Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Graphics Card Roundup

[FormatC]

As I wrote above: Asus sent us nothing yet.

 

[g-unit1111]

My Gigabyte G1 has been a great card so far and works great with my 4K monitor. I would love to get a second and that front panel VR connector.

 

[Kimonajane]

Just too much money for something that will be outdone next year and obsolete in a couple years. Would have to go with a 1070 if I built a i7-6700k rig right now.

 

[Sam Hain]

Just too much money for something that will be outdone next year and obsolete in a couple years. Would have to go with a 1070 if I built a i7-6700k rig right now.

Unfortunately, that's the name of the game with computer-tech... The "next best thing" is always around the corner. Buying a 1080 right now is not a wise investment (if you can even call it that) if you're into top-tier GPU's, with the Ti forthcoming and whatever AMD is about to drop.

As you mentioned it, the GTX 1070 is the best-bang-for-buck.

 

[saki04]

Great article, but six months too late. The 1080s launched in May and rumors are the 1080ti may be less than a month away. Many people who wanted to be in on the 1080, made their purchase decision months ago. For people who chose to skip, it's not clear why now would be an especially smart time to jump back in. For the next major card launch, any chance we could see this sort of article much closer to the launch date?

Actually people may be still interested as the holidays kick in and not everyone buys the cards when they are released due most of them are overpriced at that time. We expected way lower prices when the Pascal architecture videocards and it stayed pretty high for a long time. The performance increase wasn't that much to justify buying it.

 

[hapkiman]

You stated "The GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G is a somewhat conservative offering from MSI....Besides, MSI has its own premium Lightning model for enthusiasts who demand a more sophisticated graphics card."

This is not correct, as MSI is not offering a Lightning version of the GTX 1070/1080.

The Gaming Z is one step above the Gaming X and is the top of the line for their 10xx series graphics cards.

 

[FormatC]

The review is from summer, at this moment nobody was able to say, which card will be the top model

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

All the AMP Extreme needs to be hands down the best 1080 card on the market is a custom fan profile. I have a custom profile set with MSI Afterburner (which actually sets a curve unlike FireStorm) and my card doesn't have any issues at all. Runs incredibly fast, cool, and still lower than ambient noise level. I don't even notice the noise, I am however looking into new and quieter case fans so we'll see after I install those. But after running a custom fan profile my card often gets clock speeds over 2050 MHz and temps almost never go over 45C and never go above 50C. I am pretty confident as far as out-of-the-box performance goes you can't find a better 1080. The FPS benchmarks prove that.

 

[FormatC]

I made together with Zotac a BIOS without hysteresis and we used the bad fan characteristics as feature to stop the fans under their lowest possible rpm automatically, but Nvidia has prohibited to puiblish it (Nvidias rules for zero-fan mode). Too bad but it is the same as your afterburner profile in hardware

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

I made together with Zotac a BIOS without hysteresis and we used the bad fan characteristics as feature to stop the fans under their lowest possible rpm automatically, but Nvidia has prohibited to puiblish it (Nvidias rules for zero-fan mode). Too bad but it is the same as your afterburner profile in hardware

That would have been awesome. Shame on Nvidia for blocking it. Would have made the Zotac even better, even though I already definitely consider it the best. Like I said the fan profile just needs a bit of work and this card performs like a champ. I overpaid for mine almost $900 US but I would do it again, because I love mine. Going to upgrade to 1440p UW (Predator X34P on release) and a 1080 Ti AE to run the UW and a side browser monitor.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

The best card out of box is eVGA FTW. I am running two of them in SLI under Windows 7, and they run freaking cool. No heat issue whatsoever.

How can it be best out of the box, when it is slower than about 3 other cards on the list in fps out of the box?

 

[Sabinixe]

How long do you think it will take Galax to come out with the HoF 1080ti after launch?

 

[Sabinixe]

How long do you think it will take Galax to come out with the HoF 1080ti after release?

