# Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming 6 GB



## W1zzard (Jun 15, 2015)

Gigabyte's GTX 980 G1 Gaming comes with a large overclock out of the box, which lets the card surpass the GeForce GTX Titan X in performance, at a much lower price. The cooler is also better than the reference heatsink and avoids the 84°C thermal limit at all times - it also turns off its fans in idle and light gaming.

*Show full review*


----------



## nickbaldwin86 (Jun 15, 2015)

Impressed... I cant wait to see reviews on the ASUS cards... someday...


----------



## CounterSpell (Jun 15, 2015)

does it run on a corsair CX500 psu?

specs at my profile


----------



## newtekie1 (Jun 15, 2015)

CounterSpell said:


> does it run on a corsair CX500 psu?
> 
> specs at my profile



Get a better PSU.


----------



## 2big2fail (Jun 15, 2015)

In future reviews, could TPU at least put minimum frame rates, or even better, bell curves with avg and stdev? I'm sure in the coming age of gsync and freesync where monitors are going to support a specific range of frequencies (e.g. 30 to 80hz, 50 to 144hz), I think people are going to want to know whether their vga performance/$ is consistent with their monitor's ability to support the said fps distribution.


----------



## GhostRyder (Jun 15, 2015)

CounterSpell said:


> does it run on a corsair CX500 psu?
> 
> specs at my profile


 Without overclocking your 2500K you would be ok but with some overclocking it would be running at the edge.  I would say get at least a good 550-600 watt PSU.

Cool card, I like the look of this card (I know its the standard Windforce but I like the silver accent).  Good overclocking results as well, wish it went just a bit further though!


----------



## Fluffmeister (Jun 15, 2015)

Awesome card.


----------



## dj-electric (Jun 15, 2015)

I... am scared.
Don't even know what to expect from the Vunlocked Kingpin edition.


----------



## 64K (Jun 15, 2015)

Nice card. Gigabyte did a good job on it. I'm hoping to see an MSI and an Asus review if time permits also.

The avg/peak wattages 259/293 are probably going to bother some people but not me.


----------



## dwade (Jun 15, 2015)

MSI's gaming card is out on July 10. Too long!! Asus Strix... even later!

I wonder what's the temps if you lower the fan curve for a quieter experience.


----------



## W1zzard (Jun 15, 2015)

2big2fail said:


> minimum frame rates


no, because min framerate represents only one instant in time which could be caused by something random like hdd access



2big2fail said:


> even better, bell curves with avg and stdev?


that would be more interesting, i've been thinking about an FPS histogram, but these are way too complicated for most of the readers


----------



## Phenom2XXX (Jun 15, 2015)

Looks good tbh 980 looks really dull now that ti is out.

Wizzard there is something intersting u need to test, i've seen that you have used 353.06, i'm not sure if u rebenched Kepler card, like 780 and 780ti after the fix to performance in the driver.
Is it possible to bench Kepler with new driver vs older drivers to see if nvidia "fixed" the downgrade? mainly in FC4, GTA V, Witcher 3 and Project cars.


----------



## the54thvoid (Jun 15, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> no, because min framerate represents only one instant in time which could be caused by something random like hdd access
> 
> 
> that would be more interesting, i've been thinking about an FPS histogram, but these are way too complicated for most of the readers



Is a histogram like a kissogram but more like, cleverer?

But by God - that card is stupid fast.  It's looking to be faster (smoothness factored in) than my 780ti sli set up.  Bring on the water blocks and Fiji so I can plan my budget!  If Fiji beats these levels of awesome, I'll be gobsmacked.

BTW @W1zzard have NV relaxed the power limit threshold?  There's no way a kepler card could bypass the TDP limits without bios flashing and software hax - but if this is drawing 350+ watts on Furmark this means the power limit is up to the AIB's?


----------



## W1zzard (Jun 15, 2015)

the54thvoid said:


> this means the power limit is up to the AIB's?


it looks like they relaxed it indeed. will be interesting to see how the other custom cards do


----------



## natr0n (Jun 15, 2015)

Nice card.


----------



## the54thvoid (Jun 15, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> it looks like they relaxed it indeed. will be interesting to see how the other custom cards do



That is freaking fantastic news.


----------



## dj-electric (Jun 15, 2015)

@W1zzard
Any chance to know the OC limits on your card adding the 87mV to core?


----------



## W1zzard (Jun 15, 2015)

Phenom2XXX said:


> i've seen that you have used 353.06, i'm not sure if u rebenched Kepler card, like 780 and 780ti after the fix to performance in the driver.


if it says "NVIDIA: xxx.xx", then all NVIDIA cards use that driver, so yes, i've rebenched everything


----------



## CounterSpell (Jun 15, 2015)

newtekie1 said:


> Get a better PSU.









 but why?


----------



## Phenom2XXX (Jun 15, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> if it says "NVIDIA: xxx.xx", then all NVIDIA cards use that driver, so yes, i've rebenched everything



Thank you, that effectively means that Kepler screwed even with the "fix".


