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

Jesus Christ. Just built a rig with a Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming and wasn't expecting it to perform THIS good.

I can play EVERY single game at maximum settings and playable framerates. Hell, I can play Crysis 3 and Assassin's Creed Unity @ 1080p with TXAA at high for both, capping the framerate to 30 via RivaTuner Statistics Server, and both look like a freaking CG movie, and can't believe my eyes.

Also, Grid Autosport @ 4K with MSAA enabled and running at 60 FPS is just insane. And Project Cars too. And Thief, and...

Holy shit, I'm so happy.
 
Are there any price drops in the horizon for 970s? Reading the latest on 960s, I'm more and more leaning towards 970, but it's a bit out of my current price range.

Also, any variants with 2 HDMI slots?
 
I just put in my order on the first for an EVGA GTX 970 FTW. I'm upgrading from a 7950 so it isn't the largest step up possible but it is still a very nice upgrade that I am super excited for.

Hopefully have it in my hands Monday or Tuesday.
 
jfoul said:
The EVGA Reference 970 and 970 FTW are being updated also. I'm probably going to return my Gygabyte G1 970 and buy the EVGA 970 FTW+.

FTW+ (04G-P4-3978-KR) Summary:
  • Includes backplate
  • Full Coverage Memory and MOSFET Cooling Plate
  • Dual BIOS
  • Copper Heatpipes
  • 6+2 Power Phase + Higher Power Target
  • 6+8 Pin Power Connectors
  • New Display Output Configuration (1 x Dual-link DVI-I - 1 x HDMI - 3 x DisplayPort)
afZlf0rl.jpg


HEXUS:
"The EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 is due to ship in the first week of January 2015, according to company representatives. EVGA is also releasing updated versions of the reference (04G-P4-3973-KR) and FTW+ (04G-P4-3978-KR) GTX 970 cards at the same time. The latter is significant because it features a full-length backplate as well as MMCP cooling."

EVGA:
"The new generation of EVGA GeForce GTX 970s have arrived with the SSC and FTW+. These enhanced models offer improved cooling, double BIOS support, new display output configuration and 6 power phases for robust overclocking support. The FTW+ model even has an included backplate."
Click to expand...

EVGA is back on the menu boys.

Probably between this and the Galax one for me.
 
jfoul said:
The EVGA Reference 970 and 970 FTW are being updated also. I'm probably going to return my Gygabyte G1 970 and buy the EVGA 970 FTW+.

FTW+ (04G-P4-3978-KR) Summary:
  • Includes backplate
  • Full Coverage Memory and MOSFET Cooling Plate
  • Dual BIOS
  • Copper Heatpipes
  • 6+2 Power Phase + Higher Power Target
  • 6+8 Pin Power Connectors
  • New Display Output Configuration (1 x Dual-link DVI-I - 1 x HDMI - 3 x DisplayPort)
afZlf0rl.jpg


HEXUS:
"The EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 is due to ship in the first week of January 2015, according to company representatives. EVGA is also releasing updated versions of the reference (04G-P4-3973-KR) and FTW+ (04G-P4-3978-KR) GTX 970 cards at the same time. The latter is significant because it features a full-length backplate as well as MMCP cooling."

EVGA:
"The new generation of EVGA GeForce GTX 970s have arrived with the SSC and FTW+. These enhanced models offer improved cooling, double BIOS support, new display output configuration and 6 power phases for robust overclocking support. The FTW+ model even has an included backplate."
Click to expand...

:/ I figured they would be revising the 970s eventually. Maybe I should RMA my FTW for the buzzing and see if they'd give me a FTW+
 
Cross post:

I'm having trouble applying Nvidia Control Panel settings (AA settings to be particular) to Dragon Age: Origins. I can put the AA toggle to 32x CSAA and it won't apply in the game itself. It still is a jaggy mess. Does anyone have any idea what the reason of this is?
Click to expand...
 
In the last few days I'm finally letting my GTX 970 Twin Frozr having fun with DSR.

Alien: Isolation modded@3325x1871 = around 50 FPS
Dishonored, with usual .ini improvements [shadows, FoV and stuff] @3325x1871 = 110 FPS
Adavanced Warfare MP, maxed, no AA @1440p = 99% of the time steady to its 91 FPS limit
Far Cry 4 Ultra + nVidia stuff, SMAA@3325x1871 = 25-30 FPS
Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare @3325x1871 = 70 FPS
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!, PhysX Ultra@3325x1871 = around 55 FPS
Ground Zeroes @2351x1323 = steady 60 FPS

What a wonderful card.
 
Dries said:
I'm having trouble applying Nvidia Control Panel settings (AA settings to be particular) to Dragon Age: Origins. I can put the AA toggle to 32x CSAA and it won't apply in the game itself. It still is a jaggy mess. Does anyone have any idea what the reason of this is?
Click to expand...

Why would you even try 32x CSAA...