 

[FormatC]

Good question. The facts/specs are well-known in similar form from the Titan X (Pascal) and I'm sure, each of Nvidias partners modified the reference design to bring their own custom models very close after the launch.

 

[Sabinixe]

Good question. The facts/specs are well-known in similar form from the Titan X (Pascal) and I'm sure, each of Nvidias partners modified the reference design to bring their own custom models very close after the launch.

Makes sense to me. Thanks for the quick reply!

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Take it one step down with Zotac and review just the AMP! version.

Thanks for downvoting ALL THREE OF MY COMMENTS just for disagreeing with you originally. You deserve the downvote though, the AMP! is a mediocre card and isn't THAT much less than the Extreme, why consider it at all over the Extreme, it's nonsense. The only thing it has going for it is value. Performance is nothing to brag about. The Extreme performance is the best that's why its up there. Fastest 1080 on the market.

 

[Memhorder]

Take it one step down with Zotac and review just the AMP! version.

Thanks for downvoting ALL THREE OF MY COMMENTS just for disagreeing with you originally. You deserve the downvote though, the AMP! is a mediocre card and isn't THAT much less than the Extreme, why consider it at all over the Extreme, it's nonsense. The only thing it has going for it is value. Performance is nothing to brag about. The Extreme performance is the best that's why its up there. Fastest 1080 on the market.

Just because you HAVE the card does not mean anything less should be considered. I want to know the Thermals of the significantly reduced size of the Heat sink. I mean lets be honest. The AMP! Extreme is gargantuan. The AMP! version is more small and sleek and not taking up 3 slots.
I'd also like to know how much performance your getting per dollar. The price difference is around $100 here for 88 MHz base 89 MHz boost. How many extra frames can that garnish? Is it even worth the premium? It may not even matter either depending on the monitor your running, just as long as those minimums stay on par with refresh rate.

Zotac AMP!
Engine Clock
Base: 1683 MHz
Boost:1822 MHz
Memory Clock
10 GHz
Power 230W

Zotac AMP! Extreme
Engine Clock
Base: 1771 MHz
Boost:1911 MHz
Memory Clock
10.8 GHz
Power 270W

 

[ledhead11]

Take it one step down with Zotac and review just the AMP! version.

Thanks for downvoting ALL THREE OF MY COMMENTS just for disagreeing with you originally. You deserve the downvote though, the AMP! is a mediocre card and isn't THAT much less than the Extreme, why consider it at all over the Extreme, it's nonsense. The only thing it has going for it is value. Performance is nothing to brag about. The Extreme performance is the best that's why its up there. Fastest 1080 on the market.

Just because you HAVE the card does not mean anything less should be considered. I want to know the Thermals of the significantly reduced size of the Heat sink. I mean lets be honest. The AMP! Extreme is gargantuan. The AMP! version is more small and sleek and not taking up 3 slots.
I'd also like to know how much performance your getting per dollar. The price difference is around $100 here for 88 MHz base 89 MHz boost. How many extra frames can that garnish? Is it even worth the premium? It may not even matter either depending on the monitor your running, just as long as those minimums stay on par with refresh rate.

Zotac AMP!
Engine Clock
Base: 1683 MHz
Boost:1822 MHz
Memory Clock
10 GHz
Power 230W

Zotac AMP! Extreme
Engine Clock
Base: 1771 MHz
Boost:1911 MHz
Memory Clock
10.8 GHz
Power 270W

Not really in the mood for a war . . .

I understand your protests on Amp not being listed but honestly I can tell you that my Gigabyte's are getting nearly the exact same specsand just a little more. I spent months looking for Gigabyte SLI reviews and found nothing. The only significant difference is they are 3 cards slots. Mine are also on a MOBO that uses a slot 1/slot 3 spec for optimal PCIe bandwidth thus giving a little more breathing room. I and many others have tested single card performance and can say that it takes going over 2.2~2.4 before nitpicking really matters. At 2.1~2.2 some real gains are noticable but only just then so 1911mhz only matters in a case where the firmware doesn't back off
further.

