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.

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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?

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 ?

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

Moofachuka · Mar 31, 2016

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

The Quim Reaper · Mar 31, 2016

Pffft...

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

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.

johnnyfiive · Mar 31, 2016

Damn, this thing is ripping it up.

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

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).

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! :respect:

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.

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!!!

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?

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.

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

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.

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!

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

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)."

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!

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?

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.

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

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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