A Closer Look

The Zotac thermal solution uses six heatpipes and a copper base for optimum heat transfer. You can also see the thermal pads that cool the memory chips.


Once the main heatsink is removed, you can see how the backplate wraps around the PCB for more stability. Also visible is the small black heatsink for the VRM circuitry.


The backplate is made out of metal and protects the card against damage during installation and handling.


On the back of the card is a large super capacitor that stores energy, ready to be release quickly when voltages drop. This measurably helps smooth out voltage spikes, but is of no real benefit to the user. It doesn't improve efficiency, overclocking, temperatures or anything else; it's shiny, though.


Zotac 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 uP 95101 voltage controller is a new model for NVIDIA's recent cards. It does not support voltage control via I2C.


The GDDR5X memory chips are made by Micron and are marked with "D9TXS," which decodes to MT58K256M32JA-100. These are specified to run at 1250 MHz (10,000 MHz GDDR5X effective).


NVIDIA's GP104 graphics processor is the first consumer chip using the Pascal architecture. It is produced on a 16 nm process at TSMC, Taiwan, and has a transistor count of 7.1 billion and a die size of 314 mm².