Once NV's firmware kicks in and start dialing back the speeds NONE of the specs matter unless in a system that can supply the right amount of power and keep them cool enough.

 

[ledhead11]

I'm grateful for any 1080/Titan reviews. There's about 1/10th compared to the 1050/1050ti/1060/1070 reviews. Sure I wish there was more but its obvious that the manufacturers haven't all sent out to every site and I don't expect every site to shell out of pocket just to 'try/review'. We could really nitpick the nano meters the heat sinks and so forth but it honestly depends on the system they're in and when NVIDIA's firmware kicks in and dials back. Sure, pay attention to specs but also take it all with a grain a sand. The near microscopic cooling options on some cards won't matter if they can cool properly or don't have the right PSU/MOBO combos.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Take it one step down with Zotac and review just the AMP! version.

Thanks for downvoting ALL THREE OF MY COMMENTS just for disagreeing with you originally. You deserve the downvote though, the AMP! is a mediocre card and isn't THAT much less than the Extreme, why consider it at all over the Extreme, it's nonsense. The only thing it has going for it is value. Performance is nothing to brag about. The Extreme performance is the best that's why its up there. Fastest 1080 on the market.

Just because you HAVE the card does not mean anything less should be considered. I want to know the Thermals of the significantly reduced size of the Heat sink. I mean lets be honest. The AMP! Extreme is gargantuan. The AMP! version is more small and sleek and not taking up 3 slots.
I'd also like to know how much performance your getting per dollar. The price difference is around $100 here for 88 MHz base 89 MHz boost. How many extra frames can that garnish? Is it even worth the premium? It may not even matter either depending on the monitor your running, just as long as those minimums stay on par with refresh rate.

Zotac AMP!
Engine Clock
Base: 1683 MHz
Boost:1822 MHz
Memory Clock
10 GHz
Power 230W

Zotac AMP! Extreme
Engine Clock
Base: 1771 MHz
Boost:1911 MHz
Memory Clock
10.8 GHz
Power 270W

The simple fact is you suggested NOT reviewing the Extreme at all, there were many comparable cards which were not reviewed. The Asus ROG Strix OC for example, which is also an extremely fast card. The benchmarks simply prove that the AMP Extreme is the fastest, and with a better fan curve, which is easily made using MSI:AB, its the best card on the market, I'm not saying the AMP doesn't have a case if anything BOTH should have been reveiwed because yes, the AMP is one of the cheapest cards on the market and probably has the highest price-to-performance of any of the 1080s but to suggest that it should be reviewed INSTEAD of the Extreme is laughable, because the Extreme IS the best 1080. (Except the very limited edition Chinese Zotac PGF).

I agree it should have been given attention as well, just don't throw a fantastic card out of the running just because it's too big for you.

 

[Memhorder]

Take it one step down with Zotac and review just the AMP! version.

Thanks for downvoting ALL THREE OF MY COMMENTS just for disagreeing with you originally. You deserve the downvote though, the AMP! is a mediocre card and isn't THAT much less than the Extreme, why consider it at all over the Extreme, it's nonsense. The only thing it has going for it is value. Performance is nothing to brag about. The Extreme performance is the best that's why its up there. Fastest 1080 on the market.

Just because you HAVE the card does not mean anything less should be considered. I want to know the Thermals of the significantly reduced size of the Heat sink. I mean lets be honest. The AMP! Extreme is gargantuan. The AMP! version is more small and sleek and not taking up 3 slots.
I'd also like to know how much performance your getting per dollar. The price difference is around $100 here for 88 MHz base 89 MHz boost. How many extra frames can that garnish? Is it even worth the premium? It may not even matter either depending on the monitor your running, just as long as those minimums stay on par with refresh rate.

