GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Video Card Review

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The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the a video card from NVIDIA. With 3,584 processing cores and 11 GiB of video RAM, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is one of the the highest-end video cards available today. Let’s test it!
The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is based on the Pascal architecture, which was launched in May 2016, with the GeForce GTX 1080. It uses the GP102 chip, the same used on the Titan X Pascal. Actually, the only differences between the Titan X Pascal and the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is that the last one comes with one memory chip less, and higher clock rates.
The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti has 3,584 cores running at 1,480 Mhz base clock and 1,582 MHz turbo clock. It has 11 GiB of GDDR5X memory running at 11 GHz, with 352-bit bus, for a bandwidth of 484 GiB/s. Its TDP is 250 W and the minimum power supply is 600 W.
We tested the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti “Founders Edition”, which is the reference model offered by NVIDIA itself. Video card manufacturers like ASUS, Gigabyte, Zotac, Galax, EVGA, etc, can offer custom models. It costs USD 700 for both Founders Edition and custom models.
Just like its less expensive sisters, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti supports SMP (Simultaneous Multi-Projection) technology, which is useful for Virtual Reality applications, and the Ansel technology, which allows to capture an in-game high-resolution picture with any camera position and even 360 degrees.
The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti supports SLI technology, that combines the processing power of two or more video cards.
Figure 1 shows the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE video card.

Figure 1: the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition

AMD offers one video card that costs the same as the GTX 1080 Ti: the Radeon Pro Duo, but we had not access to this card (it is actually very difficult to find). So, we decided to benchmark the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti against the GeForce GTX 1080. We also included the GeForce GTX 1060, to see what is the performance gap between different price categories. So, keep in mind that the cards included in this comparison are not direct competitors to the GTX 1080 Ti.
In the table below, we compare the main specs from the video cards we included in this review. Prices were researched at Newegg.com for this article.

Video card	Core clock	Turbo clock	Effective memory clock	Memory bus	Memory bandwidth	Memory	Processing cores	TDP	DirectX	Price
GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE	1,480 MHz	1,582 MHz	11.0 GHz	352 bit	484 GB/s	11 GiB GDDR5X	3,584	250 W	12.1	USD 700
GeForce GTX 1080 FE	1,607 MHz	1,733 MHz	10.0 GHz	256 bit	320 GB/s	8 GiB GDDR5X	2,560	180 W	12.1	USD 620
GeForce GTX 1060 FE 6 GB	1,506 MHz	1,708 MHz	8.0 GHz	192 bit	192 GB/s	6 GiB GDDR5	1,280	120 W	12.1	USD 280

Now let’s take a closer look to the tested video card.
[nextpage title=”The GeForce GTX 1070″]
The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti “Founders Edition” looks exactly like the GTX 1080, being 10.6 inches (268 mm) long and using two slots. It uses a centrifugal fan, which is a good choice because it pushed the hot air outside the case, and allow you to use the contiguous slot to the video card.
Figure 2 shows the video connectors of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FE. It brings three DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0b connectors.

Figure 2: video connectors

In Figure 3, you see the top of the card, where there is an eight-pin and one six-pin PCI Express power connectors. The “GEFORCE GTX” logo lits in green when the card is powered on.

Figure 3: top view

Figure 4 shows the bottom of the card.

Figure 4: rear view

Figure 5 shows the solder side of the GTX 1080 Ti, which is covered by a backplate.

Figure 5: backplate

In Figure 6 you see the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti with the backplate removed, unveiling the solder side of the PCB. There are no memory chips on this side.

Figure 6: solder side

Figure 7 shows the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition with its cooler removed. It is a two-part cooler, with a heatsink with a vapor chamber at the base for the GPU and a metal plat that touches the memory chips and the voltage regulator circuit transistors. Notice that there are eleven memory chips.

Figure 7: cooler removed

Figure 8 unveils the GP102 chip, which is manufactured under 16 nm process.

Figure 8: the GP104 chip

Figure 9 shows one of the memory chips present on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. It is a GDDR5X Micron MT58K256M321JA-110 (D9VRL) memory chip.

Figure 9: memory chip

Figure 11 shows the voltage regulator of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. It uses seven phases for the GPU and two phases for the memory chips.

