NVIDIA to Launch GeForce GTX 960 in January

[xorbe]

Today's games do not really benefit from resolutions higher than 1080p because they were never designed for a resolution higher than that. Sure you can crank the resolution of a game up to 4K but you are not improving the graphics in anyway, you are just increasing the resolution. You need games to be developed with higher resolution TEXTURES first before you can really enjoy the visual experience of 1440p or even 4K gaming.

I game at 1200p, but even I can understand that effective draw distance is enhanced by higher resolutions.

 

[The Von Matrices]

Then what are the other many factors affecting memory bandwidth?
Anyone can criticize, very few can provide explanations...

You also have memory technology (e.g. DDR-SDRAM vs RDRAM), and memory frequency affecting bandwidth. It's highly likely the GTX 960 uses GDDR5 @ 7GHz since that's what Nvidia has been using this generation, but we don't know for sure.

I think the more important part of the conversation is that you're picking one piece of information, a 128-bit bus, and saying that because of that this card will be a dud. We already know that the Maxwell architecture is less dependent on bandwidth than previous generations, and we don't know anything else about this GM206 GPU, so how can you conclude it's memory bandwidth constrained?

The rumored specs of the GTX 960 (in comparison to the GTX 770) reminds me of the ATI HD 5770 (in comparison to the HD 4870). The HD 5770 had the same performance as the previous generation HD 4870 with the same number of shaders despite having a memory bus half as wide. With a little bit of effort, I don't see why this wouldn't be possible for Nvidia to repeat.

 

[ViperXTR]

Then what are the other many factors affecting memory bandwidth?
Anyone can criticize, very few can provide explanations...

You also have memory technology (e.g. DDR-SDRAM vs RDRAM), and memory frequency affecting bandwidth. It's highly likely the GTX 960 uses GDDR5 @ 7GHz since that's what Nvidia has been using this generation, but we don't know for sure.

I think the more important part of the conversation is that you're picking one piece of information, a 128-bit bus, and saying that because of that this card will be a dud. We already know that the Maxwell architecture is less dependent on bandwidth than previous generations, and we don't know anything else about this GM206 GPU, so how can you conclude it's memory bandwidth constrained?

The rumored specs of the GTX 960 (in comparison to the GTX 770) reminds me of the ATI HD 5770 (in comparison to the HD 4870). The HD 5770 had the same performance as the previous generation HD 4870 with the same number of shaders despite having a memory bus half as wide. With a little bit of effort, I don't see why this wouldn't be possible for Nvidia to repeat.

All this bandwidth talk

Like The Von Matrices mentioned, one of Nvidia Maxwell's fundamental improvements was memory bandwidth optimization (Nvidia's 3rd Generation Color Compression).
Most GPUs, like the older ones uses improved memory compression algorithms on each new generation. This is why some new generation lower bus bandwidth can still cope up with the old generation with higher bandwidth .

TO be more specific, a quote from Tom's

Regardless of Maxwell’s more efficient graphics architecture, the GeForce GTX 980 suffers a 33% drop in peak memory bandwidth compared to the GeForce GTX 780 Ti. Nvidia mitigates this deficit by implementing an improved memory compression scheme. GM204 sports an improved third-generation delta color compression mode that provides more options to the hardware. Using 8x8 blocks of 64 pixels, compression analysis is performed on 2x4 blocks in order to achieve the best compression possible in 8:1, 4:1, and 2:1 steps. If 2:1 compression isn't doable, that block isn't compressed. Successfully compressed blocks save even more bandwidth every time the memory is read. Nvidia claims that this increases effective memory bandwidth from 224 GB/s to approximately 300 GB/s compared to the GeForce GTX 680 Kepler-class cards.

Anyway, if this becomes a GTX 770 Tier card, might be a good replacement for my current GTX 660, or perhaps a card in between the 970 and 960 (A 960Ti perhaps along the line)

 

[EarthDog]

I mentioned that in post 6!!! LOL!

 

[Sony Xperia S]

whatever

 

[RockStarFish]

Nvidia did not set the bar very high for 2015. Efficiency, thats all you got? year old 290x still gives 980 a fight. AMD is going drop a game changer with HBM

 

[Prima.Vera]

Funny comments are funny!

 

[Ikaruga]

Nvidia did not set the bar very high for 2015. Efficiency, thats all you got? year old 290x still gives 980 a fight. AMD is going drop a game changer with HBM

1/10, but keep trying.

 

[xenocide]

Nvidia did not set the bar very high for 2015. Efficiency, thats all you got? year old 290x still gives 980 a fight. AMD is going drop a game changer with HBM

No they won't. If they do drop a card that can crush the 980 it will be priced at about $600 just like the HD7970 was at launch. AMD are only the bargain kings when they can't compete.

 

[LiveOrDie]

Well i just picked up a GTX 760 for cheap $120 AUD it works just fine for my needs on my lan box.

 

[EarthDog]

Nvidia did not set the bar very high for 2015. Efficiency, thats all you got? year old 290x still gives 980 a fight. AMD is going drop a game changer with HBM

LOL @ all your posts at this site so far... I wonder which way you lean...

 

[rtwjunkie]

LOL @ all your posts at this site so far... I wonder which way you lean...

Indeed....in fact he's ignoring the fact that the chip that he describes the 290x going neck and neck with is not even Nvidia's top-tier Maxwell chip!

 

[xenocide]

Indeed....in fact he's ignoring the fact that the chip that he describes the 290x going neck and neck with is not even Nvidia's top-tier Maxwell chip!

Or the fact that the GTX980 beats the 290X in just about every category (size, manufacturing cost presumably, power efficiency, heat generation, features arguably). Assuming the big daddy Maxwell is a sizeable performance jump over the GTX980, AMD still has to get all those factors under control before they are truly competitive. In the mean time people are buying GTX970's and 980's as quickly as they can because they are very good products.