New Nvidia 970/980 GTX released today

[Gman]

I waited through the early morning hours for my preferred mail order place here in Canada to update.  They had 12 cards each of the 970 and 980 from 3 different brands, so 72 cards total.  I went away for about 15 minutes, came back, all gone and on pre order now.  Maybe it's for the best to wait a short time anyhow, but my one gaming box I get to use (missus pretty much has claimed the other) is sitting empty where the two SLI cards that were in it have now moved on to other users.  Poo.

Anyhow, reading a couple other threads here, regarding SLI, something I SWORE I wouldn't do again after getting rid of 4 680 4gb cards that were sli'd.  One box now has a 780ti, and the other, is the empty one.  After reading the reviews today, and seeing the incredibly low price of the 670, it's quite possible I may end up running SLI again, as 2 of the 670's at 345$ each is only slightly more than the 644$ Canadian 980 - cards are more up here, I won't get into why, they just are, and if you disagree, google nicx or memoryexpress and see for yourself.  After reading 4 reviews and seeing the test numbers from the still very early new drivers for the 970/980, it's apparent that the SLI 970 is a wide margin ahead in terms of performance for the $.  I'm only running an 850 PSU from Corsair(Seasonic as it turns out- thanx Skuzzy), so to go to 980 SLI would require a new PSU most likely on top of the extra 600$ish compared to the 970SLI which can easily run on the 850PSU.  When new cards have come out, I've always gone with the fastest, not the step down, like the 670, 770, and so on.  This time it's going to be different I think, as the price and performance of the step down 970 especially if you get 2/SLI is just too attractive.  I got 375$ for my 2 680 cards, it's only going to cost me just over 300$ to make a significant jump up to the 970's.

The reviews so far have been overall pretty positive for Nvidia's latest.  I do find it odd they focused SO much on lower power and heat as opposed to flat out performance, but perhaps that's coming with future "ti" or "Titan" type models of these new cards.  This review extolls the virtues of the SLI - again, something I promised myself not to get wrapped into again.  http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_970_SLI/

[Chalenge]

 Maybe it's for the best to wait a short time anyhow, . . .

My suggestion is exactly that, except in your case where you don't have anything at the moment.

What motherboard and what other slots are you intending to use?

[Gman]

Well the system missus uses is a Sabertooth x79 with a 4930k and the aforementioned 780ti.  "My" box is currently another x79 Sabertooth with an overclocked 3820k@4.4 ish or so right now.  I'm going to try the 970SLI or possibly 980 depending what/when I buy them in both, and very possibly might upgrade to the x99 Socket2011-3.  We've both mentioned in other threads here being disappointed in the new socket 2011 Hawell E 5930k gaming tests results so far.  However, I'm in a strange spot, as the only other really viable option for an "upgrade" from the 3820k@4.4 is say going to the 4970k and pushing it to the limit.  Going back to the 1150 would be somewhat irksome to me from the 2011 I already have, I'm sure you would likely agree with this.  All the comparison benchmarks I've found show the 4970k vs the 3820k both o/c not to be all that far apart, certainly IMO not worth tearing everything apart and reinstalling the entire OS and all the programs on the drives and such for such minimal gain.  Back to the "strange spot" I feel to be in, moving "up" to the socket 2011-3 to say a 5930k doesn't yield all that much more of a jump in performance gain either so far as gaming goes, again, based on just all the test and comparisons I've read.  Having to buy all new DDR4 ram which is uber expensive to fully populate would be a requirement for the new socket 2011-3 system, and having priced out a build for both a 4970k and a 5930k, to build exactly what I have now with only different CPU and in one case DDR4 ram changing, would be over 3000$ up here with either 970sli or 980 vid cards.

I can add the vid cards in 970SLI like I said for a net difference of 300$ish from the 680sli set I just sold to the 3820k system and see where that lands, or perhaps drop those new cards into the 4930k system and make the missus use the 3820k system and put the 780ti in it. 

Again, it's just an odd spot, having a 1.5 to nearly 2 year old 3820k system that has aged very well in terms of performance, well enough that the only real viable options, being the 5930k (it's only 135$ more than the base 5820) or an almost step sideways to the 1150 4790k, just don't seem worth it for either the $/performance or the PITA of taking things apart and system re-installs.  The GPUs are simpler to upgrade, just sweeping/removing old drivers and installing new ones after swapping hardware cards, and they also IMO show a much greater gain in FPS/$ compared to swapping out the MB and CPU as of right now.