Zotac AMP!
Engine Clock
Base: 1683 MHz
Boost:1822 MHz
Memory Clock
10 GHz
Power 230W

Zotac AMP! Extreme
Engine Clock
Base: 1771 MHz
Boost:1911 MHz
Memory Clock
10.8 GHz
Power 270W

The simple fact is you suggested NOT reviewing the Extreme at all, there were many comparable cards which were not reviewed. The Asus ROG Strix OC for example, which is also an extremely fast card. The benchmarks simply prove that the AMP Extreme is the fastest, and with a better fan curve, which is easily made using MSI:AB, its the best card on the market, I'm not saying the AMP doesn't have a case if anything BOTH should have been reveiwed because yes, the AMP is one of the cheapest cards on the market and probably has the highest price-to-performance of any of the 1080s but to suggest that it should be reviewed INSTEAD of the Extreme is laughable, because the Extreme IS the best 1080. (Except the very limited edition Chinese Zotac PGF).

I agree it should have been given attention as well, just don't throw a fantastic card out of the running just because it's too big for you.

Wooosh....ok. Where in the conversation logged above do I suggest "NOT reviewing the Extreme at all"? I don't. How could I? The card has already been reviewed. It is the fastest card your right.........but. Is it faster than 2 AMP's??????
That card sure does have great temps thanks to that heat sink. Especially considering how much it's overclocked and it's power target. Are you going to be able to get any more out of it? Probably not because it at it's limits but hey it holds it's own. What I'm getting at is good luck with SLI
Now me showing interest in the AMP! did not merit a down vote, which is how this whole conversation got started. You must take a step back and ask yourself. How did it feel? I think I know.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

Take it one step down with Zotac and review just the AMP! version.

Thanks for downvoting ALL THREE OF MY COMMENTS just for disagreeing with you originally. You deserve the downvote though, the AMP! is a mediocre card and isn't THAT much less than the Extreme, why consider it at all over the Extreme, it's nonsense. The only thing it has going for it is value. Performance is nothing to brag about. The Extreme performance is the best that's why its up there. Fastest 1080 on the market.

Just because you HAVE the card does not mean anything less should be considered. I want to know the Thermals of the significantly reduced size of the Heat sink. I mean lets be honest. The AMP! Extreme is gargantuan. The AMP! version is more small and sleek and not taking up 3 slots.
I'd also like to know how much performance your getting per dollar. The price difference is around $100 here for 88 MHz base 89 MHz boost. How many extra frames can that garnish? Is it even worth the premium? It may not even matter either depending on the monitor your running, just as long as those minimums stay on par with refresh rate.

Zotac AMP!
Engine Clock
Base: 1683 MHz
Boost:1822 MHz
Memory Clock
10 GHz
Power 230W

Zotac AMP! Extreme
Engine Clock
Base: 1771 MHz
Boost:1911 MHz
Memory Clock
10.8 GHz
Power 270W

The simple fact is you suggested NOT reviewing the Extreme at all, there were many comparable cards which were not reviewed. The Asus ROG Strix OC for example, which is also an extremely fast card. The benchmarks simply prove that the AMP Extreme is the fastest, and with a better fan curve, which is easily made using MSI:AB, its the best card on the market, I'm not saying the AMP doesn't have a case if anything BOTH should have been reveiwed because yes, the AMP is one of the cheapest cards on the market and probably has the highest price-to-performance of any of the 1080s but to suggest that it should be reviewed INSTEAD of the Extreme is laughable, because the Extreme IS the best 1080. (Except the very limited edition Chinese Zotac PGF).

I agree it should have been given attention as well, just don't throw a fantastic card out of the running just because it's too big for you.

Wooosh....ok. Where in the conversation logged above do I suggest "NOT reviewing the Extreme at all"? I don't. How could I? The card has already been reviewed. It is the fastest card your right.........but. Is it faster than 2 AMP's??????
That card sure does have great temps thanks to that heat sink. Especially considering how much it's overclocked and it's power target. Are you going to be able to get any more out of it? Probably not because it at it's limits but hey it holds it's own. What I'm getting at is good luck with SLI
Now me showing interest in the AMP! did not merit a down vote, which is how this whole conversation got started. You must take a step back and ask yourself. How did it feel? I think I know.

