EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 Gaming Review

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I'm glad that there's an option for an effective two-slot version of the 1080Ti on the market. I'm indifferent toward the design but I'm sure people who are looking for it will appreciate it just like the article says.
 
I have two of these, i'm still disappointed in the sli performance compared to my 980's. What i can do but complain. Nvidia needs to do a driver game overhaul these puppies should scream together. They do the opposite which makes me turn sli off and boom i get better performance from 1. Its pathetic. Nvidia should just kill Sli all together since they got rid of triple sli they mind as well get rid of sli as well.
 
I have one of these and the noise at full load on these is very annoying. I am going to install one of Arctic Cooling's heatsinks. I would think with a 3 fan setup this system would cool better and not have a noise issue like this. I was quite disappointed with the noise levels on this card.
 


SLI has always had issues. Fortunately, one of these cards will run games very well, even in VR, so there's no need for SLI.
 


It needs support from nVidia, but it also needs support from every developer making games. And unfortunately, the number of users sporting dual GPUs is a pretty tiny sliver of the total PC user base. So devs aren't too eager to pour that much support into it if it doesn't work out of the box.
 
Dual-GPU is always a problem and not so easy to realize for programmers and driver developers (profiles). AFR ist totally limited and I hope that we will see in the future more Windows/DirectX-based solutions. If....
 
For those praising the 2-slot design for it's "better-than" for SLI... True, it does make for a better fit, physically.

However, SLI is and has been fading for both NV and DV's. Two, that heat-sig and fan profile requirements in a closed case for just one of these cards should be warning enough to veer away from running in a 2-way SLI using stock and sometimes 3rd party air cooling solutions.
 
NVidia does not "purposely make them underperform in SLI mode". And to be clear, SLI has different versions. It's AFR that is disappearing. In the short term I wouldn't use multi-GPU at all. In the LONG term we'll be switching to Split Frame Rendering.
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/916-nvidias-sli-an-introduction/?page=2

SFR really needs native support at the GAME ENGINE level to minimize the work required to support multi-GPU. That can and will happen, but I wouldn't expect to see it have much support for about TWO YEARS or more. Remember, games usually have 3+ years of building so anything complex needs to usually be part of the game engine when you START making the game.
 
More SLI... one major problem with AFR (part of SLI), aka "alternate frame rendering" is that game code is starting to optimize for SIMILARITIES between frames. It's similar to video COMPRESSION that can analyze repeating patterns (it works in certain types of anti-aliasing for example that analyzes CHANGES not the aliasing of each frame by itself).

However, this doesn't work well with multi-GPU configurations. You need to have the same GPU from one frame to the next (consecutive) rather than alternative frames. This may also be problematic for SFR but the benefits of SFR will win out so they may have to provide options in a game (or find a way to get both working at the same time).
 


Before you buy into any flap over a brand realize that with Pascal there's three controlling factors that affect all pretty equally and also why most cards are nearly all within 100mhz of each other.

1. Cooling-Your question about quiet/power(speeds) directly relates to this. Even if a card has a great cooling solution it won't matter if your case isn't letting it breathe. Some brands cool easier than other but then your case can be major issue.
2. Power(PSU/MOBO)-AIB cards are already OC'd and usually need a good PSU to properly achieve what they state. Roughly double the amount you're actually going to use for the PSU for optmial power to the system.
3. CPU-Generally anything above 4ghz in a quad/hex/more.

Bottom line is that any of the big players top end cards-MSI,Gigabyte,Asus, Zotac, EVGA will behave about the same if you give 'em what they need. Seriously, there's like a 1-5fps difference in most tests for the best.

I've read more reviews than I can remember at this point and can tell you most hover in the 1600-1800mhz. range and in the right conditions will boost to ~2000-2100mhz. My Strix w/ 70% fan(noticeable sound) will hold 1987-2025 but at 60% fan(super quiet) will average 1800-1900mhz. For FPS that's about 5-10 difference for me. The drawback. . . .size. It's a 2 1/2 size card. The MSI in this review is slower, under some conditions maybe quiter but smaller.

This is all regarding air cooled solutions. FormatC has done amazing reviews on his custom water loops that are really awesome. Unfortunately the factory water cooled solutions are marginally faster than the air but if you modded them amazing things could happen. As FormatC has also noted, sometimes your just looking for that sweet spot of quiet vs. an optimal speed and not just trying for a record.
 
I get a big sense that the author was trying so hard to defend the card due to it's lagging performance behind the other offerings of 1080tis. Unless you absolutely need the space then this card isn't worth the money.
 
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