Best Gtx 1080 Ti Graphics Card

Having gone over the best CPUs, cases, some motherboards, and soon coolers, we're at present looking at the all-time GTX 1080 Tis of the year. Contrary to popular belief, the model of libation does actually affair for video cards. Nosotros'll be going through thermal and noise data for a few of the 1080 Tis we've tested this year, including MOSFET, VRAM, and GPU temperatures, noise-normalized performance at 40dBA, and the PCB and VRM quality. As always with these guides, you can find links to all products discussed in the description below.

Rounding-up the GTX 1080 Tis ways that we're primarily going to be focused on libation and PCB build quality: Racket, noise-normalized thermals, thermals, and VRM design are the forefront of competition among same-GPU parts. Ultimately, as far equally gaming and overclocking performance, much of that is going to be dictated by silicon-level quality variance, and that'south nearly random. For that reason, we must differentiate lath partner GPUs with thermals, noise, and potential for depression-thermal overclocking (quality VRMs).

Today, nosotros're rounding-upwardly the all-time GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards that we've reviewed this year, including categories of Best Overall, All-time for Modding, Best Value, All-time Engineering, and Best PCB. Gaming performance is functionally the same on all of them, as silicon variance is the larger dictator of performance, with thermals being the adjacent governor of performance; later on all, a Pascal GPU under 60C is a higher-clocked, happier Pascal GPU, and that'll lead framerate more than advertised clocks will.

All Our GTX 1080 Ti Reviews

• ASUS 1080 Ti Strix
• EVGA 1080 Ti FTW3
• EVGA 1080 Ti SC2
• EVGA SC2 Hybrid
• EVGA FTW3 Hybrid (Tear-Downward)
• Zotac 1080 Ti Extreme
• MSI 1080 Ti Gaming X
• Gigabyte 1080 Ti Xtreme
• MSI 1080 Ti Armor

Best Overall: ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti

Buy the ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1080 Ti here.
Detect our review of the ASUS ROG Strix here.

The get-go honour is the most important, and is assigned for the all-time overall combination of thermal and racket functioning. Across all tested thermal categories – that'd be VRAM, MOSFET, and GPU diode temperatures – nosotros found the ASUS Strix 1080 Ti (Amazon) to be the nearly consequent and impressive in its performance. Our review institute that the Strix keeps its cadre temperature low, but also manages to keep VRAM and VRM thermals equally and proportionally depression, which can't exist said for a lot of other coolers. A lot of this comes down to the mounting plates for the heatsink, so the fact that ASUS is actually leveraging the mass of its 2.5-slot heatsink. Fin design, pitch, and density permit good airflow through the heatsink, and the shroud doesn't trap the air inside of the cooler.

The simply category where the Strix cooler loses some ground is that of size – but size and cooling-to-noise performance are largely mutually exclusive. At 2.5 slots, some users may instead require a 2-slot card to better accommodate build needs. For a single-carte du jour build, though, this isn't mostly a concern.

Honorable Mention: MSI 1080 Ti Gaming X

Buy the MSI 1080 Ti Gaming X here.
Discover the MSI 1080 Ti Gaming Ten review here.

We want to give an honorable mention to MSI and the 1080 Ti Gaming X (Amazon), here: The Twin Frozr cooler remains the nigh effective dual-fan solution we've tested this year, and is able to leverage its larger fans to spin at lower, quieter RPMs than some of its competition. The Twin Frozr design isn't the all-time past raw numbers, simply has an excellent mix of noise-to-cooling performance, and manages this at a lower toll than some of the flat-out all-time coolers, like the Strix. That toll reduction matters, and to offer a competitive cooler at a lower cost, MSI gets an honorable mention. We are interested to see how the company improves its dual-fan blueprint for 2018.

Best for Modding: MSI GTX 1080 Ti Armor

Purchase the MSI GTX 1080 Ti Armor here. (Note: Currently overpriced, at time of posting. Wait til information technology's $700-$720)
Detect the MSI GTX 1080 Ti Armor review hither.

This next category, "Best for Modding," could also be taken to hateful "virtually room for improvement." The MSI GTX 1080 Ti Armor (Newegg) was originally a $700, lesser-of-the-barrel GTX 1080 Ti, and it was for good reason: Nosotros found the stock cooler to be abysmal in its performance, and noted that the cooler was highly similar – though not entirely the same – every bit the coolers on the MSI GTX 1070 Armor cards. The issue of this, though, is that yous could get a very cheap, very skillful PCB and VRM for entry-level 1080 Ti prices. The best-kept undercover of 1080 Tis is that the GTX 1080 Ti Armor, for all its faults, actually has the Gaming X PCB. The Gaming X PCB uses 16 5018SGs hooked up to eight inductors, controlled by 8 commuter ICs, and results in an eight-phase VRM with 4 MOSFETs per phase. The Fairchild dual-FET packages comprise both the high-side and low-side FETs, and this overbuilt VRM outputs but 15W of heat under a typical 250A load, or 40W of heat nether a 400A OC, assuming 125C and 300KHz switching frequency.

