NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Review: The Titan X Is Dead

NVIDIA redefines the high-end graphics card with its new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. Join us as examine it thoroughly.

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Manufacturer: NVIDIA
13 minutes & 11 seconds read time
TweakTown's Rating: 100%
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The Bottom Line

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the most amazing graphics card to come in a very long time, offering $1200 performance from the Titan X for just $699. AMD's answer with Radeon RX Vega needs to be nothing short of MONSTROUS.

Introduction, Pricing & Availability

NVIDIA continues to build on its immensely popular Pascal family of graphics cards. After launching the GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 in May 2016, the company has filled the GTX 10 series from top to bottom with the GeForce GTX 1050, GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1060, GTX 1070, GTX 1080, Titan X - and now the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

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Gamers and enthusiasts - myself included - have been waiting with heated breath on the GTX 1080 Ti, and I can solemnly say that it has matched, and easily beaten my expectations.

NVIDIA isn't a company that's shy to continue to push the boundaries, and they've been able to do so without releasing their next generation GPU architecture, Volta. The company is still finding major legs in their current Pascal architecture, but there is one superpower that NVIDIA is leveraging: GDDR5X.

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In May last year, the GeForce GTX 1080 was announced with 8GB of super-fast GDDR5X memory clocked at 10Gbps. It was an impressive feat because until then we lived in a world of 7-8Gbps bandwidth courtesy of GDDR5.

Months later, NVIDIA trumped the GeForce GTX 1080 with the Titan X - dropping the GeForce branding from the card (although, they had no problems using the old GeForce GTX Titan X backplates from the Maxwell-based Titan X) - but priced the card at a huge $1200.

The big difference between the GTX 1080 and Titan X - since they were both rocking GDDR5X, was that the Titan X had 12GB of GDDR5X - on a 384-bit memory bus, versus the smaller 256-bit memory bus on the GTX 1080.

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Well, that all changes today with the introduction of the GTX 1080 Ti, which rocks a wider 352-bit memory bus, and 11GB of GDDR5X... clocked at 11Gbps. NVIDIA made a very big point about the use of '11' in their new GTX 1080 Ti, and it has paid off.

Pricing & Availability

NVIDIA is pricing this brute force graphics card at just $699, meaning the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is debuting at the same price as the GTX 1080 did in May 2016. The standard GTX 1080 is now priced at $499, while the tweaked GTX 1080 with 8GB of 11Gbps-clocked GDDR5X priced at $599.

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You can order the GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition graphics card directly from NVIDIA's website, while AIB partner cards from the likes of MSI, GIGABYTE, ZOTAC, ASUS, EVGA, and more will roll out over the coming weeks.

Crank It Up To 11

GDDR5X @ 11Gbps

When the first rumors started circling on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, I expected it to be a slightly gimped Titan X - with 8GB of GDDR5X on a 384-bit memory bus. But boy was I wrong. NVIDIA worked closely with Micron on tweaking G5X, with some stellar results.

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NVIDIA and Micron have made significant technological improvements on G5X, with advanced equalization techniques, channel optimization, minimal noise + jitter + PVT loss. As you can see from NVIDIA's press deck on GTX 1080 Ti, there's much less interference - allowing NVIDIA and Micron to crank everything... to 11.

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NVIDIA have used a much wider 352-bit memory bus, allowing the GDDR5X and its 11Gbps of bandwidth to surely set new records. We're talking about Titan X beating performance here, and for just $699. I don't know how NVIDIA have done it, but they have, again.

Improvements To The Pascal Architecture

NVIDIA hasn't just strapped a rocket to the back of the GTX 1080 - they've recrafted the already great Pascal GPU architecture with what Neo talked about in The Matrix Reloaded... upgrades.

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First up, we have Tiled Caching - a new technology that improves cache locality and reduces memory traffic. Instead of rendering the entire screen, it will render portions of the screen at a time - something that NVIDIA has also provided to previous-gen Maxwell and Pascal-based GeForce graphics cards.

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Alongside Tiled Caching, improved compression boosts the memory bandwidth of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti from 484GB/sec to a meteoric 1200GB/sec - or 1.2TB/sec. Now keep in mind that the much more technologically advanced HBM2 technology is only hitting 512GB/sec or so - and with current rumors of the Radeon RX Vega not even hitting 500GB/sec with HBM2. NVIDIA has positioned themselves extremely well.