----------



## Jborg (Jun 15, 2015)

Err... Very cool card, just a little dissapointed my 970 G1 gaming did not include the RGB lighting set up on the Windforce LED.


----------



## 2big2fail (Jun 15, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> that would be more interesting, i've been thinking about an FPS histogram, but these are way too complicated for most of the readers



Histograms would be great to see. It would give a much better understanding of what is going on. A more in depth analysis using some moderate statistical tools could help set TPU apart from other review sites and drive more traffic to this site.


----------



## newbsandwich (Jun 15, 2015)

Another great card review W1zzard, thank you.  Looking forward to the AMD Fury comparison review.

Could you start showing the results from overclocking in either a newer game than BF3, or even better yet multiple games?


----------



## W1zzard (Jun 15, 2015)

newbsandwich said:


> Could you start showing the results from overclocking in either a newer game than BF3, or even better yet multiple games?


I'll have to make some changes to the testbench with Windows 10 and Skylake, which could also be an opportunity for a different OC test. I don't have time to include multiple titles though. Title needs to be sensitive to overclocking instabilities, not have huge loading time, and be part of our regular bench suite


----------



## GhostRyder (Jun 15, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> it looks like they relaxed it indeed. will be interesting to see how the other custom cards do


 They did???  Wow now that is something I can appreciate!!!


----------



## Animalpak (Jun 15, 2015)

Still 71 degress full load with that big heatsink ??  No no no ...

I expected much more cooler like 64 degrees during gaming...


----------



## Zero3606 (Jun 15, 2015)

Great review!! I'm very impressed with the FPS of this card. I'm currently running a Titan X overclocked and would love to see a comparison of the two cards.





Animalpak said:


> Still 71 degress full load with that big heatsink ??  No no no ...
> 
> I expected much more cooler like 64 degrees during gaming...




That's very odd, even with my Titan X overclocked I get between 65 and 67 degrees max!!


----------



## nickbaldwin86 (Jun 15, 2015)

CounterSpell said:


> but why?




CX line of PSUs are junk... read a review... 500w is just enough, like just enough, but have fun smoking that CX500. I wouldn't put a CX500 in a friend I didn't like computer


----------



## Sah7d (Jun 16, 2015)

That will be my next card.

*What about the coil whine that some cards do when gaming?
Is this card making some noise beyond FANs at high RPM ?*


I did not want to buy the reference 980Ti for the temps.
Great Review!!


----------



## newtekie1 (Jun 16, 2015)

CounterSpell said:


> but why?


Because, while the CX500 is a good budget PSU, it is just stupid to put a $650+ graphics card in a computer with that low-end of a PSU.

The CX500 is only good for 458w, this card uses 300w, that's only 158w for the rest of the system.  Plus, that rating is only has 30°C, which the unit probably won't stay under.



nickbaldwin86 said:


> CX line of PSUs are junk... read a review... 500w is just enough, like just enough, but have fun smoking that CX500. I wouldn't put a CX500 in a friend I didn't like computer



They aren't junk, they're just not great.  They are find for budget computers and even good for reasonable loads.  Just don't expect to max them out in a warm computer case and not have them shut down.

As for your suggestion to look at reviews, I have, and I think I like this quote the best:



			
				OklahomaWolf said:
			
		

> some units they make are world class. Others just get the job done. Exactly _zero_ are pure crap. They're all decent. You disagree? Well, perhaps you should re-acquaint yourselves with what _I_ consider to be pure crap. Take a look at this LPSW 350W unit. If that doesn't do it for you, check out this Bestec. Or this Hercules, still easily the worst unit I've ever personally tested. Ace Power anyone? What about the Coolmax ZX-500? You see what I mean? Every Corsair unit I've seen so far can either handle everything I throw at it or gracefully shuts down and bows out when it can't. Not one has died. Not. One. Ever. Crap units don't do that. Crap units fry your computer and/or burn your house down while you're sleeping in the next room.


----------



## W1zzard (Jun 16, 2015)

Sah7d said:


> *What about the coil whine that some cards do when gaming?*


On my sample, installed in my test system I couldn't hear any coil noise, not even at 500 FPS.


----------



## mroofie (Jun 16, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> On my sample, installed in my test system I couldn't hear any coil noise, not even at 500 FPS.


lol 500 fps


----------



## haswrong (Jun 16, 2015)

a very impressive performance.. almost 2x faster than the 970. still not quite suitable for confident 4k, but getting there slowly..

id like to see the difference in performance between this and the evga hybrid aio watercooled 980ti..


----------



## HABO (Jun 16, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> I'll have to make some changes to the testbench with Windows 10 and Skylake, which could also be an opportunity for a different OC test. I don't have time to include multiple titles though. Title needs to be sensitive to overclocking instabilities, not have huge loading time, and be part of our regular bench suite


OC performance in FullHD with this card from morning was heavy cpu limited... it is much better now


----------



## SmokingCrop (Jun 16, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> On my sample, installed in my test system I couldn't hear any coil noise, not even at 500 FPS.


