Nvidia Launches GTX 980 And GTX 970 "Maxwell" Graphics Cards ($549 & $329)

Li Kao said:
Hmm, consensus seems to point toward MSI. One of my fears being that my case would run too hot with one of these new cards, that's a seducing factor.

Here's my setup :
CPU Intel Core i5 2500K 3.30GHz
Motherboard P8P67 LE
RAM 8 Gbytes DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
SSD Intel SSD 335 Series 240Go
Storage Caviar Black 1To
Power Supply ?
Case Cooler Master Silencio
Optical Drive DVD Lite-On iHAS124B
Heatsink I don't even know what that is :x
Sound Card No
Sound kit Hercules 2.1

The plan would be to buy a 970 (MSI ?), pray to avoid a nuclear meltdown in the case, and some months later work on improvements on the sound front or the amount of memory.

What say you Gaf, am I on the right track or is there something I should know before taking the plunge ? The MSI 970 is not fully stocked at my retailer but they seem to be working on it and I don't want the card tomorrow.
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I am pretty sure TDP for the 560 Ti and the 970 are similar.

Yea, it's only like a 50 watt difference on average.
 
8800GT -> 560Ti -> GTX 970 :) hope this card is as amazing as the last two

Man, I hope amazon can get their stock back in though. Any idea on how long it might take for the next batch? I unfortunately ordered right before I went to bed and it was before newegg put theirs up that I saw. I'd prefer ordering from Amazon just because their customer service is top notch.

I dont think I'll be overclocking mine (I never did my 560) so I'm not too picky on needing cooling units.
badb0y said:
I am pretty sure TDP for the 560 Ti and the 970 are similar.
Click to expand...
From what I remember, the TDP on a non OC 560 was something like 170/175. The TDP for the 970 is 145 :O
 
Dark Souls 2 runs better in 4K than it did @1800p on my old 680. No more frame drops at bonfires (lol).

The new downsampling easiness is kinda sick, but I wonder why they only offer 2 resolutions at the moment (4k and one slightly below). Need to add some more resolutions in the driver, I did reset all my settings.

GTA4 at 4k is also quite nice...
 
Li Kao said:
Hmm, consensus seems to point toward MSI. One of my fears being that my case would run too hot with one of these new cards, that's a seducing factor.

What say you Gaf, am I on the right track or is there something I should know before taking the plunge ? The MSI 970 is not fully stocked at my retailer but they seem to be working on it and I don't want the card tomorrow.
Click to expand...
The GPU puts out less than 200W of heat. Don't worry about the case.
 
Reading the Guru3D review for the 970 Windforce and they were able to apply a 200 Mhz OC to an already higher core clock.

Looks like they were able to achieve quite the performance gains, getting better scores than a stock 980.

A81ImZh.jpg
 
My Microcenter only has the stock/blower EVGAs in stock, which I'm not really a fan of. I'll keep my newegg order for the MSI.

the_firewithin said:
A 3770k stock is perfectly fine or a 970 or 980 correct?
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Sure, but having a K cpu means you can quite easily OC it significantly even on the stock cooler or simple air cooler like the CM 212 - you paid for it :)
 
if I didn't have an r9 290, I would jump on the GTX 970 in an instant, that's some great price to performance ratio there.

ad yet, I still want an 970 so bad, it's price is so great, so not like Nvidia.
 
Grief.exe said:
Reading the Guru3D review for the 970 Windforce and they were able to apply a 200 Mhz OC to an already higher core clock.

Looks like they were able to achieve quite the performance gains, getting better scores than a stock 980.
Click to expand...
So over 1500Mhz, that's just crazy.

I will try this out when I get one :P
 
scitek said:
I think I'm most excited to see the boost in IQ and frame rate I can get with the new GPU in older games.
Click to expand...

I'm foaming at the mouth at the thought of playing RE5 with HBAO+ enabled, downsampling with GeDoSaTo, post processing, and in 3D while holding 60fps. I think a 970 would really bring out the value of thise 3D/120hz monitor.

