Are Maxwell and Pascal really that different?

[nothereanymore]

I think the main reason NVIDIA stopped optimizing for Kepler (not lowering performance, just leaving it behind) was because the architecture was much different than Maxwell, and while NVIDIA can afford to optimize both, they chose to just focus on Maxwell.

 

Now, will the same thing happen with Maxwell and Pascal? I'm not really an expert in telling how similar they are so... thoughts?

[TheRandomness]

28nm != 16nm

Manufacturing process completely different.

[ivan_radeon]

Probably yes

[Tom Hanks]

Reminds me of Bloomfield to Gulftown/ Westmere-EP

[App4that]

Not as simple as Maxwell to Pascal. Right now there is only one Pascal chip, while there are multiple Maxwell chips. So you probably won't see the 980 down age as well as the 980ti, which is a newer chip design. But the same is true this time around for AMD. The 290 doesn't get the same boost in performance as the 390, yet the share the same GPU. As of this post AMD has yet to explain as to why that is. So it's a crap shoot really. I'm not going to worry until it effects my ability to play the games I want to play.

 

Oh, and this trend of hardware not lasting isn't just PC. For the first time consoles are having to refresh, that's a sign as to what's really at work. Which is a lack of optimization in games.

[AresKrieger]

Yes and no. they are a different design for sure and they went from 28-16nm, but they seem to be somewhat (key word somewhat) based on the 980ti's design (which differs  a bit from other maxwell gpus), so they will have quite bit of difference but not as much as the difference between mawell and kepler (especially if we are talking from the 980ti), though maxwell will not be optimized as well over time as their focus will indeed be pascal especially the cards below the 980ti due to their age as well as the difference in design.

[nothereanymore]

2 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

Yes and no. they are a different design for sure and they went from 28-16nm, but they seem to be somewhat (key word somewhat) based on the 980ti's design (which differs  a bit from other maxwell gpus), so they will have quite bit of difference but not as much as the difference between mawell and kepler (especially if we are talking from the 980ti), though maxwell will not be optimized as well over time as their focus will indeed be pascal especially the cards below the 980ti due to their age as well as the difference in design.

I just want decent optimization for the 980 Ti I'll be getting for cheap for at least another year or year and a half. For Honour and NMS are the only games I'm looking forward to this year and the next, after that probably only TES VI, and by then I'll have a new GPU.

[App4that]

1 minute ago, Noirgheos said:

I just want decent optimization for the 980 Ti I'll be getting for cheap for at least another year or year and a half. For Honour and NMS are the only games I'm looking forward to this year and the next, after that probably only TES VI, and by then I'll have a new GPU.

You'll get it. Thank the 480. Nvidia is going to have to compete with AMD's asynchronous compute advantage and won't risk trying to drive their customers to Pascal. The 980 and below they can blame on architecture, but the 980ti they can't. They'd loose credibility if they allowed the 980ti to drop off in performance over the next year or two. No promises after that though.

[nothereanymore]

2 minutes ago, App4that said:

You'll get it. Thank the 480. Nvidia is going to have to compete with AMD's asynchronous compute advantage and won't risk trying to drive their customers to Pascal. The 980 and below they can blame on architecture, but the 980ti they can't. They'd loose credibility if they allowed the 980ti to drop off in performance over the next year or two. No promises after that though.

Meh Ill have upgraded to the 1180 Ti by then, if its out. Sounds so dumb.

[App4that]

11 minutes ago, Noirgheos said:

Meh Ill have upgraded to the 1180 Ti by then, if its out. Sounds so dumb.

It will be close to a year before we see the 1080ti, might see it right after the launch of Vega which is looking to be around March 2017. Then a year until the new architecture. Hell, the HOF 1080 won't launch until mid October. Nothing to worry about mate.