More VRAM/Frame Buffer Required

If we rewind back to 2014, games like Assassin's Creed IV and COD: Ghosts were referencing up to 3GB of framebuffer, while AC: Unity and GTA V were pushing 4GB in 2015 - all at 2560x1440. If we push into 2016 and look at the GTX 980 Ti - games were using up to 6GB of framebuffer at 4K, but 2017 saw them push towards 8GB with games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Watch Dogs 2.

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Looking into the future, NVIDIA sees games like Watch Dogs 2 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided needing up to 11GB of framebuffer for 5K gaming - but this is in 2018, and beyond.

New Cooling Tech

NVIDIA has a speedier Pascal-based GPU, super-fast GDDR5X memory, and a huge 35% performance improvement over the GTX 1080 - all of this pushed NVIDIA to make some tweaks to the already impressive Founders Edition cooler on the GTX 1080 Ti.

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The new GTX 1080 Ti features a new thermal design, with vapor chamber cooling, and 2 x cooling areas. NVIDIA has deployed 7-phase dualFET, 250A power, and 14 dualFETs. Meaning that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, is a beast - a totally raw, insanely fast graphics card that is ready for the games of today, and tomorrow.

Dat Efficiency, Yo

Seriously, all of this stuff drives me - the improvements that NVIDIA has made to the architecture, GDDR5X, and now the power delivery system, are beyond impressive.

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If we compare the Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 980 against the Pascal-powered GeForce GTX 1080, we begin to see the improvements NVIDIA made. On the GTX 980, the company was using MOSFETs to move everything into the GPU - with efficiency dropping to below 80% when the card consumed more than 100W of power.

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NVIDIA shifted to dualFET on the GTX 1080, seeing huge strides in efficiency - with the GTX 1080 not dropping to below 80% efficiency, even at up to 200W. The difference between the GTX 980 and GTX 1080 in terms of power efficiency, is day and night.

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Moving to the GTX 1080 Ti, where NVIDIA has tapped 2 x dualFET - seeing the efficiency improve yet again - with 83% efficiency at up to 200W of power - better than the GTX 1080, and far better than the GTX 980.

Cooler Performance Improvements @ 220W

We've touched on the improved cooler on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti a little, but there are some great gains to be had. NVIDIA tested the GTX 1080 against the new GTX 1080 Ti, with the GTX 1080 hitting 95C and the cooler ramping the noise up to 32.5dBA.

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As the temperature of the GTX 1080 floats back down to under 90C, the noise reduction is significant with around 2.5dBA in reductions. But, the improved cooler on the GTX 1080 Ti drops both the temps and the noise levels.

NVIDIA has tested the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 32.5dBA, where it was only hitting 88C or so - compared to the 95C on the GTX 1080. But, the card is 2.5dBA quieter than the GTX 1080, and 5C cooler - hitting 82C or so and 35.5dBA - while the GTX 1080 reaches 88C at the same noise levels. Impressive stuff once again.

Best Ti EVAH

NVIDIA made a very big point that the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the 'best Ti ever,' and they're right. Just look at the improvements between each Ti release - the GTX 780 to GTX 780 Ti, and the GTX 980 to GTX 980 Ti - with an 18% improvement and 25% improvement, respectively.

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The new GTX 1080 Ti blows both Ti releases out of the water, with a huge 35% improvement in performance over the already impressive GTX 1080. There's just nothing to complain about here at all, folks.

35% Faster Than GTX 1080

NVIDIA aren't joking around with the performance figure gains on the GTX 1080 Ti, as they had plenty of tests of games ranging from Crysis 3 to Battlefield 1 - at 1440p, and 4K - with low AA and higher amounts of AA. There were also games like The Division, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and more - all with 30%+ performance improvements.

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Our testing is coming soon, so just you wait for the excitement that is coming - and again folks, at just $699.

Detailed Specs & Physical Look

Detailed Specification

It's not all about the upgraded GDDR5X @ 11Gbps, but NVIDIA has been tweaking the Pascal architecture for a while now - and it doesn't start and end with the new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. There's an overclocked GTX 1080 rocking the same GDDR5X clocked at 11Gbps, and a new GTX 1060 with faster GDDR5 memory at 9Gbps - but we'll get into that later.

