Wait for Pascal or just go with the 980m

I've settled on a 15.6" Sager/Clevo laptop from Xotic, but I'm still debating whether to wait for Pascal. I have an interest in playing Witcher, but my focus will probably be Fallout 4, X-Com 2 and games that have been released over the past year or so. Notwithstanding, I don't mind trying out the latest and greatest on occasion.

How long do you think I have to wait for Pascal? Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

You will not see any Pascal (nVidia) or Polaris (AMD) high-end GPU earlier than August. They will most likely come out September or October.

 

At this point i believe we are still about 6 months out from Pascal, but it could be sooner (could be longer as well). It's a tough call because the 980m should run all of that very well, but as new games come out they will be more demanding and then need better equipment to get to ultra settings. While that will be the case with any GPU as time goes on. Overall might not be to bad to wait, but with no set date yet you could be waiting awhile

 

I think you should go with the 980M. Unless you are in absolutely no rush. Nvidia doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to releasing stuff on time..

Plus the games you are referring to can already be handled decently with a 980m, we have no idea how pricing and configurations will also change with Pascal.

EDIT: You might find this useful.
http://www.overclock3d.net/articles/gpu_displays/nvidia_pascal_mia_at_ces_reportedly_in_trouble/1

 

I would have to agree, given the titles you mentioned. The 980M will be able to hold its own when it comes to current and soon-to-be-available titles. If you're open to a 17.3" screen, you could opt for a 980, even.

 

I think it is worth waiting since Pascal is supposed to be pretty big.

It really depends how long you can wait though.
I would wait for Pascal just in case I want to try VR

 

Thanks. I'm likely going with the SAGER NP8658-S (CLEVO P650-RG) model.

 

Thats a really nice machine

If you are thinking of any customisations and have questions, feel free to ask

 

Nice! Let us know how you like it once you receive it.

 

Mr. Alex, do you think if I buy a P870DM-G now with the Desktop version of the 980 in it, that I would be able to upgrade to Pascal when its released or would it be a diff. port and stuff that needs a new motherboard/laptop?

 

Probably depends if they make any changes to the MXM card and any compatibility issues there. Hopefully it will work, but it is still too far out to really tell at this point probably.

 

How does MSI guarantee two years of upgradability then?

Im curious maybe they will receive their own version of cards..


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Messages like that would indicate that Pascal will be the same. But there is still a good amount of time before it launches, and I really wouldn't worry about it too much until it launches and verified if it works.

 

Let's hope so

 

Pretty sure it'll be easier to upgrade from 980M SLI to 1080M SLI since MXM 3.0b is still standard.

Pascal will most likely still be MXM3.0b.

We may see a desktop "1080" similar to the desktop 980 , who knows.

 

I really hope it will be MXM
Or else I'd be stuck with a 5000$ laptop lmao

 

If the nVidia Drive PX2 doesn't confirm Pascal being MXM , I don't know what will.

The cards they showed at CES in the Drive PX2 looked like they were 980Ms but the fact that they were MXM cards on the Drive PX2 means Pascal should come out in MXM for laptops as well.

 

One more thing that gives me hope is the fact that MSI guarantees 2 years upgradability on their titan.

Unless they're receiving a heavily modified pascal card, then it should be MXM..

 

The way its looking right now, Pascal will come out as MXM with GDDR5X this year. We already know from the Drive PX2 that there will be MXM cards and we also already know that HBM2 will likely be used on high end desktop cards due to cost and availability. As for compatibility, unless Pascal gets delayed into 4Q, I would say its possible that Clevo will refresh the P870DM-G, P7xxDM-G, etc, since Intel won't have high end Kaby Lake processors until November/December from the looks of things right now just like they refreshed the SM-A series when Broadwell wasn't ready.

As for MSI, they make their own boards and do what they please.