The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti Review
by Ryan Smith on May 31, 2015 6:00 PM ESTSynthetics
As always we’ll also take a quick look at synthetic performance. Being a virtual copy of the GTX Titan X, GTX 980 Ti should perform very similarly here, just as we've seen in our gaming tests.
Compared to GTX Titan X, GTX 980 Ti does technically lose 2 Polymorph Engines as a result of losing 2 SMMs. However as with our games, this doesn’t really hinder GTX 980 Ti, leading it being within a few percent of GTX Titan X on tessellation performance.
As for texel and pixel fillrates, the results are both as-expected and a bit surprising. On the expected side, we see the GTX 980 Ti trail GTX Titan X by a bit, again taking a hit from the SMM loss. On the other hand we’re seeing a larger than expected drop in the pixel fill rates. GTX 980 Ti loses some rasterization throughput from the SMM loss, but a 15% drop in this test is much larger than 2 SMMs. Just to be sure we checked to make sure the ROP/MC configuration of GTX 980 Ti was unchanged at 96 ROPs, so while we can explain 10% or so (GTX 980 Ti doesn't have its clockspeed advantage in such a short test), we're at a loss to fully explain the last 5%. The short run time of the test also makes it more varaible than other tests, so that may be the last 5%.
Though in either case, despite what 3DMark is telling us, we aren’t seeing any signs of GTX 980 Ti struggling at 4K versus GTX Titan X. So if there is a meaningful difference in pixel fillrates, it’s not impacting game performance.
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jjj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
lol they got way high margins on the big cards ,they could sell this easily at 500$ (where perf per price would be close to the 970) and have good margins, if AMD has the big enough card, all they need is to want to be price competitive.These are not products for people that look for reasonable value, nobody that looks for that would ever pay 500$ for a GPU to begin with so both AMD and Nvidia are just keeping the high margins since volumes can't really go up.
Yojimbo - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
I don't know how you can say the value is unreasonable when there is no other way to achieve what these cards achieve. The high end of the graphics market is less sensitive to price than more mainstream segments. Both AMD and NVIDIA are trying to maximize their profits over the entire market range.jjj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
You seem to not understand the term value and then you explain why the high end cards are poor value.Value and competitiveness are 2 different things. One is perf per price and the other is how the product relates to it's competitors. Yes the high end is less price sensitive (something my first comment agreed with) and the cards are poor value that's why i found it amusing that someone thinks the perf per price is great, when it never is in the category.
Daroller - Monday, June 1, 2015 - link
"You do not seem to don't understand the term value, and then you explain why the high end cards are poor value."Oh, that's rich.
Value in this case is a subjective term. Each consumer defines the value of a product to them. It isn't something you can put on a chart, or quantify, unless that's how they choose to define it for themselves.
I own two TITAN X in SLI to drive a 1440p display. You'd probably call that "poor value". You'd be correct... for yourself. You'd be woefully incorrect if we're discussing what I consider "value", because I considered the price/performance ratio to be perfectly acceptable, and moreover, a "good deal" to eliminate all possibility of VRAM related stuttering. All this while giving me the same number of shader cores as a tri-SLI 980 setup with better scaling because it's only two cards. A resounding value in my books.
Refuge - Monday, June 1, 2015 - link
lol, you lost all credibility with anyone here after you said you were using Titan X's in SLI because you are worried about running out of VRAM and stuttering...I wouldn't call that poor value, I would just call that retarded.
Yojimbo - Monday, June 1, 2015 - link
And yet despite his lack of "credibility" everything he said was completely correct. What does that say about your ability to judge?Kutark - Monday, June 1, 2015 - link
This whole thread could have been fixed if the guy said "objectively" instead of just "value".Yes, what constitutes a good value varies from person to person. Anyone with a brain can infer what he was trying to say in his argument, which is absolutely correct, is that at this price bracket, people aren't buying cards based on price/perf. So, whether or not the price/perf is comparable to lower cards is irrelevant. They price according to what the market will be bear. If they're selling them as fast as they can make them, then they're selling them at the right price.
Yojimbo - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
No. Especially since he replied back to me and ridiculed me for not knowing what "value" is. That by itself is enough of a refutation of your "just try to guess what he meant" argument. But if he really did mean what you think he did, his post is irrelevant, because value is the proper metric, and it is not "objective". That really is the entire point, and why something needed to be said.Yojimbo - Tuesday, June 2, 2015 - link
And one more thing. The fact that they aren't buying the cards to maximize "price/perf" is blatantly obvious, and just as blatantly irrelevant. The problem I'm having is, and I could be wrong here, that you and he both seem to be convinced they SHOULD be buying the cards on "price/perf."mapesdhs - Wednesday, June 3, 2015 - link
I'd buy you a beer for posting that if I could. 8) It's the perfect summation of what I've said so often, namely an item is only ever worth what someone is willing to pay. It's funny how people can get so offended that someone else can afford and is happy to buy a far better config than they do; really it's just hidden jealousy IMO. Either way, kudos for that rig, and please post some 3DMark bench links! 8) Actually, you should buy the beer, you can afford it, hehe...I wonder if you have a similar MO to me, I like to max out visual settings for the games I play, modding if need be to improve visuals. I hate scenery popping, etc.