# Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti XtremeGaming 6GB



## W1zzard (Mar 31, 2016)

Gigabyte's new GTX 980 Ti XtremeGaming is highly overclocked, yet more affordable than other GTX 980 Ti variants. It also comes with a quiet triple-slot, triple-fan cooling solution that stops the fans in idle and provides great temperatures.

*Show full review*


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## chlamchowder (Mar 31, 2016)

> Gigabyte is using the uPI uP1984A voltage controller. It's the first time I see this model, so I don't know what features it provides.


How do you go about finding out what features it provides (not just on this card and voltage controller - on other cards as well)? Is there a way to directly address the GPU's voltage controller and read values off it?


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## mcraygsx (Mar 31, 2016)

Hey Wizzard, Stock vs Stock, Zotac 980 Ti AMP! Extreme is still the fastest air cooled 980Ti around and will return better performance as compare to this Xtreme 980 ti ?


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## W1zzard (Mar 31, 2016)

mcraygsx said:


> Hey Wizzard, Stock vs Stock, Zotac 980 Ti AMP! Extreme is still the fastest air cooled 980Ti around and will return better performance as compare to this Xtreme 980 ti ?


Nope, the Gigabyte is faster



chlamchowder said:


> How do you go about finding out what features it provides (not just on this card and voltage controller - on other cards as well)? Is there a way to directly address the GPU's voltage controller and read values off it?


Either find the datasheet, or poke around in the controller with software (if it supports software control) and see what happens


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## Moofachuka (Mar 31, 2016)

I wouldn't have known this card taking 3 slots without reading your review....


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## The Quim Reaper (Mar 31, 2016)

Pffft...

980ti's are yesterdays news, move over old man, new gen incoming..


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## EarthDog (Mar 31, 2016)

Nice review W1zz...

Question though, what does the LN2 mode do for this card? Does it disable OCP/OVP? Allow higher voltage for software adjustments (like the Matrix we reviewed does). 

Also, did I miss what the actual boost clock was on this card at stock? I bought one and I think I hit 1418 Mhz.


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## johnnyfiive (Mar 31, 2016)

Damn, this thing is ripping it up.


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## W1zzard (Mar 31, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> Also, did I miss what the actual boost clock was on this card at stock? I bought one and I think I hit 1418 Mhz.


http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GTX_980_Ti_XtremeGaming/27.html

End of the page

Not sure what exactly the LN2 mode does, let me check with Gigabyte


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## EarthDog (Mar 31, 2016)

I knew I missed it.. lol. 

IMO, it would be helpful to know BEFORE the benchmarks what the ACTUAL boost clocks are. In your test setup perhaps (where we put it anyway).


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## Fluffmeister (Mar 31, 2016)

johnnyfiive said:


> Damn, this thing is ripping it up.



As you know all too well..... GTX 980 Ti for the win!


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## mouacyk (Apr 1, 2016)

Wow, just can't believe this thing is consistently about 25% faster than NVidia stock, and not even overclocked.  When OC'ed it was nearly 40% faster.  Deserves a whole new market segment of its own.


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## GhostRyder (Apr 1, 2016)

Great looking card, runs well, overall full of nice features just a disappointing overclock overall compared to others.  But that's just luck of the draw, would love to play with one!!!


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## MagnuTron (Apr 1, 2016)

Hey W1z. Nice to see another review out, mostly because I like seeing newly updated GPU benches across the table. To see what recent drivers and such have done for them. Big ups from me to you for doing that.

Question though: Why not use some of the newer titles to bench? Far Cry Primal, The Division, Rise of the Tomb Raider, XCOM 2, Hitman?


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## Noshuru (Apr 1, 2016)

Would it be possible to include the OCed card in the performance summary section in the future? That would be tremendously helpful.


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## W1zzard (Apr 1, 2016)

Noshuru said:


> Would it be possible to include the OCed card in the performance summary section in the future? That would be tremendously helpful.


then i'd have to rebench everything with OC, not enough time for that, sorry


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## Noshuru (Apr 1, 2016)

I have a question about that also. Do you test every card in all these games? For example, the 750 Ti is included in the performance summary, but not in the benchmarks for the individual games.


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## pat-roner (Apr 1, 2016)

I have this card after having to RMA one Msi 6g Gaming, Evga SC+ and Palit JS+ (all 980ti's.) and long story short, this card boosts to 1430 stock out of the box, is dead quiet and OC to 1525 stable.

I really can't recommend this card enough!