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First, let's talk about the improvements that NVIDIA has made to the Pascal architecture on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

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We have a GPU that has a whopping 12 billion transistors, with the GPU hitting 1.6GHz on base, and 2GHz when overclocked. There are 28 SMs with 128 cores each - and a huge 3584 CUDA cores. 28 geometry units, 224 TMUs, 6 GPCs, 88 ROPs - and of course, 11GB of GDDR5X at 11Gbps.

Display connectivity wise, NVIDIA has dropped the DVI connector from the GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition but includes a DVI to DisplayPort dongle in the box. AIB partners have already shown cards with a DVI connector, so either way, if it's a requirement for you monitor wise, you'll be fine.

Founders Edition FTW

I'm a big fan of the physical look of the Founders Edition cards directly from NVIDIA, so when it comes to the physical style of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, I feel nothing but love.

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The style is simple, yet sleek - and the blower-style fan works incredibly well. My headphones are on when I'm gaming, which is the only time the card makes any noise - silent during low loads - thank you.

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The backplate with 'GeForce GTX 1080 Ti' printed into it looks great and will look even better when there's a pair of GTX 1080 Ti cards in SLI.

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Even with all of this power, up to 35% faster than GTX 1080 and NVIDIA is requiring only an 8+6-pin PCIe power connector setup on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition.

System Setup

Test Bed Specs

I'm in the process of moving our test bed over to a Core i7-7700K system, but didn't get the parts in time before my previous trips - so my new PC was in bits, and I had to use my current workstation. It's still a beast, as it sports the Core i7-6700K with 16GB of DDR4-4000MHz RAM from G.Skill - and with the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti its center - it's a gaming Goliath.

[Temporary] GPU Test Bed Specs:

  • GIGABYTE Z170-Designare
  • Intel Core i7-7700K @ stock
  • Corsair H110i cooler
  • G.Skill 16GB DDR4-4000 RAM
  • Corsair RM1000X PSU
  • Corsair Carbide Air 540
  • Samsung 1TB Evo 950 M.2 SSD (on motherboard)
  • Kingston HyperX Predator 480GB M.2 SSD (PCIe x4 port)
  • Windows 10 x64

Benchmarks: 1080p

1080p Benchmarks

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Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

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Rise of the Tomb Raider is one of the best looking games on the market, a truly gorgeous game - and a wonder to benchmark. The team at Crystal Dynamics made a very scalable PC game that plays really well testing graphics cards. We've got DX11 and DX12 results in one here, showing the slight strengths of running DX12 mode.

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Rainbow Six: Siege has been a strong entry into the franchise, popular for its realistic feel and great graphics. Stable as a rock for benchmarking, right up to 3440x1440 and 4K.

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Benchmarks: 1440p

1440p Benchmarks

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Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

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Rainbow Six: Siege has been a strong entry into the franchise, popular for its realistic feel and great graphics. Stable as a rock for benchmarking, right up to 3440x1440 and 4K.

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Benchmarks: 4K

4K Benchmarks

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Far Cry Primal is a game built on the impressive Dunia Engine 2 with wide open, beautiful environments. It might look stunning, but the performance is actually quite good - but most cards will be stressed at 1440p, and especially so at 4K and beyond.

You can buy Far Cry Primal at Amazon.

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Rainbow Six: Siege has been a strong entry into the franchise, popular for its realistic feel and great graphics. Stable as a rock for benchmarking, right up to 3440x1440 and 4K.

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Benchmarks: Synthetic

3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p

3DMark Fire Strike benchmark

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark Fire Strike - 1440p

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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3DMark Fire Strike - 4K

3DMark has been a staple benchmark for years now, all the way back to when The Matrix was released and Futuremark had bullet time inspired benchmarks. 3DMark is the perfect tool to see if your system - most important, your CPU and GPU - is performing as it should. You can search results for your GPU, to see if it falls in line with other systems based on similar hardware.

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Heaven - 1080p

Unigine Heaven benchmark

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

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Heaven - 1440p

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

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Heaven - 4K

Heaven is an intensive GPU benchmark that really pushes your silicon to its limits. It's another favorite of ours as it has some great scaling for multi-GPU testing, and it's great for getting your GPU to 100% for power and noise testing.

