, a lot cheaper than I was expecting though I had heard rumors it was going to be $650.  That is actually a decent deal especially when you look at the performance numbers compared to the others, this is still expensive but compared to the rest of the lineup this is actually a relatively decent deal for the performance.
> 
> I still find it a bit problematic when they keep doing this to the Titan.  I mean this card is significantly better for a buy than Titan is and its at the point Titan is less relevant than last round.  While that is a choice and most probably understood that I still find it a bad thing as it kills especially considering the huge price difference.
> 
> The only real disappointment is the power limits and overclocking, I mean I was hoping for a lot more personally but maybe I have high expectations.  Oh well, it still does a decent job and I bet under water we could see a much better card.  Bring on some lightning's/classified's!



I agree, it's one of the best values in their lineup at the moment.  I do wonder how many of these chips NV has binned in prep for this launch, though.  If they don't have bunches and bunches of stock I can't see these cards staying at $650.00 for long just based on demand.  Let's hope AMD has a solid counter in Fiji, or these babies could get expensive quick.


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## 15th Warlock (Jun 1, 2015)

Thanks for the comprehensive review! 

All pieces are starting to fall into place, now the ball is on AMDs court, amazing performance compared to the 980 for only $100 more, so much power available to PC gamers now, and finally 4K gaming for a reasonable price 

Can't wait for the 390X to be released to see what HBM will bring to the scene, exciting times to be a PC enthusiast!


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## MSnyder (Jun 1, 2015)

A friend of mine himself recently bought two Titan X's at retail value (by recent I mean well over 30 days). He's regretting his purchase *really badly* now


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## HumanSmoke (Jun 1, 2015)

MSnyder said:


> A friend of mine himself recently bought two Titan X's at retail value (by recent I mean well over 30 days). He's regretting his purchase *really badly* now


If he was that much of a friend you would have persuaded him to better evaluate his prospective purchase if the GTX 980 Ti (or AMD Fiji) suited his purposes just as well. The strategy Nvidia would employ isn't exactly rocket science. I was far from the only person on these and other forums preparing for the GTX 980 Ti even well before the Titan X actually launched.
If you tried to counsel your friend against the purchase (if it truly didn't meet his requirements) then I'd double down and see if you can locate a facility specializing in OCD for him. At least he now has a valuable lesson under his belt and you can rejoice in your exercise in social Darwinism.


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## SNM (Jun 1, 2015)

So there is going to be a 980ti Vs. 390x (or 3XX)...interesting...even lower pricing (for around $ 350 less than Titan)...it is still costly...for me. :-D


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## DarkOCean (Jun 1, 2015)

To sum it up: 3 %less performance for 35% less money Vs titanX (and half the memory of course). I only hope It doesnt have the problems gtx 970 has ( you all know wich ones).

  Now cant wait to see what Amd has to bring to the table!


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## btarunr (Jun 1, 2015)

BiggieShady said:


> Did it loose two modules both from the same cluster like this:
> View attachment 65271
> or one module from each cluster like this:
> View attachment 65272
> or it can be either way?



It can be any two SMMs, from any two GPCs. NVIDIA is harvesting GM200 dies.


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## Caring1 (Jun 1, 2015)

DarkOCean said:


> ..... I only hope It doesnt have the problems gtx 970 has ( you all know wich ones).


By now you should be aware it has full use of all it's memory. No need for trolling statements.


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## ZoneDymo (Jun 1, 2015)

I seriously do not understand you people at all.
How can you be positive at something like that?

It costs you freaking 650 dollars, Six Hundred and FIFTY.

And what do you get for it? something that is not ready for the future and arguably the now at all.
This is the segment that should be high end!

Honestly the performance is ass to say the least as is the Titan X.

Just horrible, you are basically buying something that is obsolete out of the gate.


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## Prima.Vera (Jun 1, 2015)

Hey, wth is going on with the 780Ti !?!?
Did nVidia purposely downgraded the performance of the 780Ti through the latest drivers?? What the hell is going on. The 970 is constantly in front of it, even in older games!

Do we have some old charts to compare?