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## W1zzard (Apr 1, 2016)

Noshuru said:


> I have a question about that also. Do you test every card in all these games? For example, the 750 Ti is included in the performance summary, but not in the benchmarks for the individual games.


These cards are just not included in the regular game graphs because the graphs would be way too long


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## W1zzard (Apr 1, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> what does the LN2 mode do for this card? Does it disable OCP/OVP? Allow higher voltage for software adjustments (like the Matrix we reviewed does).


"According to our R&D team , this LN2 BIOS is majorly free the limitation of power(default 320W) and voltage (default 1.3V)."


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## EarthDog (Apr 1, 2016)

Thank you W1zz... was it Sherri you reached to (our US contact)?

Interesting their default power limit is 320W... it wasn't that on my BIOS I can tell you that much!!! 300W was 100% and 130% was 390W...

I don't see a mention of OCP/OVP, that will likely have to be a hardware mod?

I have to play with their software a bit more as MSI AB only went up to 87mv increase which would put the card somewhere around 1.23V or so.



Thanks again!


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## Noshuru (Apr 1, 2016)

W1zzard said:


> These cards are just not included in the regular game graphs because the graphs would be way too long


Well, if that's the case, since you're already testing like 15 cards why can't you do one more?


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## W1zzard (Apr 1, 2016)

Noshuru said:


> Well, if that's the case, since you're already testing like 15 cards why can't you do one more?


I retest them all every three months or so with latest drivers and new games, not for every single review. The test system doesn't change in any way during that time.


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## SmokingCrop (Apr 2, 2016)

Moofachuka said:


> I wouldn't have known this card taking 3 slots without reading your review....


That's pretty clear to me: 
http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/product/3/5710/20151110170005_src.png


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## newtekie1 (Apr 2, 2016)

SmokingCrop said:


> That's pretty clear to me:
> http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/product/3/5710/20151110170005_src.png




It isn't exactly easy to tell from the common marketing shots used to sell the card.

Just look at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125846

There's no way to tell there.  Amazon is better, at least it has the shot you linked to, but the main image is that off angle one that makes it almost impossible to tell how big the card is height wise.


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## SmokingCrop (Apr 2, 2016)

newtekie1 said:


> It isn't exactly easy to tell from the common marketing shots used to sell the card.
> Just look at newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125846
> There's no way to tell there.  Amazon is better, at least it has the shot you linked to, but the main image is that off angle one that makes it almost impossible to tell how big the card is height wise.


I've never used a website from a store to check specs and information on a computer component. 99~% of the time there is something wrong, missing or unclear.
Gigabyte has very clear photo's of all sides on the website so.. It's the store's fault for not having all the images available.http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5710#kf


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## EarthDog (Apr 3, 2016)

SmokingCrop said:


> That's pretty clear to me:
> http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/product/3/5710/20151110170005_src.png


it's pretty clear to me as well, at any website. You just need to look at the output plate and use your head.


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## Breit (Apr 4, 2016)

So what's the point of this card? Gigabyte already had an overclocked, aircooled custom-PCB card with the G1 Gaming, which also clocks better according to Wiz' table on page 26 and this one even has one DVI port less.
There must be some magic to this LN2 mode we don't know about. 

Besides, if the normal BIOS is limitig voltage to 1.3V, then this is not a limit at all. Without LN2/DICE, a 980Ti will never work on such a voltage. You can consider yourself lucky if you can pass 1.23V without a TDR. The same goes for the 320W power target. With 1.23V it's unlikely to hit that.


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## xxthe_remedyxx (Apr 6, 2016)

How does this compare to the MSI 980TI Lightning?


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## EarthDog (Apr 6, 2016)

If you are talking performance, similarly as they both boost to about the same level.

Look at a lower end card.. don't pay the premium for the Lightning or this card as its meant for LN2 clocking, not stock air.


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## xxthe_remedyxx (Apr 6, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> If you are talking performance, similarly as they both boost to about the same level.



Yeah that's kind of what I thought. I own the MSI 980TI Lightning and I have it at 1500 with no issues. I owned the G1 as well and it was a great card, but it was a bit loud under load for my tastes. The MSI is dead quiet and never breaks 70C on air.


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## DEFEATEST (Apr 12, 2016)

Man that 970 in SLI though! you can find them kinda cheap now and if you have the PSU to do it, what an amazing and cheap way to almost double your frames!


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## RealNeil (Apr 12, 2016)

I just bought this Gigabyte card. From this review it looks like it's going to be a good one.


