All these fire sales on high-end Nvidia video cards...

[BoilerDown]

Apparently you can get the GTX780 Ti for just over $500 now on Newegg and others.  A month or two ago, they were $700.

Well don't fall for it:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1832205

Wait two weeks instead.

[Gman]

Chalenge and myself were talking about this in a couple threads here in hardware.  I'd said that with the last few new generations with nVidia this has happened, just like this.  The 7xx series was going to drop drastically just a couple weeks out from the 9xx series (they are skipping 8xx except for gaming laptops for some reason).  Same thing with the Intel x99 new 2011 socket MB and CPUs, which just came out, and has forced down the price of the x79 remaining stock on a lot of sites.

I'm waiting for the 9xx series, I've been patiently waiting for both that and the x99 platform release, and it's 1/2 way there now.  As tempting as some of the 7xx deals are, I have a 780ti in one box, and still have the fastest 680 cards x2 in SLI in another, but I'm going to wait for the 9xx for that one to upgrade to vid cards.

[BoilerDown]

There's conflicting rumors about whether this GTX 980 will beat the 780Ti performance at the $500 price point, or if it will land between the 780 and the 780Ti at a lower price point (but with lower power consumption, noise, etc).

If it isn't faster than the 780Ti by a not-insignificant margin, I'll pass on this generation as well, and wait for the parts from the upcoming process shrink.  They're rumored to be out soon as well, 6-9 months, and should be a significant speed bump by anyone's calculations.

The reasoning for the number skip is to get the mobile and desktop parts on the same "generation" numbers.

[Masherbrum]

Apparently you can get the GTX780 Ti for just over $500 now on Newegg and others.  A month or two ago, they were $700.

Well don't fall for it:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1832205

Wait two weeks instead.

The 780Ti is $650 and up, the 780's with the ACX Coolers are $500+.    Just for clarifications sake.   I got this one from TigerDirect on sale in Jun for $620 + shgipping:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487001

[BoilerDown]

The 780Ti is $650 and up, the 780's with the ACX Coolers are $500+.    Just for clarifications sake.   I got this one from TigerDirect on sale in Jun for $620 + shgipping:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487001

From the thread I linked:



Right now the best deal on Newegg is just less than $560 after rebate, two others at $619:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600480021&IsNodeId=1

For re-clarifications sake.

[Masherbrum]

For the twin fan models that exhaust the air into your case, yes.   I prefer the reference cooler with the solo fan that exhausts the air out of the case.   Not to mention the reference cooler card is a lot quieter when gaming.

[Bizman]

For the twin fan models that exhaust the air into your case, yes.   I prefer the reference cooler with the solo fan that exhausts the air out of the case.   Not to mention the reference cooler card is a lot quieter when gaming.

Interesting! Do you say this by experience or simply because there's two fans instead of one? I'm asking this because for what I have learned more fans usually lower the noise level while producing the same airflow. And if the dual fan thing really is noisier, isn't there any means to reduce RPM to balance cooling vs. noise ratio?

[Chalenge]

It appears that all of the cards, including the reference cards, have an open shroud at the power end. Since there isn't a duct forcing airflow in any particular direction it doesn't make since to claim any primary direction of flow. Any of these cards are basically heat sources with the fans merely preventing even greater heat.

[Masherbrum]

Interesting! Do you say this by experience or simply because there's two fans instead of one? I'm asking this because for what I have learned more fans usually lower the noise level while producing the same airflow. And if the dual fan thing really is noisier, isn't there any means to reduce RPM to balance cooling vs. noise ratio?

Experience.   EVGA 770 GTX Classified 4gb.   The reference cooler cards exhaust out the back.   On the twin fans, minimal air exhausts out of the rear of the case.   The card I sold was loud when playing all games.   Noise is night and day in comparison, temperatures are also more stable.

[Bizman]

Experience.   EVGA 770 GTX Classified 4gb.   The reference cooler cards exhaust out the back.   On the twin fans, minimal air exhausts out of the rear of the case.   The card I sold was loud when playing all games.   Noise is night and day in comparison, temperatures are also more stable.

Thanks! It appears that although the twin fans basically should generate less noise for the same airflow, the fact that they don't transfer the heat out of the case is producing more heat. Which again requires another fan to blow from inside out... I can see the pattern. There's a point when more fans will actually increase the noise instead of decreasing it. Good to know. 

[Masherbrum]

You're welcome Biz   

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Experience.   EVGA 770 GTX Classified 4gb.   The reference cooler cards exhaust out the back.   On the twin fans, minimal air exhausts out of the rear of the case.   The card I sold was loud when playing all games.   Noise is night and day in comparison, temperatures are also more stable.

Not all twin fans are made alike. I've read hundreds of reviews and according to measurements there are a huge amount of non-reference single or dual fan designs that beat the reference cards by order of magnitude.

If you're worried about the noise of your to-be card, read a review or two and check how they measure up.

[Masherbrum]

The design of the ACX system was more of an issue for me than the noise.   My Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 case is cold and just didn't want the added turbulence inside.   The noise was secondary to be honest.

[Pudgie]

I got my reference GTX 780Ti from EVGA's B-Stock for $579.95 w/ a 1 yr warranty. Came w/ a high-airflow rear bracket as well.

Been solid right out of the box....have had it for 2 months now...............

I also prefer the Nvidia reference cooler design over the EVGA ACX design...............

 

[BoilerDown]

Aaand here we go:  

http://hardocp.com/article/2014/09/18/nvidia_maxwell_gpu_geforce_gtx_980_video_card_review
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review