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## GreiverBlade (Jun 1, 2015)

wow around 34% above a stock 290 ... now that's impressive... i said no need to upgrade if the perf increase does not exceed 25% ... well 29% over a 290X hummm nope still no reason to switch side ... 
3XX next in line: please AMD prove me wrong and give me a real reason to upgrade. 
because for now my 290 OC is giving me around a solide 60fps everywhere the game is vsync hard-caped and around 100ish in most (all to the max ofc ... except AA and yep i play at 1080p on a 27" 60hz and i don't care about power consumption )



chinmi said:


> There's no way amd's card gonna beat nvidia's card now.


nice joke  come again. (0.5/10)



DarkOCean said:


> To sum it up: 3 %less performance for 35% less money Vs titanX (and half the memory of course). I only hope It doesnt have the problems gtx 970 has ( you all know wich ones).
> 
> Now cant wait to see what Amd has to bring to the table!


well the Titanics is overpriced at the base ... so ... 35% less make it ? (Titan X ... raaahhh what do i have with "Titanics"...) 



ZoneDymo said:


> I seriously do not understand you people at all.
> How can you be positive at something like that?
> 
> It costs you freaking 650 dollars, Six Hundred and FIFTY.
> ...


totally ... that's why i paid 190~for my 290 ... and i will wait until i get a similar deal on a 3XX 
nvidia good deal? stop joking around ... most of the 2nd seller think they have pure diamond made card and try to sell them 5% under retail price (sometime even above  ) oh yes ... now you find good prices ... on the 4xx 5xx and 9xxx serie ... (time to expand my GPU collection  ok for some it's stamps/shells/other things ... for me it's old hardware ... cpu/gpu/mobo etc )


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## Ferrum Master (Jun 1, 2015)

I can see one scary thing. On other sites too... The GM200 actually needs more powerful CPU, the graphs tend to say so in certain situations. Especially at FHD.


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## Potatoking (Jun 1, 2015)

People who buy Titans pay the development of the GPU. Without Titan cards like 780/980TI would have been more expansive.

Well this would be true if the market wasn't almost a monopoly.


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## HumanSmoke (Jun 1, 2015)

Prima.Vera said:


> Hey, wth is going on with the 780Ti !?!?
> Did nVidia purposely downgraded the performance of the 780Ti through the latest drivers?? What the hell is going on. The 970 is constantly in front of it, even in older games!


Meanwhile on planet Earth, the 780 Ti actually equal with the 970 at the resolutions the card is likely to be used for...

So, you could claim a downgrading of performance compared to the 970's launch, but since Maxwell v2 was fresh out of the oven, it could also be that the new architecture is benefitting from driver optimization. Don't know about you, but I haven't noticed too much in the way of performance degradation (GTX 780 SLI) except for a couple of games that have received patches - and that less f.p.s. orientated than fluidity.
Just for shits and giggles I did a quick comparison of the eleven game benchmarks common to both the 970 launch and todays review. The 970 has increased by 4.3% over the 780 Ti at 2560x1600. Of the games in todays review that hadn't featured previously, Civ Beyond Earth, CoD:AW, Far Cry 4, and GTA 5 all heavily favour the 970 - hardly surprising since they seem sensitive to frame buffer capacity, and the primary reason the overall difference has closed up.


Ferrum Master said:


> I can see one scary thing. On other sites too... The GM200 actually needs more powerful CPU, the graphs tend to say so in certain situations. Especially at FHD.


Hardly surprising.
Higher power graphics places more onus on the CPU in the system.
The graphical levels, AI, physics, and resolutions being tested place more emphasis on CPU throughput for games that are AI / high game IQ sensitive - namely simulators, RPGs, and games with high levels of CPU physics.
Generally shooters aren't as dependent on CPU speed, caching, thread count as strategy games with large maps and intensive AI.


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## Prima.Vera (Jun 1, 2015)

Yeah, that's the thing. You are comparing 780Ti with the 970 which is bollocks. You should have compare it with the 980, because this was the initial competitor. 
The problem is, nVidia improved the drivers for the 9xx series but they didn't do anything to improve the same for 7xx series.
This is callous by nVidia.


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## GreiverBlade (Jun 1, 2015)

Prima.Vera said:


> Yeah, that's the thing. You are comparing 780Ti with the 970 which is bollocks. You should have compare it with the 980, because this was the initial competitor.
> The problem is, nVidia improved the drivers for the 9xx series but they didn't do anything to improve the same for 7xx series.
> This is callous by nVidia.


since when a high end of the previous gen is the competitor of a high end of the current gen??? previous high end equal, most of the time, to the 2nd in line after the 1st most powerful card of the current gen, aka:970.