Like most other PC gamers, I've got a huge backlog and to be able to experience it all at vastly higher quality is wicked exciting. There are so many games I've held off on thinking "After the next GPU upgrade...After the next GPU upgrade..." 970 seems like the next GPU upgrade.
 
Grief.exe said:
Reading the Guru3D review for the 970 Windforce and they were able to apply a 200 Mhz OC to an already higher core clock.

Looks like they were able to achieve quite the performance gains, getting better scores than a stock 980.
Click to expand...

That's insane. I've always had crap luck overclocking GPUS.

Doesn't the 980 also have crazy overclocking potential though?
 
I was initially going to get a 980, but decided I'll probably do an entire system upgrade in a few months, and can just add another 970 then if I want more power. I have a 2500k, but hear video editing is one of the things that could benefit greatly from a newer CPU, so I'll upgrade for "work" purposes.
Alo81 said:
I'm foaming at the mouth at the thought of playing RE5 with HBAO+ enabled, downsampling with GeDoSaTo, post processing, and in 3D while holding 60fps. I think a 970 would really bring out the value of thise 3D/120hz monitor.

Like most other PC gamers, I've got a huge backlog and to be able to experience it all at vastly higher quality is wicked exciting. There are so many games I've held off on thinking "After the next GPU upgrade...After the next GPU upgrade..." 970 seems like the next GPU upgrade.
Click to expand...

It's honestly my favorite thing about PC gaming. Not just the new cutting edge stuff, but having access to all of last generation's games, many of which already look great, and being able to downsample them from 4k, or adding HBAO, or maybe even finally being able ho play some at 60fps without drops. It's always nice.
 
Grief.exe said:
Reading the Guru3D review for the 970 Windforce and they were able to apply a 200 Mhz OC to an already higher core clock.

Looks like they were able to achieve quite the performance gains, getting better scores than a stock 980.

A81ImZh.jpg
Click to expand...

Sweclockers did similar with Asus:
7965


7966


Code: 
                          GPU-frekv.	Nominell turbo	Maximal turbo	Minnesfrekv.
Nvidia GTX 980	        1 127 MHz	 1 216 MHz	 1 253 MHz	  7 008 MHz
Nvidia GTX 980 (OC)	1 352 MHz	1 441 MHz	1 465 MHz	8 000 MHz
Asus GTX 970 Strix	1 114 MHz	1 253 MHz	1 278 MHz	7 008 MHz
Asus GTX 970 Strix (OC)	1 314 MHz	1 453 MHz	1 478 MHz	8 000 MHz

Asusgtx970oc.gif


http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/19332-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-och-gtx-970/22#pagehead
 
Faith said:
Is that even possible?
Click to expand...

well it is for the 770.

Gigabyte Windforce 770 noise levels: 0,2/3,1 (idle/load noise in sone)
You really have to adjust the fan profile or else the Windforce 770 is a loud card because for some reason Gigabyte thinks it's necessary to cool a card down to 65°C, even when NVIDIA says 80°C is okay.
So yeah, it's a great fan with a messed up profile.

MSI Twin Frozr: 0,3/1,4
With the Twin Frozr you have a quiet card and don't have to change fan profiles. The way a quiet fan should work.


But enough thread hijacking. The 970 is a great card and of course the Windforce is a good choice. It's just not the perfect one.

But early adopters can't choose. They have to pick what's available. I only mentioned that the ASUS 970 is the obvious choice for people who like quiet cards with a lot of power.
 
So no free game promos with these cards?

My last updates have been when new Batman games came out. Those free games usually sweeten the deal. Bummer it was delayed.
 
