GeForce GTX 1080: Most Bizarre Secret Paper Launch Ever @ [H]

Nvidia claimed to have spent "several billions of dollars" and 2-3 years of R&D to make Pascal.

Better strategy: Spend $3 billion on R&D and give Valve $1 billion to make HL3 and L4D3 and then bundle them in your GPU sale, rather than giving us a $100 blower cooler.
 
Wasn't it almost a year ago Kyle was hating on AMD with the Nano launch and people were calling this site Nvidia biased? Where are those people now I wonder...

People seem to forget that Kyle hates on all bullshit equally and has done so since the very beginning.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Holy shit that video is painful.
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That video was gold man. It's rare to see these tech press actually grill companies that sponsor their 3D lavish trip, including bike racing, fancy catering and alcohol!

I wanna know which journalist asked the hard questions, because THOSE tech sites, are freaken credible.
 
Bahanime said:
That video was gold man. It's rare to see these tech press actually grill companies that sponsor their 3D lavish trip, including bike racing, fancy catering and alcohol!

I wanna know which journalist asked the hard questions, because THOSE tech sites, are freaken credible.
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I mean watching Nvidia reps stutter and squirm in-front of an entire room of tech journalists. Yikes.
They had to know these questions were going to be asked... "How do you justify the $100 extra price tag?" "Umm, err, premium shroud!"

Next time they should just NOT have a press conference and instead publish a bunch of PowerPoint slides on their website...
 
MangoSeed said:
So nVidia puts May 27th up on a slide, journalists get excited and assume it's actually going to be earlier (for no apparent reason other than wishful thinking) and it's nVidia's fault for not correcting that assumption? Seems to me nVidia was very clear that this was a paper launch from the jump....says so right on the slide!
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Yes. While nVidia plays a big role in this it can't be done alone. It needs buy in from the reviewers. If I'm being honest then the ONLY reviewer so far to call this what it is would be [H]. So touche. Secret or no it was at least said here.

I'll say this because it needs to be said. As a nVidia customer it does us all a disservice when nVidia gets a free pass. It literally makes cards MORE expensive because it squeezes out competition among other things. Reviewers need to be honest with it's readership. It fucks us all when nVidia is allowed to get away with this. This was a paper launch in every definition of the term. Yet somehow on the entire internet this site is the ONLY one to call it what it is? Jesus Christ.

Even though we are a niche, the reviewers and it's readership are quite powerful. There's very little reason to believe that reviewers can't call it what it is. No one can create a shit storm on the Internet as well as hardware enthusiasts. What is nVidia going to do? Not give anyone cards for review? You can create a fake tech site all you want but you can't fake a loyal readership.

I surely hope that moving forward this is the last paper launch from nVidia or AMD and for all of the review sites who haven't called them out.... grow a fucking sack.
 
Thanks Kyle for shedding light on this. Hopefully come next week and the following weeks the 1080 and 1070 hit the market and we can enjoy the cards.
 
kac77 said:
Yes. While nVidia plays a big role in this it can't be done alone. It needs buy in from the reviewers. If I'm being honest then the ONLY reviewer so far to call this what it is would be [H]. So touche. Secret or no it was at least said here.

I'll say this because it needs to be said. As a nVidia customer it does us all a disservice when nVidia gets a free pass. It literally makes cards MORE expensive because it squeezes out competition among other things. Reviewers need to be honest with it's readership. It fucks us all when nVidia is allowed to get away with this. This was a paper launch in every definition of the term. Yet somehow on the entire internet this site is the ONLY one to call it what it is? Jesus Christ.

Even though we are a niche, the reviewers and it's readership are quite powerful. There's very little reason to believe that reviewers can't call it what it is. No one can create a shit storm on the Internet as well as hardware enthusiasts. What is nVidia going to do? Not give anyone cards for review? You can create a fake tech site all you want but you can't fake a loyal readership.

I surely hope that moving forward this is the last paper launch from nVidia or AMD and for all of the review sites who haven't called them out.... grow a fucking sack.
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In my opinion, it won't be the last paper launch. I won't be surprise if AMD pull another paper launch given their recent history.
 
Bahanime said:
Here's NV answering this question at the tech conference.

It's quite clear they always inteded the FE to simply be a reference card with a new name, available on the 27th, from themselves directly or AIBs which ONLY have the reference cards to sell on that date.



So why the jacking up in price?