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## bogami (Jun 1, 2015)

For this waste incompletely cut piece of silicone is the price is still too high for $ 150 .Maxvell architecture is to optimize the core and drivers are given the task to fill the missing elements due to the small size. Well it's all .Software are constantly upgrading and this is expected given the progress of technology but we expect 20 nm and it looks like we will have even a year later sold the same processor. Here is the AMD made a huge step and INVIDIA does not have anything like that.
The results on the test are good and currently has no best buy although the competition gets R-9 295x2 for a little longer and longer but this 2 porocesors have a high consumption Well wait on AMD new R-9 390x


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## buildzoid (Jun 1, 2015)

qubit said:


> I really don't like coil whine and as you say, it happens everywhere. Certainly all of my cards have it to some degree or another.
> 
> Anyway, in my opinion, it's only as noticeable as it is, because the cards are built down to a price. Using an "overpowered" power regulation circuitry with higher capacity (likely physically larger) and _higher quality_ coils would eliminate it, or make it so quiet that you'd have to put your ear to it to hear it. It would achieve this by effectively running that circuitry at something like half its rated power perhaps, along with those improved quality components.
> 
> I remember forum members from the Fermi era mentioning that there were such cards with almost no coil whine. I think they may have been EVGA custom builds and significantly more expensive than the standard cards.



Coil whine has no relation to power draw it's related to the size of the core of the inductor and the switching frequency of the VRM. If I set my RIVE to switch at 850KHz I get coil whine at any other frequency there isn't any. So if the VRM was adjusted up or down by 50-100KHz you wouldn't have any coil whine.


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## Ferrum Master (Jun 1, 2015)

HumanSmoke said:


> Hardly surprising.
> Higher power graphics places more onus on the CPU in the system.



The thing is, we haven't seen any significantly better CPU since Nehalem, and and those benches are done on overclocked past 4GHz silicon...

All those benches in sub 4K resolutions are questionable because of that. The differences are within margin of error 2-3FPS.


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## HumanSmoke (Jun 1, 2015)

Prima.Vera said:


> Yeah, that's the thing. You are comparing 780Ti with the 970 which is bollocks. You should have compare it with the 980, because this was the initial competitor.


No, *you* should compare it - it's your conspiracy theory. Eleven games are common in the benchmark suite between the launch of the GTX 970/980 and today. 


Prima.Vera said:


> The problem is, nVidia improved the drivers for the 9xx series but they didn't do anything to improve the same for 7xx series.


Generally speaking, driver optimization has a quick drop off after launch - which is why so called miracle drivers tend to be more damp squib than revelation. But don't let me keep you from your comparison- your 4-5% may be more significant than my 4-5%.


Prima.Vera said:


> This is callous by nVidia.


Damn right, but not as bad as that time they stole that red-headed kid's lunch.


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## koaschten (Jun 1, 2015)

I am a bit confused due this paragraph on page 5 of the review:


> Display connectivity options include one DVI port, one HDMI port, and three DisplayPorts. You may use all outputs at the same time, so triple-monitor-surround gaming is possible with one card. With three DP outputs, you can build yourself a triple-monitor G-Sync-surround setup with only a single card!


So does this mean:
a) triple setup with any of the 5 available ports?
b) triple setup using 3 DP ports?
c) quintuple setup using all available ports at the same time?
( d) this is only important for triple monitor display port gsync setups)

IMACONFUSED


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## rodneyhchef (Jun 1, 2015)

...PACMAN... said:


> I actually like the UK pricing and the performance looks awesome. Depending on Fury, this may very well be the card I choose for my new setup in the summer



What is the uk pricing gonna be? Looks like it'll be around 550-600?


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## SASBehrooz (Jun 1, 2015)

as i expected .... Wonderful


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## xorbe (Jun 1, 2015)

Don't bank on your 980Ti hitting and holding 1477 MHz like AnandTech, that's a ringer card.  Or not tested for hours while gaming.

"Fans do not turn off in idle" -> honestly, I prefer all fans to remain spinning but slowly.  Things cook with zero air flow.


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## the54thvoid (Jun 1, 2015)

xorbe said:


> Don't bank on your 980Ti hitting and holding 1477 MHz like AnandTech, that's a ringer card.  Or not tested for hours while gaming.



Perhaps but W1zz also got a decent clock. Yet to check other reviews. Just gotta wait a few more weeks before I consider what to do. 3Gb is holding me back in some titles.


