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

If you guys want to wait for Pascal instead of spending $330 now, go for it.

I've been saying it all along but this release is not meant for the guys with high end cards already (the 690, 780, 780ti, Titan, etc). This is a refreshed release at a lower price point for people with aging cards and performance. It's a great price to get into higher end performance.

I will be more than happy to take upwards of a 100% improvement over my 660ti with games like Witcher 3 and GTA V coming out. Then I'll probably wait out the first revision of Pascal and upgrade at year 2-2.5 with another 100% improvement.

Obviously we don't know the exact performance hit of Witcher 3 and the like but it'll definitely be more taxing on my 660ti than a 970.

The 970 is a good price to performance card that we haven't seen in quite awhile. Pascal may be leaps and bounds over Maxwell but it's a ways out even by Nvidia's roadmap assuming no delays on top of that. I'll enjoy my performance upgrade between now and then and maybe spend another $300 when Pascal comes out. Still cheaper than the 780ti was.
 
cyUcmui.png


Am I seeing this right? This looks like almost perfect SLI/Crossfire scaling in Crysis 3.
 
garath said:
If you guys want to wait for Pascal instead of spending $330 now, go for it.

I've been saying it all along but this release is not meant for the guys with high end cards already (the 690, 780, 780ti, Titan, etc). This is a refreshed release at a lower price point for people with aging cards and performance. It's a great price to get into higher end performance.

I will be more than happy to take upwards of a 100% improvement over my 660ti with games like Witcher 3 and GTA V coming out. Then I'll probably wait out the first revision of Pascal and upgrade at year 2-2.5 with another 100% improvement.

Obviously we don't know the exact performance hit of Witcher 3 and the like but it'll definitely be more taxing on my 660ti than a 970.

The 970 is a good price to performance card that we haven't seen in quite awhile. Pascal may be leaps and bounds over Maxwell but it's a ways out even by Nvidia's roadmap assuming no delays on top of that. I'll enjoy my performance upgrade between now and then and maybe spend another $300 when Pascal comes out. Still cheaper than the 780ti was.
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Indeed. I also upgraded from a 660ti and I've been happy with the 2x jump in performance.

I also think 2016 may be a little optimistic too, considering how there always seems to be delays.
 
mkenyon said:
It's not at all like what they were doing with 290s.

The 290 issue was that they were using coolers designed for cards with TDP much lower. In this case, they're using coolers designed for cards with much higher TDP.

What they're saying is that directly contacting two of the heatpipes provides more than enough dissipation for the paltry 170W on the 970, which is totally accurate.
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I meant more in the sense that EVGA's efforts with the 970 seem like a rushed hack-job (that ends up inferior to its competition), like some 290 models. The issue I'm referencing is more of a design that doesn't match the die/PCB rather than one of TDP and I've seen multiple complaints of the EVGA 970s getting louder, having less VRAM cooling, inferior VRMs, coil whine, etc. The design just doesn't suit the 970 well and doesn't scream quality. Adequate or not, there are much better options out there (MSI and Gigabyte getting strong praise) and it's uncharacteristic of EVGA (from what I've read of past reviews and impressions, anyway).
 
Serandur said:
I meant more in the sense that EVGA's efforts with the 970 seem like a rushed hack-job (that ends up inferior to its competition), like some 290 models. The issue I'm referencing is more of a design that doesn't match the die/PCB rather than one of TDP and I've seen multiple complaints of the EVGA 970s getting louder, having less VRAM cooling, inferior VRMs, coil whine, etc. The design just doesn't suit the 970 well and doesn't scream quality. Adequate or not, there are much better options out there (MSI and Gigabyte getting strong praise) and it's uncharacteristic of EVGA (from what I've read of past reviews and impressions, anyway).
Click to expand...
Yeah, they got caught with their pants down. I think that's the purpose of the ACX 2.0 cooler, and they probably got held up with some manufacturer on getting it done and out the door.

Perhaps they'll make the ACX 2.0 coolers available for purchase.
 
Rimshot said:
Can someone explain to me, the uneducated, as to why the PC capture seems so washed out in comparison?
Click to expand...

Xbox One crushes the blacks when it scales the image. Things that would be very dark gray show up as black. This gives the Xbox One a darker look.

The PC isn't washed out, you're just seeing more detail. You can crush the blacks yourself if you like that better though.
 
Hmmm, with all the negative feedback for EVGA's cards. I'm wondering if I should send back mine once it arrives and try to exchange it with a Gigabyte?

What do you guys think?
 
Objectively Bad Opinion said:
Xbox One crushes the blacks when it scales the image. Things that would be very dark gray show up as black. This gives the Xbox One a darker look.

The PC isn't washed out, you're just seeing more detail. You can crush the blacks yourself if you like that better though.
Click to expand...

