14 DAY TRIAL // This isn't something I'd just come out and say on a whim, but I'm willing to bet there's a high chance of NVIDIA releasing a GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics card before the end of the year, maybe even in November.
You'd think that this isn't all that likely, since the GK110 took months to arrive, once the GK104 finally hit the deck back in March 2012.
All logic suggests that NVIDIA would do the same in this instance: withhold the GM210 graphics processing unit until some time in 2015, until which point the GeForce GTX 980 would continue to be its main asset.
Since the GTX 980 is better than the GTX 780 Ti, despite some advantages on the latter's part, the case should be closed.
However, there are two reasons why I'm not so sure that NVIDIA will really wait six months before releasing the GM210 graphics processing unit.
GeForce GTX 980 is not the same thing as GTX 980 Ti
Basically, the GeForce GTX 980, as nice as it is, better than GTX 780 Ti and a lot more efficient, is not the best that the Maxwell technology has to offer.
Also, historically speaking, the Ti series of cards in an NVIDIA GeForce line never let the world wait for them too long.
Admittedly, with NVIDIA having been forced to redesign the Maxwell architecture for the 28nm manufacturing process, there is a higher incentive than normal to wait until TSMC fixes the problem and can finally produce 20nm or 16nm parts.
Nevertheless, it would probably take too long. And even if the GTX 980 Ti does have to settle for 28nm again, that still leaves room for the GTX Titan's successor to come afterwards and finally put the more advanced fabrication nodes to good use.
Indeed, just like NVIDIA used a GM204-200 for the GTX 970 and a GM204-400 for the GTX 980, it could use two different revisions of the GM210 for the GTX 980 Ti and GTX Titan/Giant/Monster/Whatever that will presumably turn the market on its head again (hopefully because of performance instead of the ludicrous price this time).
The other hint that GTX 980 Ti is coming sooner rather than later
Curiously enough, Micro-Star International is to be thanked in this instance. Well, assuming the rumor about it delaying a better overclocking-centric GTX 980 is true, anyhow.
Last year, NVIDIA launched the GeForce GTX 780 Ti quite soon after MSI released the GTX 780 Lightning, essentially invalidating the latter and rendering a lot of MSI's money and time wasted.
Now that MSI is refusing to release a GeForce GTX 980 Lightning card (Lightning stands for MSI's best, pretty much), maybe the reason is that the OEM is playing it safe. Perhaps it knows or suspects that a GTX 980 Ti is on its way to the market, so it doesn't plan to make an OC-focused beast based on the non-Ti version just to have it overshadowed and rendered commercially unsound again.
All in all, I'm willing to hope that the GeForce GTX 980 Ti from NVIDIA will debut this year, by Christmas, or maybe in time for the Consumer Electronics Show (January 2015).