AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G Review

Introduction

GIGABYTE has launched yet another graphics card offensive under the AORUS brand, with their new AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti series of products. We have everything from the AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G, to the GTX 1080 Ti Gaming OC 11G, and the flagship AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition 11G - the latter two I'm trying to get, and the first I have here today.

The differences between the three different cards are that the middle one is a GIGABYTE branded card, the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Gaming OC 11G, while the other two are the normal, and Xtreme Edition versions under the AORUS branding.

GIGABYTE sent us the slower of the two for our first review, but I'm trying to get my hands-on the GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition 11G, so I can make a comparison of it against the GTX 1080 Ti 11G that I'm about to get into now.

Cooling Tech

Cooling Technology

AORUS upgraded their cooling solution for the GeForce GTX 1080 11G graphics card, with an extensive cooler that takes care of the GPU, VRAM, and MOSFET - keeping them all cool with 3 x 100mm stack fans, a front copper base plate, and the copper back plate.

As you can see, there's a lot going on under the hood on the AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G.

The large copper base plate has direct contact to both the GPU and VRAM, pulling heat from the hottest running components and into the heat sink.

Where AORUS does things very differently, is that their engineers have designed the advanced copper back plate cooling which removes additional heat from the rear of the GPU. There is more heat than ever being generated by these new GPUs on the 14nm FinFET process, so the additional attention to detail from AORUS is beyond welcomed.

AORUS cooling isn't a joke - it's an advanced set of technologies and features.

There's also RGB Fusion, which lets you customize your GTX 1080 Ti 11G graphics card through RGB LEDs.

Something else that AORUS does that I really love is that there are additional display outputs - with an additional HDMI 2.0 connector at the back, as well as DVI - so you can have four outputs at once.

On top of that, there's also another HDMI 2.0 port on the end of the card for VR setups - specifically, if you have a front HDMI 2.0 header on your PC for easy access to the Rift and Vive headsets.

It's not just the cooling, but overclocking as well.

Detailed Look

AORUS has a similar design throughout all of its GeForce GTX 10 series cards, with the GTX 1080 Ti 11G featuring the additional GPU base plate that keeps the GP104 chip cool. But first, we'll take a look at the retail packaging.

There's not too much to look at on the front of the box.

The back of the box has all of the details you'll need on the cooling, RGB Fusion LEDs, AORUS VR-Link, and more.

The front of the AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G, with its 3 x 100mm fans.

The back of the card, with the GPU backplate and base plate, can be seen here.

It's a thick card, requiring three slots to fit it in - but it looks great, don't you think?

GIGABYTE requires 8+8-pin PCIe power connectors on the AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11G.

Display connectivity includes: 2 x HDMI 2.0, 3 x DP, and 1 x DVI.

Test System Specs

I've recently edited my GPU test bed, which was powered by the Intel Core i7-5960X processor, and shifted into the arms of Kaby Lake and Intel's new Core i7-7700K. GIGABYTE hooked us up with their awesome new AORUS Z270X-Gaming 9 motherboard, which is the heart and soul of my new GPU test platform.

Detailed Tech Specs

• CPU: Intel Core i7-7700K
• Cooler: Nocua U12S
• MB: AORUS Z270X-Gaming 9
• RAM: 16GB (2x8GB) G.SKILL Trident Z 4000MHz DDR4
• SSD: 1TB OCZ RD400 NVMe M.2
• PSU: Corsair AX1500i
• Chassis: In Win X-Frame

Detailed Look

There's a bigger article I've got coming that will detail the new system, but for now - here are some shots I've taken of the new system in action:

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 - 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.

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.

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

Heaven - 3440x1440

Benchmarks - 1080p

1080p Benchmarks

Ubisoft's latest installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series is Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world tactical shooter with some of the best graphics on the market, with Ubisoft Paris using a modified version of the AnvilNext engine.

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.

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.

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.

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.

Benchmarks - 1440p

1440p Benchmarks

Ubisoft's latest installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series is Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world tactical shooter with some of the best graphics on the market, with Ubisoft Paris using a modified version of the AnvilNext engine.

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.

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.

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.

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.

Benchmarks - 4K

4K Benchmarks

Ubisoft's latest installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series is Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world tactical shooter with some of the best graphics on the market, with Ubisoft Paris using a modified version of the AnvilNext engine.

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.

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.

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.

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.

Benchmarks - 3440x1440

3440x1440 Benchmarks

Ubisoft's latest installment in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series is Ghost Recon Wildlands, an open world tactical shooter with some of the best graphics on the market, with Ubisoft Paris using a modified version of the AnvilNext engine.

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.

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.

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.

Metro: Last Light Redux comes from 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.

Benchmarks - DX12

DX12 Benchmarks

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.

3DMark TimeSpy (DX12) 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.

Performance Analysis & Final Thoughts

Performance Analysis

If you're after a graphics card that pushes out 1080p 120FPS+ or you've got a 2560x1440 gaming display at 144/165Hz, then the AORUS GTX 1080 Ti 11G is something you should be looking at. For those with a 21:9 aspect display and native 3440x1440 resolution, in our testing the AORUS GTX 1080 Ti 11G can handle 80-100FPS without a problem, which is perfect for the 100Hz UltraWide gaming monitors on the market.

AORUS, as usual, is on the ball, offering up some of the coolest running GTX 1080 Ti temps we've seen. The company does talk up its advanced copper back plate cooling, with a rear-side GPU copper back plate. Our card was running at 62C max and scaling up to around 68-70C when overclocked.

Final Thoughts

AORUS has filled out its GeForce GTX 1080 Ti range well, with the GTX 1080 Ti 11G being the second-fastest in the 3-way stack, with the Xtreme Edition sitting on top of the performance mountain. At the end of the day, you're going to get a great graphics card that can handle anything you throw at it.

For games like CS:GO, Overwatch, Rocket League, and others - frames are king, so you need 120-165FPS for the high refresh rate panels. If you're gaming on my favorite native res: 3440x1440, then you're going to be enjoying your native refresh of 100Hz easily, with 80-100FPS on Ultra details on the AORUS GTX 1080 Ti 11G. For 4K gamers, you're fine with 60FPS average not being a problem in most games - some of them, however, you will be dropping some in-game details down.

If you're rocking a GIGABYTE or AORUS motherboard and were looking at a GTX 1080 Ti, then the AORUS GTX 1080 Ti 11G is a kind of perfect fit. Oodles of power, a stylish look, and best of all - if one isn't enough, why not get two and throw them in SLI?