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## HumanSmoke (Jun 1, 2015)

the54thvoid said:


> Perhaps but W1zz also got a decent clock.


So did ComputerBase (1437MHz)


the54thvoid said:


> Yet to check other reviews. Just gotta wait a few more weeks before I consider what to do.


Don't trust 'em...any of them. The inside scoop is that the GTX 980 Ti is just an upclocked GTX 980 (upclocked to 1000MHz *from* 1127+MHz !!!) - those extra cores, shader modules, cache - don't believe it! The proof is here


Spoiler












Can't buy insight like that. I thought that he really wouldn't be able to top the quote in my sig.


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## the54thvoid (Jun 1, 2015)

HumanSmoke said:


> So did ComputerBase (1437MHz)
> 
> Don't trust 'em...any of them. The inside scoop is that the GTX 980 Ti is just an upclocked GTX 980 (upclocked to 1000MHz *from* 1127+MHz !!!) - those extra cores, shader modules, cache - don't believe it! The proof is here
> 
> ...



That's so far off base. And to think, you need to subscribe for that tosh.  Whatever anyone thinks of Nvidia, its quite clear 980ti is not a cherry picked 980.


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## Kaynar (Jun 1, 2015)

@W1zzard Why is the GTX Titan (not X) not in these graphs? Okey we all know that it stands near the GTX970 in performance , but with the new drivers that fix Kepler performance (and yeah I got at least 5fps buff in Witcher 3 on my Titan today) I would like to see how the Titan stands in the performance summary at my screen resolution (1440p)


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## qubit (Jun 1, 2015)

[QUOTE="buildzoid, post: 3290051, member: 111437"*]Coil whine has no relation to power draw* it's related to the size of the core of the inductor and the switching frequency of the VRM. If I set my RIVE to switch at 850KHz I get coil whine at any other frequency there isn't any. So if the VRM was adjusted up or down by 50-100KHz you wouldn't have any coil whine.[/QUOTE]
You're wrong there about the power draw. Think about it, you effectively have a speaker there, which is why you get this effect. The stronger the input current/voltage the louder it gets and this is true of any system.

You're right that changing the mode of operation will change the noise though.


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## 64K (Jun 1, 2015)

Nice job Nvidia. I figured it would overclock better than the Titan X. 26% OC with a reference cooler. I wonder what the non reference cards with superior coolers will do. I hope a few companies will send samples here and W1zzard has time to bench them. June is a good month for gamers. Next we get to see what Fiji can do and at what price and also this month the Steam Summer Sale.


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## GhostRyder (Jun 1, 2015)

Prima.Vera said:


> Yeah, that's the thing. You are comparing 780Ti with the 970 which is bollocks. You should have compare it with the 980, because this was the initial competitor.
> The problem is, nVidia improved the drivers for the 9xx series but they didn't do anything to improve the same for 7xx series.
> This is callous by nVidia.


 I agree with you, it seems as if NVidia has left the Kepler series behind effectively putting some pressure on people to upgrade.



64K said:


> Nice job Nvidia. I figured it would overclock better than the Titan X. 26% OC with a reference cooler. I wonder what the non reference cards with superior coolers will do. I hope a few companies will send samples here and W1zzard has time to bench them. June is a good month for gamers. Next we get to see what Fiji can do and at what price and also this month the Steam Summer Sale.


 I am actually disappointed it does not overclock more, I was really hoping to be 1500mhz+ but I was apparently dreaming.  From the few I have seen though I am wondering what the average will be.



MSnyder said:


> A friend of mine himself recently bought two Titan X's at retail value (by recent I mean well over 30 days). He's regretting his purchase *really badly* now


Well that's disappointing but he should have at least known the card was coming soon as we have been talking about it for quite some time and predicting this launch.  However I agree this is a very shocking price point to release the card at because it basically is 35% cheaper for <10% performance difference.  Quite a shock actually, I had my money set on $750+.

Either way, I look forward to some custom versions of this card as those could end up making something real special.  I really wish NVidia would put a little more onto the power delivery system of the card and give us a little more headroom on the reference cards.  These cards could do so much better...


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## Kaynar (Jun 1, 2015)

GhostRyder said:


> Quite a shock actually, I had my money set on $750+.



