Introduction

GTX 980 Ti Market Segment Analysis Radeon

R9 290 GeForce

GTX 970 Radeon

R9 290X GeForce

GTX 780 Ti GeForce

GTX 980 GeForce

GTX 980 Ti Gigabyte GTX

980 Ti GeForce

GTX Titan X Radeon

R9 295X2 Shader Units 2560 1664 2816 2880 2048 2816 2816 3072 2x 2816 ROPs 64 56 64 48 64 96 96 96 2x 64 Graphics Processor Hawaii GM204 Hawaii GK110 GM204 GM200 GM200 GM200 2x Hawaii Transistors 6200M 5200M 6200M 7100M 5200M 8000M 8000M 8000M 2x 6200M Memory Size 4096 MB 4096 MB 4096 MB 3072 MB 4096 MB 6144 MB 6144 MB 12288 MB 2x 4096 MB Memory Bus Width 512 bit 256 bit 512 bit 384 bit 256 bit 384 bit 384 bit 384 bit 2x 512 bit Core Clock 947 MHz 1051 MHz+ 1000 MHz 876 MHz+ 1126 MHz+ 1000 MHz+ 1152 MHz+ 1000 MHz+ 1018 MHz Memory Clock 1250 MHz 1750 MHz 1250 MHz 1750 MHz 1750 MHz 1750 MHz 1750 MHz 1750 MHz 1250 MHz Price $250 $310 $300 $390 $480 $650 $690 $1050 $620

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti was released just a few weeks ago. It is built on the same GM200 GPU as the GeForce Titan X, but with fewer shaders (2816 vs 3072). While the GTX 980 Ti's GPU is still produced on a 28 nanometer process at TSMC in Taiwan, it comes with the fantastic power efficiency optimizations of the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, which promises lower power draw, higher performance, and reduced fan noise, all at the same time.Our review of the reference design GTX 980 Ti revealed that it is barely slower than Titan X, which means custom designs could be able to surpass Titan X performance at a much lower price point.The first custom GTX 980 Ti design we are reviewing is the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming. It uses a custom PCB design and comes with Gigabyte's Windforce 3X cooling solution, which should definitely be a step up from the reference design cooler. Clock speeds have been increased to 1152 MHz base and memory clock remains at 1753 MHz. With a price of $690, it is certainly not cheap and looks to be one of the more expensive GTX 980 Ti variants.