NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Smiles for the Camera

[Caring1]

That's an AMD gimmick.

And a very handy one too judging by the amount of people that stuff up flashing a BIOS.

 

[newtekie1]

And a very handy one too judging by the amount of people that stuff up flashing a BIOS.

A miniscule fraction of a percent of the people buying the cards.

 

[JMccovery]

That's an AMD gimmick.

A miniscule fraction of a percent of the people buying the cards.

Maybe AMD realized that it's better for that 'miniscule fraction' to have a working card if they mess something up, rather than them having to wait on a RMA.

Why else do a lot of motherboards have similar functionality? Better to spend the money on this kind of system, than spend more money on all the steps involved in a single RMA.

 

[radrok]

Don't think bricking a card with a BIOS flash is under warranty tbh.

I may be wrong though, I know of some AIBs that provide BIOS updates, even for GPUs.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

Unfortunately, people are so poorly educated that they think if it says on the Dimitrovgrad titanium supposed to be the best model. They do not know that we here offer the best gejming model incompletely cut-out processor which should be in the junkyard for a large sum of money.
This never written anywhere . So incompletely excised defective cut processor that would have operate by turning off the SSM unit is sold here! Thus is in all inferior units on offer regardless of the manufacturer. I have no problem with this, but this should lower the price because it is the waste (reject, skart)!
We can expect the same problems as with GTX970!

Most of the time I dont think anyone knows wtf you are saying.

 

[15th Warlock]

I wonder - and this is just a genuine concern, not a desire to beat a dead horse - if because of the way Maxwell is engineered, cutting off a few units on the GPU will effectively create separate partitions of memory a là 970 for this card, as well as reducing the effective ROPs and cache.

Not that it really matters with 6GBs of VRAM, but I hope this time Nvidia clearly informs consumers about the real specs of this card, if they want to avoid the PR shitstorm they brewed with the 970 "fiasco"

 

[Steevo]

What are the big things on the back side of the core? surface mount caps?

 

[newtekie1]

I wonder - and this is just a genuine concern, not a desire to beat a dead horse - if because of the way Maxwell is engineered, cutting off a few units on the GPU will effectively create separate partitions of memory a là 970 for this card, as well as reducing the effective ROPs and cache.

Not that it really matters with 6GBs of VRAM, but I hope this time Nvidia clearly informs consumers about the real specs of this card, if they want to avoid the PR shitstorm they brewed with the 970 "fiasco"

That only happens if they disable part of the L2, AFAIK. So we'll have to see if they disable some L2 or not.

 

[AsRock]

then yo uare really silly.
Lets look at this technically
its obviously got a better core than a 290X yes? so that means 4K gaming right? WRONG 4GB Vram is maxed out at 1080P and 1440P ultra settings .

THe HBM in this first release is limited to 4GB not enough for 4K. so that means. that the chip is essentially being wasted! V2 will be a worthwile choice at 8-12-16gb being possible.
but until then its a bragging rights card, as its going to be fast at 1080P and 1440P... lol the 290X with 8gb does that. meaning you will be paying $899 for what a 290X will do at 1/4 the price!

Only a few games hit near the 4GB usage, one being Arma 3 if you play it long enough you might see a 3.5GB video ram usage and to name another if i remember correctly would be Watch Dogs.

I getting sick off people saying none use such amount of ram and sick of those people who try to claim most games do.


As for the cooler i like the window and that's about it, but as for the PCB well either sides look sexy.

 

[alchemist83]

Shame that ATI/AMD driver updates are few and far between though, which is why NVIDIA outranks. Constant driver updates are a must and until ATI/AMD fix that, then I'm staying Green! GTX 970 Zotac AMP! Extreme is what I got - tell me which similar priced equivalent at the same performance is available...... It dont exist.

 

[ensabrenoir]

even knowing little.......we know what to expect of this card. Amd's will be forced to a lower price point on a product almost as good as a..(insert name here) killing their profit margin further weakening the company. I predict The Titan will keep its crown and this will answer the scarce almost as good as but for less launch from the red team. Their is no mindless mining bubble this time so this could get ugly......especially if nvidia release it an agressive price point.

 

[HumanSmoke]

What are the big things on the back side of the core? surface mount caps?

Surface Mount Inductors I believe ( You can see a pretty good close-up in this post about Frankensteining the Titan X for sub-zero benching - see the first picture under section "7: Attach measuring cables" )
The GK200 has the inductors in basically the same place

 

[GhostRyder]

Well I am half to see it, but it does not look any different from normal.


All my interest is in where the performance will lie and how well it will overclock compared to the Titan x.

 

[qubit]

I recently saw an NVIDIA card which had this reference cooler. First time I've seen it in real life and while it was nice, I think it's overrated. Noise in 3D mode was reasonable, but I thought it could have been better, too.

I'm beginning to get the feeling that NVIDIA are getting lazy with designing reference coolers nowadays with all their cards looking the same. This design is now two years old and I'm sure they could do better if they were bothered.

 

[rtwjunkie]

@qubit, I have this cooler. There is really nothing to improve. It does a fantastic job and is quiet.

 

[Steevo]

Shame that ATI/AMD driver updates are few and far between though, which is why NVIDIA outranks. Constant driver updates are a must and until ATI/AMD fix that, then I'm staying Green! GTX 970 Zotac AMP! Extreme is what I got - tell me which similar priced equivalent at the same performance is available...... It dont exist.

