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What the GTX 980 (and 970) lacked upon initial release was a high enough watted (lots of headroom) version to avoid throttling when rendering (which taxes a GPU even more and consistently) than does gaming. I suspect that EVGA (and any other Nvidia partner) that releases a higher TDP version such as the new EVGA GTX 980 Classified (dual 8-pin power connectors) will come closest to realizing the full potential of Maxwell when performing 3d renders. A GPU powered by ~75 watts from the PCIe slot and with ~75 watts from each of two 6-pin connectors ( ~ 225 watts total) may lack the power/headroom to support CUDA rendering was well as the previous generations (Kepler) 6-pin plus 8-pin GTX GPUs ( or the higher watted Fermi). It's not that a 225 watt GPU can't render 3d because similarly powered Tesla cards can, but those Tesla are clocked much lower that the GPU comparable GTX sister card(s) and thus render slower than the comparable GTX sister card(s). I welcome anyone who has a 4G EVGA GTX 980 Classified (I don't have one - I'm waiting for the EVGA 8G GTX 980 Classified) to put my hypothesis to the test. Just keep in mind that a lot of the magic of Maxwell was to release a lower powered card tuned for gaming and OpenCL advancement (to compete against AMD), while not having the advantage of biennial die shrinkage. Thus, even tho the intent may not have been to drive sales of Titans where one uses software like Octane, the effect may be to drive sales of GTX GPUs priced closer to $1K where one uses 3d software like Octane. However, I don't disagree with Glimpse - I too think that the days of low cost CUDA 3d rendering GPUs are numbered.

good thoughts, Tutor! =) smell tomsHardware/anandtech style here =D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ea5jKFGgUw

glimpse wrote:good thoughts, Tutor! =) smell tomsHardware/anandtech style here =D

You're correct that both TomsHardware's and Anandtech's reviews led to my hypothesis - e.g., " ... And the party ends as soon as you look at the compute-based stress test results. A taxing load just doesn't give Maxwell any room for its optimizations to shine. When it comes down to it, it's possible for our most taxing workloads to take Maxwell back to Kepler-class consumption levels. In fact, Gigabyte's factory overclocked GeForce GTX 980 actually draws more power than the GeForce GTX Titan Black without offering a substantial performance gain in return. As you can see below, the reference GeForce GTX 980 draws substantially less power, though. ... .In addition, our expert Igor Wallossek has some insights into the GeForce GTX 970 and 980's power draw as he found micro-spikes and load scenarios that draw significantly more than the TDP these cards are rated for." [ http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvi ... ,3941.html ] = Throttling when TDP is exceeded in 3d rendering - those poor two 6-pin cables/connectors have carried all of the load that they can handle as Maxwell starts demanding, "Feed me more, Seymour! Feed me all night long!" Of course, you can use a utility like EVGA's Precision X to downclock the reference design GTX 970 or 980 to intentionally avoid throttling, but then you'd then you'd be instituting sooner/out of the gate what throttling causes, i.e., slower rendering speed.

Tutor wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ea5jKFGgUw

glimpse wrote:good thoughts, Tutor! =) smell tomsHardware/anandtech style here =D

You're correct that both TomsHardware's and Anandtech's reviews led to my hypothesis - e.g., " ... And the party ends as soon as you look at the compute-based stress test results. A taxing load just doesn't give Maxwell any room for its optimizations to shine. When it comes down to it, it's possible for our most taxing workloads to take Maxwell back to Kepler-class consumption levels. In fact, Gigabyte's factory overclocked GeForce GTX 980 actually draws more power than the GeForce GTX Titan Black without offering a substantial performance gain in return. As you can see below, the reference GeForce GTX 980 draws substantially less power, though. ... .In addition, our expert Igor Wallossek has some insights into the GeForce GTX 970 and 980's power draw as he found micro-spikes and load scenarios that draw significantly more than the TDP these cards are rated for." [ http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvi ... ,3941.html ] = Throttling when TDP is exceeded in 3d rendering - those poor two 6-pin cables have carried all of the load that they can handle as Maxwell start crying, "Feed me more, Seymour."

exactly, that's all the reasons why I see 9xx line more like a step back for Octane users..- at least in my eyes You loose like 2gb from 6GB 780s & don't get any better performance, nor power saving, 'cos it only applies in games.. Until we will not see bigger brother of Maxwell family I'm not looking into that side..& just dream these 8GB are going to come for cheap =DDD pluss I wouldn't be surprised if nVidia would release dual card on that 8GB mark..=) then again it wouldn't bring anything..

but hey, maybe nVidia will bring something interesting =) curious to see..

glimpse wrote:... .

exactly, that's all the reasons why I see 9xx line more like a step back for Octane users..- at least in my eyes You loose like 2gb from 6GB 780s & don't get any better performance, nor power saving, 'cos it only applies in games.. Until we will not see bigger brother of Maxwell family I'm not looking into that side..& just dream these 8GB are going to come for cheap =DDD pluss I wouldn't be surprised if nVidia would release dual card on that 8GB mark..=) then again it wouldn't bring anything..

but hey, maybe nVidia will bring something interesting =) curious to see..

