The version of the GTX 980 Ti we’re reviewing here is slightly di…erent to most of the GTX 980 Ti products currently on sale though, as it’s been given the full Gigabyte overclocking treatment. This comes with a small price premium, so let’s see what extra goodies the $60 premium brings with it.
At the heart of this graphics card is Nvidia’s new GTX 980 Ti chip, which is basically a slightly trimmed down Titan X GPU. It’s been paired with 6GB of GDDR5 memory, half that of a Titan X. However, Gigabyte has not used a reference PCB to host these components, instead shipping this card on a proprietary black PCB. It comes with eight phase power, which is fed via twin 8-pin power connectors. The rear of the card is equipped with a metal backplate, while an illuminated LED on the top of the card can be customised to run in one of seven di…fferent colours, in case you’re getting blingy with it.
Gigabyte has equipped the card with its new Windforce 3x 600W cooling system. This uses the same triple-fan layout we’ve seen on past Windforce solutions, but Gigabyte claims that it’s now able to handle a whopping 600W of heat. Considering the GTX 980 Ti has a TDP of 250W, the new cooler should be able to handle the load with ease. It’s also packing Gigabyte’s 0dB technology, where the fans don’t spin at all while the card is handling puny 2D workloads.
Gigabyte has endowed this card with different outputs to standard GTX 980 Ti cards, in the form of 1x Dual Link DVI-I, 1x DVI-D, 3x DisplayPort and a single HDMI 2.0. Any combination of these can be used to drive up to four displays thanks to Gigabyte’s Flex technology, but sadly we haven’t had enough spare monitors to test this feature out. With six outputs, the Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti has one more than standard cards, but it comes at a price – there’s no air outlet at the back of the card to blow air outside of the case. Instead this card dumps all its hot air inside the case.
So how far Gigabyte has pushed this card compared to a reference card? After all, there’s no point in putting eight-phase power on a custom PCB, all tucked away under a special cooler, just to ship a graphics card at the exact same speed as everybody else, right? It’s possible to set the card in one of two modes via the included Gigabyte software – Gaming and OC mode. In Gaming mode, the base clock is increased from the default of 1000MHz up to 1152MHz, while the Boost speed increases from the default of 1075MHz up to 1241MHz. OC mode is even more impressive, with a base speed of 1190MHz and a Boost value of 1291MHz. That’s a massive 20% increase in Boost speed over the original, enough to catapult the performance of this card beyond a GTX Titan X. The OC mode produces slightly more fan noise, but we didn’t find it unbearable in the slightest.
It might cost just a little bit extra, but the added 20% performance delivered by the factory overclock makes this the fastest GTX 980 Ti we’ve tested. At $1099 we feel sorry for Titan X owners who shelled out $1600 for lesser performance just a few months ago, but owners of this GTX 980 Ti have every reason to feel happy indeed. Bennett Ring
KEY SPECS
6GB GDDR5 memory • factory overclocked • 1x Dual Link DVI-I • 1x DVI-D • 3x DisplayPort and 1x HDMI 2.0