NVIDIA reportedly allowing custom versions of its GeForce GTX 980 Ti

One of the downsides of the GeForce GTX Titan X is that NVIDIA didn't allow add-in board (AIB) partners to modify the card with a non-reference cooler. This should all change with the GM200-powered GeForce GTX 980 Ti, with NVIDIA reportedly greenlighting custom variants of the GTX 980 Ti.

But it gets better: the current rumors have NVIDIA announcing the card sometime in late May or early June, which is right around the time of Computex. It's also the time frame in which AMD will reportedly announce its new Radeon 300 series, led by the flagship Radeon R9 390X. This could be NVIDIA's way of taking some of that thunder away, and if the GeForce GTX 980 Ti is as powerful as it should end up being (thanks to it being powered by the same GPU as the GTX Titan X), we should expect some fierce competition in terms of pricing from both camps.

The alleged specifications of the GTX 980 Ti has it powered by the GM200 core, with the same specifications as the GTX Titan X, but with a reduced framebuffer. The GTX 980 Ti should feature 6GB of VRAM, but with higher clocks than the Titan X. With custom variants, we should expect the GeForce GTX 980 Ti to be one of the fastest video cards on the market when it's released. That is, until we know what makes the Radeon R9 390X tick.