Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Review

Test Setup

Our GPU test rig uses Intel's Z170 platform. Specifically, we use the Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha paired with an Intel Core i7-6700K. With four cores and eight threads via HyperThreading, the CPU ensures even the most multi-threaded games won't be bottlenecked, and we've overclocked it to 4.5GHz as well with a base clock of 100MHz, a multiplier of 45 and a vcore of 1.28V, further alleviating CPU bottlenecks. The CPU is paired with 16GB (4 x 4GB) of Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 clocked at 3,000MHz and cooled by a Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX.

The rig is powered by the Corsair AX1500i, which has enough wattage and 8-pin PCI-E power connectors to deal with any multi-GPU set-up we care to throw at it. It's all housed inside a Corsair Graphite Series 760T, which is spacious enough for any card. The final component is an OCZ Vector 180 960GB SSD, giving us plenty of space for game installs.

Our results come from a mix of built-in benchmarks and custom, manually played sections, depending on the game. All benchmarks are repeated at least three times to ensure consistency. We test at 1,920 x 1,080 (1080p) and 2,560 x 1,440 (1440p), as well as at 3,840 x 2,160 (4K) with higher end cards. The operating system is an up-to-date copy of Windows 10 64-bit.

Test System

• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K at 4.5GHz (45 x 100MHz)
  
• Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero Alpha
  
• Memory: 4 x 4GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 2,800MHz DDR4 (at 3,000MHz)
  
• PSU: Corsair AX1500i
  
• SSD: OCZ Vector 180 960GB
  
• Case: Corsair Graphite Series 760T
  
• CPU cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX
  
• Operating system: Windows 10 64-bit

AMD Graphics Cards

• AMD Radeon R9 Fury X 4GB - 1,050MHz GPU, 1Gbps HBM (Crimson ReLive 17.2.1)

Nvidia Graphics Cards

• Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition 11GB - 1,480MHz GPU (1,582MHz boost), 11Gbps GDDR5X (GeForce 378.78 launch driver)
  
• EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW 8GB - 1,721MHz (1,860MHz boost), 10Gbps GDDR5X (GeForce 378.66)

*editor's note. You will see the upcoming graphs don't have the Titan X included. Our Titan X sample has been waylaid in the post, meaning that, despite our best efforts, we are unable to have those numbers at this present time. We will, however, input those as soon as a replacement card turns up, which we expect to be tomorrow, but still wanted this review to go live so that you could see the improvement over the GTX 1080 card. It is very reasonable to assume that Titan X will benchmark a couple of per cent slower than GTX 1080 Ti. Watch this space, as we also update with overclocked numbers.