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It has been some time since I have reviewed a new graphics card, never mind one based on a new architecture and fabricated on the new 16nm FinFET process. I have to admit that after Maxwell I had high hopes for Nvidia's Pascal architecture and I certainly can't say that I have been disappointed handling this analysis for KitGuru. Pascal has actually surpassed all my preconceptions.
The Nvidia GTX1080 is without question a truly phenomenal graphics card. I have spent more than 100 hours analysing the hardware in the last week and can only come to the conclusion that the GTX 1080 is probably the finest GPU Nvidia have ever created.
If you have read KitGuru's analysis from the start, you will already be aware of all the technological enhancements Nvidia have brought to the Pascal platform – if you haven't then check out the first couple of pages in the review today. Nvidia have created a completely new GPU circuit architecture and changed the board channel design. The power supply has been upgraded to 5 phase dualFET and they have tuned it to maximise bandwidth and enhance phase balancing. Nvidia have added extra capacitance to their filtering network and optimised the power delivery on the PCB for low impedance.
Following on from highly efficient Maxwell architecture, Nvidia have managed to take efficiency optimisations to the next level with Pascal. Power efficiency is increased, even when compared against the GTX980 and peak to peak voltage is reduced from 209mV to 120mV to help ensure stellar overclocks.
The adoption of GDDR5x memory has certainly helped drive new levels of performance. It is a faster and more advanced interface standard, achieving 10 Gbps transfer rates, or roughly only 100 picoseconds (ps) between data bits. In real world terms, this card is able to drive very high levels of bandwidth, ideal when pushing a lot of texture data at Ultra HD 4k resolutions. The memory subsystem of the GTX 1080 delivers 1.7 times more bandwidth than the GTX 980.
This is the first time that Nvidia have introduced a vapour chamber cooling system on a reference card, and it has certainly helped to ensure that there is plenty of potential for overclocking.
While all cards will deliver slightly different results we were able to get the core speed running at just over 2ghz which helped push performance of the GTX 1080 past even the dual GPU AMD R9 295X2. This in itself is a remarkable achievement but when you factor in that the GTX1080 system demands only 270 watts, compared against the same system using the R9 295X2 requiring 635 watts of power. This is staggering.
Nvidia have also placed a focus on technologies to improve the VR experience. Simultaneous Multi-Projection provides performance for new display technologies. The GTX 1080 GPU can simultaneously render to unique viewports that are designed specifically for VR headsets and triple display users. Lens Matched Shading improves pixel shading performance by rendering up to 16 viewports that will better support the design of the latest VR headsets. This helps to avoid rendering pixels that would be trashed before the final imagery is sent to the VR headset.
Additionally, the new Single Pass Stereo feature uses Simultaneous Multi Projection to render the geometry required for both eyes in a VR headset – all in a single rendering pass rather than a pass for each eye. This obviously halves the geometry workload when directly compared to a more traditional VR rendering situation. This will also help support gamers with three screen configurations as Perspective Surround gets the GPU to simultaneously render projections for each of the three displays with proper perspective views. We haven't been able to test this yet, but it seems like a good move for enthusiast users who enjoy multi screen systems for gaming.
If you own an older Nvidia graphics card and are building a new system this year for Ultra HD 4k gaming then the GTX 1080 is the graphics card to get. So how much will the GTX 1080 set you back? Nvidia confirmed £619 inc vat as the launch price today – so while very expensive it is cheaper than the Nvidia Titan X, which is still available at £869.99 today. We hope to see prices of the GTX980 Ti and GTX 980 dropping in the near future.
It would be fair to say that as an overall package the Nvidia GTX 1080 has exceeded all our expectations. We do hope that AMD can answer the challenge and deliver the goods with Polaris, even in the lower sector. Thankfully, we won't have too long to wait now to give you all an answer.
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Pros:
- New performance leader.
- class leading efficiency.
- cooler design is very good.
- overclocks to 2ghz+.
- GDDR5X improves bandwidth.
Cons:
- could be quieter.
- likely very expensive in the UK.
Kitguru says: It is difficult to find fault with Nvidia's GTX 1080. This is one of the finest cards the company have ever produced and sets a big challenge for AMD's Polaris.
Fine work on the review, we are probably looking at £620 in the UK which is pretty steep
Too expensive
Can’t wait for the 1080 Ti to be released so I can upgrade my 980 Ti. Would love to have this 1080, but I think the price will be a bit too steep to validate a purchase at the moment. It does look like it will be a great upgrade for anyone else though, even with the 980 Ti it has quite a few games where it gets more than 10 fps extra on average.
It costs a small fortune, but holy crap that thing performs amazingly well. And with such little power consumption. Now the waiting begins, because it’ll take a few years before this kind of power becomes available to the less affluent consumers like me.
is that £619 for the founders edition? Because like many others I’m just going to go straight out for an aftermarket anyway so that gives a rough estimate on how they are going to be priced too (in the case that aftermarkets are based on the “normal” edition). Though it does offer more temptation to just wait for the Ti but I’ve done enough waiting by now xD
15% better than factory oced 980Ti for 700 euros isn’t a great jump in FPS/$ me thinks. 1080Ti or Vega are the ones for enthusiasts.
With these prices the to is looking £800+ probally more
Isn’t what usually happens is that by the time the Ti is released the 1080 will go down in price then Ti will cost the same amount as 1080’s release price?
What is the 980TI boosting too in this review? The G1 edition?
GTX980 to GTX1080Ti/Vega 11…come on, who will bring this HBM2 so I will play Star Citizen at 4K Ultra 60+ FPS?
Awesome card. Wish I could afford it. =x
Wait for custom cooled factory overclocked partner cards. They will be cheaper, faster and cooler.
Just a little off topic but will Fast sync have to be specifically supported by developer studios or can it just be enabled via the control panel (allowing for all games to make immediate use of it)?
AMD Radeon Pro Duo vs GTX 1080 vs GTX 1070 – Ultra performance test https://youtu.be/urYLez2aBew
So in overall, it is just a more efficient Maxwell with better granularity and less IPC per cluster, offset by higher clocks and a better software stack to make it up with the missing hardware scheduler, not impressed.
Does anyone know when EVGA will release their hybrid cooled GTX 1080s?
Think I’m going to wait to see what the Asus Strix 1080 OC (or whatever they’ll call it) can do. Happy with my 980 Strix until then 🙂
“This is the first time that Nvidia have introduced a vapour chamber cooling system on a reference card”
Uhm, the original NVTTM cooler used by the Titan, 780, and 780Ti used a vapor chamber. NVidia switched to the far worse heatpipe cooler for the Maxwell cards, which was the cause of their overheating problems.
I find the 1080 pretty underwhelming. It’s loud, it’s hot, it’s slower than a nearly two generation old 295X2 and barely faster than a 980Ti, it’s overpriced even compared to the faster AIB versions of itself, and since the entire NA market got a total of 36 cards for the launch, you can’t buy one anyways.
I am Brazilian , I need a gtx 970, but do not want to sell my motorcycle to buy , accept donation [email protected] my email
@4K+ the GTX 1080 is incredibly underwhelming, often only 8-9 FPS faster than a stock 980Ti.