Hold off on gtx 970/980?

[MindCrime]

I've been trying to make a decision on a new gpu and I was litterly a mouse click away from buying a 970. But for some reason I held back and did a bit more research and then some more and I found theres quite a bit of uncertanty in the near future of desktop gpus. I read we might be stuck on 28nm for a while or there might be 16nm stuff out in q1 next year. I read a rumor of a die shrink on gm204 to 16nm, which would make a v2 (b stepping?) WAY better, right?

.... So i bought a 750ti in the mean time and then it can be relegated to crunch/htpc duty when i make a real purchase. Anyone have some insight or opinions on the near future of gpus and when is a good time to buy in the upper middle gpu class (x70-x80 nvidia, r270x-r290 amd).

[Maxwell]

Check out this thread - http://www.setiusa.us/showthread.php?7593-Maxwell-2-NVidia-GTX-980

IIRC from discussions here, the 750ti is the best price/output you'll find right now. The "big one" is a bit away, but I'm sure others who know more will chime in soon...

[FourOh]

I've had an EVGA GTX 970 card in my Newegg shopping cart more than once... but I haven't been able to pull the trigger either. When the 750 Ti came out, they were selling for $150-$170... now they are often on sale in the $110-130 range. I'm trying to keep that in mind for the 970 and hope that by this spring they will have dropped in price and/or new Ti versions will be available.

JPM do you have any new info on GPU production?

[Fire$torm]

Here is something to keep in mind, no matter what hardware you wish to trigger on in the near future. Black Friday is not too far away!! Most of the best sale prices will be found then. So I would strongly suggest waiting till then.

[John P. Myers]

JPM do you have any new info on GPU production?

Nothing really spectacular :p Nvidia is supposed to be releasing an 8GB GTX 980 in November and of course AMD is doing the same thing with a 290X, also in November. Other than that, will probably be February before anything better comes out. Just keep in mind if you're looking for Nvidia's stuff, the best bang for the buck won't be in the "big one" (with the possible exception of the 980 Ti). It'll be with what's already available. If Nvidia released the Titan II in feb., then it could be summer before the 980 Ti comes out based on the timings between releases in the 700 series.

[zombie67]

When the 750Ti came out, there was a rumor of a single slot version to be released at some point in the future. Or maybe I am thinking of the 750. Either way, what ever happened with that? I see one version of each with a single slot bracket, but the card itself is dual wide.

[John P. Myers]

When the 750Ti came out, there was a rumor of a single slot version to be released at some point in the future. Or maybe I am thinking of the 750. Either way, what ever happened with that? I see one version of each with a single slot bracket, but the card itself is dual wide.

There were a couple true single-slot 750 Ti's released overseas but none here :( Here's one: http://www.techpowerup.com/204989/elsa-announces-single-slot-geforce-gtx-750-ti-graphics-card.html
Here's another: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/galaxy-gtx-750-ti-single-gtx-780-6gb-2ghz,27005.html

[zombie67]

Dang. They look sweet! Thanks for the pointers.

[FourOh]

Gigabyte is producing a GTX 970 designed to fit in a mini-ITX case:
http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/gigabyte-mini-itx-gtx-970-graphics-card.html
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5252#ov

I'm guessing this is partly in response to this Sapphire R9 285 card, which is (for now) the fastest GPU available for the ITX platform:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sapphire-radeon-r9-285-itx-compact,3973.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202128

[John P. Myers]

And here we have an example of one of those 8GB R9-290X's i was talking about: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202129&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite Useful for gaming at 1600p or above. Not so useful for crunching, unless you want to run 16 Einstein WUs concurrently :p

[zombie67]

And here we have an example of one of those 8GB R9-290X's i was talking about: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202129&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite Useful for gaming at 1600p or above. Not so useful for crunching, unless you want to run 16 Einstein WUs concurrently :p

You better have a butt-load of CPU threads to throw at that too!

[John P. Myers]

Just a rumor, but it seems AMD's new R9 300 series might be on 20nm while Nvidia sticks with 28nm for the "big one". I do find it a bit hard to believe, but it's possible. If it does happen, AMD might appear to have Nvidia's energy efficiency for the first time ever :p

Between AMD's and Nvidia's new GPUs, it looks like we might be in for some seriously worthwhile upgrades. Comparing the R9 390X to the R9 290X and the Titan II to the Titan Black, we could be looking at 35-50% more crunching (not gaming) power from either card.

[FourOh]

My willpower cracked yesterday and I ended up at Newegg picking up the new EVGA 970 SSC - Super-Superclocked :D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487088

Basically they took the Superclocked model and upgraded the cooling system (including a memory plate), added dual bios & a few other tweaks, and got a faster, cooler card for about the same price. The spec clocks are 1190/1342 boost... mine is running at 1392 out of the box :o

In my defense, my main cruncher at home was having ATI driver issues including blue screens and random restarts, so I basically HAD to buy this card :cool:

[FourOh]

My wife's upgraded word processor:

http://i.imgur.com/wnp2ITf.jpg

Maybe this will help her get that dissertation done a little quicker :p

[Duke of Buckingham]

My wife's upgraded word processor:

http://i.imgur.com/wnp2ITf.jpg

Maybe this will help her get that dissertation done a little quicker :p


My wife came with a very advanced word processor, please dont update it. ~X(

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YioaHST3LO4/T2uubvgTQ9I/AAAAAAAAHZY/bJnsCnwvqKw/s1600/talking_too_much_1_.gif


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xfgqP4M2XAs

Pitty on the Duke. 1951

[John P. Myers]

My wife's upgraded word processor: Nice :D

[John P. Myers]

Here's someone's chance to get a true single-slot 750 Ti here in the states: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GALAXY-GeForce-GTX750-Ti-RAZOR-2GB-Graphics-Card-/371233330270?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item566f3b145e

[DrPop]

My wife's upgraded word processor:

http://i.imgur.com/wnp2ITf.jpg

Maybe this will help her get that dissertation done a little quicker :p

Holy moley!! I'll say, that dissertation will be so hot she'll have to get a fan out. And a set of ear plugs for the noise...and turn off all the lights to save the juice for it, but come on, the monitor is backlit so she can type in the dark, right?! ;)

Seriously, congrats on the new cruncher. What a fine looking rig. :)