NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Overclocking Video Card Review @ [H]

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FrgMstr

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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Overclocking Video Card Review - The new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 makes overclocking GPUs a ton of fun again. Its extremely high clock rates achieved when you turn the right dials and sliders result in real world gaming advantages. We will compare it to a GeForce GTX 780 Ti and Radeon R9 290X; all overclocked head-to-head.
 
I'm really having to restrain myself from upgrading GPUs again. Overclocked 980s are a pretty huge performance boost over 290Xs, and I have a GSync monitor...
 
Now THIS is a proper head to head article. All cards overclocked, all drawbacks mentioned (limited TDP slider.)

Either AMD has something big up its sleeves, or is shitting itself thinking about how well a higher TDP Maxwell part will clock/perform, power draw be damned.
 
Thanks for the article! OC'd cards vs OC'd cards, and LOL @ the 780ti being kicked to the curb by an OC'd 980

man I want a 980, the fact that they overclock like a beast is just awesome. I wonder if the Gigabyte 980 G1 with triple fans at 100% might be usable at 1.5ghz
 
The scary thing is the Maxwell GPUs were originally designed for the 20nm processes and not the 28nm they're on now. If only TSMC had their act together.

The big question I have is when are the 980s moving to the 20nm process? My thought is this would be the 980ti version. Even higher clocks and lower heat/power.
 
mrrogers747 said:
Now THIS is a proper head to head article. All cards overclocked, all drawbacks mentioned (limited TDP slider.)

Either AMD has something big up its sleeves, or is shitting itself thinking about how well a higher TDP Maxwell part will clock/perform, power draw be damned.
Click to expand...

correct. AMD better have some significant architectural and power efficiency improvements with GCN 2.0 R9 390X otherwise 2015 is going to be a lot of pain for AMD. :D
 
Great review as always guys... Thanks for the Article this was exactly what i was hoping for before order my Gigabyte GTX 980 G1..

what its even more impressive its the stock gtx 980 beating the OC'd 780TI..!!! flawless.!
 
gigatexal said:
man I want a 980, the fact that they overclock like a beast is just awesome. I wonder if the Gigabyte 980 G1 with triple fans at 100% might be usable at 1.5ghz
Click to expand...

Most 980's are clocking above 1.5ghz (including the g1). The 980 is monstrous when oc'ed.
 
Wow, Nvidia is leaving a lot of performance under the table. They are sandbagging, but still beating on the competition. Wondering what kind of numbers the eventual 980Ti will output.
 
Sold my 290X, Got a 980GTX. Power:performance ratio is pretty much the best. And I'll be able to overclock it even on my system now.
 
gigatexal said:
Thanks for the article! OC'd cards vs OC'd cards, and LOL @ the 780ti being kicked to the curb by an OC'd 980

man I want a 980, the fact that they overclock like a beast is just awesome. I wonder if the Gigabyte 980 G1 with triple fans at 100% might be usable at 1.5ghz
Click to expand...

I have 2 Windforce G1s and sli is kinda wonky right now. 1 Windforce runs at 1570/8100 with no problems. Fan at 70% cards stay around 60c.i can't get over 1541 core without a .25 bump on the viltage.
 
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Excellent article. This is exactly the type of info I love to get at [H]!

Thank you!
 
I think that last bit is a damn good point:
There is no real difference between GPU boost and PowerTune. In both cases, the GPU runs at the maximum frequency allowed by the thermals. The difference is how they are merketed. Nvidia says, "You will get Xghz, but if you have a cool system you can get X+Yghz!" On the other hand, AMD says, "You will get Xghz, but only if your system is cool enough, and if it's not, it will run slower."

One says, "Get X or more!" The other says, "At best, get X !"

It's all in the wording.
 
Great Article. It was a awesome read and some very insightful information.

I have quite a bit of experience overclocking the cards and only learned to leave the voltage at stock later on.

Overclocking these things in SLi is a whole other story. SLi is very tricky and some driver kinks need to be worked out. e.g. 1 card runs at .50mv lower than the other so overclocking them together gets real tricky.

There is a thread at the offical geforce forums regarding this and nvidia is looking into it.

DSR doesn't work often with SLi and apparently does not work with Gsync
Gsync doesn't turn off in certain scenairios in SLi

Still a work in progress with SLi.

But holy smokes I'll say this. 2 or 3 of these things overclocked can pretty much own any game you throw at it. Even at 3240x1920 @ 120hz.