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## Breit (Apr 12, 2016)

DEFEATEST said:


> Man that 970 in SLI though! you can find them kinda cheap now and if you have the PSU to do it, what an amazing and cheap way to almost double your frames!


SLI is just no comparison for a single card, even if the single card is more expensive. Lots of problems all over the place!
I own a pair of those G1 Gaming 980TIs (even overclocked), but I ran most of my Games on a single card and am grateful that a single 980Ti is fast enough most of the time. This would not be the case with the 970s!
There are a lot of games where cards in SLI are even slower than a single card (of the same type). Sometimes they are only slightly faster, but draw twice as much power and produce twice as much heat of course. And sometimes they are faster, but the experience is even worse due to stuttering or all kinds of nasty SLI problems like flickering textures and what not.

SLI is only viable if there simply is no faster single GPU solution or you play only games wich work well with SLI (unlikely).
Just my 2 cents.


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## DEFEATEST (Apr 12, 2016)

Breit said:


> SLI is just no comparison for a single card, even if the single card is more expensive. Lots of problems all over the place!
> I own a pair of those G1 Gaming 980TIs (even overclocked), but I ran most of my Games on a single card and am grateful that a single 980Ti is fast enough most of the time. This would not be the case with the 970s!
> There are a lot of games where cards in SLI are even slower than a single card (of the same type). Sometimes they are only slightly faster, but draw twice as much power and produce twice as much heat of course. And sometimes they are faster, but the experience is even worse due to stuttering or all kinds of nasty SLI problems like flickering textures and what not.
> 
> ...



Ya I know what your saying. Deep down I know that SLI is a lot of problems as over the years I've read about a lot of them! I used to have 2 5870's in SLI for a very short period of time and it was a very hot and noisy config, and crashes too. I guess I get all googly eyed when I see the raw numbers in front of  me
but need to remember what you're talking about.


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## EarthDog (Apr 12, 2016)

Breit said:


> SLI is just no comparison for a single card, even if the single card is more expensive. Lots of problems all over the place!
> I own a pair of those G1 Gaming 980TIs (even overclocked), but I ran most of my Games on a single card and am grateful that a single 980Ti is fast enough most of the time. This would not be the case with the 970s!
> There are a lot of games where cards in SLI are even slower than a single card (of the same type). Sometimes they are only slightly faster, but draw twice as much power and produce twice as much heat of course. And sometimes they are faster, but the experience is even worse due to stuttering or all kinds of nasty SLI problems like flickering textures and what not.
> 
> ...


Christ... its not that bad, LOL!

Its rare to see LESS performance with SLI... sometimes there is none as profiles come out late. But typically, it works well. Scaling of course will vary from game to game. There is power/heat/noise to consider as well. My thoughts are the generally the same in the end... if you can use a single card, go single as there are less hassles all around. 



DEFEATEST said:


> Ya I know what your saying. Deep down I know that SLI is a lot of problems as over the years I've read about a lot of them! I used to have 2 5870's in SLI for a very short period of time and it was a very hot and noisy config, and crashes too. I guess I get all googly eyed when I see the raw numbers in front of  me
> but need to remember what you're talking about.


2 AMD cards are called Crossfire. SLI is an NVIDIA term.


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## Breit (Apr 12, 2016)

Let's say it's bad enough. 
I mean sure these so called AAA titles may work well if the profiles are out, but aside from that SLI support is few and far between.


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## EarthDog (Apr 12, 2016)

Breit said:


> Let's say it's bad enough.
> I mean sure these so called AAA titles may work well if the profiles are out, but aside from that SLI support is few and far between.


I disagree with that sentiment completely... I would say MOST games have SLI/CFx support. Ive used SLI before, and though there are clearly more (potential) issues and real issues, the way you make it out seems like its just a few AAA titles and the rest is rare. I find that to be not true when I had SLI/CFx (as of last year).


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## DEFEATEST (Apr 13, 2016)

EarthDog said:


> Christ... its not that bad, LOL!
> 
> Its rare to see LESS performance with SLI... sometimes there is none as profiles come out late. But typically, it works well. Scaling of course will vary from game to game. There is power/heat/noise to consider as well. My thoughts are the generally the same in the end... if you can use a single card, go single as there are less hassles all around.
> 
> 2 AMD cards are called Crossfire. SLI is an NVIDIA term.


Ya I call everthing SLI ......lol.


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## sttubs (Apr 14, 2016)

RealNeil said:


> I just bought this Gigabyte card. From this review it looks like it's going to be a good one.


 
I did too, replaced my 780 Ti.


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