The Bottom Line
Introduction, Pricing & Availability
I stepped into the boots of reviewing graphics cards for TweakTown in late 2014, and since then, I've been changing things up and reviewing more cards than ever. There have been a few brands I haven't been able to get my hands-on, and one of those is GIGABYTE. That all changes today, however.
We're now working with someone new at GIGABYTE's graphics card marketing department, who has sent me four graphics cards in NVIDIA's new GeForce GTX 10 series range. We have the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming and GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics cards, as well as their GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming and Xtreme Gaming graphics cards.
The first to get to my door was GIGABYTE's surprisingly impressive GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming, and I'm going to walk you through why I think it's the most surprising GeForce GTX 1080 yet.
GIGABYTE has spent the last couple of years nailing their graphics cards, quickly becoming one of the toughest competitors in the market - standing proudly next to the likes of ZOTAC, MSI, and ASUS. GIGABYTE has been putting considerable time into board design and cooling technology, where their design and cooling chops have been put to the true test on NVIDIA's next-gen GeForce GTX 1080.
Pricing & Availability
There's still not much stock of NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 (or the GTX 1070) so the pricing on GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming is quite high right now. At the time of writing, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming was listed on Amazon for $799.98.
Specs, Detailed Look, & Cooling Technology
Specifications
GIGABYTE hasn't gone too crazy with the GPU clocks on its GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card, as it's saved the best for the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming, which we'll be reviewing very soon. There is a big difference between GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming and the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming (and most of the other custom GTX 1080s, really) in that GIGABYTE used a single 8-pin PCIe power connector on the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming.
This might not sound like a lot, but there are a couple of big points here that I'll highlight. Firstly, a single 8-pin PCIe connector means that GIGABYTE doesn't need another 75-150W from an additional 6 or 8-pin PCIe connector. It does everything it needs to from a single 8-pin PCIe connector.
Secondly, GIGABYTE can push the GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming into different markets where gamers might want an upgrade, but don't want to be pushing their PSU to its limits. You can be safe in buying the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming and having your system not pass 300W of total power consumption.
Detailed Look
I've got to say that I'm digging the retail box of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card - so let's take a closer look.
GIGABYTE has decided on a very Transformers-like box for their GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card, but I really like it. In the bottom left, we can see that the card has their WINDFORCE cooling technology, RGB lighting, and that this is the OC Edition card. In the bottom right, we have NVIDIA's various Pascal-based technologies in GameWorks, Ansel, VRWorks, and DX12.
On the back of the box, GIGABYTE details its impressive WINDFORCE 3X cooling system and the RGB lighting which has 16.8 million customizable colors at its disposal.
Here we have the front of the card, with the WINDFORCE 3X cooler looking nice and mean. The orange and black color theme that GIGABYTE has used looks awesome, too.
GIGABYTE has used a large black backplate on their GTX 1080 G1 Gaming, which keeps the rear of the card and all of its PCB protected, and running cooler.
We have the standard 3 x DP 1.4, 1 x HDMI 2.0b and DVI output on the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card.
Here we have the top of the card, with some GIGABYTE branding (which will light up), a tease of their FAN STOP technology where the fans, will - uh, stop - based on the load of the GPU. To the right, we can see the single 8-pin PCIe power connector.
If you want an even more powerful setup, you can throw the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming cards in SLI.
WINDFORCE 3X - Triple-Fan Goodness
GIGABYTE has an elaborate cooling system with its WINDFORCE 3X cooling system, which is what we're going to jump into now. It's an incredible system that is super-quiet, making absolutely no noise during our gaming and benchmarking sessions.
WINDFORCE 3X has three pure copper composite heat pipes, a special fin architecture, unique blade fan design, and more.
Unique blade fan design, you say? Yeah, GIGABYTE has the airflow split through the triangle fan edge and guided through the 3D stripe curve on the fan surface, which culminates in increasing the airflow by 23% over traditional fans.
We also have 3D active fans with LED indicators, so they'll be off when the GPU isn't under load, while the LED fan indicator will let you know if the fans are off, or not.
The composite heat pipes have both thermal conductivity and phase transition for getting rid of the heat from the GP104 GPU as efficiently as possible, as the two solid interfaces increase the cooling capacity.
GIGABYTE has used pure copper heat pipes that are shaped specifically to maximize the direct contact area to the GPU, providing you with improved cooling on the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card.
No graphics card released in 2016 would be worth buying if it didn't have RGB lighting, right?!