Titanfall = Owned <-- Max settings and more than 120fps
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon = Owned <-- Max settings and more than 120fps
Tomb Raider Owned <--- Max settings and way more than 90fps

Benchmarks <-- Owned some of the higest scores ever. Gotta love that "Higher than 99% of all results"

These cards are [H]
 
ondaedg said:
The scary thing is the Maxwell GPUs were originally designed for the 20nm processes and not the 28nm they're on now. If only TSMC had their act together.

The big question I have is when are the 980s moving to the 20nm process? My thought is this would be the 980ti version. Even higher clocks and lower heat/power.
Click to expand...

unless it hits the problem that haswell/ivybridge did with the dieshrink which hurt OC'ing.
Transistors closer together, automatically applied thermal paste = more heat, less OC?

Marcdaddy said:
I have 2 Windforce G1s and sli is kinda wonky right now. 1 Windforce runs at 1570/8100 with no problems. Fan at 70% cards stay around 60c.i can't get over 1541 core without a .25 bump on the viltage.
Click to expand...

How loud would you say the noise is coming from the cards at their OC'd levels? barely audible, audible, must wear headphones, or jet engine?

I think I am in the market for just one card.
 
Well I have the WindForce 970, and they are very decently quiet even at load with the default fan curve. I'd say the fans won't become noticeable until they hit 70%. At 100% the fans give more of a whooshing sound than a whine. Certainly lives up to its WindForce name, as it indeed sounds like a howling wind. :D
 
I'm curious Brent, did you have a chance to throw Shadow of Mordor at your final OC? That game seems to find issues with seemingly stable GPU OC's almost instantly.
 
n=1 said:
Well I have the WindForce 970, and they are very decently quiet even at load with the default fan curve. I'd say the fans won't become noticeable until they hit 70%. At 100% the fans give more of a whooshing sound than a whine. Certainly lives up to its WindForce name, as it indeed sounds like a howling wind. :D
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good to know, I think I could be ok with a 60 - 70% fan profile.
 
And this is where "I don't care about power consumption" slaps you in the face.

The 980 @1.5ghz is much faster, runs cooler and draws much less power than the 290X.

AMD desperately needs a more power efficient arquitecture. Not only for GPUs but APUs as well. Tonga is a step in the right direction. Hopefully it gets better.
 
Modred189 said:
I think that last bit is a damn good point:
There is no real difference between GPU boost and PowerTune. In both cases, the GPU runs at the maximum frequency allowed by the thermals. The difference is how they are merketed. Nvidia says, "You will get Xghz, but if you have a cool system you can get X+Yghz!" On the other hand, AMD says, "You will get Xghz, but only if your system is cool enough, and if it's not, it will run slower."

One says, "Get X or more!" The other says, "At best, get X !"

It's all in the wording.
Click to expand...

Nvidia almost definitely has a minimum it will hit as far as I can tell (which is a nice, very high min, more like the old stable state before this dynamic stuff). That means it will always run at least that M/GHz in programs that invoke the GPU such as 3D games. At the very least, I've not caught it yet in games doing anything weird. Though I've not been actively looking since I've not seen it happen in an obvious way and definitely not in the same games as my 290.

AMD, on the other hand, seems to not have a floor. In fact, when frame limiting is turned on it seems to dynamically clock the card to use the fewest MHz to get the desired framerate (30, 60) by default. In the Naruto 3 game, which has a 30fps lock, I've seen it hit as low as ~650 MHz when it had absolutely NO cooling problems. However, this causes a few games to consistently stutter and in some cases to have significantly lower than expected framerates (Naruto 3, no matter the game settings, runs at about 20-25 fps on my 290). When I turned off the ULPS power save mode in Afterburner and made the card run full-blast all the time, suddenly there were no problems in those games. My HD6870 and 970 have absolutely no problems with any of the games this effects.

TLDR, there definitely is some differences between the two types of limiting, which seems to be mainly related to a definite floor for Nvidia cards, and not for AMD at least when ULPS is on. For most cases it isn't noticeable nor annoying, but in some specific cases it can be devastating.
 
nVidia completely destroyed AMD. Now factor in future MFAA and AMD must be pooping bricks!
 
The reference card is VERY efficient yet many of the non reference cards are power hogs in comparison even at the same clocks. My voltage is much lower but it will do 1503 at 1.187 and with memory at 7800. My every day oc for demanding games is just 1465/7400 though but it always drops to 1452 under full load but stays planted there at 1.187. Power consumption for my system at those clocks is 321 watts max so far in Metro LL. In games that are not demanding I just leave it at stock clocks.
 