Because it's an EA tax, since custom boards will be available later (don't know when), they know folks can't wait and "I want it now!"... so here, +$100 for you now.

The real question will be, will AIBs sell custom boards which have BETTER power components, certainly more than 5 phases, with better cooling, with much better clock speeds out of the box and higher OC potential... will AIBs sell them less for the worse reference card? I doubt it very much.
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So I watched the video, that was interesting. Good going to the journalists who actually asked good questions. Too bad all this journalistic skepticism got drowned out or watered down after NDA dropped. How many reviews reviewed the Founder's Edition and said it was a good performance value at $599 when the card actually cost $699? Way too many. I wonder if Technopat was allowed to post this video.

Some quotes:

"The Founder's Edition is what's going to be available on May 27th. It will be available from our partners. "

"Our partners will also be creating their own custom designs and those are the ones you will see for an MSRP of $599. So they will be starting at $599, as usual they will have their stock versions, their premium versions at $599."

"The partner cards will be available starting on May 27th."

"The question about partners. You gotta ask partners when their cards will be available. We can't speak for them. We believe their boards will start showing on the 27th, but we can't speak for them specifically"
 
I think he was saying there's no exclusivity rights on the 1080 beyond May 27th; the partners are allowed to release their custom cards starting then.
I seriously doubt we'll see any on May 27th. If we're lucky, EVGA will copy-paste their old ACX heatsink onto the reference board to be ready for day one (again).
 
MangoSeed said:
Yeah that's confusing as hell. It's either a paper launch or an early adopters tax. Now they've screwed it up so much that it ends up being both.
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It's a paper launch of a card that's probably pre-mass production with an early adopter's tax. Once all the cards are sold, there will probably be a large gap for availability. Then take into account the 1070 which is a paper launch that's over a month away and also has it's own adopter's tax. This whole thing feels rushed out the door as if they are trying to beat someone to market anyway they can.
 
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Chimpee said:
In my opinion, it won't be the last paper launch. I won't be surprise if AMD pull another paper launch given their recent history.
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Well I'm an equal opportunity hater. This is the problem with allowing anyone to get away with it. Nvidia does it then AMD will and then it becomes the norm.

Aside from the launch the FE BS really needs to die in a fire. The marketing of the FE wasn't a mistake. You know how I know? Because it's still being sold for $699.

The FE was a trial balloon that really tested whether nVidia could monetize lateness or early short supply chips that they created. We ALL dodged a bullet for the most part. But it's still being sold at the inflated price so what's really going to determine whether we see it again will be if people buy it. Hopefully no one will and we can go back to normal launches. We really don't want to set a precedent for two prices for a video card launch.
 
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kac77 said:
Well I'm an equal opportunity hater. This is the problem with allowing anyone to get away with it. Nvidia does it then AMD and then it becomes the norm.

Aside from the launch the FE BS really needs to die in a fire. The marketing of the FE wasn't a mistake. You know how I know? Because it's still being sold for $699.

The FE was a trial balloon that really tested whether nVidia could monetize lateness that they created. We ALL dodged a bullet for the most part. But it's still being sold at the inflated price so what's really going to determine whether we see it again will be if people buy it. Hopefully no one will and we can go back to normal launches.
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Unfortunately I still see people buying the FE edition at release regardless all this bad publicity it receive for it, there will always be people with more sense than money. Will this hold up weeks after it is release, doubtful, since AIB coolers will come out. So nVidia will just milk this as much they can for as long as they can.
 
kudos to hardocp for calling out a paper launch. imo hardocp leaned a bit too much towards Nvidia for a year and a half during the Maxwell generation. So its refreshing to see their attitude. It takes guts to call out a dominant company like Nvidia.
 
variant said:
It's a paper launch of a card that's probably pre-mass production with an early adopter's tax. Once all the cards are sold, there will probably be a large gap for availability. Then take into account the 1070 which is a paper launch that's over a month away and also has it's own adopter's tax. This whole thing feels rushed out the door as if they are trying to beat someone to market anyway they can.
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Because AMD has been running around telling the world they are launching next-gen in June. They even told that in their early demo in January, a mid-year launch.

