Nvidia GeForce GTX 1000 Series (Pascal) MegaThread: FAQ and Resources

[renz496]

So the GTX 1060 3GB has 1 SM disabled... egh-uhm, what's an SM and can it be enabled through the BIOS?

for nvidia cards they usually permanently disabled them.

 

[renz496]

So are we all still in a guessing game as to where the GTX 1060 3GB model will fall in performance?

Pretty much. From what Nvidia says there is only a 5% performance difference.

But, that's if the game is below 3GB of vram usage on both cards, so I'm assuming more like a 20% nerf to performance if vram usage is above 3GB.

this is for those that want cheaper options. people buying this should be aware that they can't max out setting in some games especially settings that eat a lot of VRAM. personally i want to see real replacement for 750ti.

 

[TechyInAZ]

a few sites said they had a card or 2 and should have reviews out early nest week. i'm expecting the usual cards we see like the strix, gamin x and the other ones they seem to send out to just about everybody. no FE card this time at all so only custom cards.

I can see why there is no Founders Edition, since it's still a "1060".

 

[1Reshiram12]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Dalnam : "Is there a List of 1080 Cards?"

Good Morning Folks,

I've been digging around now for a new card and I've been looking into the 1080s' and I see so many variations on the cards even from the same manufacturers. Is there a list or site which shows a comparison for the different versions of the 1080s'?

I'm looking at building a new system around a 6700k so if anyone has a recommendation for a particular 1080 card then please feel free to provide it. I'd appreciate a little blurb on why that particular is recommended as well if possible.

Math Geek did this awesome thread called 'Nvidia GeForce GTX 1000 Series (Pascal) MegaThread: FAQ and Resources', check post #2

The best 1080 in my opinion is Asus's 1080 Strix. It has 3 fans which keep it very cool and quiet since each individual one doesn't have to work as hard. Asus also has a software to easily tweak and overclock your gpu + it allows you to customize the built in LEDs if you are into that.

 

[Math Geek]

a few sites said they had a card or 2 and should have reviews out early nest week. i'm expecting the usual cards we see like the strix, gamin x and the other ones they seem to send out to just about everybody. no FE card this time at all so only custom cards.

I can see why there is no Founders Edition, since it's still a "1060".

makes sense to me as well. i still expect the reference design to be used from the 6 gb version in all the same models. pics on the product pages for the few with pcb shots all show 6 memory modules. i wonder if they went to 500 mb modules or if they got lazy and just used the 6 gb pics for the 3 gb product page. either way a change of memory modules or number of them plus the cut down gpu and it's still the same design overall. no reason to change the pcb for such simple changes.

i'm guessing the same power phases and all that for the reference design of the 3 gb model. hopefully we get a few reviews soon to verify but i don't see why this would not be true for those reference based cards.

 

[Math Geek]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Dalnam : "Is there a List of 1080 Cards?"

Good Morning Folks,

I've been digging around now for a new card and I've been looking into the 1080s' and I see so many variations on the cards even from the same manufacturers. Is there a list or site which shows a comparison for the different versions of the 1080s'?

I'm looking at building a new system around a 6700k so if anyone has a recommendation for a particular 1080 card then please feel free to provide it. I'd appreciate a little blurb on why that particular is recommended as well if possible.

Math Geek did this awesome thread called 'Nvidia GeForce GTX 1000 Series (Pascal) MegaThread: FAQ and Resources', check post #2

The best 1080 in my opinion is Asus's 1080 Strix. It has 3 fans which keep it very cool and quiet since each individual one doesn't have to work as hard. Asus also has a software to easily tweak and overclock your gpu + it allows you to customize the built in LEDs if you are into that.

the price of the strix card keeps me from giving the same recommendation. it just costs too much for no performance gain and questions of overall design of the cards which we have spoken about in this thread and others. you can save a lot of cash and get the same performance. something like the Gigabyte G1 or the evga sc are solid cards and a lot cheaper.

 

[-Fran-]

It irks me a little bit that nVidia decided to keep the same branding for the 3GB and 6GB when the GPUs themselves are different. The performance difference might not be big, but they're kind of breaking another conception, just like with the "3.5GB usable" dilemma.

AMD is not free of guilt, since the VRAM speeds are different, but at least the GPUs are the same :/

Cheers!

 

[Math Geek]

i'd also like a different name on the card. 1050 or even a 1050ti name would make it easier to follow. took me a few to decide how to make the list of 3 gb models and not have it confused with the 6 gb ones. and of course now when we speak of the 1060 we now have to include 3 or 6 gb into the remark so folks know which one you speak of. just creates a ton of extra ways for folks to get confused when researching or discussing the cards.

 

[Math Geek]

first time i have seen an english review of an iGame X-top card of any type and it's for the 1070 model. http://videocardz.com/review/colorful-igame-gtx-1070-x-top-8g

pic of the extras in the box makes me want one

no idea why they felt the need to add a multi-tool to the box but the white gloves are a nice touch.

