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With its ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti OC graphics card, ASUS has taken the GTX 1080 Ti, increased its core clock by 115MHz, given it more power headroom, and slapped on a triple-fan cooler. The result of those modifications is an £800 graphics card that promises higher performance than the Founder's Edition while also operating at lower noise and temperature levels. Plus, there's RGB lighting with AURA sync to keep up with the ‘RGB-everything' trend of 2016 and 2017.
There are a few tricks to the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti OC graphics card that should make it faster than the Founder's Edition. First and foremost is the factory overclock which puts the GPU core at a dizzying 1595MHz, with a 1709MHz rated boost frequency, as well as marginally bumping the GDDR5X memory up to 11,112MHz effective. A combination of the triple-fan cooler and enhanced power delivery system are to thank for the overclocked GPU core.
ASUS deploys a pair of 8-pin PCIe connectors alongside a 10+2 phase power deliver system that should help to minimise power-induced throttling in the GPU Boost 3.0 equation. Tackling the thermal challenge is a triple-fan, 2.5-slot cooler that uses a new contact plate and a thicker fin array, compared to previous STRIX cards. Finishing touches to the ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti OC come in the form of AURA-compatible RGB LED lighting and a pair of 4-pin fan headers that are given software-based control.
With an eye-watering £800 asking price, can the ASUS ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti OC prove itself to be worthy of a £100 premium over Nvidia's Founder's Edition card?
Our sample from ASUS seemed to ship with the OC Mode enabled by default (we did not install ASUS' GPU Tweak II software to manually enable it). Operating frequencies for the OC Mode are 1595MHz Core, 1709MHz Boost, and 1389MHz (11,112MHz effective) memory. The alternative – Gaming – mode drops the boost clock to 1683MHz, according to ASUS.
In gaming, we observed the stable boost core frequency loitering between 1898MHz and 1962MHz, depending on the level of loading (which proved resolution-biased) and the game being played.
Features (taken from ASUS' product page):
- NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti is the fastest gaming GPU that delivers 35% faster performance than the GeForce GTX 1080.
- MaxContact Technology and 2.5-Slot Width for the coolest and quietest gaming performance.
- Patented Wing-Blade Fan Design with IP5X dust-resistance for longer fan lifespan.
- ASUS FanConnect II for optimal cooling performance.
- Fan Profile Switch instantly change from high-performance to quiet operation.
- Industry Only Auto-Extreme Technology with Super Alloy Power II delivers premium quality and best reliability.
- ASUS Aura Sync for perfect RGB LED synchronisation.
- VR-friendly HDMI ports let you enjoy VR experiences anytime without having to swap cables.
- GPU Tweak II with XSplit Gamecaster provides intuitive performance tweaking and real-time streaming.
- Warranty Period – 3 Years.
Yea, first come first serve, no I got no time for evga’s bs
Good review gents……..; impressive by any measure. Maybe next lifetime i will be able to afford/justify such a purchase; alternatively, after 5+ years when this level of power becomes mainstream!!!
Won’t be cancelling my pre-order after this review – hyped!
what happened with evga?
They took too long.
Are there any custom GTX1080 ti’s even available yet in the UK? This Asus one shows Preorder still on most etailers…..
great card, been watching for this one for a while. preordered it on the basis of this excellent review. thanks.
So how were the temps after OC? What RPMs did the fans reach under load? (after OC)?
Was it loud like turbo jet engine or manageable?
Anyone know where preorders are available in the us, im only seeing them available to preorder overseas at ridiculous prices :l
I’m in NL and I managed to pre-order, but I think so, they said late march and early April blah blah..could be able but you should check Hardware info for easy navigation, they show everything from all shops around you.
I ran a custom fan speed of 67% during the OC tests, which was overkill, but wasn’t as unbearable as I thought it would be in terms of noise output. This kept temperatures below 60C in our relatively short GoW4, ROTTR, and 3DM FSU benchmark runs, with the card boosting to 2050MHz core. Fan RPM at 67% was around 2450 RPM. You could definitely decrease the fan speed to a quieter level but it will depend on your preference for noise output, acceptable GPU temperature, and maximum GPU boost clock.
