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Performance Review: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

By Koh Wanzi - 1 Jun 2015

Conclusion

Giving the Titan X a run for its money

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti is almost capable of taking on the Titan X.

After the release of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan X back in March, it seemed inevitable that any other high-performance card would be forced to be evaluated in the shadow of NVIDIA’s newly-crowned performance king. Indeed, we’ve used the Titan X as the primary yardstick to assess the performance of the NVIDIA GeForce 980 Ti, but as the card shows, it’s inches from crawling out of the shadow of its bigger GM200 brother.

NVIDIA intends to position the GeForce 980 Ti between the GeForce GTX 980 and Titan X, which is precisely what our performance numbers show as well. However, happily enough (or maybe not so for Titan X owners), the GeForce GTX 980 Ti seems to be located far closer to the Titan X’s end of the spectrum.

Titan X owners who bought the card for bragging rights may breathe a sigh of relief. You still own the world’s fastest single-GPU graphics card. The Titan X is still the undisputed ultra-enthusiast card for those who want the absolute best in single-GPU performance with zero compromises. However, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti may now be emerging as a viable alternative for even the most demanding gamers. Furthermore, it is significantly faster than the MSI GeForce GTX 980, which already sports factory overclocks over the reference card.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti has a launch price of US$649, which puts it right in the middle of the GeForce GTX 980 (revised to US$499) and Titan X (US$999). For US$200 more than the GTX 980, you get a card that's quite a bit faster and is literally breathing down the neck of the Titan X in terms of performance. It's not cheap for sure, but we'd say it offers quite decent bang for your buck, especially when compared with the Titan X.

NVIDIA is betting on DirectX 12, 4K and VR to shape the future of PC gaming, and the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is just the latest gambit in its efforts to enable both gamers and developers to take advantage of new features and improved performance. By delivering a relatively more affordable card, NVIDIA is bringing the future that it has envisioned to a slightly wider audience. And in the long run, this also means that these new technologies and performance are one small step closer to the masses.

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8.5
  • Performance 9
  • Features 8.5
  • Value 8.5
The Good
Excellent performance that rivals the Titan X
Delivers playable framerates at 4K resolutions
Highly overclockable
Offers decent value for its performance
The Bad
Reference cooler runs hot
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