Another thing AMD should take note is the fact that nVidia released it's top and #2 card at the same time and priced the #2 card enticingly. I remember when the R9-290 was rumored, I told myself I would upgrade to two of them if they were less than $350. Well, the R9-290 came out at $400, I shrugged my shoulders and continued on using my GTX670-SLI.

Glad that happened, as now with an extraordinarily fair total of $660 I get a pair of GTX970s, a nice upgrade from my GTX670s. Why hasn't anyone freaked out about how awesome of a deal that is? That's $110 more than a GTX980 and an SLI'd GTX970 WILL completely obliterate one of those in performance. And if for some reason the game doesn't support SLI/CFX? You still get nice GTX970 performance.

nVidia did right with this launch. The last time I appreciated a launch so much was with the Radeon 5850 and 5870. They too were reasonably priced at the time ($260 and $330 respectively) and shamed their competition hilariously. Glad I got two Radeon 5850's at launched, because those things ballooned in price.

Right now, AMD has to fix their prices. Radeon R9-290s and 290xs are rotting on shelves. A 290x at $300 would be reasonable-ish, If I were AMD, I would discontinue the R9-290, Tune up the upcoming R9-285x(3GB) to R9-290 performance levels and release it at $230. That would at least give AMD an Ace in that part of the market for a little time....at least until the inevitable GTX960 Ti, but that's going to be at least $250.
 
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Stoly said:
And this is where "I don't care about power consumption" slaps you in the face.

The 980 @1.5ghz is much faster, runs cooler and draws much less power than the 290X.

AMD desperately needs a more power efficient arquitecture. Not only for GPUs but APUs as well. Tonga is a step in the right direction. Hopefully it gets better.
Click to expand...

Look at the review on this website. Tonga consumes more power than a gtx 980 at stock and even overclocked, the gtx 980 only use 20w more of power.

The difference is at stock, the gtx 980 is 75% faster and overclocked 119% faster

Tonga is garbage for a card released 1 month within the launch of the gtx 980. It truly gets beaten down.
 
Modred189 said:
I think that last bit is a damn good point:
There is no real difference between GPU boost and PowerTune. In both cases, the GPU runs at the maximum frequency allowed by the thermals. The difference is how they are merketed. Nvidia says, "You will get Xghz, but if you have a cool system you can get X+Yghz!" On the other hand, AMD says, "You will get Xghz, but only if your system is cool enough, and if it's not, it will run slower."

One says, "Get X or more!" The other says, "At best, get X !"

It's all in the wording.
Click to expand...

This.

The conclusion as stated in the "Represent" section nailed it. Nvidia, "THIS plus maybe a little more;" AMD, "THIS but you might lose a little," essentially the same thing but the perceived difference is the key.

Marketing 101.
 
Rauelius said:
Another thing AMD should take note is the fact that nVidia released it's top and #2 card at the same time and priced the #2 card enticingly. I remember when the R9-290 was rumored, I told myself I would upgrade to two of them if they were less than $350. Well, the R9-290 came out at $400, I shrugged my shoulders and continued on using my GTX670-SLI.

Glad that happened, as now with an extraordinarily fair total of $660 I get a pair of GTX970s, a nice upgrade from my GTX670s.
Click to expand...

Smart man. A couple of 970's is a monster amount of power. The 970 at $329 cut the legs out of AMD's entire lineup including the 290X.

I got a single MSI 970 Gaming thinking I'd play around with OC'ing for a month and then move on to a 980. To my surprise the beast runs 1525 core/8000 mem on stock 1.206 voltage. I dont care about a 980 anymore, will wait for 8GB cards..
 
As far as I am concerned, it is a boring time for video card enthusiasts.
The 970/980 brings very little to the table in terms of performance gain and features.
Lower power requirement is certainly good for the environment and for the wallet but it is generally a consideration of second order for enthusiasts.

Maybe my standards are from another time where manufacturing improvements were easier but a performance gain below 30% is a deception.
I have also the feeling that NVIDIA is milking the market as much as possible by offering first a product with minimal performance gain. The relatively lower power requirement suggests that a more powerful card its on its way.

NVIDIA will not get my money, this time. ;)
 
RadXge said:
As far as I am concerned, it is a boring time for video card enthusiasts.
The 970/980 brings very little to the table in terms of performance gain and features.
Lower power requirement is certainly good for the environment and for the wallet but it is generally a consideration of second order for enthusiasts.
Maybe my standards are from another time where manufacturing improvements were easier but a performance gain below 30% is a deception.
I have also the feeling that NVIDIA is milking the market as much as possible by offering first a product with minimal performance gain. The relatively lower power requirement suggests that a more powerful card its on its way.;)
Click to expand...