The stock-clocked default fan speed tended to sit around 37% under heavy gaming load with the GPU temp being around mid-60s. This was around 1320 RPM and was noticeably quieter than an AIO cooler managing the CPU (the noise readings for this fan speed are in the noise chart).
thx for the nice review. just curious. was this tested in an open test unit or was it inside a case.. if yes, which case?
My god I need this, the 3rd party ones are taking too long to be releases!!!!
I did expect this card to have more ram and to be at least 50% faster than 1080. I’m not sure if I should upgrade from my Asus GTX 780 TI or wait for the next generation. Currently I am able to play all good game on high settings. Of course I have windows 7 which means no directX 12 features. What do you guys think?
I think you’re an idiot.
I don’t really see the plastic shroud as an issue. I have the same thing on my Strix 1080 and it never bothered me. On a card this large I actually prefer plastic like this to something more robust, as the card is heavy enough as it is, and once I have it in the the case it’s not like the plastic is going to break on its own.
Hi.
This was tested inside an NZXT Phantom 630 case with the fans set to medium speed on its built-in controller. A Corsair H110i GT was mounted in the roof as exhaust.
Europe prices are with VAT…
Example from my preorder in Czech Republic €877 = $946 (Including VAT 21%)
Without VAT it’s €724 = $782
I wont be as harsh as Shaun Barclay, but it’s definitely time to switch to Windows 10 man. Windows 7 came out over 8 years ago. You are hamstringing yourself by holding onto it. Windows 10 is finally trouble free for all intents and purposes and has all the features of Win 7 in addition to many it will never have. And what could you possibly need more VRAM for? I have an MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Z and I never use all my 8GB. The 11GB on the 1080 Ti is plenty for anything right now. By the time you need more than that – the card will be older than your aging 780 Ti. I could definitely see that 780 Ti running out of memory though with that paltry 3GB. Can’t say if you could handle this card as an upgrade though without knowing your CPU. If your CPU is as old as the 780 Ti we could be talking bottleneck territory.
“1389MHz (11.1Gbps effective) memory.” I think you’re missing a digit on that memory clock.
How ddi you get the 28k FireStrike score for FE with 6700K? the highest recored now on 3dMark for that combo is around 23K!!!
Our chart displays the graphics score. The overall system score is shown in the screenshots (and is slower than the highest recorded combo on 3DMark’s website).
preordered from UK.
The terminology I was using was confusing so I have changed it. Thanks for pointing it out.
My Galax 1080 Ti FE winning my a small margin vs your unigine valley. 🙂
My Galax 1080Ti FE winning by a slight margin vs the Strix in Unigine. 🙂
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ba314741d919e97795dad64fdd7614d6aae058d6ac7f2881d0417f384b7510c2.jpg
Without knowing? You call me an idiot without knowing who I am? Thank you for telling me that you’re an orphan. I feel sorry for you.
why would you test heaven with tessellation off… please test with all options MAXED OUT, I would LOVE to have these results..
People like Shaun Barclay have a flat head and don’t really walk with the reality. It’s like day dreaming, that is what people like Shaun Barclay sound like.
I have good CPU it’s the Core i7-5930K and have 16GB of ram.
Some of the games I use, are having problems with windows 10. I did try windows 10 and it really isn’t a gaming operation system.
So many useless apps running in the back and slowing down the operation system. The other thing is that Windows 7 is more gaming friendly.
I did try all and so far windows 7 does run better than windows 10. I have one pc for games and one laptop for online stuff. On my laptop I run the windows 10.
Maybe I wait till this card gets better cooling fans. My GTX 780 TI has two fans made by asus. It’s the Matrix version.
With that processor you’ll have no issue with a bottleneck. The 1080 Ti would be a great card -you’d be set for years.
In regard to Windows 7 – I get what you’re saying. I absolutely loved Windows 7, and it was a great OS. WAS…. The ironic thing is this: I was a Windows 7 fanatic (after being an XP fanatic), and I literally hated Win 10 at it’s launch. I completely skipped 8 and 8.1, Windows 7 was for me. But my next door neighbor and close friend is in the IT field and he is the one who converted me. He told me how much more efficient Win 10 runs at the kernel level, and it’s just a better overall built OS (which it owes a lot to Win 7 for that). He was right. And as far as any apps running in the background? Which ones? Because you can configure and turn off any apps you don’t need. I have Cortana disabled, and have no apps running except for the very few I want. OK I’m sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox now, but seriously you really are missing out sticking with Win 7, and not to mention MS is going to pull all support for it in the near future. And as far as Win 7 being more gaming friendly? Uh I really don’t think it is. They are essentially the same with the added bonus of Win 10 has of supporting DX12. But hey – no harm no foul -it’s your choice. You have a great set-up, I would consider the 1080 Ti!