So what is NV gonna do? Ofc, with that info, launch first and cash in. "Thanks for the easy $$ AMD!" and lolol all the way to the bank. -_-

Mind you, it could be collusion, since they aren't even competing. Pascal Gp104 is a mid-range chip, going for high-end prices. Polaris is a mainstream chip going for supposedly mainstream prices (remains to be seen). Not in the same market segment at all. Zero competition. They are both milking us gamers. lol
 
Bahanime said:
Because AMD has been running around telling the world they are launching next-gen in June. They even told that in their early demo in January, a mid-year launch.

So what is NV gonna do? Ofc, with that info, launch first and cash in. "Thanks for the easy $$ AMD!" and lolol all the way to the bank. -_-

Mind you, it could be collusion, since they aren't even competing. Pascal Gp104 is a mid-range chip, going for high-end prices. Polaris is a mainstream chip going for supposedly mainstream prices (remains to be seen). Not in the same market segment at all. Zero competition. They are both milking us gamers. lol
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You can't blame AMD for Nvidia being slimy. It feels more than a release date thing. As you said, Nvidia has known about the mid-year AMD launch for months now. Yet this whole presentation including their Founder's Edition and launch seems very last minute. Maybe Nvidia learned about something we don't know about yet.
 
variant said:
You can't blame AMD for Nvidia being slimy. It feels more than a release date thing. As you said, Nvidia has known about the mid-year AMD launch for months now. Yet this whole presentation including their Founder's Edition and launch seems very last minute. Maybe Nvidia learned about something we don't know yet.
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As far as I am concern, both sides are pretty slimy, cannot blame them though since they are a business and being a business tries to use whatever tactics to gain as much sales as they can.
 
variant said:
You can't blame AMD for Nvidia being slimy. It feels more than a release date thing. As you said, Nvidia has known about the mid-year AMD launch for months now. Yet this whole presentation including their Founder's Edition and launch seems very last minute. Maybe Nvidia learned about something we don't know about yet.
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I wouldn't completely. But the problem I have with AMD is that they create so many needless self-inflicted wounds. For example, until recently getting AMD to do decent Linux drivers was just not possible. If there's any space where you can create a market for yourself it's in Linux. Yet they just didn't take it seriously in the past. They do now because of Valve but it shouldn't have taken them that long to realize it.

They are sooooooo lucky that Phoronix is really the only reviewer showing Linux benches. If the major review sites had reviewed them like 8 months ago they would be in deep doo doo. At least they are competitive now but damn it shouldn't have taken that long for them to understand.
 
Did nVidia gain anything by streaming a public launch presentation on the 6th instead of just letting reviews pop on the 27th?
 
MangoSeed said:
Did nVidia gain anything by streaming a public launch presentation on the 6th instead of just letting reviews pop on the 27th?
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2 or 3 week wait is not a big deal, but when you do what AMD has done in the past, with one announcement and then another, and the finally release something, I wouldn't say its bad form, because they aren't ready, but people will be getting antsy because they have seen this before and added on top of that the competition has a drop dead date for cards and reviews are out.
 
MangoSeed said:
Did nVidia gain anything by streaming a public launch presentation on the 6th instead of just letting reviews pop on the 27th?
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From a marketing standpoint most definitely. They received uncorroborated marketing statements for at least 10 days. The performance seems to be there but all of the nonsense of 2.1 Ghz FE cards wasn't put to the test until this week.
 
kac77 said:
I wouldn't completely. But the problem I have with AMD is that they create so many needless self-inflicted wounds. For example, until recently getting AMD to do decent Linux drivers was just not possible. If there's any space where you can create a market for yourself it's in Linux. Yet they just didn't take it seriously in the past. They do now because of Valve but it shouldn't have taken them that long to realize it.

They are sooooooo lucky that Phoronix is really the only reviewer showing Linux benches. If the major review sites had reviewed them like 8 months ago they would be in deep doo doo. At least they are competitive now but damn it shouldn't have taken that long for them to understand.
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The quality of AMD's Linux drivers are the least of its concerns right now. Honestly, how many people spend this kind of money for gaming to play games that don't even run on Linux anyway? Probably the reason why Phoronix doesn't have a lot of competition.
 
razor1 said:
2 or 3 week wait is not a big deal, but when you do what AMD has done in the past, with one announcement and then another, and the finally release something, I wouldn't say its bad form, because they aren't ready, but people will be getting antsy because they have seen this before and added on top of that the competition has a drop dead date for cards and reviews are out.
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You do realize the time between paper launch of the Nano to Review was about 2 to 3 weeks right?
 
heatlesssun said:
Honestly, how many people spend this kind of money for gaming to play games that don't even run on Linux anyway?
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Hmm they way I read this question is that you are asking how many non-Linux users buy expensive video cards to play games that don't run on Linux..... um a lot. But the PC Gamer is just a drop in the bucket when you factor in consoles, phones and more. Linux is a damn freebie from a development standpoint.
 
