Wrap Upwards: What to Buy?

Just to recap, the GeForce GTX 980 is priced at $550 which makes information technology a bit more expensive than the Radeon R9 290X and slightly cheaper than the now discontinued GTX 780 Ti.

We institute that on average the GTX 980 was twenty% faster than the R9 290X and 31% faster than the card information technology is replacing.

Still it is interesting to note that the GTX 980 does cost more than than the GTX 970 and yet we establish it was just 18% faster. This makes the GTX 970 the card to lookout man, as its $330 cost tag places it in a league of its own.

The GeForce GTX 970 was 16% faster than the Radeon R9 290 and it should cost at least 12% less, though with most R9 290s pegged at $400 that makes information technology a little over 20% cheaper.

Nosotros could also say (at least until AMD updates prices) that the GTX 970 is 10% more expensive than the R9 280X, but gamers tin can expect on average 48% more performance. That's a huge gap that assures us nosotros'll see price updates for Radeons in the curt term.

Along with the GTX 780 Ti, the GeForce GTX 780 and GTX 770 are likewise being discontinued and phased out by the Maxwell-based GTX 970, which is 35% and xiv% faster, respectively.

In terms of power efficiency, Maxwell is a fauna equally information technology manages to practice a heck of a lot more work with less cores. The GTX 750 Ti hinted at this back in February, only we never expected that a 2048 core version of Maxwell could wipe the floor with 2880 cadre Kepler GPU so hard, upwardly to xx% in some cases.

Apart from savings, Maxwell'south efficiency boost too translates to cooler operation and easier overclocking. The 600w WindForce cooler on the G1 Gaming GTX 980 kept the card at 57 degrees under load, which immune us to achieve a 17% core overclock netting around 10% more than functioning.

Overall we are amazed with the efficiency of the GeForce GTX 980 and GTX 970, and are every bit impressed with how absurd Gigabyte's WindForce X3 is able to keep them nether load. Just as impressed as we are with the GTX 980, it still feels a bit overpriced. $500 would accept been a more suitable price tag nosotros feel.

Certainly, you won't hear us complaining about a $330 GTX 970, specially when information technology'due south faster and cheaper than the competing R9 290.

GeForce GTX 980 Scorecard

Pros: Maxwell'due south impeccable performance per watt forth with Gigabyte's custom cooler allow for large overclocks, solid temps and quiet performance. A bully GPU for uncompromised functioning.

Cons: A tad too expensive. Single GPU 4K gaming is yet off the tabular array.

GeForce GTX 970 Scorecard

Pros: The GTX 970 brings top notch value and performance. This is the card to have when price is at to the lowest degree some kind of factor. There'south even more than to run into if yous plan on overclocking

Cons: Honestly, it is hard to complain about a graphics carte that is faster and cheaper than the contest.