I hate the way those charts are laid out, it makes it look like the perfectly serviceable AMD RX480 is a bad card to the untrained eye, if you take a closer look at 1080p which the majority of people are still gaming at you can see at Ultra Quality in GOW4 and TW3 it’s minimum frame rate is 60fps and the rest of the games are averaging the same. Comparing a £150 card with an £800 card just doesn’t make a lot of sense……..Unless that £800 card is 5x better lol
That is why I am confused. I think I will take it but not for now. Don’t like the first version with one fan on the corner. Overheats like hell.
I have been building up many computers. Been with computers since Windows 98 SE.
Yes, windows 10 is smarter and more professional but it does have issues with games. I find it very bad from Microsoft to add all the useless apps that it has build in. I don’t need a map build in the windows, I don’t need skype build in the windows. Yes, you can remove them or disable them but that is very useless.
I waste 30 to 45 minutes removing the rubbish software Microsoft has build in the windows. I have friends who ask me to clean the windows. Yes, that is what they say when it comes to remove the crap softwares windows has added.
Windows 8.1 was not bad for me. Used it for 8 months.
8/10 setups while installing windows 10, I get PC freezing when I disable Windows Defender. Just imagine, I have to manually disable windows defender via gpedit.msc and also disable sending data to microsoft via regedit Plus windows update has to be disabled via Services.msc.
Now tell me which brain did create Windows 10 and did not think to add these options to disable these things in a normal way?
Windows 7 on the other hand has things simple and directX 11 is really good. This means I can play games very well and fast.
Windows 8/8.1 and 10 are more for touch screens.
I have tried really hard to understand why Microsoft has created these 3 windows like this but I could not understand it.
I hope next windows is a Personal windows and not a shop windows.
Who needs contana anyway? If you don’t know your pc you should drive a tractor.
For now, I will play games on windows 7 and use windows 10 for online stuff.
How is the backplate a con? GPU’s don’t have much heat going out that way so any cooling backplates are just bogus anyway.
I’m actually in the same position you are. Also have the Asus 780ti OC Edition and will be getting the 1080ti. It still performs well on 1080p but I need the boost. I’ve upgraded to 1440p so I think the added performance will come in handy. Not sure what that other guy is referencing there though. I’d go ahead and get one. You’ve waited enough.
Pfft 1440p no thanks. 4k for over 2 years now here.
Just hate the lack of 1080 ti logo anywhere on the card. If I’m paying over $700 for one I want people to know which one it is. Looks like its the EVGA FTW 3 1080ti for me then.
Got over 154fps easy:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/OdYrOhY.jpg[/img]
http://i.imgur.com/OdYrOhY.jpg
Msi founders edition (air cooled ) with and old 4930k and ddr3 memos i smoke that asus
4k or nothing.
msi founders edition oc air cooled
http://i.imgur.com/OdYrOhY.jpg
Ahh okay. Well I am gaming on 1080P on an Asus monitor with 120Hz refresh rate. I’m going for 144hz but will still play on 1080p. 24 inch monitor for games is fine.
Just don’t buy the first edition. Wait for the card that have better cooling.
Got this from new and has never had any issues.
https://www.asus.com/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers/ROG_MATRIXGTX780TIP3GD5/
Good luck buying the new one.
Doubt most people will care….lol
What a bunch of misinformation.. “noticeably better than what we achieved with the Founder’s Edition
board. This seems to be a direct result of the improved power delivery”
“the voltage limit as the general reason for ASUS’ ROG STRIX GTX 1080 Ti sitting at 2050MHz core frequency”
Do you follow hardware at all or understand how it works? Or do you just bench your products once and go back to sleep? This is not kepler… All these cards perform exactly the same on ambient cooling.