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Performance Summary & Final Thoughts

There's no denying it - the performance NVIDIA has squeezed out of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is nothing short of a miracle. We have Titan X level performance, where in some games it isn't quite as good - and by that, we mean by a few frames per second, or we have better-than-Titan X performance.

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NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti easily handles the GTX 1080, offering at least 20-25% more performance across the board, and in 4K gaming - the performance gap grows. The 11Gbps of bandwidth on that wider 352-bit memory bus on the tweaked GDDR5X really flexes its muscles on the GTX 1080 Ti at 1440p and 4K.

As I was benchmarking the GTX 1080 Ti, I realized something: I'm in dire need of a new 5K monitor to really push these new graphics cards. The GTX 1080 Ti is a bloody solid card, capable of handling any and all gaming situations. 1440p 144/165Hz G-Sync display? No problem. 4K 60Hz G-Sync display? Easy.

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How Can AMD Compete With Radeon RX Vega?

I expected this type of performance but was hoping for around 20% from the faster GDDR5X bandwidth at 11Gbps, but the wider bus on the GTX 1080 Ti alongside the improved and faster GDDR5X is potent. So now it has infected me and made me think differently about what I expect from AMD and its upcoming Radeon RX Vega graphics card. NVIDIA has really changed the entire game with the release of the GTX 1080 Ti, as it creates an even higher performance expectation from Radeon RX Vega, months before it's released.

AMD now needs to aim for two different possible futures, wherein the first one they actually do it - they beat the GTX 1080 Ti and its mammoth performance. This incarnation of the Radeon RX Vega would need to be a monster, offering beyond GTX 1080 Ti performance (10-20% faster) and smaller - and either the same price, if not $499 - for it to have that 'oh, holy sh*t' feeling.

NVIDIA Owns The High-End/Enthusiast Market, With No Competition

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NVIDIA has really nailed the enthusiast graphics card market, and improved it beyond words with the release of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, and the re-tweaked GTX 1080 with 8GB of the new 11Gbps-capable GDDR5X (the same gear that is on the GTX 1080 Ti) and an upgraded GTX 1060 with 9Gbps of GDDR5 (up from 8Gbps on the original GTX 1060).

The work between NVIDIA and Micron have enabled the GTX 1080 Ti (and the new tweaked GTX 1080 and GTX 1060) to offer an even tighter grip on the high-end/enthusiast level of graphics cards. Right now, there is absolutely no Radeon card in the vicinity of NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti - heck, not even the older GTX 1080, let alone the new one with faster 11Gbps GDDR5X memory.

Leading into NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference in May, what should we expect? Now that NVIDIA has released its much anticipated - and holy balls it's amazing graphics card in the GTX 1080 Ti, maybe NVIDIA will unveil its next-gen Volta architecture.

Volta will change everything, again - and while the fallout from the GTX 1080 Ti is going to be huge for AMD already, Volta is an entirely new kettle of fish. Pascal has been a technological achievement to get the Maxwell architecture and refine it to the point of the GTX 1080 Ti with 11GB of GDDR5X at 11Gbps, killing it for $699 - all without using HBM2, or a truly new GPU architecture.

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NVIDIA hasn't shifted to using HBM2 on consumer graphics cards yet, but do they need to? With 11Gbps of bandwidth from GDDR5X, there's no reason to - unless they have a gigantic hammer to swing - which I think they do, and it will crush High Bandwidth Cache. HBC is a large part of the Vega GPU architecture from AMD - which are using HBM2 on the Radeon RX Vega series of graphics cards.

NVIDIA has just trumped them with a massive 484GB/sec of memory bandwidth on the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti without using HBM2, all for $699 - with partner cards in all shapes and sizes to come very soon. If you're an enthusiast right now, you're blinded by GeForce products left, right, and center.

The more exciting thing is where to for NVIDIA from here... the GTX 1080 Ti crushes everything right now, so what is in store for us with Volta?

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The Bottom Line: NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is the most amazing graphics card to come in a very long time, offering $1200 performance from the Titan X for just $699. AMD's answer with Radeon RX Vega needs to be nothing short of MONSTROUS.

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Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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