You read the title right and that’s not a typo error. According to Videocardz.com, NVIDIA is planning to release the company’s next generation graphics card next month – the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 (900 series) graphics cards. They skip the GTX 800 series and decided to use the “GTX 900” naming instead. Basically the GTX 980 and the GTX 970 are the GTX 880 and GTX 870 graphics cards that we are waiting for. So how does skipping the “800 series naming” affects the consumers? And is the performance really that great that’s why they decided to skip the 800 series branding? Check out below.
UPDATE: GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 are now officially unleashed and available. See the following GTX 900 series:
- MSI GeForce GTX 980 Gaming 4G and GTX 970 Gaming 4G
- Galax GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970
- Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 G1 Gaming
- Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 980 HerculeZ X4
UPDATE: There’s a new and updated story regarding the GTX 980 and GTX 970. See it here: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 Specifications, Pricing and Photos Revealed
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 Coming and No GTX 800 Series
This is not the first time that NVIDIA skip a number series for their graphics card naming scheme. If you can still remember they did this before and skipped the GTX 300 series naming, from GTX 200 series to GTX 400 series, and now they did it again.
NVIDIA decided to use the GTX 900 naming for desktop graphics processors since they are going to release the GeForce 900M series for mobile graphics processor. Synchronizing the naming scheme is essential to avoid confusion and to keep things simple. The decision was just made recently, that’s why previously it was reported (here and here) that they are going to release GTX 800 series this coming September.
What does this mean for us consumers? For one, this might convince people to upgrade ASAP specially those who are still using GTX 600 series and below. Remember, if the report is correct, these GTX 980 and GTX 970 are supposed to be the GTX 880 and GTX 870 we are expecting. And regarding performance, we have seen several leaks already here.
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 is expected to be faster than the GTX 780 Ti, and the GTX 970 is expected to be faster than the GTX 780. Meanwhile, the soon to be released GTX 960 is expected to be faster than the GTX 770. The performance difference is not that really huge, so just relax for now and control that upgrade-itch. Let’s wait for real benchmarks to be revealed first.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 Release Date
Both the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 will be based on the new GM204 chip which is derived from its new Maxwell GPU architecture. NVIDIA will be announcing the second generation Maxwell this coming September 9 and 10, and the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 will officially be released by September 19. Meanwhile the GeForce GTX 960 will be released sometime by October.
Just a thought, hopefully we will be seeing a much faster GTX 950 Ti soon, perhaps as fast as the current GTX 760 or more, and still doesn’t require an external 6 pin power connector.
UPDATE: See NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970 3DMark Fire Strike Benchmarks Revealed
Source: VideoCardz.com
Yep think this guys right…If you think for a sec, The full gtx980 should have 3200 cores . rumors have it .. but the others said 1920core . I bet that the gtx980 will have a 384bit bus ddr 7400mhz and the 860 will come out with 1920 core chip the gm204 chip with 256 bit ddr5 7400mhz and the 970 and 980 should be the full Gk200 chip that was rumored. I bet the big hot chip 200 would be on 28nm and the newer gtx960 will take longer cuz it’s fabed in 20nm dies. Makes since that the jump from gtx770 and gtx 780 is so big need a card to fit right between them .. heck if I tryed to buy two gtx860 in sli i wont cuz only 256bit bus lol.. Any thoughts ?
They are not actually skiping the 880 name. There already is a 880m for laptops. If they keep the 800 name, how should they name the m gpu then? Makes sense they named it 900.
The maxwell release was delayed a full generation, so they decided to skip one.