$650 MSRP? wait for a $750+ price at launch, and a 800 Euros price in Europe (that almost 1000 dollars) - which is still much less than the current 1100-1300 euros for a Titan X


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## 64K (Jun 1, 2015)

GhostRyder said:


> I am actually disappointed it does not overclock more, I was really hoping to be 1500mhz+ but I was apparently dreaming.  From the few I have seen though I am wondering what the average will be.



Still, it's a lot better than the Titan X pitiful OC of 11% and hitting the thermal limit of 84 degrees and dialing the clocks back anyway. It's possible that W1zzard just got a bum card because some other reviewers got more from it but if that's the case then somebody at Nvidia is stupid. They should test the GPUs going to reviewers to make sure they perform well.

This 980 Ti is just needing some loving from MSI/EVGA/Gigabyte/Asus. I wonder what the price will be though. Maybe closer to $700 especially if they are scarce. The Titan X was supposed to retail for $1,000 but even now it sells for $1,050-$1,100 on Newegg.


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## buildzoid (Jun 1, 2015)

qubit said:


> [QUOTE="buildzoid, post: 3290051, member: 111437"*]Coil whine has no relation to power draw* it's related to the size of the core of the inductor and the switching frequency of the VRM. If I set my RIVE to switch at 850KHz I get coil whine at any other frequency there isn't any. So if the VRM was adjusted up or down by 50-100KHz you wouldn't have any coil whine.


You're wrong there about the power draw. Think about it, you effectively have a speaker there, which is why you get this effect. The stronger the input current/voltage the louder it gets and this is true of any system.

You're right that changing the mode of operation will change the noise though.[/QUOTE]
Sure the loudness is related to power draw but a 500A with the same core sizes and switching frequency you will still get the same amount of noise as a 250A design with the same design flaws because the force creating the noise will not have decreased in the slightest. IDK why no manufacturer hasn't tried putting a dip switch on a GPU that would change VRM frequencies by a couple KHz.


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## Frick (Jun 1, 2015)

HumanSmoke said:


> Coil whine is pervasive across both vendors and numerous AIB designs. Eradicating it is something approaching the search for the Holy Grail.


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## Casecutter (Jun 1, 2015)

Predictable humdrum...  20% faster than a GTX980, and costs ~19% more over the original 980's MSRP $550.   

It's the GTX980 being reduced to $500 that feels more telling.  Given the $150 opening might we almost anticipate still another GM200 soon?


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## Rivage (Jun 1, 2015)

+18% vs me. I think i'll skip it.


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## horik (Jun 1, 2015)

740-830€ price range here in Spain.


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## CounterSpell (Jun 1, 2015)

does it run on a Corsair 500w with 2500k and 2 ssd´s?


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## Rivage (Jun 1, 2015)

CounterSpell said:


> does it run on a Corsair 500w with 2500k and 2 ssd´s?



GTX 980 Ti with 500W PSU? Theoretically yes, system will boot. But, most likely, you gonna have reboots in the game when 980 Ti will peaks. So, minimum 600W PSU is recommended.


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## BiggieShady (Jun 1, 2015)

btarunr said:


> It can be any two SMMs, from *any two* GPCs. NVIDIA is harvesting GM200 dies.


Yeah I know, I was wondering can both deactivated SMMs come from single GPC like in wizzard's pic, probably yes because architecturally there should be no difference


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## CounterSpell (Jun 1, 2015)

Rivage said:


> GTX 980 Ti with 500W PSU? Theoretically yes, system will boot. But, most likely, you gonna have reboots in the game when 980 Ti will peaks. So, minimum 600W PSU is recommended.



#sad


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## radrok (Jun 1, 2015)

Holding off my purchase since there's already a Classy in the works 



CounterSpell said:


> does it run on a Corsair 500w with 2500k and 2 ssd´s?



Pretty sure you'd be tight but it'll be enough, 250W for the GPU, around 80W CPU and there's 170W left for your system. If it's a good PSU it'll be running close to the maximum without many issues, provided it's not an aging unit, they tend to lose in efficiency and power output during the years.


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## erocker (Jun 1, 2015)

Looks to be the card I need... Now I just need to see this AMD Fury whatever to make a decision.


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## CounterSpell (Jun 1, 2015)

radrok said:


> Holding off my purchase since there's already a Classy in the works
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty sure you'd be tight but it'll be enough, 250W for the GPU, around 80W CPU and there's 170W left for your system. If it's a good PSU it'll be running close to the maximum without many issues, provided it's not an aging unit, they tend to lose in efficiency and power output during the years.



its a corsair cx500, with one year old.


