14 DAY TRIAL // A new video card has appeared, one that Palit put together and has better than average performance parameters, though not the best we've seen on this market. Off the top of our head, we can think of faster ones, like the Gigabyte Strix GTX 980 (1,228 MHz Base, 1,329 MHz Boost).
Still, considering that the reference GeForce GTX 980 graphics card runs at 1,126 MHz base and 1,216 MHz boost, it's still better.
Specifically, the Palit GeForce GTX 980 Super-JetStream operates at 1,203 MHz and 1,304 MHz, respectively, with the 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM working at 7.2 GHz. On that note, the stock memory speed is 7 GHz, which is still a lot.
The cooler of the Palit GeForce GTX 980 Super-JetStream
It's actually not as fancy as some others we've seen. It only has two fans, for one. Sure, the original board has only one, but many OEM custom models have triple-fan coolers.
It shouldn't matter though, unless you intend to manually tweak the clocks even further than they already are. But if that's the case, you're likely to go hunting for a third-party water cooler anyway.
For connection to monitors or TVs, the Palit GeForce GTX 980 Super-JetStream graphics card has three DisplayPort outputs, one HDMI port and one dual-link DVI connector.
All in all, the new video card is a promising product, provided it doesn't go too far above the $549 / €549 price that NVIDIA set up.
It's too bad you won't be able to buy it
Unless you live in Europe and have a well-stocked retailer nearby, you probably won't find the card for sale anywhere. Sure, Newegg and Amazon might have it listed, but supply is probably equal to zero right now.
That, at least, seems to be the case for every other graphics card out there, as we established just a short time ago. US-based retailers don't have any of the over two dozen GeForce GTX 980/970 cards available for shipment, and there's no explanation as to why.
It's unlikely that Palit's new board will sell when the others don't, although there might be some small initial inventory up for grabs. You know, until the people who want GPU cards for mining virtual currency sink their ravenous teeth into it.
We'll try to keep an eye out and an ear to the ground for the reason why this video board shortage has come about, and how long it will take for it to be remedied. Hopefully it won't last until Christmas.