GIGABYTE wants to make your overclocking experience on the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming easier than normal, with one-click super overclocking through their XTREME Engine overclocking utility. Not only that but GIGABYTE's G1 Gaming range of cards "guarantee higher overclocking capability in terms of excellent power switching, ensuring the highest performance without compromising system reliability".
The card also has some smart power LED indicators, which will alert you when the PCIe voltage is unstable.
Testing Methodology & Test Setup Configuration
Testing Method
For the purposes of testing the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming, and for all future GPU reviews and articles, we've changed up our benchmark suite. I've removed Battlefield 4, GRID: Autosport, BioShock: Infinite, and Grand Theft Auto V. In their place, I've got Far Cry Primal and The Division.
I've also added in some DX12 testing, with Hitman and Ashes of the Singularity. This will provide us with enough variety, but I'm on the hunt for new benchmarks all the time. The second that Battlefield 1 drops, we'll be including that in our GPU reviews, while I'll also be keeping an eye out on the release of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
Test System Configuration
Corsair sent us over their kick-ass AX1500i PSU, which provides 1500W of power for our 3 and 4-way GPU testing that we have coming very soon.
Anthony's Video Card Test System Specifications
- Motherboard: ASUS Rampage V Extreme - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- CPU: Intel Core i7 5960X - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Cooler: Corsair H110 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Memory: Kingston 16GB (4x4GB) HyperX Predator DDR4 3000MHz - Buy from Amazon
- Storage #1: SanDisk Extreme II 240GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Storage #2: Intel 730 Series 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- Case: Lian Li PC-T80 Open-Air - Buy from Amazon
- Power Supply: Corsair AX1500i - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
- OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit - Buy from Amazon
- Drivers: NVIDIA GeForce 368.39 and AMD Catalyst 16.6.2 hotfix
Benchmarks - Synthetic
3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p
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.
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme - 1440p
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra - 4K (3840x2160)
Heaven - 1080p
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.
Heaven - 1440p
Heaven - 4K (3840x2160)
Benchmarks @ 1080p
1080p Benchmarks
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.
Tom Clancy's The Division is one of the best looking games on the market, build with the beautiful Snowdrop engine. It's an RPG, including some awesome PvP multiplayer, and some of the best graphics on the market. It really stresses systems out, especially at 4K, making it perfect to test with our various video cards.
You can buy The Division at Amazon, and you can read our full review here.
We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.
You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.
Thief has been around for quite a while now, with the latest version of the first-person stealth game powered by Epic Games' older Unreal Engine 3. While it's old, it has some great multi-GPU scaling that we use to test out our various GPU setups.
You can buy Thief at Amazon.
Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.
You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.
Benchmarks @ 1440p
1440p Benchmarks
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.
Tom Clancy's The Division is one of the best looking games on the market, build with the beautiful Snowdrop engine. It's an RPG, including some awesome PvP multiplayer, and some of the best graphics on the market. It really stresses systems out, especially at 4K, making it perfect to test with our various video cards.
You can buy The Division at Amazon, and you can read our full review here.
We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.
You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.
Thief has been around for quite a while now, with the latest version of the first-person stealth game powered by Epic Games' older Unreal Engine 3. While it's old, it has some great multi-GPU scaling that we use to test out our various GPU setups.
You can buy Thief at Amazon.
Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.
You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.
Benchmarks @ 4K
4K Benchmarks
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.
Tom Clancy's The Division is one of the best looking games on the market, build with the beautiful Snowdrop engine. It's an RPG, including some awesome PvP multiplayer, and some of the best graphics on the market. It really stresses systems out, especially at 4K, making it perfect to test with our various video cards.
You can buy The Division at Amazon, and you can read our full review here.
We recently changed over to Metro: Last Light Redux, with developer 4A Games making the Redux version of Metro: Last Light the 'definitive' version of the game. Redux had a fresh coat of paint on the already impressive 4A Engine, and it really pushes our GPUs to their limits.
You can buy Metro: Last Light Redux at Amazon.
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is one of the most graphically intensive games we test, with Monolith using their own Lithtech engine to power the game. When cranked up to maximum detail, it will chew through your GPU and its VRAM like it's nothing.
You can buy Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at Amazon.
Thief has been around for quite a while now, with the latest version of the first-person stealth game powered by Epic Games' older Unreal Engine 3. While it's old, it has some great multi-GPU scaling that we use to test out our various GPU setups.
You can buy Thief at Amazon.
Tomb Raider is still such a gorgeous game, with developer Crystal Dynamics using their own 'Foundation' engine to build Lara Croft into the new world. One of the best parts about Tomb Raider is the absolutely stellar multi-GPU scaling, so this is an important test to see how well our NVIDIA GeForce SLI and AMD Radeon CrossFire setups scale.