Figure 10: voltage regulator

[nextpage title=”How We Tested”]
During our benchmarking sessions, we used the configuration listed below. Between the tests, the only variable component was the video card being tested.
Hardware Configuration

CPU: Core i7-6950X running at 3.8 GHz
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty X99 Extreme6/3.1
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate
Memory: 64 GiB DDR4-3000 HyperX Predator, four KHX3000C15/16GX 16 GiB modules running at 2400 MHz
Boot drive: Kingston HyperX Savage 480 GB
Case: Thermaltake Core P3
Video Monitor: Samsung U28D590
Power Supply: Corsair CX750

Operating System Configuration

Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Driver Versions

NVIDIA driver version: 382.33

Software Used

Error Margin
We adopted a 3% error margin; thus, differences below 3% cannot be considered relevant. In other words, products with a performance difference below 3% should be considered as having similar performance.
[nextpage title=”3DMark”]

3DMark is a program with a set of several 3D benchmarks. We ran the Time Spy, Fire Strike Extreme and Sky Diver benchmarks.

The Time Spy benchmark measures DirectX 12 native performance, running at 2560 x 1440 resolution. In this benchmark, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti “Founders Edition” was 28% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

The Fire Strike Extreme benchmark measures DirectX 11 performance and is aimed at high-end gaming computers. It runs at 2560 x 1440. In this test, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 31% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

The 3DMark Sky Diver benchmark is aimed at mainstream PCs with DirecX 11 simulations. It runs at 1920 x 1080 Ti. In this test, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 13% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.
[nextpage title=”Gaming Performance – Part 1″]

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is an action RPG with FPS elements, launched in August 2016, that uses the Dawn engine, being compatible with DirectX 12. We tested it using the benchmark included in the game, with DirectX 12 enabled, graphic options “high” and MSAA 2x.
The results below, in Full HD and 4K, are expressed in frames per second.

On Deus Ex: Mankind Divided in Full HD, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 31% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

On 4K, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 36% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

Dirt Rally

Dirt Rally is an off-road racing game launched in April 2015, using the Ego engine. We tested the performance in this game using the built-in benchmark, with quality options “high” and 2x MSAA.
The results below are expressed in fps.

On the Doom test with Full HD, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 11% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

On 4K resolution, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was on a technical tie with the GeForce GTX 1080.
These results shown that there was a CPU bottleneck in this game.

Gears of War 4

Gears of War 4 is a first-person shooter launched in October 2016, using the Unreal Engine 4. We tested the performance at this game on its embedded benchmark, with quality options at the high. The results below are expressed in fps.

On the Full HD benchmark, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 18% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

On 4K, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 32% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.
[nextpage title=”Gaming Performance – Part 2″]

Hitman

Hitman is an action/stealth game, launched in March 2016, that uses a DirectX 12 compatible version of the Glacier 2 engine. To measure performance in this game, we ran the benchmark in it, measuring the framerate with FRAPS. We ran this game with DirectX 12 enabled, with image quality set as “high” and SMAA on.
The results below, in Full HD and 4K, are expressed in frames per second.

On Hitman, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 11% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

With 4K resolution, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 28% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

Mad Max

Mad Max is an open-world action game launched in September of 2015, using the Avalanche engine. In order to measure the performance using this game, we ran its intro, measuring the framerate with FRAPS three times. We ran the game with image quality set as “very high”.

The results below are expressed in fps and they are the mean between the three collected results.

On Mad Max, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 74% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

On 4K, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 51% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

Rainbow Six Siege

“Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege” is a tactical FPS game launched in December 2015, using the AnvilNext engine, which is DirectX 11. In order to measure the performance using this game, we ran the benchmark included on it, using graphics quality “high”.
The results below are expressed in frames per second.

On this game, in Full HD, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 22% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

On 4K resolution, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 29% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

Rise of the Tomb Rider

Rise of the Tomb Rider is an adventure/action game launched in January of 2016, based on Foundation engine. In order to measure the performance using this game, we ran the benchmark included on it, using graphics quality “high” and DirectX 12 enabled.
The results below are expressed in frames per second.

On Rise of the Tomb Rider, in Full HD, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 6% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.

On 4K resolution, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was 35% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080.
[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
When we tested the GeForce GTX 1080, we concluded it has plenty of power to run the most recent and demanding games, with 4K resolution and high quality.
Now that NVIDIA launched a higher-end video card, we can say NVIDIA offers even more performance. Actually, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti offers around 30% more performance than the GTX 1080, which is a substantial advance over a video card that was already very powerful. So, if you want spare of power to run games in 4K resoltion and maximum quality, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the natural choice. That’s why we gave it our Golden Award.
Its only drawback is, of course, its price. Its is good to keep in mind that, if you have a Full HD display, the GTX 1080 Ti is simply too much, since even a mainstream video card like the GeForce GTX 1060 does the job. So, buying a GeForce GTX 1080 Ti only makes sense if you have a high-resolution display.