GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming - The Best VR Graphics Card?

1. Introduction, Pricing & Availability
2. Specs, Detailed Look, & Cooling Technology
3. Testing Methodology & Test Setup Configuration
4. Benchmarks - Synthetic
5. Benchmarks @ 1080p
6. Benchmarks @ 1440p
7. Benchmarks @ 4K
8. Benchmarks - DX12 & OC Adventures
9. Power, Temperature, & Noise
10. Performance Summary & Final Thoughts

TweakTown's Rating: 96%

The Bottom Line

GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming has great performance, an awesome cooler, and a VR Premium Pack that provides USB 3.0 + HDMI ports for the front of your PC. What more could you want?!

Introduction, Pricing & Availability

The last GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card I reviewed was GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming, where I was left more than impressed with its performance and the use of a single 8-pin PCIe power connector. But GIGABYTE's new GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card is a step up, and an impressive one at that.

GIGABYTE's new GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming comes in a Premium Pack edition, which is the one I'm looking at today, and features 'Xtreme VR Link' which provides additional HDMI ports on the front of your machine, so that you can use a VR headset without using the single HDMI port on the back of the graphics card itself.

All of this talk, and we haven't even scratched the surface of what GIGABYTE is offering with the GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card in terms of performance. Well, it has some of the best performance we've seen, with some excellent acoustic performance, too. GIGABYTE has provided 16.8 million customizable color options for the LEDs on the card so that you can tune the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming through the XTREME Engine utility to your liking.

Pricing & Availability

The GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming Premium Pack graphics card is currently on Amazon for $889.99 with stock available at the time of writing.

Specs, Detailed Look, & Cooling Technology

Specifications

NVIDIA's own GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition is a super-fast card, with AIB partners adding their own spices to their custom GTX 1080s. GIGABYTE has placed some of its best work on the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card, with a triple-fan cooler, factory overclock, VR-ready, and so much more. As for detailed specifications, here's what GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming card has to offer.

GIGABYTE provides two overclocked modes on the GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming: OC and Gaming mode. In the Gaming mode, the card has a 1759/1898MHz GPU clock for base and boost, respectively. In the OC mode, the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming has its GPU clocked at 1784/1936MHz for base and boost, respectively.

Detailed Look

This is the part you've all been waiting for: a detailed look at the amazing work GIGABYTE has done on the GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card. We'll start with the box, and move onto the graphics card itself.

I've got to say that GIGABYTE nailed the retail packaging on their GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card. There's not a shot of the card itself on the front of the box - which is surprising, but the overall color scheme - and the fact that there's no shot of the card on the front of the box, says a lot.

Everything happens on the back of the box, where GIGABYTE details its impressive Xtreme VR Link, Xtreme Cooling, Xtreme SLI bridge, Xtreme performance, Xtreme outlook and Xtreme protection. I'm beginning to feel a trend here, but I just can't quite put my finger on it.

And, we have the money shot. The front of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card, with its silver and black accents, looks absolutely awesome in person. We have 3 x 100mm stack fans on the card, which keep it nice and cool.

Around the back, we have a huge backplate and some Xtreme Gaming branding.

There's some more Xtreme Gaming branding on the top of the card, and we get a better look at the elaborate heat-pipe system GIGABYTE has deployed on the card.

The mammoth heat sink can be seen at the bottom of the card, keeping the CPU, VRAM, and VRMs nice and cool.

GIGABYTE's GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming is powered by 2 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors, and towards the end of the card, we can see the are some fins on the heat sink that are completely bent. I've been reading other reports that some of these cards are shipping with bent fins, which isn't nice at all when you plonk down this type of money on a graphics card.

On the end of the card, there are two HDMI ports that will connect to the Xtreme VR Link kit that GIGABYTE provides, which will give you additional HDMI ports on the front of your gaming PC for easy access to your HTC Vive or Oculus Rift headset.

For display connectivity, we have 3 x DP, 1 x HDMI and 1 x DVI.

Cooling Technology

GIGABYTE has put considerable effort into the cooling technology on the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming card, so we're going to break it down bit by bit for you.

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GIGABYTE uses 3 x 100mm stack fans on the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming.

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The WINDFORCE cooler stack 3x cooling system uses a unique blade fan design, double ball bearing structure, angular fin design, and six composite heat pipes to provide one of the best coolers on a graphics card yet.

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GIGABYTE demonstrates how the 3 x 100mm stack fans compare against the 3 x 80mm standard fans.

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Just how good are the stack fans? Pretty damn good.

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There's some great work going on with the composite heat pipes, which combine the thermal conductivity and phase transition for efficiently managing the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces, providing a 29% increase in cooling capacity.