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## 64K (Jun 1, 2015)

That CX500 provides 38 Amps on the +12V rail for 456 watts. The 980 Ti has a avg draw of 211 watts and peak draw of 238 watts so it's enough. You will probably be using around 350 watts when gaming most of the time. Nvidia does recommend a min 600 watt PSU but they overdo the recommendations because they know a lot of people are using crappy PSUs that can't supply the amps that they claim. Your PSU is a budget model but it's not crap so I would trust it.


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## radrok (Jun 1, 2015)

64K said:


> That CX500 provides 38 Amps on the +12V rail for 456 watts. The 980 Ti has a avg draw of 211 and peak draw of 238 so it's enough. You will probably be using around 350 watts when gaming most of the time. Nvidia does recommend a min 600 watt PSU but they overdo the recommendations because they know a lot of people are using crappy PSUs that can't supply the amps that they claim. Your PSU is a budget model but it's not crap so I would trust it.



Agreed. Would've said about the same things


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## CounterSpell (Jun 1, 2015)

thank u all!


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## xorbe (Jun 1, 2015)

Rivage said:


> GTX 980 Ti with 500W PSU? Theoretically yes, system will boot. But, most likely, you gonna have reboots in the game when 980 Ti will peaks. So, minimum 600W PSU is recommended.



It'll probably work.  I used a Titan then Titan X with a 520W SeaSonic for quite some time.  Fully loaded stress test would put it just over the rated wattage (ie, like 610W at the wall).  But I installed a 860W SS last month, much much quieter psu with headroom now.


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## puff (Jun 1, 2015)

Highly considering this as a replacement for my MSI 970 4G SLI

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-287-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1402

However things like BF4 run at 70-110 fps for me with 4k dsr, this seems to be 68 or so fps with an overclock, seems to be around 10-15 fps weaker in other games too if I am reading things right. Although I will be honest BF4 does not feel smooth at all, I am guessing this is because of poor frame delivery at 4K. Which the 980TI seems much much much better at. 

Anyones thoughts?


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## Purgatory (Jun 1, 2015)

Prima.Vera said:


> Hey, wth is going on with the 780Ti !?!?
> Did nVidia purposely downgraded the performance of the 780Ti through the latest drivers?? What the hell is going on. The 970 is constantly in front of it, even in older games!
> 
> Do we have some old charts to compare?




I think W1zzard needs to retest the 980Ti with the official drivers for it the 353.06 WHQL (Implements optimizations and bug fixes that provide increased performance for Kepler-based GPUs) and this will also make the Kepler cards get a more fair test too thanks to Nvidia "gimping the drivers before" or a "Bug" in the previous drivers as they put it.


Would love to see these new results with the new drivers to make it fair for all cards especially the Kepler cards that have been under performing prematurely


Keep up the great work W1zzard ! I'm a long time lurker and finally decided to register to post this and thank you for all the work you put into it, you are for sure my favorite comparison review site on the internet.


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## xorbe (Jun 2, 2015)

Five bucks says nvidia dings old gen cards on purpose to make the gap look bigger.  I've always wondered if they do that for years.


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## xenocide (Jun 2, 2015)

The 980 Ti is not for people with SLi'd 970's, it's for people with 670's and 680's still that want an upgrade, and maybe people with 770's and 780's who are eyeing 4K.


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## Vicious2500 (Jun 2, 2015)

xenocide said:


> The 980 Ti is not for people with SLi'd 970's, it's for people with 670's and 680's still that want an upgrade, and maybe people with 770's and 780's who are eyeing 4K.



Its also for people building systems from scratch


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## puff (Jun 2, 2015)

xenocide said:


> The 980 Ti is not for people with SLi'd 970's, it's for people with 670's and 680's still that want an upgrade, and maybe people with 770's and 780's who are eyeing 4K.



Yes but it also offers around the same performance in 1 card, with no worries about sli support or scaling, aswell as more vram a better memory bus and much better frame delivery at 4k.  I don't play bf4 anymore but when I do I get 70-120 fps maxed out 4k DSR. However it does not feel smooth at all.


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## FourtyTwo (Jun 2, 2015)

Great card at a good price.
The 980 price should drop to the $425-450 range to be competitive between the 970 and 980Ti, at $500 I cannot see any reason to recommend it.


