Yesterday, Nvidia posted the least subtle countdown of all time, which we all now pretty much know is counting down to the GTX 1080Ti.
Not only does the countdown page declare “It’s almost TIme”, examining the webpage shows that the video playing in the background is called “GTX1080Ti_Countdown_Hero”. So it’s pretty much confirmed that Nvidia are trying to counter what AMD have in store with the reveal of the 1080Ti.
The reveal is going to happen on the exact same day (February 28) as AMD’s Capsaicin event, meaning that both companies are gonna have to crack out the big guns.
As for the release date of the 1080Ti graphics card, according to Videocardz, we are looking at a mid-March release. However, they also heard some rather troubling rumors about limited availability of custom models.
Apparently, there are rumours that the Founders Edition which will be out for launch will be exclusive to Nvidia, which obviously means that Nvidia will be your only option if you want this card at launch. AIBs told Videocardz that there is very little chance of any custom models being made available in time for the release date. This essentially means limited availability until some custom designs can get out into the market, but there is every chance that this could change before the card comes out.
Either way, it’s interesting that Nvidia are going for such a direct challenge to AMD, but hardly surprising. Given that Volta is allegedly not out until next year for consumers, the Pascal refresh is their only answer to Vega. Will it be enough? Well, if AMD brings the sort of game they showed with Ryzen, probably not.