The Purple Pill said:
if I didn't have an r9 290, I would jump on the GTX 970 in an instant, that's some great price to performance ratio there.

ad yet, I still want an 970 so bad, it's price is so great, so not like Nvidia.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat, I bought a Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 back in June. I really, really want a GTX 970 (well, GTX 980 to be honest but I haven't the budget for that right now). It's a bit faster than the 290 and doesn't have the insane power draw of these Hawaii chips.
I can't get past 1100mhz core on my 290 before I start running out of thermal headroom on air.
 
Grief.exe said:
Reading the Guru3D review for the 970 Windforce and they were able to apply a 200 Mhz OC to an already higher core clock.

Looks like they were able to achieve quite the performance gains, getting better scores than a stock 980.

A81ImZh.jpg
Click to expand...

That's nuts. I'm seriously considering ordering one (if I can find one) and just returning the EVGA when it gets here for a refund.
 
Seanspeed said:
So a question about the brands that have fans that cut off below certain temperatures. I assume this isn't a big deal(or they wouldn't put them out), but if I absolutely wasn't comfortable with it, will there be a way to keep the fans running at all times?
Click to expand...

you can probably force the fans with MSI afterburner or similar.

But why would you be concerned? All GPUs will be designed to ramp the fan speed as they get hotter. So if they're below a certain threshold and the BIOS determines they don't need additional cooling, whats wrong with that? They'll be getting cooled naturally from the flow of air through your case anyway. If they go over 60c the fan will start up.
 
opticalmace said:
Ah, gotcha. Well unless you're doing CPU-heavy work I doubt you'd notice a difference with Broadwell. In fact I think even an OC'd 2500k is more than enough CPU for any game ATM.
Click to expand...

Broadwell with the 14nm should be quite amazing, and I do want to go back up to an i7. But really, could you see Windows 9 and Broadwell be out around the same time? Also, maybe a 970 Ti or something by that time?
 
Oh man, normally I'd be bitter (just got an 295x2 a few weeks ago) but this actually makes me excited for the future. The future might be green for me!
 
Good, you all got me worried with the PSU talk lol. Hope my 450w PSU is enough for a single 970 (+ 4570 + SSD + HDD)...
I'll upgrade it for SLI later down the line anyway but would be a bummer if I had to do it now already.
 
I'm almost selling my OG Titan and getting one of these bad boys. What do you guys think?

The Titan is still very expensive in my country. I think it will be way cheaper buying two 980 than another Titan to use in SLI.

(I love some 120Hz gaming)
 
Grief.exe said:
Looks like they were able to achieve quite the performance gains, getting better scores than a stock 980.
Click to expand...

Here's a 980 Windforce bench which shows the 980 outperforming the 970 Windforce. Weird.

index.php


I found the 980 Windforce on NewEgg... and it seems a decent bit more expensive than the EVGA version I grabbed. But the EVGA card has faster clocks.

EVGA (Core - 1241 MHz, Boost - 1342 MHz)

Gigabyte (Core - 1228 MHz, Boost - 1329 MHz)

So that EVGA card should perform about the same I'd guess.
 
Do GPUs see any sort of black friday/holiday specials?

I assume these won't because of how new they are, but I'm just curious if I should bother waiting anymore or just pull the trigger.
 
so for all of us that jumped in and bought one of these cards - is there a recommended way to uninstall our old drivers properly? I have an AMD card currently
 
Anyone have any idea, since these would go well with G-sync (of course), when more G-sync monitors will be out? Will they all be 700 to 800 bucks?
 
jim2point0 said:
Here's a 980 Windforce bench which shows the 980 outperforming the 970 Windforce. Weird.
Click to expand...

Look closer. The G1 970 Grief's referring to is generously overclocked whereas the benchmark you found compares the two at stock (well, at stock overclocks).
 
UnaiGamer said:
I'm almost selling my OG Titan and getting one of these bad boys. What do you guys think?

The Titan is still very expensive in my country. I think it will be way cheaper buying two 980 than another Titan to use in SLI.

(I love some 120Hz gaming)
Click to expand...

Considering the 970 outscored the GTX Titan on that 3DMark test, I say go for it while you still can.
 
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