Even at like 1500-2000 FPS? (Yes, that FPS does occur -> Starting up Fifa without fps cap)


----------



## 1337 (Jun 16, 2015)

Nice review. Would be interesting to see an SLI setup thrown in to the comparisons (I know you have the data around somewhere). Like a 970 SLI setup. And, of course, the card you're reviewing would be interesting in SLI. Hardcore gamers want to know these things.


----------



## Dextar (Jun 16, 2015)

I was waiting to see what AMD had in store or possibly the EVGA Hybrid to come in stock but I said screw it and splurged on this. I wish the power was under control a bit more but whatever. I just hope Gigabyte has decent customer service if I do have issues.

Everyone is waiting for the MSI, EVGA Classy/Kingpin, or some other card but I'm done waiting. I'm ready to GAME. I don't need dual bios as I will never flash the bios of my card to something not from the manufacturer and this keeps the card plenty cool.


----------



## N3M3515 (Jun 16, 2015)

Wow, with such a high overclocking potential (30%), fury is going to be in trouble


----------



## terroralpha (Jun 16, 2015)

not impressed. both of my EVGA GTX 980 Ti ACX overclock to 1500 MHz core. i haven't pushed them further because they are already faster than anything else in the world by a long shot. a GTX 980 Ti OCed yo 1500MHz is faster in everything than an R9 295x2, which doesn't really overclock at all without BIOS mods.

the gigabyte card should have at least came closer to 1500 MHz, especially since this was most likely a cherry picked review board.



nickbaldwin86 said:


> CX line of PSUs are junk... read a review... 500w is just enough, like just enough, but have fun smoking that CX500. I wouldn't put a CX500 in a friend I didn't like computer



both CX and CS series of PSUs are trash. I can't believe Corsair still sells those things.


----------



## N3M3515 (Jun 16, 2015)

terroralpha said:


> not impressed. both of my EVGA GTX 980 Ti ACX overclock to 1500 MHz core. i haven't pushed them further because they are already faster than anything else in the world by a long shot. a GTX 980 Ti OCed yo 1500MHz is faster in everything than an R9 295x2, which doesn't really overclock at all without BIOS mods.
> 
> the gigabyte card should have at least came closer to 1500 MHz, especially since this was most likely a cherry picked review board.



Maybe later they will, and also charge some additional $300+ for it


----------



## W1zzard (Jun 16, 2015)

1337 said:


> Nice review. Would be interesting to see an SLI setup thrown in to the comparisons (I know you have the data around somewhere). Like a 970 SLI setup. And, of course, the card you're reviewing would be interesting in SLI. Hardcore gamers want to know these things.


I will have SLI 970 in the future, but didn't have time for it for this review.


----------



## LockeandStock (Jun 17, 2015)

You mentioned in the article you were testing quieter 980 Ti's. What other 980 Ti models are you testing and is there anywhere to buy the inno3d models in the US?


----------



## W1zzard (Jun 17, 2015)

LockeandStock said:


> You mentioned in the article you were testing quieter 980 Ti's. What other 980 Ti models are you testing and is there anywhere to buy the inno3d models in the US?


I'm testing EVGA and ZOTAC, MSI is on its way. ASUS card is not ready yet I hear. I don't have any contact with Inno3D, so I seriously doubt I'll review their 980 Ti.


----------



## LockeandStock (Jun 17, 2015)

That was a very quick reply, thanks! I'm a really big fan of the reviews on this site


----------



## SASBehrooz (Jun 17, 2015)

Awesome Card . Crazy OC potential.


----------



## CounterSpell (Jun 17, 2015)

does an Antec EA-550 Platinum 550 Power Supply can handle this baby with a intel 2500k? (both air overclocked?)

specs at profile.


----------



## Kotomirage (Jun 18, 2015)

W1zzard said:


> I'll have to make some changes to the testbench with Windows 10 and Skylake, which could also be an opportunity for a different OC test. I don't have time to include multiple titles though. Title needs to be sensitive to overclocking instabilities, not have huge loading time, and be part of our regular bench suite


Witcher 3 for sure! Crashes right after loading if the OC isn't mildly stable.


----------



## Ikaruga (Jun 18, 2015)

terroralpha said:


> not impressed. both of my EVGA GTX 980 Ti ACX overclock to 1500 MHz core. i haven't pushed them further because they are already faster than anything else in the world by a long shot. a GTX 980 Ti OCed yo 1500MHz is faster in everything than an R9 295x2, which doesn't really overclock at all without BIOS mods.
> 
> the gigabyte card should have at least came closer to 1500 MHz, especially since this was most likely a cherry picked review board.


W1zzard definitely doesn't get "cherry picked" review boards for sure. (Almost) every time I try a card he reviews I get bigger overclocks by a *huge* margin.


----------

