Stop it Nvida, just stop it. It’s nearly the end of the year and we haven’t even got a look at your new, powerful desktop graphics cards yet. You’ve teased us already with hints of reveals, only for our hopes to be dashed while waiting for something from nothing. We’ve been sift…oh you’re going to show us something next week? Well, carry on then.
Last week there was a rumour swimming about that suggested Nvidia would be ditching the 800-series name and moving straight onto the 900-series. So we’re no longer waiting for the GTX 870 band 880, but rather the 970 and 980 respectively. Up until now it has been assumed that Nvidia would release these cards in October, but a new event listing suggests it might be far closer than that.
Over the next two weeks, Nvidia has two events lined up. The first is a soft launch for both of the new Maxwell cards, which is supposedly taking place next week Tuesday. The real information will come a little over a week later though, with the NDA on the hardware lifting on September 19th. That’s when we’ll get our first look at the cards officially, if any of this information holds over the next few days
September 19th is also the end date a new 24 hour livestreaming event that Nvidia will be hosting, taking viewers around the world for a full day of games streaming goodness. I have absolutely no idea what that actually means, but Nvidia have said the event will play host to “exclusive content, developer interviews, game reveals, give-aways, and more.” I’m just hoping that “more” translates to “Maxwell” in some way
Rumours suggest that the GTX 970 and 980 will retail for $399 and $499 respectively, in an attempt to compete with AMD’s better priced hardware. If Nvidia manages to pack the punches it has been promising, then Team Green might be the way to go this holiday season.
Last Updated: September 2, 2014
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 2, 2014 at 14:05
Hopefully RED TEAM will drop their prices a bit too in response. Pappa moet upgrade.
Admiral Chief Assassin
September 2, 2014 at 14:24
Nou pra jy! Hekser 3!
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 2, 2014 at 14:48
The main reason for the upgrade. I was actually quite pleased when they delayed it until next year hehe.
FoxOneZA
September 2, 2014 at 16:39
AMD R9 285X has a RRP $250 and it sits between the 760 and 770.
AmiiHalildot
September 3, 2014 at 08:50
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Hammersteyn
September 2, 2014 at 14:08
So it’s the price of a PS4/XBOX One?
http://img0.joyreactor.com/pics/post/nvidia-intel-graphic-cards-radeon-575931.jpeg
Alien Emperor Trevor
September 2, 2014 at 14:10
bwhahahahahahaha
Lord Chaos
September 2, 2014 at 14:16
Winner
Ryanza
September 2, 2014 at 14:22
I don’t get the pic. AMD should be out in front. AMD cards run hotter and would catch on fire.
I do get that Nvidia always think that they better.
DrKiller
September 2, 2014 at 14:08
So… why we skipping 800 series again?
Also, are you guys excited to see what happens after 900? Is it going to 1000? X100? or what? 😀
Alessandro Barbosa
September 2, 2014 at 15:04
Nvidia revealed a new batch of laptop chips that for some reason fell under the 900-series name. So it seems that they didn’t want to confuse consumers with having desktop cards named under the 800-series.
It’s not confirmed, but it seems likely.
Ryanza
September 2, 2014 at 14:18
I am still waiting for AMD’s 8000 series graphics cards. I wonder if Nvidia was scared to released a 800 series card and when AMD does the 8000 series, their cards would just look bad. But Nvidia knows that 9 is better than 8. That’s why AMD has R9 cards already.
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 14:53
*Strokes 560ti* It’s ok buddy, I still love you.
Spaffy
September 2, 2014 at 14:59
Eish…
Kikmi
September 2, 2014 at 15:14
Aint nothing wrong with the lil bastard, he does damn good considering theyre almost what, 4 years old now?
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 15:18
I know right! Got it in Feb 2012. He is still running strong! I play almost all my games at 1080p, just need to lower some other settings like shadows, AA etc. I can still OC the little guy, he is running at lower than 50 degrees last time I checked!
Corrie Botha
September 2, 2014 at 15:23
In the same boat (Got a GTX 560 1GB) and still runs great albeit loud fans and a weird grinding noise when Emulating MGS3?
Would love to Upgrade but the joys of being a unemployed Matriculant, least I get to play games all day long.
Also , watcg how it hits our shores at a riduclous mark.
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 15:26
That’s strange though, mine is quite. Don’t hear a thing! But I have the 560Ti 2Gb, so that might make a difference. I love when the new cards come out! Then I can buy the old cards at a bargain!
Corrie Botha
September 2, 2014 at 15:41
It isnt Jet Engine taking off loud but it at times it does get on my nerves , might just be me missing how quiet it was when I first got it , which is what going on its 2 and a half years or so , but in Unity Engine and blender moving around makes a soft hiss sound , and MGS 3 sometimes makes a not so loud grindy sound.