Go away paid shill.

Surface Mount Inductors I believe ( You can see a pretty good close-up in this post about Frankensteining the Titan X for sub-zero benching - see the first picture under section "7: Attach measuring cables" )
The GK200 has the inductors in basically the same place

My god that is crazy, and ballsy. I have screwed with some cards before but don't know if I would have the stones to try that.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I recently saw an NVIDIA card which had this reference cooler. First time I've seen it in real life and while it was nice, I think it's overrated. Noise in 3D mode was reasonable, but I thought it could have been better, too.

I'm beginning to get the feeling that NVIDIA are getting lazy with designing reference coolers nowadays with all their cards looking the same. This design is now two years old and I'm sure they could do better if they were bothered.

Why should they redesign the cooler when it works well and about 99.99% of people really like the look?

 

[HumanSmoke]

I'm beginning to get the feeling that NVIDIA are getting lazy with designing reference coolers nowadays with all their cards looking the same.

Amortization of tooling/manufacturing costs, and I'm pretty sure that the cooler is now readily identifiable with the Nvidia brand. While some people yearn for constant change (so long as it doesn't take them out of their comfort zone - see Win8 as example), branding relies upon long term continuity - why logo's, colours, and naming conventions don't change every year.

This design is now two years old and I'm sure they could do better if they were bothered.

Quite possibly they are trying, but it must be a tall order to improve on a pretty successful design. Of the three vendors offering add-in graphics boards of the 300W class, only one reference - the NVTTM, handles the job with anything approaching satisfaction. AMD's offerings have been so well received they have turned to AIO's, and Intel's Xeon Phi 5000/7000 series aren't noted for their quietness.

Go away paid shill.

C'mon, who would actually pay for that level of effort??

My god that is crazy, and ballsy. I have screwed with some cards before but don't know if I would have the stones to try that.

Yep, there are some people out there with a completely different approach to their hardware purchases. Spending $1K on a card could be the least of the expense.

 

[radrok]

Why should they redesign the cooler when it works well and about 99.99% of people really like the look?

I can vouch it works pretty well as furniture piece

 

[bpgt64]

Either way you look at this, it's good news for gamers. AMD needs to take Nvidia down a peg. I have been on Green team since the GTA 600 series, and would love to see an AMD card that beats the s*&^ out of Nvidia. I am not saying AMD hasn't done competitive/impressive things with the R9 290, or 7970, but the heat generation from their cards has become an issue for me, like the old Intel Prescott's back in the day. Not enough innovation with the new generations, all indicators point to some impressive features in this next gen of AMD cards.

 

[qubit]

I'm surprised at how many of you are sticking up for NVIDIA regarding the cooler.

I don't really have anything to add except that this was my impression on seeing it and I think the noise could be reduced a little more. The gold standard in low noise and lower temperature high end graphics cards are the MSI Gaming and the Asus ones (Strix I think?) If they can do it, then so can NVIDIA - and I'm sure it would help to boost their sales by having such a cutting-edge cooler as standard.

I have an MSI GTX 780 Ti Gaming and it's really quiet, even when being pushed hard. This is the noise performance I'm looking for in my next card, whatever brand it is.

You should see the superlative review it got on TPU. So good that W1z put it in his own rig.

 

[bpgt64]

I'm surprised at how many of you are sticking up for NVIDIA regarding the cooler.

I don't really have anything to add except that this was my impression on seeing it and I think the noise could be reduced a little more. The gold standard in low noise and lower temperature high end graphics cards are the MSI Gaming and the Asus ones (Strix I think?) If they can do it, then so can NVIDIA - and I'm sure it would help to boost their sales by having such a cutting-edge cooler as standard.

I like nvidia's stock cooler for the Titan/GTX 780/980 lineup, it permits very impressive overclocking with out much noise. It's a shite load better than AMD's.

Bottom line to all this, is it's a good thing to see Nvidia and AMD play ro-sham-bo

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=roshambo

 

[qubit]

@bpgt64 It's certainly a lot better than AMD's agreed and that's the problem, isn't it? Note enough competition.

The reviews back up your assertion about overclocking, though.

 

[rtwjunkie]

I'm surprised at how many of you are sticking up for NVIDIA regarding the cooler.

I don't really have anything to add except that this was my impression on seeing it and I think the noise could be reduced a little more. The gold standard in low noise and lower temperature high end graphics cards are the MSI Gaming and the Asus ones (Strix I think?) If they can do it, then so can NVIDIA - and I'm sure it would help to boost their sales by having such a cutting-edge cooler as standard.

I have an MSI GTX 780 Ti Gaming and it's really quiet, even when being pushed hard. This is the noise performance I'm looking for in my next card, whatever brand it is.

You should see the superlative review it got on TPU. So good that W1z put it in his own rig.

You are correct those vendor superlative coolers do an excellent job, but dump the heat into the case. I've also got a great MSI one. But after extended gaming, the metal reference cooler wins out on cooling because it isn't bathing itself in and sucking back into its heatsink hot air. And I can tell you the high-end reference heatsink is the quietest thing in my case.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

I can vouch it works pretty well as furniture piece

Right? I took it off my reference 780 after couple months to put a waterblock on it. Love it while it was on my card though.