Geforce GTX 1080 - NVIDIA Pascal

[obobski]

GTX 1080 has 40-200% improved performance over stock Titan X in VR. It's not a scheme, this is just Nvidia response to VR hype this season.

 

Judging from clocks screenshot from Zotac's new Firestorm utility tool, gtx 1080 will sit around 360GB/s bandwith (if the formula is same for gddr5x). This translates to roughly 5% improvement over my 980 ti. With custom PCBs and how easy this card is overclocked it might get up to 20% in normal games.

 

Now the question is if you really need that boost to stay at 60fps. There is also a speculation that the new SLI bridge won't limit two cards as mush as the previous version.

 

But what are they defining as "VR" there? I think "hype this season" is absolutely right - VR has become a meaningless marketing buzzword just like "HD" and "3D" that gets slapped on everything with no real care or attention given to what is actually meant by it.

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

 

But what are they defining as "VR" there?

 

They are changing how the duoble image for headset is rendered. Instead of slapping black overlay now the gpu will render only active area. Angles for VR and multiscreen surround setup got also improved. You probably can find pieces of press presentation from few days ago. NDA is still there until official release, so we won't get to see any juicy parts for now.

 

 

 

VR has become a meaningless marketing buzzword just like "HD" and "3D" that gets slapped on everything with no real care or attention given to what is actually meant by it.

 

Some people actually like it. I still will go and watch movies in 3d in the theather, while I won't even touch VR gear for gaming. It's still a nice alternative to tripple screen setup for symulators, which I'm not interested in. I can see a lot of applications in non-gaming scenarios in the near future (education, design, etc).

 

https://youtu.be/wKf4jyTo4-g?t=1m7s

https://youtu.be/wKf4jyTo4-g?t=3m

 

PS: None of that is just a mere buzzword. People just have take into account that technology progresses each generation and sometimes it's hit or miss untill everything catches up to it.

720p - HD >>

1080p - Full HD

Edited May 13, 2016 by BlackRoseOfThorns

[obobski]

Oh I wasn't saying that the concept of head-mounted displays or what-have-you (e.g. Oculus) is "just a buzzword" but that I've seen "VR" being increasingly slapped onto products more or less willy-nilly, the same way HD and 3D were a few years ago - its the new trend. Certainly some people like it, and certainly there's some underlying piece that actually *does* something, but do we really need "VR edition" cables? or "VR edition" cases? or "VR edition" graphics cards? etc etc etc

[FMod]

From the early reviews, turned out pretty good performance-wise.

 

On the downside, the stock cooler can barely handle the card even stock. A $100 premium for a pretty shroud over a junk cooler is quite a slap. There's no headroom for making the cooler any worse, so custom ones will have to perform better, and likely charge extra for that.

 

I suspect the real price range will be $650-$800, not below MSRP as it was for prior products. We'll probably see the occasional $600 card in a few months, but rarely less, and rarely something worthy.

Edited May 17, 2016 by FMod

[obobski]

Honestly the OEM cooler being "bad" isn't surprising - I'm partially convinced that OEMs just hate their own products and want to see them burn, having taken apart a number of OEM coolers over the years. :psyduck:

[LeddBate]

How long (after the release of the 1080, 1070, etc.) before you folks think we will see a significant drop in the price on the 980 and 980ti?

 

Although my rig is last-gen (mobo, cpu and RAM), It still has plenty of umph for a GPU upgrade to be practical. But I'm not willing to shell out $600+ for a 980ti.

 

Yes, I've seen the MSI offering for $550. -but I'm leery of them (just personal reasons.) I'd rather EVGA or GIGABYTE.

[FMod]

Why would there be one? The 980 Ti is still the best performance value for the money. The 1080 isn't out yet and it will cost $700+ initially. The prices will keep very slowly decreasing, but there's no reason they would somehow drop.

The upper-midrange segment might experience a price drop after Polaris arrives.

 

I suppose you could wait for just the perfect card for you to appear at just the right price point, but hear the one about beggars and choosers?

 

 

BTW, MSI is the current top make among video cards, their Lightning series is the best money can buy, particularly for the 980 Ti. The Gaming series isn't there, but still among the better ones. Gigabyte also has some good offerings.

 

Most EVGA cards are just basic reference cards, IDK why some people see them as a premium brand. Hardware competition only happens among non-ref cards, all reference cards are the same; the brand just sends pictures to put on the card and the box to the OEM factory.

[LeddBate]

Thanks for the info. So, you don't believe that the release of the 1080 will cause any significant price drop on the 980s shortly thereafter? Darn.

 

I don't have any problem with MSI's products, just their customer service. As I said, it's personal. I'm sure most other folks have had great experience with MSI. I simply don't want to deal with them anymore.

[Signette]

From my experience, first cards in series aren't always best ones and usually later additions have some very good improvements, so I'm usually staying away from it, and I'm sure when ~GTX 1980 will drop, we'll see that (obviously). ~70s in series were always best as SLI solution for me, guess same would be truth for 970 and 1070 both. Now I'm thinking to get long anticipated 980 ti because 1080 seriously doesn't worth it as price=quality goes IMO, but if what @FMod says is true, and we won't see decent price drop on late ~900 series, which usually happens, well, that's sad... From what I've seen and read, 980 ti cooling may not hold and would need swapping too, so that's additional $$$... Eh. Still, 980 ti as for now feels like a best choice as of now.

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

Thanks for the info. So, you don't believe that the release of the 1080 will cause any significant price drop on the 980s shortly thereafter? Darn.

 

I don't have any problem with MSI's products, just their customer service. As I said, it's personal. I'm sure most other folks have had great experience with MSI. I simply don't want to deal with them anymore.

 

You could look up offers for used Evga cards (some folks got the card last year and lucked out on step-up program 3 month period). They will still have min 2 years guarantee. There is always small risk involved when you go for the cheapest offer, but as long you get it from someone that has good reputation and is not an idiot, you should be safe.

 

I would wait for 1080's custom pcb, non-blower models to hit the market to see how much they will charge for it. If the price will be close to 650, gtx 980ti price should drop to at least 580 for new cards (basic model).

 

That's the cheapest 980ti on Evga site right now:

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=06G-P4-4993-KR

Edited May 25, 2016 by BlackRoseOfThorns