You can buy Tomb Raider at Amazon.
Benchmarks - DX12 & OC Adventures
This is our new section for video card reviews, with DX12 and VR becoming a huge deal over the course of the last 12 months. We have just a handful of DX12 tests right now, so expect this section of the site and our reviews to grow considerably over the coming months.
The same goes for VR, where we have both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive in house now. We will be testing VRMark for now, which is in Preview form, as well as our thoughts on VR gaming on the HTC Vive with the new GeForce GTX 1080 video card.
DirectX 12 Performance
For now, we've been testing Ashes of the Singularity and Hitman in DX12, but we will soon be using 3DMark's new Time Spy benchmark. Time Spy is the latest DX12 benchmark with some impressive visuals, and it'll be joining our GPU reviews very, very soon.
Overclocking Adventures - Surprising Results
I didn't expect to get much out of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming, as it only has a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, but I was pleasantly surprised with the overclock on the GP104 GPU. I was able to hit 2050MHz (or so) boost on the GPU, which is pretty damn impressive. It wasn't stable in everything, but I found a sweet spot at around 1980-2000MHz.
The additional performance was welcomed, as you can see in our 3DMark FireStrike benchmarks:
3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p
3DMark Fire Strike Extreme - 1440p
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra - 4K (3840x2160)
Power, Temperature, & Noise
240W Under Load
NVIDIA made a very impressive stance with its single 8-pin PCIe power connector on the GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, and GIGABYTE has replicated it with its GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming graphics card. The single 8-pin PCIe power connector on the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming is more than enough power for the card to excel in all resolutions, and even has some great overclocking headroom.
As you can see, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming together with my Core i7-5960X test bed uses 240W of power - just 10W more than NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition.
Temperature & Noise
So far, all of the custom GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards have been virtually silent under load - and the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming doesn't deviate from that whatsoever. The triple-fan cooling system is enough to keep the card cool, with our sample hitting 69C maximum under 100% load after 30-45 minutes of activity.
Even when I was overclocking the GPU past 2GHz, it wasn't making any additional noise from the fans ramping up. I could manually increase the fan speed using GIGABYTE's overclocking utility, Xtreme Utility, but that was the only way I could get more noise from the fans. It's great, as the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming didn't need any additional fan speed increase to handle the additional load from the overclocking.
The 69C temperature is a great spot, as it means GIGABYTE has done a great job with the cooling system on the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card. You won't have to worry about all-night gaming or benchmarking sessions; that's for sure.
Performance Summary & Final Thoughts
Performance Summary
Now that I've reviewed a handful of custom GeForce GTX 1080s like the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G, EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING ACX 3.0 and ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 AMP! Extreme, I can begin to form a better opinion on which one will suit people better. GIGABYTE has some impressive stuff going on with its GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming graphics card, which is mostly centered on the use of a single 8-pin PCIe power connector.
You'd think that the additional 6 or 8-pin PCIe power connectors on the other cards would help with overclocking, but they really don't all that much. I had nearly as much success with passing 2GHz on the GPU with GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming and its single 6-pin PCIe power connector as I did with the other custom GTX 1080s and their additional PCIe power connectors.
After years of not having GIGABYTE graphics card samples here on TweakTown, it's so good to have them working together with us again, as they've surprised me the most out of all of the AIB partners so far. With just a single 8-pin PCIe power connector, GIGABYTE can compete with the other companies who are using 8+8-pin PCIe power connectors, and the performance is very similar.
The overclocking headroom is still there, with over 2GHz+ easily achievable on the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming graphics card. This means you can have a smaller PSU like a quality 400W unit, and not fret over being able to overclock it. The single 8-pin PCIe power connector will handle everything you can throw at it with the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card.
Better yet, if you wanted to throw the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming cards in SLI, you won't need more than 500W. This is kinda crazy considering the amount of sheer GPU horsepower you'd have with two of these cards in SLI, but hey - it's all thanks to the efficient NVIDIA Pascal architecture, the 16nm FinFET process, and GIGABYTE's awesomely crafted GTX 1080 G1 Gaming graphics card.
Final Thoughts
GIGABYTE has completely surprised me with their efforts on the GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming card, and what's possible with some excellent engineering, cooling technology, and a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. This is the new recommendation for those who don't want to push their card heavily in the overclocking department and don't want their PSU stressing out too much.
For those who want to build a new mITX gaming PC, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming is a perfect choice. The low power consumption and heat output are a one-two punch combo that will dominate any rig.