Introduction
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti was released just a few weeks ago. It is built on the same GM200 GPU as the GeForce Titan X, but has fewer shaders (2816 vs 3072). While the GTX 980 Ti's GPU is still produced on a 28 nanometer process at TSMC in Taiwan, it comes with the fantastic power efficiency optimizations of the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, which promises lower power draw, higher performance, and reduced fan noise all at the same time.
Our review of the reference design GTX 980 Ti revealed that it is barely slower than the Titan X, which means custom designs could surpass Titan X performance at a much lower price point.
Today, we are reviewing the MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Gaming, one of the most anticipated custom designs for the GTX 980 Ti. MSI is using their large dual-fan TwinFrozr cooler we've seen on other recent models before. The card comes with a high overclock for 1178 MHz on the base and 1774 MHz on the memory is overclock.
The MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming can be found online for $680, which is a $30 premium over NVIDIA's MSRP for GTX 980 Ti.
GTX 980 Ti Market Segment Analysis | Radeon R9 290 | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon R9 290X | GeForce GTX 780 Ti | GeForce GTX 980 | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming | GeForce GTX Titan X | Radeon R9 295X2 |
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Shader Units | 2560 | 1664 | 2816 | 2880 | 2048 | 2816 | 2816 | 3072 | 2x 2816 |
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ROPs | 64 | 56 | 64 | 48 | 64 | 96 | 96 | 96 | 2x 64 |
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Graphics Processor | Hawaii | GM204 | Hawaii | GK110 | GM204 | GM200 | GM200 | GM200 | 2x Hawaii |
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Transistors | 6200M | 5200M | 6200M | 7100M | 5200M | 8000M | 8000M | 8000M | 2x 6200M |
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Memory Size | 4096 MB | 4096 MB | 4096 MB | 3072 MB | 4096 MB | 6144 MB | 6144 MB | 12288 MB | 2x 4096 MB |
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Memory Bus Width | 512 bit | 256 bit | 512 bit | 384 bit | 256 bit | 384 bit | 384 bit | 384 bit | 2x 512 bit |
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Core Clock | 947 MHz | 1051 MHz+ | 1000 MHz | 876 MHz+ | 1126 MHz+ | 1000 MHz+ | 1178 MHz+ | 1000 MHz+ | 1018 MHz |
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Memory Clock | 1250 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1250 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1774 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1250 MHz |
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Price | $250 | $310 | $300 | $390 | $480 | $650 | $680 | $1050 | $620 |
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