Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is a mean machine based on NVIDIA's second biggest implementation of its "Pascal" architecture, the 16 nm "GP102" silicon. This is the same chip that drives the TITAN X Pascal. The GTX 1080 Ti features the same number of CUDA cores as the latest TITAN, at 3,584 spread across 28 streaming multiprocessors. There is some cost-cutting here, but none that is designed to lower performance - the chip has a slightly narrower memory bus at 352-bit, that's one memory chip less than what you'd find on the TITAN X Pascal. The total memory amount is hence 11 GB. A cluster of ROPs is also disabled, so you now get 88 ROPs (as opposed to the 96 ROPs on the TITAN). The memory chips are, however, clocked 10% higher to make up for the 8.3% narrower memory bus. This move also translates into cost savings due to the lack of a 12th memory chip and probably better yields for the GP102 chip.



The ASUS GTX 1080 Ti STRIX OC we are reviewing today is the company's first full custom-design of the GTX 1080 Ti, and probably also the first custom GTX 1080 Ti that's getting reviewed. ASUS is using a cooler that's very similar to the cooler on their GTX 1080 STRIX OC visually - under the hood, serious changes have been made. Also included is a host of innovation that's relevant to gamers, such as VR Ready HDMI ports, case fan headers that sync your case's cooling to the GPU, and the ASUS Aura Sync RGB LED system. In this review, we compare it to the Founders Edition GTX 1080 Ti and other high-end cards we have at hand.

ASUS isn't 100% sure yet what the final retail price will be, but it will definitely be higher than the NVIDIA Founders Edition price. Best guess right now is something in the $740 range, which we will use throughout this review.

The Card

Visually, you could confuse the ASUS GTX 1080 Ti Strix with the non-Ti version. It has three fans, using a similar-looking fan shroud and the same backplate, which has an RGB-illuminated ASUS ROG logo on it. This understated look goes well with the focus to bring in "bling" by the use of RGB, which you can turn off if you prefer clean looks. Dimensions of the card are 30.0 cm x 13.0 cm.


The RGB colors can be adjusted via software. It's also possible to adjust the color according to the GPU's temperature.


Installation requires three slots in your system. The actual thickness of the card is 2.5 slots, so there is some space left for SLI airflow.


Display connectivity options include a DVI port, two HDMI ports, and two DisplayPorts. Note that one DisplayPort has been switched to HDMI. ASUS says this is to cater to users who are looking to either run two VR headsets or a VR headset and TV off their graphics card. Also, the DVI port has been brought back, which was missing on the GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition.

Unlike previous-generation NVIDIA cards, the DVI port no longer includes the analog signal, so you'll have to use an active adapter. NVIDIA also updated DisplayPort to be 1.2 certified and 1.3/1.4 ready, which enables support for 4K at 120 Hz and 5K @ 60 Hz, or 8K @ 60 Hz with two cables.

The GPU also comes with an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 2.0b compatible, which supports HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies. The GPU's video-encoding unit has been updated to support HEVC at 10-bit and 12-bit.


With Pascal, NVIDIA made some changes to how SLI works. In a nutshell, for 4K at 60 Hz and above, NVIDIA recommends new high-bandwidth SLI bridges it dubbed "SLI HB." These bridges occupy both SLI fingers. Traditional triple- and quad-SLI setups are gone as well. Only certain benchmarks can run more than the dual-SLI setup to which all games are limited.


Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (front, back).

A Closer Look

ASUS has completely redesigned their thermal solution. It uses six heatpipes which no longer make direct contact with the GPU surface, but use an intermediate heatspreader instead.


The heatsink base has been polished to a mirror finish, which ASUS claims will improve heat transfer. My personal opinion, and I have no data on that, is that as long as the base is flat, heat transfer will be fine.


Also new is this die-cast baseplate, which cools memory chips and VRM circuitry. It reinforces the card at the same time, protecting it against warping and sagging.


The backplate is made out of metal and has an RGB LED module that illuminates the ROG logo.


ASUS has certified their fans to be IP5X rated, which means they should be more dust-proof. This will help improve the fan bearings' longevity.


Near the back of the card, you'll find two black fan connectors that are in sync with the GPU's fans. We have seen this "FanConnect" feature before, on recent ASUS STRIX cards. Now, it has been improved so that fan speed can be set to a fixed or dynamically adjusted value, according to your CPU's temperature or the higher of the CPU's and GPU's temperatures. This feature requires software installation, though. If you choose to not install the software, the fans will be controlled by the GPU's temperature, just like in the previous version of FanConnect.

To the left of the two fan headers is a red RGB Header, which is Aura RGB lighting compatible and will be used in conjunction with the ASUS ROG SLI HB Bridge, which is shipping soon.


ASUS has also included what look to be solder OC tweaking points. They are not marked, so it'll be up to the overclockers to figure out what they do.


ASUS has upgraded the power input of their GTX 1080 to two 8-pins. This input configuration is specified for up to 375 watts of power draw.


The uPI uP9511P is the same voltage controller as on the GTX 1080 and GTX 1070.


The GDDR5X memory chips are made by Micron and are marked with "D9VRL," which decodes to MT58K256M321JA-110. They are specified to run at 1375 MHz (11,000 MHz GDDR5X effective).


NVIDIA's GP102 graphics processor is the company's second-largest chip using the Pascal architecture. It is produced on a 16 nm process at TSMC, Taiwan, with a transistor count of 12 billion and a die size of 471 mm².

Test System

Benchmark scores in other reviews are only comparable when this exact same configuration is used.

• All games and cards were tested with the drivers listed above, no performance results were recycled between test systems. Only this exact system with exactly the same configuration was used.
• All games are set to their highest quality setting unless indicated otherwise.
• AA and AF are applied via in-game settings, not via the driver's control panel.

Each game is tested at these screen resolutions:

• 1920x1080: Most common monitor (22" - 26").
• 2560x1440: Highest possible 16:9 resolution for commonly available displays (27"-32").
• 3840x2160: 4K Ultra HD resolution, available on the latest high-end monitors.