To answer your question, Frostbite Engine is terrible for MSAA/CSAA which is probably why it's disabled even though Nvidia drivers

It's a deferred engine so use the in-game Post Process Anti Aliasing, works fine and looks good. I suggest Medium (there is almost no difference with High, I did detailed comparisons)
 
KePoW said:
Why would you even try 32x CSAA...

To answer your question, Frostbite Engine is terrible for MSAA/CSAA which is probably why it's disabled even though Nvidia drivers

It's a deferred engine so use the in-game Post Process Anti Aliasing, works fine and looks good. I suggest Medium (there is almost no difference with High, I did detailed comparisons)
Click to expand...

If they are actually referring to Dragon Age: Origins (and not Inquisition), then it's not the Frostbite engine.
 
FTW+? I just got my FTW though the Step-Up program.

Oh, well. I'm pretty happy with what I have regardless.
 
KePoW said:
Why would you even try 32x CSAA...

To answer your question, Frostbite Engine is terrible for MSAA/CSAA which is probably why it's disabled even though Nvidia drivers

It's a deferred engine so use the in-game Post Process Anti Aliasing, works fine and looks good. I suggest Medium (there is almost no difference with High, I did detailed comparisons)
Click to expand...

Dictator93 said:
Doesnt maxwell not support CSAA? Try just normal MSAA at 4 or 8x
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just used CSAA as an example. If I choose 8x MSAA it also won't affect my game. Bottom line is just every AA solution provided by the Nvidia Control Panel will not affect my DA:O game at all.
 
Recently got a 970 SC and loving it so far, only issue I've run into is during the Nvidia driver uninstall my primary monitor goes black and doesn't resume image without a manual restart. Wasn't the case with same display using amd before, display always resumed shortly after the black during driver uninstall. Anybody know roughly how long the uninstall takes total for future reference? Just want to make sure it's completed, frustrating not being able to tell what's going on!
 
Dries said:
Yeah, I just used CSAA as an example. If I choose 8x MSAA it also won't affect my game. Bottom line is just every AA solution provided by the Nvidia Control Panel will not affect my DA:O game at all.
Click to expand...

Did you check in Nvidia inspector to make sure that it does not have the flag modifier to prevent forcing AA?
 
My 2 Manli Reference GTX970 are in and I overclocked them slightly by 90 Mhz (and 250Mhz memory clock).

They are so silent! I can't barely hear them while playing games. Tomb Raider is running rocksteady maxed out with 4xSSAA. Nice! :D
 
Faith said:
My 2 Manli Reference GTX970 are in and I overclocked them slightly by 90 Mhz (and 250Mhz memory clock).

They are so silent! I can't barely hear them while playing games. Tomb Raider is running rocksteady maxed out with 4xSSAA. Nice! :D
Click to expand...

90 MHz core OC is not really slightly, is it?

Edit: depends on the factory clocks I guess, if they're at reference then yeah you have more leeway.
 
Faith said:
I think with the 970 it is. Base clock was 1260 Mhz btw.
Click to expand...

Yeah I edited my post.

I have the Gigabyte G1 which has higher base clock I think, and I pushed it straight to +150 MHz for shits and giggles but it wasn't stable. I'm slowly pushing it from base again and I'm at around +50 Mhz now, will keep adding some as I play more games and see stability.
 
Dries said:
Yeah, I just used CSAA as an example. If I choose 8x MSAA it also won't affect my game. Bottom line is just every AA solution provided by the Nvidia Control Panel will not affect my DA:O game at all.
Click to expand...

Not every game works with forced MSAA from the control panel.
Actually, I can't think of one that does.
 
Dries said:
I'm having trouble applying Nvidia Control Panel settings (AA settings to be particular) to Dragon Age: Origins. I can put the AA toggle to 32x CSAA and it won't apply in the game itself. It still is a jaggy mess. Does anyone have any idea what the reason of this is?
Click to expand...

Why not just downsample and use in-game AA?
 
Dictator93 said:
Did you check in Nvidia inspector to make sure that it does not have the flag modifier to prevent forcing AA?
Click to expand...

You mean the drop down menu of Anti-aliasing mode? Yeah, that's set to "enhance the application settings''.

TronLight said:
Not every game works with forced MSAA from the control panel.
Actually, I can't think of one that does.
Click to expand...

I thought the Witcher 1 worked well with forced control panel AA. I hardly ever use it, but now I'm forced to because of the reason I've listed below.

Evo X said:
Why not just downsample and use in-game AA?
Click to expand...

Obviously DSR would be my no. 1 preferred method, but if you downsample DA:O the HUD also scales with the resolution making it impossible to read, so that's not an option. In-game AA works fine, but I'm using an injector which only is applicable if in-game AA is turned off completely... Hence the reason I need AA from the control panel.
 
Im looking to build a PC (after 8 years!) so I can play WoW and Divinity Original Sin, but I'm on a budget, what should I get as a graphics card to play these at high settings 1080p?
 