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## alwayssts (Jun 2, 2015)

I don't know about anyone else, but I look at this and it just makes me more anxious for the future.  Not only does this card seem somewhere around 20% (10% overclocked) from where most using it would really like it to be, it sets a more clear picture of what to expect.

Games that are around 50fps 4k (like Tomb Raider or Shadow of Mordor) seem prime candidates for 14nm performance parts (ala a gm204 replacement with closer to GM200 setup or Fiji shrink)....but bumped up to having the ability (overclocked) to hit 60fps.  Not only does that sound appealing (especially if nvidia switches to a more compute-heavy arch, similar to AMD for Pascal), there's probably also at least a chance those could be 225w (eventually, if not off the bat).

Likewise, games that are closer to what require crossfire/sli (ala around 37.5fps if you figure 1.6x scaling, like BF4) seem prime for what nvidia could pull off with a big chip within a year or so.

While I totally agree this (and likewise the 375w/WCE Fiji, for both similar and different reasons) are certainly enticing compared to what has been available at a similar price for a new build or long-term upgrader that has an older part...I just simply don't find it that compelling considering how close we are to options that will meet the demands that this (and perhaps Fiji) come painfully close to achieving, but can't really pull off (performance/buffer games do and will truly demand at 4k).


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## erocker (Jun 2, 2015)

Purgatory said:


> I think W1zzard needs to retest the 980Ti with the official drivers for it the 353.06 WHQL (Implements optimizations and bug fixes that provide increased performance for Kepler-based GPUs) and this will also make the Kepler cards get a more fair test too thanks to Nvidia "gimping the drivers before" or a "Bug" in the previous drivers as they put it.
> 
> 
> Would love to see these new results with the new drivers to make it fair for all cards especially the Kepler cards that have been under performing prematurely
> ...


Aren't the 352.90's the same thing just not WHQL certified?


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## raziel256 (Jun 9, 2015)

Question: Anyone know if the 980ti name light as the GTX Titan X ?


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## W1zzard (Jun 9, 2015)

raziel256 said:


> Question: Anyone know if the 980ti name light as the GTX Titan X ?


yes it does


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## Vicious2500 (Jun 10, 2015)

Ordered my EVGA GTX 980 TI Reference the last night. Can't wait to put my build together.


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## blued (Jun 10, 2015)

Re the coil whine, if the review sample had it, doesnt mean all other 980tis will have it. And vice versa, if review sample did not have coil whine, doesnt mean other Ti's will be whine free.


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## Fluffmeister (Jun 11, 2015)

Custom card reviews are starting to pop up now, Guru3D have posted a review of the Gigabyte G1 SOC:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-980-ti-g1-gaming-soc-review,1.html



			
				Hilbert said:
			
		

> Gigabyte is the first to submit a custom 3rd party cooled GTX 980 Ti, and if this is the level that all Nvidia partners are going to offer then I will have a smile on my face throughout the summer. It is a tremendously nice product that ticks all the right boxes. Heaps of performance, plenty of memory and a freaky experience in tweaking and overclock is what I like. The perf is much faster then a GTX Titan X, yet pricing is much better at MSRP is $689.99 USD plus tax. Fluid framerates is what you'll play your games with. It does so while hardly making any noise and keeps itself at nice temperatures. Compared to the GeForce GTX 980 Ti at 2560x1440 you can expect an increase of up-to 30% performance (over the reference GeForce GTX 980 Ti), at Ultra HD we have seen that number grown the best.


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## W1zzard (Jun 11, 2015)

blued said:


> Re the coil whine, if the review sample had it, doesnt mean all other 980tis will have it. And vice versa, if review sample did not have coil whine, doesnt mean other Ti's will be whine free.


That assumption is incorrect, many factors are at play for coil noise, like your system's PSU and random variation of components. Unless it's a cheaped out design that has really bad coil noise -> will have it in all situations (GTX 980 Ti is not like that).


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## blued (Jun 12, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> That assumption is incorrect, many factors are at play for coil noise, like your system's PSU and random variation of components. Unless it's a cheaped out design that has really bad coil noise -> will have it in all situations (GTX 980 Ti is not like that).


You may be right, but isnt coil whine mainly attributable to capacitors which vibrate at a high frequency which give out the 'whine'? Meaning that regardless or other factors like the PSU or other components coming into play which may 'trigger' the whine, are not the quality of capacitors used on the card (which may vary from one board partner to the next?) be the ultimate factor of whether the whine occurs or not?


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