Gezzer50
September 5, 2014 at 01:21
Your hissing sound is coil whine and it’s normal. When there’s a really heavy demand on the GPU your power demands go up and your coils will make a sound like a whine or a hiss. On the other hand the not so loud grinding noise might be the bearings in the fan getting ready to fail. If you want to hang on to the card I’d start looking into aftermarket cooling solutions, so you’ll be prepared for when the fan finally gives up the ghost.
Corrie Botha
September 5, 2014 at 09:02
Yeah can see myself sitting with this card for a while longer, so I’ll definitly get a aftermarket cooler, any brand recommendations?, learnt my lesson with cheap crap.
Thanks
Gezzer50
September 6, 2014 at 06:07
Sorry, everything I’ve got is on water. lol
Been so long since I’ve used an aftermarket air cooler that I’d be the last person to ask. On the other hand if you want to go water…
Kikmi
September 2, 2014 at 15:35
ah Mines not that low, Ive got this stupid MATX board and everything is on top of one another so I’d be lucky if its stable at 70 /: but it aint that bad, its only the card getting warm. Probably need to dedustbunny the little shit
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 2, 2014 at 15:23
Still a beast. I have a 680 but only after I couldn’t find a second 560ti.
In comparison, sold my gtx 260 without a second thought. That card you have is special my friend.
edit: Giving it to someone who’d take care of it would make me a happy man 😉
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 15:28
Is it worth it to go SLI? I was also contemplating that. Doesn’t it just improve the VRAM?
And no, it’s my precious! xD
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 15:37
YES! Yes it is! Here’s my 3D mark score for you to see that it is worth it
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2358853
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 15:45
Awesome! My pc is almost the same as yours, will go bench it tonight!
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 15:46
Let me know the results!
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 15:46
PS: It beats 580 and 660 benches
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 3, 2014 at 09:09
results?
Mossel
September 3, 2014 at 13:53
Totally forgot to check dude! Will do it tonight…if I remember this time. lol
Alessandro Barbosa
September 2, 2014 at 15:50
The only issue I’ve had with SLI is support when new games launch. It’s the norm for new games to not have proper SLI support for months, and forcing things through one card just makes for a sad PC gamer 🙁
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 15:51
This is true however nVidia have stepped up their game regarding SLI from the start with launch drivers.
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 2, 2014 at 15:44
Getting SLi wouldn’t be as good as a generation upgrade. Slightly higher frame-rates with but with more heat and power consumption, not to mention games not supporting multiple-GPU setup. As much as I love that card, if you can afford it I’d recommend at least one gen up.
The thought of having two precious’ is overwhelming though;)
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 15:48
But.. but my 560Ti SLI setup beats 660 benchmarks… A generation upgrade in this case isn’t enough to beat the awesomeness of SLI 560’s!
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 15:59
Found one on Gomboom for R1400! And it’s in the same suburb as me!
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 16:04
I was lucky. Got mine for Sub R1000 😉
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 2, 2014 at 16:10
I’ll “give” you mine for half that price.
Seriously.
PM if you keen (or just want three preciouses’).
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 2, 2014 at 16:08
Aah okay, I see the problem… I’m talking from a 680 standpoint.
You’re right, anything below is probably not better than getting Sli.
Ben Van Deventer
September 2, 2014 at 17:23
I still have 560Ti SLI, which I only went with because I wanted more performance than was available in a single card at the time. I still can’t quite be bothered to upgrade until there’s a setup twice as fast for ~$400, and can run 1440p at 60fps.
Alessandro Barbosa
September 2, 2014 at 15:48
No, VRAM is the only thing that isn’t improved 🙁
Like with my GTX 590, each card has 1.5 GB. That doesn’t mean a total of 3GB unfortunately.
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 15:51
Well fuck, I obviously don’t know what I’m talking about then! *off to educate myself…by reading Wikipedia pages*
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 15:51
It does however double your cuda cores 🙂
Mossel
September 2, 2014 at 16:03
Here’s a question though: If I use SLi with my 560Ti (2Gb), but the other 560Ti is only 1Gb, will it get bottlenecked? Or will there still be up to 2Gb memory available?
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 16:05
If memory serves you can’t use differant VRAM sizes for SLI. I think. I may be wrong though. If anything it will limit the VRAM to 1GB then. But not sure
Alessandro Barbosa
September 2, 2014 at 16:19
I think you’re right. For SLI the cards have to be identical. Although it would be interesting to see what would happen in that case
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 2, 2014 at 16:21
Memory has to be the same as well as clock speed.