Maybe for you with Titans, which I totally understand. Performance is performance and the leap itself wasn't big. But for those of us with older or middle end last gen hardware, those that may not want to upgrade PSU's in certain situations or want low heat card, & those that want bleeding edge performance.

This is it.
 
Rizen said:
I'm really having to restrain myself from upgrading GPUs again. Overclocked 980s are a pretty huge performance boost over 290Xs, and I have a GSync monitor...
Click to expand...

And you can get rid of those fans you love :)
 
RadXge said:
As far as I am concerned, it is a boring time for video card enthusiasts.
The 970/980 brings very little to the table in terms of performance gain and features.
Lower power requirement is certainly good for the environment and for the wallet but it is generally a consideration of second order for enthusiasts.

Maybe my standards are from another time where manufacturing improvements were easier but a performance gain below 30% is a deception.
I have also the feeling that NVIDIA is milking the market as much as possible by offering first a product with minimal performance gain. The relatively lower power requirement suggests that a more powerful card its on its way.

NVIDIA will not get my money, this time. ;)
Click to expand...

^^^ What he said ^^^ I will wait on the 40% percent gain side from my 780 perspective side of things and see if they do a 980ti. But for Amd 280 Amd 7970 Nvidia 670 and 680 owners I think this is a great buy. But I agree on the milking part
 
I have an over clocked 780 which is running at Ti speeds in benchmarks so I think I will be skipping this gen and wait for the 980 Ti or the next gen altogether.
 
runudownquick said:
Maybe for you with Titans, which I totally understand. Performance is performance and the leap itself wasn't big. But for those of us with older or middle end last gen hardware, those that may not want to upgrade PSU's in certain situations or want low heat card, & those that want bleeding edge performance.

This is it.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If you have a 780 or above then you're not the intended audience for the 970 and 980.

Good for you if you don't want/need to upgrade, but personally I get a little tired of hearing the same thing being repeated every time -- blah blah not enough improvement, blah blah who cares about efficiency blah blah.
 
n=1 said:
Exactly. If you have a 780 or above then you're not the intended audience for the 970 and 980.

Good for you if you don't want/need to upgrade, but personally I get a little tired of hearing the same thing being repeated every time -- blah blah not enough improvement, blah blah who cares about efficiency blah blah.
Click to expand...

Yup. If the new card doesn't double my frame rate I don't buy it since I really can't tell that much of a difference.

Lets talk about something more fun, like how screwed AMD is. #mantlesucks #DSRrocks #MFAAisthecherryontop #ohwaitthisisnttwitterorFB?
 
runudownquick said:
Maybe for you with Titans, which I totally understand. Performance is performance and the leap itself wasn't big. But for those of us with older or middle end last gen hardware, those that may not want to upgrade PSU's in certain situations or want low heat card, & those that want bleeding edge performance.

This is it.
Click to expand...

I am not sure why someone who is already paying $400-$600 for a video card would not be willing to upgrade its PSU if needed. Unless you go 3x-4x SLI, any good PSU around $100 will do the job perfectly.

I understand that a low heat card is the perfect fit for a HTPC but I doubt it is an important criteria for most setup. That being said, the 780 ti is fine on the heat side and reviews of the 7XX generation did not point out that heat as a problem. We have seen worst. Much worst.
 
Dayaks said:
Yup. If the new card doesn't double my frame rate I don't buy it since I really can't tell that much of a difference.

Lets talk about something more fun, like how screwed AMD is. #mantlesucks #DSRrocks #MFAAisthecherryontop #ohwaitthisisnttwitterorFB?
Click to expand...
So you had a gtx 660 ti or gtx 760 before? Because a 980 is right at twice as fast as that. ;)
 
misterbobby said:
So you had a gtx 660 ti or gtx 760 before? Because a 980 is right at twice as fast as that. ;)
Click to expand...

Kinda convoluted story.. but in short went from 3x7970 -> 780ti -> 270x -> 980. Overall cost was $150 (sold the 7970s for $550/ea during the litecoin peak, purchased for $280/ea)

270x to 980 is about double. :)
 
Dayaks said:
Kinda convoluted story.. but in short went from 3x7970 -> 780ti -> 270x -> 980. Overall cost was $150 (sold the 7970s for $550/ea during the litecoin peak, purchased for $280/ea)

270x to 980 is about double. :)
Click to expand...
Lol you have been all over the place video card wise and yeah its actually a little more than double since the 270x is a wee bit slower than either of the cards I listed.
 
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