Naked Snake said:
Yeah I edited my post.

I have the Gigabyte G1 which has higher base clock I think, and I pushed it straight to +150 MHz for shits and giggles but it wasn't stable. I'm slowly pushing it from base again and I'm at around +50 Mhz now, will keep adding some as I play more games and see stability.
Click to expand...

I couldn't get 150 on core and 500 on memory either (like some of the reviewers did). Although 130/350 has worked fine for me under load in games and benchmarks.
 
Faith said:
My 2 Manli Reference GTX970 are in and I overclocked them slightly by 90 Mhz (and 250Mhz memory clock).

They are so silent! I can't barely hear them while playing games. Tomb Raider is running rocksteady maxed out with 4xSSAA. Nice! :D
Click to expand...

Is that with TressFX on? Never managed to get smooth 60 fps with 4xSSAA (resolution 1080p) and TressFX using 2x780 sli. It worked kind of in the cave intro sequence, but fps took a dive in the first open area.
 
d00d3n said:
Is that with TressFX on? Never managed to get smooth 60 fps with 4xSSAA (resolution 1080p) and TressFX using 2x780 sli. It worked kind of in the cave intro sequence, but fps took a dive in the first open area.
Click to expand...

The issue with the TressFX used in Tomb Raider PC is that it has a really stupid scaling system where when the camera gets close to Lara, the amount of hairs being rendered increases dramatically. So when the camera is up close showing Lara's head, the framerate crashes and burns when it renders 40 million hairs instead of 400 or something. They fixed this in the revised TressFX used by Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition on PS4/Bone.
 
Unknown Soldier said:
The issue with the TressFX used in Tomb Raider PC is that it has a really stupid scaling system where when the camera gets close to Lara, the amount of hairs being rendered increases dramatically. So when the camera is up close showing Lara's head, the framerate crashes and burns when it renders 40 million hairs instead of 400 or something. They fixed this in the revised TressFX used by Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition on PS4/Bone.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, interesting. I guess the scaling system combined with 4xSSAA is too much for any system to handle. Worked ok with 2xSSAA though.
 
d00d3n said:
Is that with TressFX on? Never managed to get smooth 60 fps with 4xSSAA (resolution 1080p) and TressFX using 2x780 sli. It worked kind of in the cave intro sequence, but fps took a dive in the first open area.
Click to expand...
I'm not using TressFX, I don't like the look. Resolution is 2560x1080 btw.
 
Ushay said:
Im looking to build a PC (after 8 years!) so I can play WoW and Divinity Original Sin, but I'm on a budget, what should I get as a graphics card to play these at high settings 1080p?
Click to expand...
The upcoming GTX960 will probably be a great card for a decent price.

On the AMD side, I'd look at the R9 280.

Both should be around £150/$200 range.
 
kharma45 said:
EVGA is back on the menu boys.

Probably between this and the Galax one for me.
Click to expand...

This what the EVGA SC and FTW should have been from the start. The new SSC and FTW+ are even clocked slightly higher than the older versions. Right now the new SSC is a better purchase over the current FTW.
 
Welp. I said I'd wait for the GTX960 to launch before making a decision, but if the new news is true about it being 128bit/2GB, then how about no.

That EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX2.0 is looking hella fine tho
 
jfoul said:
The EVGA Reference 970 and 970 FTW are being updated also. I'm probably going to return my Gygabyte G1 970 and buy the EVGA 970 FTW+.

FTW+ (04G-P4-3978-KR) Summary:
  • Includes backplate
  • Full Coverage Memory and MOSFET Cooling Plate
  • Dual BIOS
  • Copper Heatpipes
  • 6+2 Power Phase + Higher Power Target
  • 6+8 Pin Power Connectors
  • New Display Output Configuration (1 x Dual-link DVI-I - 1 x HDMI - 3 x DisplayPort)
afZlf0rl.jpg


HEXUS:
"The EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0 is due to ship in the first week of January 2015, according to company representatives. EVGA is also releasing updated versions of the reference (04G-P4-3973-KR) and FTW+ (04G-P4-3978-KR) GTX 970 cards at the same time. The latter is significant because it features a full-length backplate as well as MMCP cooling."

EVGA:
"The new generation of EVGA GeForce GTX 970s have arrived with the SSC and FTW+. These enhanced models offer improved cooling, double BIOS support, new display output configuration and 6 power phases for robust overclocking support. The FTW+ model even has an included backplate."
Click to expand...

Where can I buy this?
 
Just got my GTX 970 FTW installed and ran the Fire Strike benchmark. I'm pretty pleased.

Out of the box:
Score 9844
Graphics Score 12020
Physics Score 8944
Combined Score 4461

I'm interested to see how far I can push it in these next few days before stability goes.
 
My GPU (970) is using ~800MB of memory just sitting in Windows (8.1), is this abnormally high?

I'm hitting my memory limits in both Watch Dogs (High) and Mordor (High).
 
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