Feb 21, 2017 01:50 AM EST By Josh McClaren, UniversityHerald Reporter

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is now a requirement to play "Halo Wars 2" on ultra settings. There was no mention of AMD Vega which could be indicative of the NVIDIA GPU's superiority over the AMD Vega. Both cards are still announced but gamers expect a face-off in the Game developers Conference (GDC) 2017.

The latest rumor of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti comes all the way from Taiwan and picked up by Nordic Hardware. The Swedish-speaking website claims that the graphics cards will go on sale from March 20 to 23. Gaming experts say that this is unlikely since NVIDIA may bring its much-anticipated graphics cards in GDC. It is expected to have its first official debut during NVIDIA's own "GeForce GTX Gaming Conference" in Feb. 28 at 6:30 p.m. PT.

On the same day, AMD will also have its own event called the "Capsaicin & Cream" starting at 10 a.m. PT. Gamers are expecting the unveiling of the close rival of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, the AMD Vega GPU. It will be a day of reckoning to see which GPU will dominate the market, especially among gaming enthusiasts. However, NVIDIA's superiority is already hinted in the latest physical copy of the game "Halo Wars 2" where it listed the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti as a requirement to play on ultra settings, but there was no mention of Vega.

There is no official confirmation on pricing and specs of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti other than what were previously reported from benchmarking sites, Hot Hardware reported. The GeForce lineup consists of the GTX 1080, GTX 1080 Ti and Titan X, which all belongs to the Pascal architecture. All GPUs follow the same 16nm fabrication process but the high-end Titan X reigns in Cuda-cores with 3,584. The GTX 1080 Ti trails not so far behind with 3,328 and the GTX 1080 with 2,560 Cuda cores.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is actually a scaled down version of the Titan X based on the reported specs. Both use the same GP102 GPU but the former has fewer Cuda cores. Both cards share the same memory bus at 384-bit, memory bandwidth at 480 GB/s, and same TDP at 250 Watts. Also, with the on-board GDDR5x memory, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti has a memory of 10GB, which is just in the middle of the Titan X's 12GB and GTX 1080's 8GB.

As to pricing, gaming experts believe that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti will be a few hundred dollars less than the Titan X, which retails for $1,200. It is more likely that the GTX 1080 Ti could have a base price of $900 while the GTX 1080 may retail starting at $600, according to Digital Trends. After its rumored March release, third-party manufacturers will soon follow along with the Founder's Edition model which could also be in late March or soon after.

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