On a side note, apparently I can use my 680 as defualt GPU and still use the 560ti for Physx only (no SLi). Gonna try that tonight!
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 17:14
No. Clock speeds can differ. Sli will run both cards at thr lowest clock speed
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 17:16
Dedicated PhysX is rarely viable. It drops your primary pcie bus to 8x instead of 16x. So unless the game is heavy physx reliant it’s a way to drop performance
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 2, 2014 at 17:25
Awesome advice. Won’t bother trying it out.
Google peeps have fooled me by saying clock speeds must be identical. Many thanks for clarity.
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 3, 2014 at 09:22
Yeah, I am running my 560Ti’s in SLI and the one is an OC 560Ti. It simply scales to the reference cards speeds.
I think what it boils down to is that the functions controlling the card need to be the same. ie: Same chip type and architecture, same VRAM.
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 3, 2014 at 12:35
Why does the pcie drop? 560ti has pcie 16x and 680 also has 16x (with a 3.0 next to it though).
I think what I’m asking is, when is it actually viable?
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 3, 2014 at 12:45
The answer to that lies on the board itself and not the card.
So the board only has 16 lanes that feed the PCIE slots.
When only one slot is being used all 16 lanes are dedicated to the PCIE slot that is populated. But the moment you add a second card in to the second slot it has to take the PCIE lanes and split them 50/50. Therefore you get 8 lanes to slot 1 and 8 lanes to slot 2.
You do get motherboards that support dual 16x lanes but they are rather pricey.
When is it viable? Games like Arkham City and Borderlands 2 that use crazy PhysX will see benefits for this.
That all being said. The frames per second will not drop in half because the lanes are halved. The difference in performance between 8x and 16x are really small as the cards generally don’t need that much bandwidth to transport the data. But if you have more games without PhysX than games with, I’d suggest just sticking to a single card solution. If you really want your PhysX in games like Arkham City and Borderlands2 to shine without a knock on your single card performance, then you will often find a dedicated physX card will perform far better than a single card running in a 16x configuration.
It all depends on your situation. I’ve tested this on my machine by removing my SLI bridge and dedicating a card to PhysX. I can then run physx games with full physx better than my SLI can handle PhysX at max.
ZubSaber a.k.a Hans
September 3, 2014 at 18:39
So in SLI the pcie bus won’t be split because two are acting as one basically… right?
With all the new information, my conclusion is that it wouldn’t hurt to plug in the 560Ti… can just disable it at any time anyway when I want to free up the lanes (If I understood you correctly).
Thank you friendly friend. I understand a lot better now.
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 4, 2014 at 11:13
Yes, SLI acts as one so you have 16 lanes (8 on each PCIe port) but handling the requests as one large 16x lane running one really large card.
However, you can’t simply “disable” the second card as far as I know to free up the lanes. Once plugged in your motherboard splits the lanes 8/8 and isn’t controlled via the nVidia control panel. So even disabling SLI will not let you run 1 card on 16 lanes while another card is plugged in to the second slot. This part I am not 100% sure of though and I may be wrong.
But again, as I said, the radiance between 8 and 16 lanes is so marginal you’ll very rarely notice the diff. Some people argue there is absolutely 0 diff as the cards can’t utilise all 8 lanes at max anyway. How true this is I am not sure but real world gaming seems to back this up in performance stats
Zander Boshoff
September 2, 2014 at 18:31
Very nice card that. I upgraded from the GTX460 to the HD7870 and i shall be keeping it for quite a few years more
Kikmi
September 2, 2014 at 15:14
Yeah i dont really see any point in upgrading even now, the little 560ti has yet to see any real strain, even on latest titles at native 1080p, sure maybe not 60fps, but I dont give a fuck about that to be perfectly honest.
That being said, if theres some pivotal new tech (lets say for instance an improvement to the physx process or massive jump in CUDA cores, there could be a possible reason to drop that kind of money but thats hardly ever the case.
Im guessing there will be a marginal improvement of about 15-20% across the board, as is usual with the new chipset waves they seem to implement.
Sir Rants A Lot: On Pandora
September 2, 2014 at 15:35
Dude, SLI your 560Ti.
Trust me. I did. You can get a second hand 560Ti cheap cheap.
I get 70FPS+ on Metro LL with my SLI 560TI setup
FoxOneZA
September 2, 2014 at 16:45
The discerning factor here is the 5 series cards were all about power and wide lane 192/256bit buses. My 550ti still does 1080p and medium-high settings.
Sir Captain Senior the First
September 2, 2014 at 15:24
Nvida? is that a new company?
WhiteRock
September 5, 2014 at 14:17
Sooo…in other words don’t buy 700 series now but rather wait a month and see what the 900 series brings us…?