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GIGABYTE has also used a huge copper plate that provides direct contact with the GPU and VRAM for improved cooling.

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GIGABYTE's Xtreme Gaming range of graphics card have the industry's first 0dB semi-passive fan design, something the company introduced all the way back in 2007. The fans will not spin up until the GPU hits a certain load or temperature, with a "FAN STOP" LED indicator on the top of the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card.

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You've got 16.8 million customizable color options on the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming so that you won't get bored nor will you have a graphics card that doesn't look unique.

Testing Methodology & Test Setup Configuration

Testing Method

For the purposes of testing the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming, and for all future graphics card 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.

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3DMark Fire Strike Extreme - 1440p

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3DMark Fire Strike Ultra - 4K (3840x2160)

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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.

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Heaven - 1440p

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Heaven - 4K (3840x2160)

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

GIGABYTE's new GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card has some great gains on NVIDIA's own GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition in our DX12 testing, as you can see below.

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Overclocking Adventures - 2.1GHz Boost

I expected to hit around 2100MHz boost on the GPU with the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming, and I did - just. My sample was stable at 2090MHz and provided a nice boost in performance over the already great factory overclock.

The additional performance was welcomed, as you can see in our 3DMark FireStrike benchmarks:

3DMark Fire Strike - 1080p

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3DMark Fire Strike Extreme - 1440p

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3DMark Fire Strike Ultra - 4K (3840x2160)

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Power, Temperature, & Noise

Hovering at 300W

Nearly all of our custom GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards have been hovering at around 300W total system use, with the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming falling into line perfectly. Our entire Core i7-5960X system with the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming installed used a total of 300W under load.

When overclocked, it went up to around 330-350W depending on the test, but this isn't too bad considering the card has 2 x 8-pin PCIe power connectors. It's capable of using far more but doesn't need to in order to provide the performance.

Temperature & Noise

While running the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card through our benchmarking sessions, the fans did spin up but didn't make any noise that I would complain about at all. It was a near silent gaming experience, which is what I want from a graphics card like this.

As for the temperature, the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming didn't hit over 70C under load, even when we had it overclocked to nearly 2.1GHz boost on the GPU.

Performance Summary & Final Thoughts

Performance Summary

If you're in the market for a new graphics card that can handle 1080p @ 144Hz, 1440p @ 144Hz, or 4K @ 60Hz, you're not going to be disappointed with the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming graphics card. It spits out performance like it's nothing and does so while looking mean as hell, and nearly silent.

I love the big differences in style between GIGABYTE's two GeForce GTX 1080 graphics cards, the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming that I've reviewed already - and loved, and the Xtreme Gaming variant. For those who want the GIGABYTE branding and experience, the GTX 1080 G1 Gaming is still a great card, but for those who want the absolute best, this is where the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming steps up to the plate.

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One of the big points of the card is that the Premium Pack includes GIGABYTE's awesome Xtreme VR Link, which provides a 5.25-inch bay and 2 x HDMI ports and 2 x USB 3.0 ports for easy VR connectivity. This means that you can have an HDMI cord into the rear of the graphics card for your TV, and then your VR headset into the front of the PC. Awesome stuff.

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Not only do we have great performance, a huge focus on VR, and a super-great looking card, but GIGABYTE also provides a huge four-year warranty on their Xtreme Gaming graphics cards. GIGABYTE normally offers a three-year warranty, but GIGABYTE is offering another year of warranty when you register on their Xtreme Gaming Club and register your new graphics card.

Final Thoughts

GIGABYTE has come out smashing home runs with NVIDIA's new Pascal-based GeForce GTX 10 series, making me utterly love their new G1 Gaming and Xtreme Gaming offerings. They're both great cards, but the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming is a notch or two above the G1 Gaming thanks to the increased performance, improved overclocking headroom, and the Xtreme VR Link - which for me as a VR enthusiast, is super important.

Sure, right now you might not own an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive, but GIGABYTE is looking into the future. You can buy the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming today and a VR headset six months from now and be ready with not just a graphics card that can handle VR performance wise, but with the 5.25-inch drive bay and its additional USB 3.0 and HDMI ports, you're ready to rock and roll in a much more convenient way.

Right now it really doesn't matter which GeForce GTX 1080 you buy - they are so close to each other in terms of performance, power consumption, and price - but GIGABYTE has stepped outside of those safe boundaries with the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming and the VR Premium Pack.

This is where GIGABYTE is shining, providing a VR-ready graphics card and thinking outside of the square with the 5.25-inch bay and additional USB 3.0 ports and HDMI connectivity. This is a huge deal, as you can buy the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming and be as future proof as you can with a great graphics card, and ready for VR gaming.