The flagship graphics accelerator with maximum performance in a single-chip design is the GTX 1080. The characteristics of this product are really impressive, and its capabilities do not completely leave any even the smallest chance to competitors. Of course, this video card has a future, and it will be relevant for more than one year.
What market segment is this video card aimed at?
As noted earlier, the GTX 1080 is aimed at the premium segment of graphic accelerators. Its characteristics are really out of competition. The performance level in this case is so high that even the top-end products of the previous generation cannot compete with this video card. Among other features of this accelerator, it should be noted support for virtual reality systems and HDR monitors. And if the first group of devices can already be found on store shelves and purchased if necessary, then HDR monitors have not yet been presented. Their announcement is scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2017. Another area where such a product can find its application is 4K monitors.
As a result, it can be noted that this accelerator is ahead of time and has a fantastic margin of performance. Its parameters will still be relevant for quite some time, and more than one generation of graphic adapters will equal it.
Equipment
The GTX 1080 has a very modest configuration for a premium product. Its characteristics lead to a completely opposite idea. But the logic of the development company in this situation is also understandable. The video card is not cheap, and if necessary, its owner will be able to add a relatively small amount against the background of the cost of the accelerator for the purchase of one or another additional accessory. The rest of the equipment on this video card is as follows:
- The adapter itself.
- Multilingual instruction manual, supplemented by a warranty card.
- A disk with a set of software: utilities, drivers and test software.
Product Specifications
The first important feature of this accelerator is the process by which a semiconductor crystal is produced. It complies with a tolerance of 16 nm. All the predecessors of this product were manufactured according to the standards of 28 nm, and this video chip is revolutionary.
The code name for this semiconductor product is Pascal, and the chip marking is GP104. The number of transistors in this case is 7.2 billion. The operating frequency range of the graphics chip ranges from 1607 MHz to 1733 MHz. Exactly in this frequency range, shader units operate, the number of which in this case is 2560. According to this indicator, the current flagship is inferior to its predecessors.
The GTX 980 had their number equal to 2816, and the TITAN had 3072. But their frequency formula was more modest, and, as a result, the reduced number of shader units is more than offset by their higher operating frequency range. The number of TMUs per pipeline is 160, and the ROPs are 64. The graphics adapter itself is designed to be installed in the PCI-Express slot version 3.0 and supports Direct X 12.
RAM graphics accelerator
A new type of RAM is used by the GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card. Its characteristics are really impressive. The name of this RAM is GDDR5X. If the previous type of RAM GDDR5 had a maximum frequency of 7 GHz, then in this case this value was already 10 GHz. The amount of memory for the hero of this review is 8 GB, and this is enough for virtual reality, an HDR monitor or a 4K monitor.
The capacity of the memory bus is 256 bits, and according to this indicator, the GTX 1080 loses to its predecessors in the face of the GTX 980 and TITAN (for these accelerators, the capacity of the RAM bus was 384 bits). But here is the improved optimization of RAM controllers, a higher frequency of RAM operation and an advanced technology for compressing graphic information that make it possible to easily bypass their predecessors to the hero of this review and compensate for the reduced capacity of memory chips.
Overclocking and performance gain
The NVidia GTX 1080 has good overclocking potential. The characteristics of this product indicate that the base frequencies of the chip are 1607-1733 MHz, and the RAM is 10 GHz. The results presented at the overlocker forums indicate that in practice it is not difficult to increase the previously given values for the GPU and RAM to 1770-2000 MHz and 11.5 GHz, respectively. On average, this allows you to get an additional 30% to speed. Now overclocking such a product is irrelevant due to its excessive speed level. But after 4 years, the owners of such an accelerator may have to resort to such an operation.
Analogs
The characteristics of the GTX 1080 video card, as noted earlier, are much better than the products of the previous generation. On average, it is 20% faster than the GTX 980 and TITAN. The gap between AMD’s flagship in the face of Fury X is even greater, which ranges from 30 to 40%. To date, this phenomenal NVidia product has no competitors, and when they will appear is not known.
Own model range of accelerators is only presented, and its updates in the foreseeable future are not expected. Well, the new generation of AMD video accelerators, at best, will see the light in the first half of 2017. Therefore, for a long time the hero of this article will not experience any significant competition.
Tests
In almost all applications, it has a 20-30% advantage over its closest competitors, the GeForce GTX 1080. The characteristics of the chip itself even initially indicate this. The only toy in which the new flagship can not show an impressive result in the standard frequency mode and output images in 2K format with ULTRA settings is Quantum Break. His FPS is in the range from 22.4 to 25.3. At the same time, AMD's flagship Fury X boasts an FPS range of 22.5 to 26.1.
Overclocking the new flagship even allows it to bypass the AMD solution in normal mode with FPS 23.4 - 26.4. But in this case, most likely, the program code is optimized for AMD solutions, and they get the advantage. For comparison, in the same image output mode and when Direct X 12 is activated in the game, the Hitman GTX 1080 is capable of delivering 42.1 - 49.4 fps, and Fury X - 39.8 - 47.4. And this game is optimized for AMD products, but the advantage, albeit insignificant, is on the side of the new flagship from Nvidia. In other cases, the flagship video cards of the previous generation hopelessly lose the hero of this review. For example, a GTX 1080 in GTA V in 2K mode and with Direct X 11 turned on can produce FPS at the level of 38 - 67.3, and its predecessors represented by GTX 980 and Fury X, respectively, 31.4 - 54.4 and 26.4 - 44.6. And in most modern gaming applications, this is precisely the situation that is observed.
Price and reviews
About 50,000 rubles is currently costed by the NVidia GeForce GTX 1080. Its characteristics are fully and fully consistent with such a price. It is able to solve any problems, and its parameters provide a sufficiently large margin of productivity for the next few years. Extra confirmation is a lot of reviews from satisfied owners of this product. Also, the accelerator’s advantages include excellent overclocking potential.
Summary
The GTX 1080 turned out to be a truly revolutionary graphics solution. Features, as well as a performance level, allows this video card to cope with any task without any special problems. Moreover, this picture will continue for the next three years. Also, the key features of this product include support for 4K monitors and TVs, not yet released HDR monitors and virtual reality technology. All this in total allows us to note that NVidia has released the best single-chip graphics card to date.