As I said in other threads about this, and in this one, I'll likely wait on the MB/CPU to see how things flush out, but I feel that going from the 680SLI to the 970SLI or 980 even will be noticeable even on the older cpu.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Well the system missus uses is a Sabertooth x79 with a 4930k and the aforementioned 780ti.  "My" box is currently another x79 Sabertooth with an overclocked 3820k@4.4 ish or so right now.  I'm going to try the 970SLI or possibly 980 depending what/when I buy them in both, and very possibly might upgrade to the x99 Socket2011-3.  We've both mentioned in other threads here being disappointed in the new socket 2011 Hawell E 5930k gaming tests results so far.  However, I'm in a strange spot, as the only other really viable option for an "upgrade" from the 3820k@4.4 is say going to the 4970k and pushing it to the limit.  Going back to the 1150 would be somewhat irksome to me from the 2011 I already have, I'm sure you would likely agree with this.  All the comparison benchmarks I've found show the 4970k vs the 3820k both o/c not to be all that far apart, certainly IMO not worth tearing everything apart and reinstalling the entire OS and all the programs on the drives and such for such minimal gain.  Back to the "strange spot" I feel to be in, moving "up" to the socket 2011-3 to say a 5930k doesn't yield all that much more of a jump in performance gain either so far as gaming goes, again, based on just all the test and comparisons I've read.  Having to buy all new DDR4 ram which is uber expensive to fully populate would be a requirement for the new socket 2011-3 system, and having priced out a build for both a 4970k and a 5930k, to build exactly what I have now with only different CPU and in one case DDR4 ram changing, would be over 3000$ up here with either 970sli or 980 vid cards.

I can add the vid cards in 970SLI like I said for a net difference of 300$ish from the 680sli set I just sold to the 3820k system and see where that lands, or perhaps drop those new cards into the 4930k system and make the missus use the 3820k system and put the 780ti in it. 

Again, it's just an odd spot, having a 1.5 to nearly 2 year old 3820k system that has aged very well in terms of performance, well enough that the only real viable options, being the 5930k (it's only 135$ more than the base 5820) or an almost step sideways to the 1150 4790k, just don't seem worth it for either the $/performance or the PITA of taking things apart and system re-installs.  The GPUs are simpler to upgrade, just sweeping/removing old drivers and installing new ones after swapping hardware cards, and they also IMO show a much greater gain in FPS/$ compared to swapping out the MB and CPU as of right now.

As I said in other threads about this, and in this one, I'll likely wait on the MB/CPU to see how things flush out, but I feel that going from the 680SLI to the 970SLI or 980 even will be noticeable even on the older cpu.

Which game is performing so bad to you that you have to upgrade?

[Chalenge]

  Having to buy all new DDR4 ram which is uber expensive to fully populate would be a requirement for the new socket 2011-3 system, and having priced out a build for both a 4970k and a 5930k, to build exactly what I have now with only different CPU and in one case DDR4 ram changing, would be over 3000$ up here with either 970sli or 980 vid cards.

I'm not sure why you want to fully populate the RAM, but I have not seen too many boards (if any) that are stable with more than half their rated capacity. DDR4 being new is another problem. When I checked the MBs for memory compatibility they were only listing 4 & 8 GB kits, which is understandable at this point, but yet a negative also. There is no improvement on PCIe lanes, either? Still waiting on 64 lanes and probably will be for some time to come. Watch out for that 5820K though, as it is 'only' capable of 28 lanes, and with that the M.2 feature will rob you of 4 lanes.

It just makes more sense to wait for the next process.

[Pudgie]

Well the system missus uses is a Sabertooth x79 with a 4930k and the aforementioned 780ti.  "My" box is currently another x79 Sabertooth with an overclocked 3820k@4.4 ish or so right now.  I'm going to try the 970SLI or possibly 980 depending what/when I buy them in both, and very possibly might upgrade to the x99 Socket2011-3.  We've both mentioned in other threads here being disappointed in the new socket 2011 Hawell E 5930k gaming tests results so far.  However, I'm in a strange spot, as the only other really viable option for an "upgrade" from the 3820k@4.4 is say going to the 4970k and pushing it to the limit.  Going back to the 1150 would be somewhat irksome to me from the 2011 I already have, I'm sure you would likely agree with this.  All the comparison benchmarks I've found show the 4970k vs the 3820k both o/c not to be all that far apart, certainly IMO not worth tearing everything apart and reinstalling the entire OS and all the programs on the drives and such for such minimal gain.  Back to the "strange spot" I feel to be in, moving "up" to the socket 2011-3 to say a 5930k doesn't yield all that much more of a jump in performance gain either so far as gaming goes, again, based on just all the test and comparisons I've read.  Having to buy all new DDR4 ram which is uber expensive to fully populate would be a requirement for the new socket 2011-3 system, and having priced out a build for both a 4970k and a 5930k, to build exactly what I have now with only different CPU and in one case DDR4 ram changing, would be over 3000$ up here with either 970sli or 980 vid cards.