Thank you for explaining :) And I find it quite humouring to learn that I liked the darker colours that was actually due to less detail.
 
pestul said:
Must... resist. At least until AMDs Thursday annoucement.
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Yeah, I've been tempted to click "purchase" a number of times over the last few days, but honestly, there is no game I need an upgrade for at the moment..... Come Witcher 3 in February.... it's gonna be go time.
 
Gigabytes 3 fan 970 looks like the best one from the 970 and it'snot that more expensive than the cheapest one. I can't wait for my paychecks to finally afford it and a 512gb MX100.
The struggle is real. =S
 
Verger said:
Hmmm, with all the negative feedback for EVGA's cards. I'm wondering if I should send back mine once it arrives and try to exchange it with a Gigabyte?

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

If all the EVGA coolers are indeed what is shown in this post, then it is probably safer to either choose another brand or wait for EVGA revision.
But I dont know if it is a widespread issue or not.
 
It's not an issue, exactly. It's a known deficiency that isn't really an issue. It just means that the non-2.0 ACX coolers aren't as quiet as the competition.

It passed NVIDIA's Greenwhatever program that has standards for noise/temps.
 
Zafir said:
Yeah I noticed that. Just a shame that I can't really see it due to my desk half covering the window. :P
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My case window faces a wall :( Just the way I had to lay out my desk. I miss all sorts of nice lighting from inside the case.

The MSI and Gigabyte both have nice looking lights imo.
 
Makareu said:
If all the EVGA coolers are indeed what is shown in this post, then it is probably safer to either choose another brand or wait for EVGA revision.
But I dont know if it is a widespread issue or not.
Click to expand...
mkenyon said:
It's not an issue, exactly. It's a known deficiency that isn't really an issue. It just means that the non-2.0 ACX coolers aren't as quiet as the competition.

It passed NVIDIA's Greenwhatever program that has standards for noise/temps.
Click to expand...
Hmm. I'll have to think about it then. I imagine it'd be easier to send it back unopened. But then again who knows how long it'd take to get a replacement, or how to ensure that Newegg exchanged it correctly...
 
Verger said:
Hmm. I'll have to think about it then. I imagine it'd be easier to send it back unopened. But then again who knows how long it'd take to get a replacement, or how to ensure that Newegg exchanged it correctly...
Click to expand...

Honestly for all the talk about EVGA "screwing up" their 970s, they still have the highest factory overclock and the temps are more than fine.

The ONLY reason I don't want one is the potential for coil whine. That type of stuff bothers me and I'd want to avoid it if possible. However, a lot of people who have EVGA in this thread are reporting no coil whine so take it as you will.
 
Tried using Fire Strike to find out how big the difference between my GTX 770 Windforce and a 970 would be. Ended up with a 7432, but then I was wondering if it was lower than the average for those same specs, but searching for other results with a GTX 770 only provided me with invalid results where the users tampered with their FPS in a single test. Even the one valid result was tampered with.

Ugghhh...
 
I'm frustrated with the water block situation with the 970s. Would have gone with MSI Gaming edition but no guarantee for there ever to be a compatible water block. I bought some 670 water blocks to be used on the short PCBs but that unfortunately means inferior cards with possible coil whine... I have the short EVGA cards on order but no known date.
 
Conkerkid11 said:
Tried using Fire Strike to find out how big the difference between my GTX 770 Windforce and a 970 would be. Ended up with a 7432, but then I was wondering if it was lower than the average for those same specs, but searching for other results with a GTX 770 only provided me with invalid results where the users tampered with their FPS in a single test. Even the one valid result was tampered with.

Ugghhh...
Click to expand...
Non-valid doesn't mean much. It's almost definitely drivers released recently where folks ran it, but 3DMark hadn't yet authorized those specific drivers.

7432 is about right.
 
Is it possible to build a PC with decent specs and a GTX 980 for around $1300 CAD?
 
garath said:
Honestly for all the talk about EVGA "screwing up" their 970s, they still have the highest factory overclock and the temps are more than fine.

The ONLY reason I don't want one is the potential for coil whine. That type of stuff bothers me and I'd want to avoid it if possible. However, a lot of people who have EVGA in this thread are reporting no coil whine so take it as you will.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the cards are fine, it just seems they went a bit lazy with the design and the competition did more. So I'd probably be a bit disappointed had I paid full price for my cards. As it stands I paid almost 100 bucks less for the SLI deal + free bridge + Borderlands, so I can't really complain. Performance is outstanding, no coil whine and the great EVGA warranty.

You are right though, coil whine would be an instant RMA.
 
Welp just ordered the Gigabyte G1 970 from Newegg! Time to off load this 7970...

Edit: LOL, hope it fits in my Fractal R4 case!
 
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