980 Reference EOL Already ?

[Dicehunter]

Just noticed this on the store front.

980 Reference is end of life!

Surely this can't be correct, The reference models with the glowing lettering are Nvidias signature

 

[Dicehunter]

Yeah it is a little odd. I'm sure I remember being able to buy reference 780's for months after release. Though maybe I'm mistaken...

I bought 2 x 780's only a few months ago brand new with the reference cooler, Seems a very odd move considering Nvidia are well known for their Titan style cooler and glowing "GEFORCE GTX"" lettering.

One of the many factors I go for in a GPU is the way it looks and one of the best looking ones is the reference shroud, The others mostly look like they are bit's of plastic stuck together and kind of look cheap.

 

[Dicehunter]

If I can't get a reference design GTX980 in a few months then I won't both upgrading as I'd be after a pair of SLI. Shame.

Indeed, The blower design is especially useful for people who don't want hot air venting into their case.

Maybe Nvidia coming up with some new kind of blower titan cooler.

If so they should have done this way before the 9xx series launched to avoid upsetting customers who will later see the "Improved 9xx Series Cooling".

 

[Dicehunter]

I don't think Nvidia care what people think. They didn't care they released 780 Ti 2 months after 780. That upset so many.

Very true.

 

[Dicehunter]

It is EOL, gibbo confirmed in another thread.

All the reference cards are made by nvidia themselves and I assume they have now stopped making them.

Shame, I really like the look of the Titan Style cooler.

 

[Dicehunter]

Thanks for the info Gibbo, I prefer the Titan style cooler personally mainly due to the fact that it's fully enclosed and looks clean were as the current offerings, Strix, Jetstream, ACX etc... all either have heat pipes on show or open non enclosed designs which to me seems kind of messy, Not uniform and who wants all that hot air being blown into their case ?

I guess rear exhaust blower style cards are going to be a thing of the past then at least with this generation.

Might have to get a 2nd 980 Titan style while stocks last for SLI.

 

[Dicehunter]

ASUS also has Matrix at some stage too.

Nvidia reference cooler no need!!

What about those of us who prefer exhaust blower style cards instead of having the heat circulate inside the case which can increase other temps i.e mobo, CPU etc...

 

[Dicehunter]

^ Water cool man!!

Decent airflow in a good case wont cause this situation anyway and Maxwell very low heat output too.

Nah water and electronics are wizardry, Wizardry I tell you !!!

The last card I had that wasn't a blower exhaust style was the 290X Matrix and holy hell my side panels nearly melted, That thing was like a smelter

 

[Dicehunter]

Also open air coolers are useless in small PC cases....and even bigger cases like my Silverstone FT02 is designed to work with blower type GPU coolers..

Am sure this move is going upset loads of GPU buyers..including myself

Case manufactures are going to have to come up with different designs to house the cards that blow all the hot air back into the case

You need to keep tabs with the real world cooling !

Pity also GFX card coolers have always lacked development and innovation so they just continue to see how much in the way of fans and metalwork they can hang from 4 little screws.

The situation is never helped by the muppet reviewers who say how wonderfully they cool and the don't even test them in a Case

Yeah that annoys me, They either test it on a test bed or case with the door open, Never mention it in their reviews, Report awesome temps and then when we get the end product we wonder why the temp is higher than was advertized in the review and our internal temps have gone up a good few degrees as well.

Blower style/rear exhaust cards have their place and should not be made obsolete.

 

[Dicehunter]

Water cooling is real world cooling??? They even ship some as standard now, remember?

80 quid and a few screws. Hardly a flux capacitor

It's really only the 295X2 that comes with everything needed, The Asus Poseidon and EVGA WC editions still need a separate pump/res, Tubing, Radiator, Fittings and coolant which is all great and fun but starts to mount up beyond £80 if you want a decent setup.

 

[Dicehunter]

Tubing, fittings and a radiator, stick to cheap fans. Don't have to swap it out ever again besides block. Job done . Doesn't have to be fanstastical unless you want it to be

Very true but you're forgetting the pump and res which increase the cost even further, Would just be wise to keep making the rear exhaust cards for the people that don't want hot air dumped inside their case, Don't have the funds to go watercooling or simply don't want to.

I strongly urge anyone who is scared (for want of a better word) of water cooling to take the plunge. It's the final frontier as far as PC building goes, and trust me mate, you won't look back.

I already built a water cooled rig for my brother a few months ago with duel 290X's, 4790K, 2 x 360mm rads, Pump/res bay combo etc....I enjoyed building it, It looks nice and he seems to love it but I prefer simplicity when it comes to cooling my personal rig hence why I have an H100i which is as close to water cooling as I'll ever get *And in truth it's quite far away from WC* to be honest as it's just not my thing

 

[Dicehunter]

They will have another cooler coming. Blowers are underrated by AIBs though unfortunately.

I think maybe this threads gone in the wrong direction, as more importantly it could be that if NV aren't producing reference 980 boards any more. Flextronics could well be well under way with manufacturing something else.

i.e GM200 / Titan 2

Will be interesting to see indeed, Once the 980 Ti's start coming out I may snag myself another 980 that will inevitably be on the MM

 

[Dicehunter]

Actually it does not

If it was a proper watercooled card it would not suffer from throttling and limited overclocking.

For anyone watercooling on a budget the 295X2 is a joke as you have to rip off the expensive and inefficient AIO solution to fit a proper waterblock.

If AMD shipped the 295X2 with a proper waterblock it would be cheaper to make than it is now lol.

Very true but you get what I mean, It might be crappy but it's ready out of the box, To be crappy

 

[Dicehunter]

Very unlikely that there will be a 980ti as the GM204 does not have anymore SMX modules to enable.

The first ti's we will likely see will be based on the GM200 and will be launched after the Maxwell Titan as a more gaming friendly option.

I'm thinking if it's going to be the 1000 series maybe ? That we'll see it around august next year, The non Titans anyway.

 

[Dicehunter]

If NV are producing GM200 now if/which is the reason then it could potentially be out by Christmas which is frankly outrageous, but nothing surprises me any more


I think they'll be holding it back for AMDs launch next year though

My prediction is Titan II/Black by Feb and new 1080 or whatever they call it by august/september

 

[Dicehunter]

Or you could invest in some quick disconnects to get the GPUs out quick and easy.

Or they could keep manufacturing rear exhaust coolers for those of us who don't want the hot air dumped inside our case and don't want to buy into watercooling either.

 

[Dicehunter]

Watercoolers like rear exhaust reference cards as they are normally the first to get waterblocks available.

Well watercoolers are in for a let down if reference/rear exhaust cards are to be a thing of the past with this line of cards.

 

[Dicehunter]

Not really as waterblocks for the non ref cards will be available soon.

True but this mainly affects air coolers which are the majority of the market compared to WC.

 

[Dicehunter]

+1 while the 970's and 980's are great cards they are at top end prices imo so i can see the new full fat maxwell being a new tier of prices

£599 for a reference model is my prediction for a non Titan *Less VRAM* full fat Maxwell.

 

[Dicehunter]

So 900 series reference is eol, but 1000 series reference is soon

I don't think they would release the 1000 series so quickly after the 900 series launched, Wouldn't make sense, However the new reference cooler design being for the new Titan now that I can see.



Oh and by the way an EVGA staff member is denying the EOL statement on their forums when asked about so is it EOL or just EOL for europe