I can add the vid cards in 970SLI like I said for a net difference of 300$ish from the 680sli set I just sold to the 3820k system and see where that lands, or perhaps drop those new cards into the 4930k system and make the missus use the 3820k system and put the 780ti in it. 

Again, it's just an odd spot, having a 1.5 to nearly 2 year old 3820k system that has aged very well in terms of performance, well enough that the only real viable options, being the 5930k (it's only 135$ more than the base 5820) or an almost step sideways to the 1150 4790k, just don't seem worth it for either the $/performance or the PITA of taking things apart and system re-installs.  The GPUs are simpler to upgrade, just sweeping/removing old drivers and installing new ones after swapping hardware cards, and they also IMO show a much greater gain in FPS/$ compared to swapping out the MB and CPU as of right now.

As I said in other threads about this, and in this one, I'll likely wait on the MB/CPU to see how things flush out, but I feel that going from the 680SLI to the 970SLI or 980 even will be noticeable even on the older cpu.

After reading your post & reading the reviews on these new Nvidia cards & looking at my own position I'm in agreement w/ your assessment here. The TDP on these new cards along w/ their performance capabilities make SLI'ing the 970's even more attractive coming from 680's, even though if I were in your shoes I'd probably go for a single 980 but that's just me. The strength of these new Maxwell cards IMHO are the new graphics features that they're capable of using, the power saving TDP & the insane Maxwell GPU clocks at this TDP, but it was also apparent to me that if a body already has a 780 & up it's almost a wash as all that is needed is to add a little OC to a 780 sers & you're already running w/ a 980 GPU clock-wise w/ MORE CC's & a wider mem bus than a 980.......not enough of a gain over a 780 IMHO to jump on it but if you're coming from any vid card that's less than a 780 series the payoff is very good indeed.

From reading Hardcop's review it was stated Nvidia was going to make available thru a driver update in the future for the upper tier of Kepler cards to be able to do DSR...... If this is so then it makes it even tougher to justify moving from a 780 ser card...............

I would also consider to up the 3820K to at least the 4820K to acquire the native PCI-E 3.x spec & all 40 lanes on that Sabertooth X79 mobo & the TDP advantage that the IB-E chip will give you vs the SB-E chip. When I swapped mine out (I7 3820 to I7 4820K) the stock CPU operating temps alone were big time different (approx 10*C-15*C difference across the spectrum using the exact same HSF & thermal paste). Then IMHO harmony will prevail...................... ...........

In the end I say go for it!

As for me I'mm gonna sit this 1 out.........unless my 780Ti fries.................

 

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Gman which game do you need more performance for? Or are you upgrading just for the sake of upgrading?

[Masherbrum]

I will wait and see what the 980Ti specs have in store.

[Gman]

Chalenge- I agree with all of that, and as I said, I've decided to wait regarding MB and CPU, although Pudgie has me considering the 4820k as a modest temporary upgrade, as I can keep my MB and RAM.  The only reason one box I have has fully populated 1866 ram is that it was just left over from another build/project, and despite putting up several adds, nobody wanted to buy it at even a very reasonable price, so in the MB it went.  I understand it doesn't do much, but it does look nice in screen shots of my system, ha ha.  I have no plans to buy more than 16gb of ddr4 IF for some reason I was to build a x99 system, I was just saying that new DDR4 ram is a must with going to the x99, and that 4 banks of it is very expensive as a comparative to the x79 ram I have now, which wouldn't work.

Pudgie - Question for you (thanks for the 4820 advice, I've been considering that for that reason as well).  When you swapped out your CPU did you have to reformat your HD and reinstall windows, or did it accept the new CPU without doing that? I've read contradicting things about this.

Mash - I'm tempted to do the same, believe me, as I'm sure the 980ti will probably come out before Xmas, I'd be really surprised if it didn't.


MrRipley -

Gman which game do you need more performance for? Or are you upgrading just for the sake of upgrading?

Which game is performing so bad to you that you have to upgrade?

Asking this question twice in a few hours in the same thread, along with reading many of your past posts and attitude, makes me believe you're just looking for an argument, and to show how you're "right" that upgrading is unecessary.  What other reason for repeating the same question, especially such a loaded one - "upgrading for the sake of upgrading".


To answer your question anyway - at 5760x1080p, many, many games will bog down even with the hardware I'm replacing (2 680 Sli, or even the 780ti).  Same goes on my 4k monitor, or the 1440p Asus Swift 144hz monitor that's on the way.  Crysis, DCS stuff, BF4, Far Cry3, and one I plan to play a lot, Arma3 - tons of games at max resolution and full AA and detail cranked will drop well below 60fps in many circumstances.  Even Aces High, at 5760x1080p, with full detail AND - this is important - the environmental cranked to maximum, WILL drop into the 40s, 30x, and I've even seen high 20's over a busy tank town with, again, the details all maxed and the environmental slider on max.  

