Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Review Roundup: The Hype Is Real – 4K, No Compromises


If there is a field in IT that just keeps reaching new heights, it would be the GPU market. Over the past year, Nvidia and AMD have stepped up their game, but as much as the latter’s cards were formidable, 2016 solely belonged to the former. Now, with 2017 well on its third month, it seems that Nvidia is set on repeating history with the release of its almost budget-friendly 4K GPU, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is, in every sense of the word, a monster. While Nvidia got the undivided attention of the GPU world last August when it unveiled the 4K, 60fps-hitting Titan X, the card in itself was not a bargain by any means. At $1,200, the Titan X, for all its glory and raw power, was simply far too expensive for the everyday consumer to acquire. With the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, however, Nvidia is offering comparable or even better performance to the Titan X for a far more reasonable price of $700.

The initial reviews for the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti have already started emerging, and while some have noted that Nvidia’s latest uber-powerful GPU is still not for everyone, it is a graphics card that does what it’s supposed to do, in the best way possible. Here then, is a brief review roundup of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti.

Brad Chacos of PC World has stated that for all intents and purposes, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti lives up to its hype and then some. The veteran reviewer remarked that what was particularly impressive about the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti was how close it was to the performance and raw power of the Titan X, which costs a full $500 more.

Both the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and the Titan X are built around the same formidable GP102 graphics processor, with the 1080 Ti only dropping the render output unit (ROP) to 88 from the Titan X’s 96. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti also packs 11GB of GDDR5X memory with 352-bit bus, which is just a hair behind the Titan X’s 12GB of memory and 384-bit bus. Considering that the GTX 1080 Ti has higher memory clock speeds, however, it could stand toe-to-toe with its more expensive sibling.

Joel Hruska of ExtremeTech stated that the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is quite special in the way that it is the market’s first genuine, unadulterated 4K GPU. While AMD and Nvidia itself have been testing the waters of 4K gaming for a while now, neither company have actually created a GPU that is specifically designed for the highest-end of the gaming market. Previous GPUs could hit 4K resolutions at passable frame rates, but compromises are usually made. With the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, however, this is not the case.

The esteemed ExtremeTech reviewer stated that the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, even when tackling full-blown 4K gaming at 60fps, does not make any compromises. The reviewer further stated that during a test using Rise of the Tomb Raider (the game is very graphics-heavy and uses supersampled antialiasing), the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti managed to perform smoothly and consistently without any problems.

Ryan Smith of AnandTech noted that the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is a solid graphics card, and it is a significant upgrade over last year’s stellar GTX 1080. Nvidia has made it a point to state that the GTX 1080 Ti performs around 35 percent faster than its direct predecessor. Overall, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti offers around 11.3 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, which roughly translates to an improvement of around 28 percent over the GTX 1080’s shader/texture performance.

Overall, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is one of, if not the most well-rounded GPU on the market. Considering that it is designed for pure 4K gaming, its asking price of $700 is reasonable. While its 4K capabilities are its primary strength, however, it is also the GPU’s main weakness, since players who still utilize sub-4K monitors will get very few advantages from utilizing the GTX 1080 Ti. For players who have already invested in a 4K monitor and a high-end gaming rig, however, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is practically a must.

[Featured Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

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