"Take it one step down with Zotac and review just the AMP! version."

Since you don't recall.

But aside from that you JUST downvoted me because I downvoted you. But whatever TROLL, makes no difference to me. BTW if I even WANTED to use SLI, which I don't because its a dying configuration, I would be using liquid. I wanted a single card config therefore I got the best single card there is. And again if I wanted to I could EASILY fit another extreme in my rig as well as anyone else with an ATX form factor.

Oh.. and no freaking s*** two 1080's are going to beat any other single 1080, a preschooler could tell you that. There's no point in arguing that or even bringing it up for that matter.

The cards not for everyone, the AMP by itself has it's own merit, I'm not arguing that.

But you DID say that the Extreme shouldn't have been reviewed and "just" the AMP, but whatever i'm done arguing. I just have a BA card and more disposable income than I know what to do with so I get the best of everything. Not everyone can afford that, not everyone is willing to, but some of us are actual enthusiasts who really go for the best hardware available maybe you should "just" move up a league and get an extreme or do a custom loop and quit worrying about budget cards.

 

[Memhorder]

I guess there's been a misunderstanding. Review JUST the AMP! means JUST that, not AMP! + Extreme. Just AMP! Maybe we can agree on a few things.

1) Tomshardware is a great place to read reviews and that the more data that's available, the better. This includes having the AMP! and the AMP! Extreme as well as the new GTX 1080 mini in the already great line up.

2) up voting and down voting is a freedom of expression. A feature on this site that lets you express support or lack there of, to a statement made by fellow members. Nothing to get mad about.

I might add there are 2 versions of the Gigabyte and 2 version of the MSI in the roundup so we know is isn't exclusive to one card per company

 

[FormatC]

Guys, you forgot only one thing:
I can test only what I have / get from the companies. Asus sent nothing yet, from Zotac I got only the AMP! Extreme. A lot of PR agencies sends samples only for awards - not with me, I hate such contracts and will it never do. I declined in the past a few reviews because I will not follow any rules for testing. My in-depth analysis is also a reason why we get not so much samples from all, because not all companies are very pleased if I disassemble the card and proof it for some thermal hotspots or PCA / fan issues.

Make your own decision, what's more interesting:
More but unaffected reviews with benchmark bars and less technical info or more background analysis and info, that you can't find so easy on other sites? To review ONE card I need up to THREE days. But I'm sure it is it worth to take a closer look at the real difference between the cards. Or not?

And don't forget: Boost is a bitch. I proofed f.e. three Gigabyte 1080 Gaming G1 from a shop and each card gave me a different max. boost clock rate. The chip quality is at the end so different, that all this bar graphs with 1-2 fps more or less for a sample of brand A or brand B are simply boring, because alone the differences between similar cards of one model from brand A or B can be the same or higher.

 

[EpIckFa1LJoN]

I guess there's been a misunderstanding. Review JUST the AMP! means JUST that, not AMP! + Extreme. Just AMP! Maybe we can agree on a few things.

1) Tomshardware is a great place to read reviews and that the more data that's available, the better. This includes having the AMP! and the AMP! Extreme as well as the new GTX 1080 mini in the already great line up.

2) up voting and down voting is a freedom of expression. A feature on this site that lets you express support or lack there of, to a statement made by fellow members. Nothing to get mad about.

I might add there are 2 versions of the Gigabyte and 2 version of the MSI in the roundup so we know is isn't exclusive to one card per company

Alright then. so when someone downvotes you, don't get upset and downvote all of their other comments because you got downvoted. Obviously like the writer said, he didnt get an AMP, so that's that, he didnt even have a choice per se, he only reviewed what he was sent. A lot of people, including me even, wanted to see how stuff stacked up against the best on paper GPU, the Asus ROG Strix OC, but that didnt happen. Even though other fps benchmarks show the Extreme still beating it but the rewiew has been written. If you want to argue for the AMP, do it elsewhere now.