Asus GTX980 Strix OC Review

1. Introduction2. Asus GTX980 Strix OC3. Asus GTX980 Strix OC (High Res Gallery)4. Testing Methodology5. 3DMark Vantage6. 3DMark 117. 3DMark8. Unigine Heaven Benchmark9. Unigine Valley Benchmark10. Grid AutoSport (1080p and 1600p)11. Grid AutoSport (4k)12. Thief (1080p and 1600p)13. Thief (4k)14. Tomb Raider (1080p and 1600p)15. Tomb Raider (4k)16. Metro Last Light Redux (1080p and 1600p)17. Metro Last Light Redux (4k)18. Thermal Dynamics19. Acoustics Performance20. Power Consumption21. Overclocking22. Closing Thoughts23. View All Pages

The Asus Strix range of graphics cards have left a positive impression with us so far. This is the fourth Strix card we have reviewed and it is the most powerful of them all. The Asus GTX980 Strix OC is actually one of the finest video cards we have ever reviewed.

We have said it before, and we will say it again – Nvidia's Maxwell is simply remarkable. The performance per watt ratio sets a new benchmark and Asus are able to capitalize on this cool running architecture by enhancing the cooling system and dropping temperatures significantly.

The fans on the Asus GTX980 Strix OC don't spin most of the time and it is only when tasked with a demanding Direct X 11 game that they will likely spin between 500 rpm and 1,000 rpm. For a flagship, overclocked solution this is as good as we have seen. When watching movies, or playing less intensive games, the fans will disable completely. The trigger point for the fans to activate is between 62c and 65c. A more graphically intensive game such as Tomb Raider will cause the fans to spin up a little, then spin down – holding core temperatures around the 62c point.

While the out of the box performance is fantastic, there is a ton of additional overclocking headroom available via the GM204 core – our Strix review sample almost hit a boost speed of 1,500mhz! At these speeds, the performance was ahead of any other single GPU solution we have tested to date. Our GTX980 reference sample overclocks very well, but the exceptional ASUS cooler on the Strix OC card ensures the Nvidia core can be pushed even further.

Before going to press, we were unable to get confirmed UK retail pricing, but we would expect a premium over the reference card design which is £429.99 inc vat. Taking our best educated guess, we would imagine Asus will bring this to market in the UK for £499.99 inc vat.

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Pros:

• 160 watts under load.
• three full sized DisplayPort connectors.
• fastest single GPU card we have tested.
• overclocked to a boost speed close to 1,500mhz
• exceptionally quiet.
• fans disable completely below 62c.
• very high build quality, including backplate.
• 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
• 11c cooler than reference GTX980 under load.

Cons:

• the reference GTX980 is excellent and is likely to be £80 less.
• still need two of them for smooth 4k gaming.

Kitguru says: One of the fastest video cards we have tested, hitting a turbo boost speed close to 1,500mhz. Quiet, powerful and with a low power demand.

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