Also, if it makes you happy, yes, I've often upgraded just for the sake of upgrading.  See, some people who have lots of money decide that they always want to buy the latest and greatest things, especially without researching their potential benefits.  This not only makes me feel better about myself, and all the other lack of accomplishments I have, but it also helps move the economy forward and help those who can't upgrade for the sake of upgrading have a job.  Unnecessary spending of money is one of my hobbies.  There must be many others out there who have similar tendencies, what with the new cards selling out in 15 minutes at the 3 largest online PC gaming retailers in my country.

There, I've pointed out my own stupidity for you, your work here is done MrRip.

[Pudgie]

Gman,

The only thing that I did when I got my I7 4820K is upgrade the mobo BIOS before I installed it.
I did the mobo BIOS upgrade while the 3820 was still in my socket. I actually did the BIOS upgrade approx 2 weeks ahead of time.

Swapped the CPU's....the new BIOS recognized the IB-E chip, automatically set it up, booted into Windows w/o a hitch as Win 7 recognized the CPU & the PCI-E lanes came up as full native PCI-E 3.x & the Nvidia drivers recognized & set up for PCI-E 3.x w/o a hitch. Verified all w/ GPU-Z as well.

Asus should have a BIOS available for your Sabertooth board to enable native support for the socket 2011 IB-E CPU's. You should be good to go w/ any 2011 IB-E I7 CPU on your mobo after that.

Hope this helps you.

 

[Gman]

Perfecto, that's just what I had been reading Pudgie, it's nice hearing it though from you instead of just some bbs postings and articles.  I think that's the way I'm going in the interim until a better solution comes around, 4820k and probably 2 970s or possibly a single 980 evga Superclocked.

[Chalenge]

Have you found any comparison videos demonstrating the effects of DSR versus traditional super sampling?

[Pudgie]

Have you found any comparison videos demonstrating the effects of DSR versus traditional super sampling?

Not yet, Chalenge. I saw a split scene on Hardware Canucks that showed 1/2 w/ DSR turned off & the other 1/2 w/ DSR turned on but I haven't found any running video making the comparisons yet. What I saw on the split scene was very noticeable & looked good......................... ...

Perfecto, that's just what I had been reading Pudgie, it's nice hearing it though from you instead of just some bbs postings and articles.  I think that's the way I'm going in the interim until a better solution comes around, 4820k and probably 2 970s or possibly a single 980 evga Superclocked.

I looked up your mobo on Asus site today & it says any BIOS number 4210 or higher has IB-E support & any number below 4210 does not.

You might check your current BIOS vers as depending on the time frame when you bought them Sabertooth's you may already be set up w/ the right BIOS for IB-E support & so don't need to flash.

When I built my system w/ the Asus ROG RIVG X79 mobo I bought very early on the cutting edge & so I had to upgrade my BIOS to get IB-E support. Heck there were 4 BIOS upgrades already out & a BIOS code format change (to enable BIOS support for Win 8.x OS) that I had to do before I could upgrade to the 4404 BIOS (the 1st vers that enabled IB-E support & gave mouse support to the UEFI BIOS interface on the RIVG).

I wanted to be on the cutting edge of tech for once w/ a ground-up build & when I built this box back in 5-12 I was there...............to the tune of approx $2,274.00 once I added it all up...........& to this day I have absolutely NO regrets at all as this box has performed flawlessly. Since then I've probably spent another $2,650.00 on upgrades (EVGA GTX 670 FTW, Intel I7 4820K IB-E CPU, EVGA GTX TITAN Ref, EVGA GTX 780Ti Ref, SoundBlaster Zx SS sound card) & I don't regret any of this either...............all of this just to play AH at max settings w/o any stuttering or artifacts........& experience new tech at the same time.

Just so you know I saw an EVGA GTX 980 SC w/ reference cooler today on Newegg.....didn't say it was a SC but the listed base & boost GPU clocks said it all....1241 base clocks, 1342 boost clocks in stock trim..........INSANE......... ...for $569.95.......just $20 more than launch price & it's already sold out!

This may be too much for ole Pudgie to resist....................

Man I must LOVE this game & the hardware that I play it on!

 

So wear it w/ pride Gman..................I certainly do!

You sir are not alone........................ ......

 

[Rob52240]

Is this system missing anything?
I'm considering a system with the 970

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1GCUV3

[Pudgie]

A little taste of 1 of the folks who bought up the 980 SC today:

http://forums.evga.com/Incoming-m2218583.aspx

Clocked the thing up to 1622 MHz......................INSA NE!