I think people are hoping for a 980 TI, but Jayztwocents gave some pretty good explanations as to why it would be silly for them to try to release such a product.
... Then again, who knows what AMD's next generation might bright to the table. Nvidia might scramble, yet again, to release a competing product.
With HBM becoming a reality, and the DirectX12 features around the corner, Maxwell may very well be the last of the traditional GPU architectures. I look forward to what the future has to bring.
On a side note, it seems kind of obvious to say that the big thing Maxwell brought to the table was its energy efficiency. I think the great thing with this, beyond saving on bills, is that people with lesser PSUs could actually consider a future SLI set-up. A GTX 960 is nothing to sneeze at, and almost equivalent to my old R9 280X, but I can support two with my 650w PSU.
Yes, Nvidia did do a good job with the 900 series. And seeing as how I was able to run two Tahiti graphics cards on a 650w power supply, I'd say your setup still has some head room left.
Infact. Nvidia did so well, I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to run SLI 960's on a good 500 watt PSU.
Nvidia did well with Maxwell, but overall Nvidia had a terrible launch / year with the 900 series. the 900 series was a massive failure in terms of actual performance. the only card that actually destroyed the competition was the 980.
GTX 960 couldn't even beat a R9-280/R9-285 and the prices were next to identical.
GTX 970 beat the R9-290x by a tiny margin, and made the Gamer/Enthusiast community Rage with the 3.5GB VRAM controversy.
G-sync turned out to be DRM
Game-works allegedly makes AMD cards under perform.
Efficiently is good an all but it is not the end all for graphics cards. SLI isn't perfect. Nvidia had a LOT of B.S this year, that people are either forgetting or ignoring.
I still see some value in Nvidia's 900 series lineup. The 960 to you is a card that under performs and is stupid. But to someone like me, someone who is stuck in a smaller room where heat output kills me on the daily, values its efficiency more. The 970 isn't strong enough to populate 3.5gb's in a the majority of games. And the effects of that limitation are blown out of proportion IMO. Although it is bullshit that it wasn't something we were told of when the card came out. G-Sync was DRM in some laptops and is not on monitors that have anything before the newest revision of display port. So when it came out, there is a DRM argument for some laptops, but no debate to be had on all but the newest of monitors. Game-works is appealing to developers even if it doesn't play nice with amd cards. Which is bad but also beneficial to devs on a limited budget. Plus nobody said a dev had to use Game-works. If you want to blame someone for Game-works I say there has to be partial blame on the developer, for using something that by now they should know will not run well on AMD stuff. There is yes some blame to be put on Nvidia for making it run like poop on AMD cards. But then again, nobody forced a dev to use it.
you mis-read my comment. i never said the card was stupid. i said the card doesn't make sense. and I'm referencing the price.. cause I'm confused at what the card is actually trying to compete against. the R9-270x is an ancient card. mind you, it didn't beat 760, but it held its own. but the GTX 960 is in between two rocks. you have the R9-280/R9-285 that beats the card for cheaper. and if you spend 50 bucks more you can get a card (The R9-290) that destroys it. so why is it $200 bucks?
And i would like to repeat my comment. Efficiency shouldn't be the end all.
Also for your case i would argue, if you live in a hot area. You don't have a Fan? or Air conditioner? to combat this? if you don't that's fine, even though i kinda find it hard to believe. but back to the point, myself personally i don't see why the 960 is at it's price range. it should be much cheaper..
The 900 series for the most part wasn't ground-breaking. People that were running GTX 780s or GTX 780ti cards there were no reason to consider upgrading, UNLESS you wanted a GTX 980. but then again, the GTX 980ti will come, make you feel like you wasted your money cause you bought a 980.
The 960 from a purely performance stand point yeah isn't super competitive but there is a big value in low heat output to me. I do have a central air system but I live in a 3 story house, so the top is naturally hotter and for allergen reasons I can't open my windows. The minute I do neither me or my dad can sleep that night. Having that air in the house makes it impossible. If I keep it shut I have some chance of a decent sleep. I already run 2 fans in my room but my 8350, which is undervolted now for heat reasons, and Gtx 770 are like a space heater.
The 900 series wasn't ground breaking in power yes, but I don't judge it purely on fps output. I'd rather have 10fps less in bf4 then live in a room that's 90f, which my room has gotten to if I'm not smart about the fans and time under load of my system.
Nvidia will probably release a GTX980Ti Based on the GM200 chip, They will probably use some faulty GM200 chips for it, disabling a couple of units. I guess it will fill up the performance gab between the GTX980 and TitanX.
But i dont think that people who allready have boaght a GTX980 should be bummed about it, cause it will probably gonne cost arround $700,- +
The 780 ti was a better chip then the Titan OG, but the Titan Black came out with the same bigger chip that had more ram and also the ability to be used as a more professional 3d rendering card. It had double precision, but the Titan X does not. That was the one thing that guaranteed sales of the Titan over the ti. You couldn't use a ti for double precision and have it be fast, but you could do so with a Titan Black, Titan Z and Titan original. Nvidia chose to remove that feature as it in a way undercut the Quadro that was 6x as expensive for the same chip, just with validation on the driver for the Quadro that was above and beyond the Titan(s) gaming drivers. There is no way I could see Nvidia release a 980 ti with the same amount of cuda cores the Titan X does. A cut down version makes a lot of sense since apparently the yields of fully functional Titan X chips isn't that high. So Nvidia could use bad chips with 2688 of the 3084 cuda cores working as 980 Ti chips.
Wonder if the 390x will take down the Titan X? If it does what is Nvidia gonna come back with? Especially considering theres like a 75% chance AMD is going to release a 395x2 at the end of this year.
There will always be the latest and greatest coming out annually. Just going to have to expect that, long as you do theirs no need to get "mad".
Me, example: I'm using 3930k, 8 GB 2400mhz, and 7970CF. Still killing games at max 1440p.
Could I upgrade? Of course, but what's the point.
If your 980 is getting 65fps in 1440p or your Titan Z is getting 80fps in 1440p. Do you think it matters if you missed out on the 390x/980ti?
Review your goals and focus on that not what your missing out. Only reason why I want the 980ti cause I want trade my 7970cf for heat of time. Not performance.
Releasing TI's could be a numbers game for Nvidia. They would then have two flagship models with 6-12GB of ram with 4 being the standard for the 9xx models and while 390's ram is more efficient, what most casual buyers are going to see is 6-12GB vs. 4GB for ATi's flagship model. So from that perspective it would make good sense to release it pre the release of the 390 and then drop a sandwich card after 390 arrives.
I think it all depends on how well the new AMD flagship with HBM will perform. If it beats the Titan X, I don't think there is a point in releasing a card based on the Titan X with cut down memory since it would probably perform worse. If The AMD flagship will be just below the Titan X, they might release it and try to win people over with pricing. As for the use of HBM on the 980Ti, if it gets released, I really doubt it. On the subject of buying into the 900s too soon, all depends on what you bought. When the cards came out, they performed and still do really well, plus the pricing was really good. On release the 970 was the card to get if you were building a new system.