Dude they announced the nano with the FuryX the one with Raja, CFO and CEO, the one where the CFO stated the FuryX was an overclockers dream.



How many months before did they announce for another announcement then wait for another 2 or 3 weeks before you could buy?

June, then August, then Sept it was buy-able?
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Wasn't it almost a year ago Kyle was hating on AMD with the Nano launch and people were calling this site Nvidia biased? Where are those people now I wonder...

People seem to forget that Kyle hates on all bullshit equally and has done so since the very beginning.
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I'm not claiming Kyle is biased for or against either company, but he was much more positive about the FE card at first.
 
I mean true competition, where it's a struggle to the death so to sp
razor1 said:
Dude they announced the nano with the FuryX the one with Raja, CFO and CEO, the one where the CFO stated the FuryX was an overclockers dream.



How many months before did they announce for another announcement then wait for another 2 or 3 weeks before you could buy?

June, then August, then Sept it was buy-able?
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By your standard, AMD already launched Polaris since they announced it in January.

Don't be ridiculous please, use your brain.

Announcing upcoming products is different from a launch with all the tech press's attention on you, as you reveal architecture info, specs, clocks, performance, etc and a actual retail date release.
 
LOL they did, check the video man, they told us the specs, they told us clocks, they told us performance. And they did give a release date, Summer, in general.

Polaris, is no where near like this yet, As I STATED

2 or 3 week wait is not a big deal, but when you do what AMD has done in the past, with one announcement and then another, and the finally release something, I wouldn't say its bad form, because they aren't ready, but people will be getting antsy because they have seen this before and added on top of that the competition has a drop dead date for cards and reviews are out.
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I don't see a problem with it yet, others do, if at comptex and pull off another announcement and the date is much later than 2 or 3 week, yeah I will be like WTF is going on.

now go take your own ideas out of here and try not mash your words down my throat.
 
kac77 said:
Hmm they way I read this question is that you are asking how many non-Linux users buy expensive video cards to play games that don't run on Linux..... um a lot. But the PC Gamer is just a drop in the bucket when you factor in consoles, phones and more. Linux is a damn freebie from a development standpoint.
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I think there was an article on this forum a week or two ago that broke down the gaming market between consoles, PC and mobile. Yes, mobile is the largest but the PC was ahead of consoles and certainly not a drop in the bucket compared to mobile. In any case this kind of hardware has no correlation in the console and mobile markets. And nothing's free. If it were worth while for developers to bring AAA titles at launch to Linux more of them would probably be doing it.
 
rinaldo00 said:
I'm not claiming Kyle is biased for or against either company, but he was much more positive about the FE card at first.
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I am still tremendously positive about the FE card. Still does not change how NVIDIA has handled the launch. NVIDIA's got a shitload of problems, but hardware ain't one. :p
 
jbc029 said:
Any buzzings from AIBs about water-cooled versions? My impression of past ref cards was that they largely existed for because they had the reference board layout for custom water coolers...not that people would actually use them as reference. :p
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There really are 4 models planed. From here:
the market expect four types of nvidia geforce gtx 1080 graphics cards

As it became known to our colleagues , in the market will be four main varieties of cards on the GP104 GPU (GeForce GTX 1080). In the first place, will be sold NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition adapters. Secondly, NVIDIA partners will present the "ordinary" GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards with limited capacity for overclock to more simplified air cooling systems (Plain AIB Variant, Air Cooled). Thirdly, partners will offer the version GeForce GTX 1080 with a significantly modified and advanced air-cooling system and with chips to break up (Custom AIB Variants, Air Cooled). Fourth, come partners with unique graphics card liquid cooling system and excellent overclocking capability (Custom AIB Variants, Water Cooled).
 
jbc029 said:
Any buzzings from AIBs about water-cooled versions? My impression of past ref cards was that they largely existed for because they had the reference board layout for custom water coolers...not that people would actually use them as reference. :p
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Somebody's going to need to make an inexpensive "reference blower" design so guys don't have to yank the fancy shroud off a $700 card just to mount waterblocks. Or just sell bare boards and keep the fancy shroud.
 
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