NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) has just dropped a big load of news as they unveil the much-anticipated GeForce GTX 1080 and the GTX 1070 GPU which uses their latest Pascal chip architecture.
Fans have been waiting for the new graphics card to power their desktop gaming rigs, which will need upgrades as the new virtual reality headsets are released this year. What's more interesting is that the new GPU can topple the expensive Titan X at nearly half the price.
NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun said at the unveiling that the GeForce GTX 1080 GPU is faster than the GTX Titan X, which has a pretty steep price tag. In addition, the new video card is also more efficient in using power which could also translate to less heat generated.
While not exactly for the budget-conscious PC builder, the GeForce GTX 1080 GPU won't break the bank at a retail price of $600. The GTX 1070 is also cheaper at $379.
To put the power of the new GPU in perspective, NVIDIA said that it is faster than two GTX 980s combined in SLI mode. It is the result of leaping forward with technology after four years of being stuck in the 28nm transistor process node, according to PCWorld.
AMD is also pushing the boundaries with their upcoming Polaris architecture built on a 14nm transistor process. The company has not yet revealed official prices for their AMD GPUs but it could be expected that it will most definitely be cheaper than NVIDIA's.
The GeForce GTX 1080 GPU has a HDMI 2.0B port and a DisplayPort 1.4. Impressively, the card is only powered by a single 8-pin power connector despite cranking out 2.1 GHz in the demo with the 8GB GDDR5X memory clocked at 5.5GHz.
Another impressive feat is that the card was only relying on stock air cooling, according to Engadget. Coupled with a third-party liquid cooler, overclocking the GPU would not raise any thermal problem.
The NVIDIA GTX 1080 GPU will be rolled out on May 27 with a price tag of $600, while the GTX 1070 is priced at $379 and will be released on June 10. There are also the "founders edition" designs available which will cost $699 and $449 respectively.