NVIDIA might be axing two of its best-selling GPUs, the GeForce GTX 970 and GeForce GTX 980. The company has not yet confirmed the news, but it is widely expected that these cards will be discontinued in favor of newer models. The GeForce GTX 970 was released in early 2016 and was one of the most popular graphics cards on the market. It was based on NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture and had 4GB of GDDR5 memory. The GeForce GTX 980 was released in late 2016 and was also based on Maxwell architecture. It had 3GB of GDDR5 memory and was slightly more powerful than the GeForce GTX 970. It is unclear why NVIDIA is discontinuing these cards, but it is possible that the company is planning to release new versions of these cards with updated architectures later this year. Alternatively, it could be that NVIDIA is planning to release new graphics card models altogether in 2017. We will know more about NVIDIA’s plans for its graphics card lineup later this year when it releases its annual report. ..
Industry reports claim NVIDIA has killed off the budget GTX 1660 graphics card, as well as the formerly mid-range RTX 2060. Both cards were solid options for budget gamers who were looking to play games in 1080p at a budget — the RTX 2060, in particular, is the second most popular graphics card on Steam’s Hardware Survey, only behind the older GTX 1060. All models of the RTX 2060 are seemingly being discontinued, including the regular 2060, the 2060 Super, and the 2060 with 12GB of VRAM that was launched in 2020.
Both cards are fairly old, but NVIDIA relied on their production to have some graphics cards for gamers on store shelves at the height of the crypto craze GPU shortage. After all, NVIDIA couldn’t keep up with the demand for RTX 3000 cards, so many gamers were just resorting to buying older cards and calling it a day.
If you’re looking to buy a budget GPU, the RTX 3050 and the RTX 3060 are still worthwhile choices, and stock is still available at some retailers. The death of these two cards is certainly a bummer, though, and they will be sorely missed.
Source: ExtremeTech