Cool. What OC presets where you using?
It’s not misinformation as we showed in our review of the Founder’s
Edition that its core clock in our testing would not boost as high as
2050MHz when overclocked. Its operating clocks when overclocked and
running 4K games, such as ROTTR, sat in the mid-1900MHz range.
Monitoring tools suggest that a power-induced limitation is why it
doesn’t boost further. This level of core clock speed has also been
reported by other publications, in case you think we are ‘misinforming’
you.
In our testing, the ASUS card would hold a stable 2050MHz core clock. The Founder’s Edition would not. I notice your quote also truncated part of my sentence that references ASUS’ superior cooler as part of the reason for higher boost clocks.
Dude with all due respect, 780ti is a sack of shit compared to the 1080ti…it is a sack of shit compared to my 980ti…I do not want to be rude, but you sound absolutely ludicrous. You seem to be content with the performance of the 780 ti which has ONLY 3 gbs of vram(laughable) and you’re complaining over the fact that 1080ti has 11 GBs of the same?? Thus, according to you getting more than 3 times the vram isn’t a justifiable reason for an upgrade? How much do you want? 1 terabyte?? For all intents and purposes, the 1080ti is an amazing gpu..your 780ti is nowhere in the ballpark buddy…its way outdated ..its your choice if you do not want to upgrade or not but stating that 1080ti wouldn’t be a noticeable upgrade over the outdated 780 ti is nothing short of blatant ignorance.
Even more ridiculous.
Good luck waiting.
Now do the same again without an aggressive fan curve.
Question is not if I want it or not. The question is why not add more ram to it and also making it 50% faster than the 1080. I am considering it but I have a feeling that the new generation might be better. I am gaming on 1080p and all games I am running, are at high or very high settings. I’m tired of replying to people who don’t understand me. I’m stopping.
Hey @disqus_XQ5oOgm5Ks:disqus. Do you think that the other NF Cards will have a much higher performance and better OC’s then the Strix? I’m getting the 1080ti soon and am having a hell of time deciding which one I should go for. I’m on a bit of a timeline as well, so any help will; be much appreciated.
You mean wait for the OC edition?
No, I mean the next generation. Maybe 1090 or other names nvidia might come up with. Most likely I will buy one of these in June. Let’s see how much money I can save. I don’t smoke or drink, I guess that will help collect more cash. ?
Ah, ok. I was like wait what? There’s a faster version coming out? And you’ve got a lot more patience than me my friend. Good luck.
man you do some bitching in the comments. The graphs look fine to me. If you use your head im PRETTY SURE they aren’t directly comparing some cards head to head, its called a cross section of hardware from all price ranges to show how the specific card they are reviewing fits into the marketplace. I wouldn’t feel too bad about buying the RX480, its still ‘perfectly serviceable’ as you say, if just a bit shit.
I can’t believe reading these comments how many people use Unigine Heaven as a viable indicator of game performance. Its a POS.
Im one of life’s eternal pessimists lol. Nah I’m just trying to spark up some debate, to be fair if I didn’t say something in half of these topics they would remain empty. If Kitguru ever asked me to stop I would, it wouldn’t bother me either way. Or I could just post really positive stuff.
Is this score with Strix being pushed more with OC or standard.
my light OC on FE is:
http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12136836
Was the OC they got to at around 2000 used when they were doing the benchmarks?
Can someone answer a question for me? There’s a review of the MSI 1080ti here (http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_gtx_1080_ti_gaming_x_review,30.html). I can tell the Asus got a slightly higher core boost clock with Luke’s OC, but (sorry for my stupidity) which one had a better memory OC? I’m seeing different numbers everywhere here and am thoroughly confused.
Why wait to upgrade when the 1080 Ti is orders of magnitude faster/more powerful than the card you currently have?
Awesome thanks!
144hz 1440p or nothing, 4k is pathetic considering it can hardly get 60 fps without turning almost everything off.
The reason you were called an idiot is because you don’t know what you’re talking about at all but you try to sound like you do, so unfortunately you kinda sound like an idiot.
I had a 780 TI and upgraded to the 1080 TI. I skipped the 900 series generation, as I paid $700 for this 780 TI when it was the top of the line card. The 1080TI is the same price now, and it is well worth the upgrade. Your question of whether you should wait for the next gen? The answer is no, you already did that, assuming you have the budget.