 

[Math Geek]

here you go. first 1060 3 gb review from guru 3d. it's a gaming x. just started reading it but it should be compared to a lot of other cards so we can see where it stands on performance. http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-1060-gaming-x-3gb-review,1.html

overclocked the card got real close to the 6 gb FE card. it looks like dx 12 performance takes more of a hit than dx 11 games. does dx 12 use more vram?? never really paid attention to that myself but the performance hit is noticeably larger on dx 12 games than dx 11 ones.

 

[-Fran-]

I don't think it's VRAM, but the disabled GPU part might be a bigger issue on DX12 (and maybe Vulkan) than previous versions. Also, the clock is a bit lower, right?

Cheers!

 

[renz496]

here you go. first 1060 3 gb review from guru 3d. it's a gaming x. just started reading it but it should be compared to a lot of other cards so we can see where it stands on performance. http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-1060-gaming-x-3gb-review,1.html

overclocked the card got real close to the 6 gb FE card. it looks like dx 12 performance takes more of a hit than dx 11 games. does dx 12 use more vram? never really paid attention to that myself but the performance hit is noticeably larger on dx 12 games than dx 11 ones.

this is one problem that i noticed with low level API. developer optimization tend to use more resource. i think this is quite the opposite to as what most people imagine with low level optimization. at the same setting we should use less resource not use more.

 

[Math Geek]

clock rate is listed as the same on geforce.com for reference design. minimum clock rates for cards of the same lines are the same for 3 gb and 6 gb models based on product pages.

either way that one review shows the 3 gb about 10% below the 6 gb one for dx 11 which is about what nvidia said. dx 12 varied a lot but was still 15% or more behind the 6 gb. waiting for a lot more reviews before i crunch any numbers but those are quick computations from the one review we got to go on

but at $199 a 3 gb card for 1080p looks like a very solid buy. goes toe to toe with the 8gb 480, started at less money. but i do want to see a lot more reviews and comparisons before making any decisions

 

[U6b36ef]

I keep reading about Strix cards not cooling the VRM I think. Please can anyone add a link so I can read up on what Asus have done?

 

[Math Geek]

some reviews for each card are linked on page 1 of this thread. the strix is one of the most widely reviewed card so it should be rather easy to find more.

i did notice that many of the sites did not teardown or remark on the cooling of the vrm's for the nvidia cards. but they sure made note of it for the amd cards. not everyone does the thermal camera pics looking for hotspots either.

i'll look a bit more and see what the deal may be. more than anything for the strix cards i have seen more comments about fan noise and slightly higher temps (they are all rather close anyway). overall, i think the price is the biggest issue with them. just not worth the premium price for a couple led lights.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

I found a benchmark of the GTX 1060 3GB that was updated on the 18th and posted yesterday, might be legit. https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/4yurw3/gtx_1060_3gb_benchmarks/

Another benchmark http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/234201-nvidia-quietly-launches-new-gtx-1060-3gb-with-fewer-cores-200-price-point

 

[U6b36ef]

some reviews for each card are linked on page 1 of this thread. the strix is one of the most widely reviewed card so it should be rather easy to find more.

i did notice that many of the sites did not teardown or remark on the cooling of the vrm's for the nvidia cards. but they sure made note of it for the amd cards. not everyone does the thermal camera pics looking for hotspots either.

i'll look a bit more and see what the deal may be. more than anything for the strix cards i have seen more comments about fan noise and slightly higher temps (they are all rather close anyway). overall, i think the price is the biggest issue with them. just not worth the premium price for a couple led lights.

Yeah I googled "Asus Strix VRM not cooled" a few times and I got no obvious results.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

some reviews for each card are linked on page 1 of this thread. the strix is one of the most widely reviewed card so it should be rather easy to find more.

i did notice that many of the sites did not teardown or remark on the cooling of the vrm's for the nvidia cards. but they sure made note of it for the amd cards. not everyone does the thermal camera pics looking for hotspots either.

i'll look a bit more and see what the deal may be. more than anything for the strix cards i have seen more comments about fan noise and slightly higher temps (they are all rather close anyway). overall, i think the price is the biggest issue with them. just not worth the premium price for a couple led lights.

Yeah I googled "Asus Strix VRM not cooled" a few times and I got no obvious results.

It's a real thing, I can even quote RedJaron on it. I could have sworn it was on this here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-470,4703-7.html but perhaps Asus made Tomshardware edit out the complaining portion about the Asus card's poor cooling?

Another thing that's weird is on Jonnyguru I heard about people saying the Strix coolers are not good even before the review with the thermal camera came out. I'll have to dig deeper.

 

[U6b36ef]

some reviews for each card are linked on page 1 of this thread. the strix is one of the most widely reviewed card so it should be rather easy to find more.

i did notice that many of the sites did not teardown or remark on the cooling of the vrm's for the nvidia cards. but they sure made note of it for the amd cards. not everyone does the thermal camera pics looking for hotspots either.

i'll look a bit more and see what the deal may be. more than anything for the strix cards i have seen more comments about fan noise and slightly higher temps (they are all rather close anyway). overall, i think the price is the biggest issue with them. just not worth the premium price for a couple led lights.