The 8G GTX 980 may drop this month or the next [ http://videocardz.com/53912/msi-radeon- ... b-pictured and http://www.kitguru.net/components/graph ... -december/ ]. From these two short articles, I didn't get the impression that these GPUs will be the dual GPU variety with the accompanying ram split. My concern is whether and when EVGA makes a Classified version of the 8G GTX 980, evidencing more headroom/higher TDP.

Tutor wrote: The 8G GTX 980 may drop this month or the next [ http://videocardz.com/53912/msi-radeon- ... b-pictured and http://www.kitguru.net/components/graph ... -december/ ]. From these two short articles, I didn't get the impression that these GPUs will be the dual GPU variety with the accompanying ram split. My concern is whether and when EVGA makes a Classified version of the 8G GTX 980, evidencing more headroom/higher TDP.

That's just rumours, don't take them too seriously =) anyway Xmas is coming & I believe companies will try to use that madness =DDD..

glimpse wrote:... .
That's just rumours, don't take them too seriously =) anyway Xmas is coming & I believe companies will try to use that madness =DDD..

'Tho they may be just rumors, I'm a 61 year old kid who, at heart, views Xmas as a time of year when everything is possible, until, of course, the credit card bills arrive.

Tutor wrote:I'm a 61 year old kid...

Tutor, you're either a dyslexic 16 year old, or quite possibly the oldest Octane user on the planet. If you're 16, buzz off! If you're really 61, you're an inspiration to me and I'm very pleased to meet you!

Seeker

PS: in case anyone reading this is 16 and you're offended... go clean your room. And then buzz off.

Seekerfinder wrote:

Tutor wrote:I'm a 61 year old kid...

Tutor, you're either a dyslexic 16 year old, or quite possibly the oldest Octane user on the planet. If you're 16, buzz off! If you're really 61, you're an inspiration to me and I'm very pleased to meet you!

Seeker

PS: in case anyone reading this is 16 and you're offended... go clean your room. And then buzz off.

I am
a) a non-dyslexic 61 year old jock {a/k/a TheRealTutor} who ran track and played football in high school and college and can still shoot the basketball over 50% of the time into the net (through the rim without hitting the rim) from half court; I pump iron every other day; and I consume a total of over 80 grains, fruits and vegetables each day (but I also regularly eat meats);
b) one who late in life planned to become a Mac, Windows and Linux geek and executed that plan [ http://www.computerworld.com/article/24 ... -pro-.html ] [ http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/multicore ] [ http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/top ] [ http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/ ... ch-scores/ } [ http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1333421 ] [ http://www.luxrender.net/luxmark/ ];
c) one who's looking forward to tapping fully the second half of that 120 year cap on longevity, along the way learning all that I can about technology, especially Octane Render in aid of my latest career - 3d animation and film making; and
d) pleased to meet you also.

P.S. That Computer World blogger erred. I've never worked for Apple, nor have I've yet to set foot in Cupertino. I am, however, a Mac addict who controls his rendering network with a MacBook Pro (and soon, after I fully digest IOS programming, via my iPad).

Tutor wrote:

Seekerfinder wrote:

Tutor wrote:I'm a 61 year old kid...

Tutor, you're either a dyslexic 16 year old, or quite possibly the oldest Octane user on the planet. If you're 16, buzz off! If you're really 61, you're an inspiration to me and I'm very pleased to meet you!

Seeker

PS: in case anyone reading this is 16 and you're offended... go clean your room. And then buzz off.

I am
a) a non-dyslexic 61 year old jock {a/k/a TheRealTutor} who ran track and played football in high school and college and can still shoot the basketball over 50% of the time into the net (through the rim without hitting the rim) from half court; I pump iron every other day; and I consume a total of over 80 grains, fruits and vegetables each day (but I also regularly eat meats);
b) one who late in life planned to become a Mac, Windows and Linux geek and executed that plan [ http://www.computerworld.com/article/24 ... -pro-.html ] [ http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/multicore ] [ http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/top ] [ http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/ ... ch-scores/ } [ http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1333421 ] [ http://www.luxrender.net/luxmark/ ];
c) one who's looking forward to tapping fully the second half of that 120 year cap on longevity, along the way learning all that I can about technology, especially Octane Render in aid of my latest career - 3d animation and film making; and
d) pleased to meet you also.

P.S. That Computer World blogger erred. I've never worked for Apple, nor have I've yet to set foot in Cupertino. I am, however, a Mac addict who controls his rendering network with a MacBook Pro (and soon, after I fully digest IOS programming, via my iPad).

Adopt me!