They didn’t add more ram to it because there isn’t enough space on the PCB past 12 GB, they needed to distinguish it from the Titan, and because it simply doesn’t need it for video games AT ALL. There is not a single game that uses 11 GB of VRAM.
Your fantasy world where the 1080 TI edition released LESS THAN A YEAR after the 1080 (10 months) with a 50% performance increase is amusing. No single TI edition has ever been as much of an upgrade from the non TI edition as this current generation. I believe I read it was a ~25-30% increase in performance over the 1080. Thats HUGE. For a card released at the exact same price point and only 10 months later, its amazing.
Not gonna dive into too much about Operating systems. Much like the nonsense you talk about GPUs, it seems like you take minor things you may have read on the internet and mix them in with your feelings about how you don’t like the work involved. It takes a little time to optimize your OS or simply disable some apps/background tasks, so what? You have to do in every version of windows that I’ve ever used.
Simply put, the 1080TI is a great upgrade over a 780 TI, but for 1080p gaming its a bit overkill. I recommend upgrading to 2K (1440P) 27″, but to each their own.
Why on earth would you type all that to an idiot? You consider me an idiot and yet you type so much? Those days it’s more easy to offend rather than understand?
I am surprised how rude and disrespectful people have become.
Actually, I said “unfortunately you kinda sound like an idiot”.
I typed as much hoping it would help educate you, because your expectations were both unrealistic and ignorant of the technology itself not to mention the business side of this industry.
I’m surprised at how easily offended people have become, especially after they spout nonsense on the internet. 🙂
what I said about technology has no offensive language for nobody. I spoke my opinion which is based on things I experienced for the pas 18 years. If I can remember, I have been building computers almost every week. I bought parts online and build them according to people’s wishes.
Calling me this and that why I say something I experienced is really not polite. It tells me that your environment you were born and grew up is really miserable. You don’t think or can’t think properly to understand what I say. That’s why you end it up with a word that describes your whole personality.
I find it sad how companies make money out of us. I am not saying they should make things for free. I am happy to pay for things I enjoy but not 300 to 500 percent.
Anyway, you have a good day or night wherever you are.
Pffft 60hz no thanks. 144hz for over 2 years now here.
Pfffft 144hz no thanks. 165hz for over 2 years now here.
Haha I actually do have the PG279Q but didn’t want to sound too much like a tit and say 165hz! Just waiting for the guy with that 240hz monitor to drop in 🙂
Pfft 240hz no thanks. 60hz for over 0 years now here. ;(
Wrong… Many Youtubers, for example GamersNexus had throughout testing of these cards and when they used watercooling on Founders Edition they got nearly exactly the same results as with any aftermarket cooling ones. Its all about the thermals.
For the same extra you pay for custom card over founders you can buy watercooling kit for FE and its better again…
“Superb overclocking potential” yet my FE reaches 2050MHz as well… lmao also Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme Edition comes out faster out of the box than the max OC you were able to get out of that Asus card and it costs the same LOL!
MY card goes +650 OC memory..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwrPrm0XcD8
I sure hope this iteration of their STRIX cards is better than the experience I had with their last ones in terms of quality control. Out of 4 STRIX cards with heavy usage (2x390X STRIX and 2x980Ti STRIX); 2 had a fan go bad and 1 had unbelievably excruciating coil whine. So 3/4 RMA for that set.
Windows 10 is exactly gaming in mind built OS. Much more so than Windows 7..
Windows 10 has no issues with games… Do your research fool.
He typed all that to handhold you. You are a stubborn idiot it’s just a fact bro.
Can i conductonaut on this 1080ti ?????
What is the point of comparing them then, if you need to add stuff to the other one to achieve the same results, dumbass..?
yes, and have extra components in your case for what? To achieve the same as without then? Man you’re a dumbass…
“when they used watercooling” ashdjauwyh i’m gonna jump out this window right here okay?
Well PG279Q doesn’t go to 165 😀 the PG278QR does. Pff 240hz here, not that it’s possible to play 1440p with 244hz but fuck you all xD
PG279Q absolutely goes to 165hz, I have one.