GeForce GTX 1080: Most Bizarre Secret Paper Launch Ever @ [H]
Don't call it a paper launch, we have been here for years ~nvidia cool j (not really)
Kyle over at HardOCP posted an editorial that pretty much sums up what everyone was thinking about GTX 1080 but was too excited to notice.
As Kyle says the fact that GTX 1080 had three independent dates indicates two things.
- It is a paper launch, meaning they announced a product that you can't buy
- Nvidia is also launching their reference design "Founders Edition" before the board partners.
So basically if you want one, you have to wait, and if you really want one you have to pay extra. Seems reasonable.
One thing Darren and I talked about in the Hardware Asylum Podcast is that the launch coencides with Computex and as much as it pains us having cards released right before the show is a really good move.
I personally get both sides of what the Founders Edition cards are supposed to be, but suffice it to say, I would suggest that 90% of HardOCP readers have seen this simply as an "Early Adopter's Tax." And quite frankly, it is hard for anyone to argue differently given NVIDIA's track record with delivering TTM (Time To Market) "reference" cards to market since the introduction of TITAN and its fancy cooler a few years ago. NVIDIA has set a very solid precedent of selling its "reference" cards at MSRP. The way this has worked in the past was that reference cards were all that was available on launch day; hence the "Founders Edition" branding. It all makes sense to me and most people in the community.
Kyle also covers some more interesting facts including the 2.1Ghz shown during the livestream. As it turns out NVIDIA overclocked their card using EVGA Precision so that the EA demo would run, smooth. Not a bad thing but they should have mentioned it was overclocked, bad or not.
The final interesting thing was about the SLI situation. This is something I wrote about claiming that it was really up to NVIDIA to decide. Well, as it turns out if you want to run more than two cards you have to download an unlock key, "Enthusiast Key" from NVIDIA which will then enable the older technology.
I suspect this is a "trial" to see how many people download the key and what more, they will likely impose a survey to ensure you really do have three cards to help put value behind the logs.
Be sure to check out Kyle's editorial for more information and give my version a read if you are curious.
Related Web URL: http://hardocp.com/article/2016/05/18/geforce_gtx_...