Yeah I googled "Asus Strix VRM not cooled" a few times and I got no obvious results.

It's a real thing, I can even quote RedJaron on it. I could have sworn it was on this here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-470,4703-7.html but perhaps Asus made Tomshardware edit out the complaining portion about the Asus card's poor cooling?

Another thing that's weird is on Jonnyguru I heard about people saying the Strix coolers are not good even before the review with the thermal camera came out. I'll have to dig deeper.

Thank you but please don't fell obliged to dig on my behalf. I was only asking in the hope that case someone had a link handy. It's very kind of you to suggest you would loo though. (I can't help thinking I might skip the 10-series now though, with this added issue on top of price etc.)

 

[17seconds]

Looks pretty good to me (Asus GTX 1080 Strix).

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I found the quote I was looking for. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3135290/graphics-cards-money/page-2.html

Considering what we've seen from Asus on their Polaris Strix cards and the poor VRAM and VRM cooling, I'm wary of recommending their cards this generation.

I swear, I'm not kidding, the review of the RX 470 must have been edited. Something was wiped out, I know I even made some comments on the matter that seem to be gone. Since Tomshardware is the only site with this thermal camera to measure this, I wouldn't be surprised if Asus asked them to remove the part about the memory running quite past its maximum rated temperature on the RX 470. I just know it was there. And now it's gone. This isn't the first time I've seen stuff disappear from this site.

 

[U6b36ef]

Looks pretty good to me (Asus GTX 1080 Strix).

Looks perfect to me, and exactly how I would expect it to look over the VRM.

The RAM chips not being cooled is nothing new. My Gigabyte GTX 650 Ti Boost did it. My Asus Strix 970 did it. My Strix 980 does it; no cooling on the RAM modules.

 

[Math Geek]

I found the quote I was looking for. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3135290/graphics-cards-money/page-2.html

Considering what we've seen from Asus on their Polaris Strix cards and the poor VRAM and VRM cooling, I'm wary of recommending their cards this generation.

I swear, I'm not kidding, the review of the RX 470 must have been edited. Something was wiped out, I know I even made some comments on the matter that seem to be gone. Since Tomshardware is the only site with this thermal camera to measure this, I wouldn't be surprised if Asus asked them to remove the part about the memory running quite past its maximum rated temperature on the RX 470. I just know it was there. And now it's gone. This isn't the first time I've seen stuff disappear from this site.

that was definitely there in that review. i remember it as well and commented on it myself. is my comment still there in wonder?? from what i am seeing of teardowns the issue seems to only be on the amd cards. still looking at 1060 cards to see if the lower end got skimped on some. i wonder why amd cards got the crap treatment but not the nvidia cards if that ends up being the case.

but i do know that my general opinion of the nvidia cards by asus this time around were rather low before the polaris gpu's came out. so it is based on the nvidia cards and only pushed further by the poor quality of the amd cards. comes form general observations by many of the reviewers i read. at least the ones willing to state the opinion and actually interpret their results.

edit: this is from the strix 460 review "Similar to the Strix RX 470 we looked at in our AMD Radeon RX 470 4GB Review, Asus opts not to cool the memory at all. Furthermore, the voltage converters aren’t cooled via the graphics card’s main cooler or its base plate. Instead, there’s a small black cooler made of simple extruded aluminum." http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-460,4707.html so they made note of it for sure in both reviews.

470 review addresses it like i remember "Think back to the tight grouping of high- and low-side MOSFETs, along with their tiny cooler, and it's pretty clear where this problem comes from.

Many copper tracks running from the voltage converters to the GPU make for perfect heat pipes. Unfortunately, that turns out badly for one of the memory modules sitting right between the voltage converters and GPU. Temperatures hit 96°C right there, which we have to imagine exceeds the component's specified limits." from here http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-470,4703-7.html so it's still there with the pic of 96 degree hot spot

 

[renz496]

Looks pretty good to me (Asus GTX 1080 Strix).

the gpu only touching 3 out of 5 of the heat pipe. some people would take that as a bad design 😛

 

[renz496]

I found the quote I was looking for. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3135290/graphics-cards-money/page-2.html

Considering what we've seen from Asus on their Polaris Strix cards and the poor VRAM and VRM cooling, I'm wary of recommending their cards this generation.

I swear, I'm not kidding, the review of the RX 470 must have been edited. Something was wiped out, I know I even made some comments on the matter that seem to be gone. Since Tomshardware is the only site with this thermal camera to measure this, I wouldn't be surprised if Asus asked them to remove the part about the memory running quite past its maximum rated temperature on the RX 470. I just know it was there. And now it's gone. This isn't the first time I've seen stuff disappear from this site.

that was definitely there in that review. i remember it as well and commented on it myself. is my comment still there in wonder?? from what i am seeing of teardowns the issue seems to only be on the amd cards. still looking at 1060 cards to see if the lower end got skimped on some. i wonder why amd cards got the crap treatment but not the nvidia cards if that ends up being the case.

because AMD cards sells for much cheaper price? that 1060 Strix for example if i'm not mistaken was set to sell at $315 by Asus. that is even more expensive than 1060 FE.