If y'all're hoping to buy a 1080 Ti and convert it to a liquid-cooled card – something that we tested with this very card – this is one of the best options. You're discarding the libation anyway, so don't spend big on one; get a cheaper cooler, like the one on the Armor, and a good PCB. In our testing with a airtight-loop cooler, the Armor PCB became one of the best cards on our thermal charts, while as well retaining one of the better PCBs. You lot definitely wouldn't desire this matter with its stock cooler, simply it'south primed for modding.

Best Technology: EVGA ICX Series

Buy the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 ICX hither (Amazon).
Find our EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 review hither.

Our side by side category is for Best Technology, which is assigned to the card that fabricated the biggest contribution to the underlying tech in an AIB partner card for 2017. This i goes to the EVGA ICX cards (Amazon), responsible for implementing NTC thermistors across the unabridged PCB, improving VRM cooling by increasing baseplate surface surface area, and significantly overhauling ACX after the Keen Thermal Pad Incident of 2016. Video cards don't change much generationally, so to see a company movement to install thermistors on disquisitional non-GPU components is big. It may non seem similar it to the average user, but if you call up nearly it from a testing perspective, ICX gives u.s. new tools to improve thermal testing accuracy of aftermarket coolers, water cooling blocks, and validate our own external instance temperature measurements of VRMs with NTC thermistor measurements. ICX has become a tool for benchmarking, as information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to mensurate temperatures of components that would normally go unrecognized. This comes at a time when other manufacturers have dropped the ball on VRM thermals, similar Zotac with the Amp Extreme and its poor thermal performance when compared to the sheer mass of the cooler. As GPUs continue to reduce power consumption and cards go smaller, temperatures of components other than the GPU core go increasingly relevant. ICX complements what nosotros practise with our own thermocouples, and has go an important tool for testing other libation designs.

Best Value: MSI GTX 1080 Ti Duke (and EVGA SC Black)

Purchase the MSI GTX 1080 Ti Duke here.

Our next laurels is for All-time Value. Thus far, other than the Armor, a lot of these cards have been in the $750 to $800 range. You definitely don't demand a card that expensive to still become the same framerates, and acoustic or thermal operation aren't universally important to people. Nosotros were split between the 1080 Ti SC Black and 1080 Ti Duke, just given the current pricing market place, the MSI Duke is winning. This card ranges from $735 to $750, depending on rebates and sales, and ends upward priced about where the Gaming 10 used to be, before the mining craziness. The SC Blackness used to be closer to $720, but is unfortunately out of stock at that cost or additional to $750 now, making the Duke a fleck cheaper. For pure value, nosotros'd recommend because the Duke.

All-time PCB: Galax HOF

On the reverse side of the value argument, we likewise wanted to betoken out the Best PCB and VRM. This isn't something that 99% of users will ever need, but if y'all're going for heavy overclocking, the Galax GTX 1080 Ti HOF video carte is amongst the height-tier cards. Buildzoid of Actually Hardcore Overclocking worked on this card, and believes it to exist the all-time PCB of the 1080 Tis.

The Galax HOF VCore VRM is a 16-phase VRM which, to quote Buildzoid, is "ridiculous" and "admittedly insane." The Galax HOF uses an IR 3595 voltage controller in viii-phase mode, using a doubling scheme on the 16-phase setup for this carte du jour. The VRM  ends upwardly with 40W of estrus dissipation at 400A, or 54W at 500A, both of which are reasonably controllable with targeted and active cooling.

Observe Buildzoid'south Galax HOF review here.

Dumbest Trend

The Dumbest Trend award goes to gigantic heatsinks. In what can only exist described as a measuring contest, some manufacturers have continued to increase the mass and physical size of their GPU coolers, often with minimal gain in thermal performance, or in noise-normalized performance. What'due south worse, a lot of these massive coolers overlook cooling nuts, like physically connecting hot VRM components to the oversized heatsink – sort of the unabridged betoken of a big cooler, really. Stretching into three-slot designs with three pounds of metal doesn't make the cooler automatically good. It just ways it's big, and oftentimes, not at all worth the added cost to buy. There are a lot of good ii.5-slot designs out in that location, like MSI'due south Twin Frozr and ASUS' Strix coolers, and cards like the Gigabyte Xtreme or Zotac Farthermost are larger than each of these, yet worse in thermal operation. This comes down to smart design, as opposed to just using more metal for the sake of looking bigger.

That'southward all for this one. Bank check our other circular-ups here:

• Best Monitors of 2017 (& sales)
• Best CPUs of 2017
• Best Cases of 2017
• Best Blackness Fri sales

More to come soon.

Editorial, Testing: Steve Shush
Video: Andrew Coleman

Source: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/3141-the-best-gtx-1080-ti-graphics-cards-designs-asus-vs-evga-msi

Posted by: greenoury1954.blogspot.com

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