The GM204 is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. It is beating the previous generation's top dog. That's what the GK104 did. That's what the GF104 did.
GTX 980 @ 184 watts beats the GTX 780 Ti @ 268 watts
GTX 770 @ 182 watts beats the GTX 580 @ 226 watts (GTX 480 @ 257)
GTX 460 @ 119 watts beats the GTX 285 @ 164 watts
I should mention that the GTX 560 Ti (GF114) used 147 watts.
(all w1zzard's peak power consumption numbers)
@W1zzard what GPU do you see as the one that shocked the GPU world the most? 8800 GTX, 8800GT, 8800 GTS/512, HD5870, GTX 980, or something else? My history with GPU's is limited, but my vote goes for the HD5870.
For those who see doom and gloom at AMD, remember how bad they were with the HD2xxx series? Sometimes it takes a good punch from the competition to get the ball rolling. Think Intel's Core response to Athlon 64. But, the brain drain that has occurred at AMD over the past few years does concern me. Competition is good for all of us.
Now, the big question: Is Nvidia phasing out the Gx210 GPU's? With global pressure on power consumption, I would not be surprised if they did.
That is where the power consumption and temperature matter, but perhaps the review sites get the 'platinum' binned chips that are hand-picked for the purpose of showcasing Maxwell's true power. Variance will be there, and the 780 TI trappings of higher quality components or memory bandwidth will hopefully supplant the 980 to allow it to fulfill its potential. I can't wait to see the reviews of MSI or Gigabyte cards to see if they would be the ones to do that, to push the advantage of the chip even further.
