Introduction
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980 Ti was released just a few weeks ago. It is built on the same GM200 GPU as the GeForce Titan X, but has fewer shaders (2816 vs 3072). While the GTX 980 Ti's GPU is still produced on a 28 nanometer process at TSMC in Taiwan, it comes with the fantastic power efficiency optimizations of the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture, which promises lower power draw, higher performance, and reduced fan noise all at the same time.
Our review of the reference design GTX 980 Ti revealed that it is barely slower than the Titan X, which means custom designs could surpass Titan X performance at a much lower price point.
Today, we are reviewing the ASUS GTX 980 Ti STRIX, one of the most anticipated custom designs for the GTX 980 Ti. ASUS is using their large triple fan DirectCU III cooler we've seen on other recent models before. The card comes with a large overclock of 1190 MHz on the GPU; memory is overclocked, too, to 1800 MHz.
The ASUS GTX 980 Ti STRIX can be found online for $670, which is a $20 premium over NVIDIA's MSRP for the GTX 980 Ti.
GTX 980 Ti Market Segment Analysis | Radeon R9 290 | GeForce GTX 970 | Radeon R9 290X | GeForce GTX 780 Ti | GeForce GTX 980 | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | ASUS GTX 980 Ti STRIX | GeForce GTX Titan X | Radeon R9 295X2 |
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Shader Units | 2560 | 1664 | 2816 | 2880 | 2048 | 2816 | 2816 | 3072 | 2x 2816 |
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ROPs | 64 | 56 | 64 | 48 | 64 | 96 | 96 | 96 | 2x 64 |
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Graphics Processor | Hawaii | GM204 | Hawaii | GK110 | GM204 | GM200 | GM200 | GM200 | 2x Hawaii |
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Transistors | 6200M | 5200M | 6200M | 7100M | 5200M | 8000M | 8000M | 8000M | 2x 6200M |
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Memory Size | 4096 MB | 4096 MB | 4096 MB | 3072 MB | 4096 MB | 6144 MB | 6144 MB | 12288 MB | 2x 4096 MB |
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Memory Bus Width | 512 bit | 256 bit | 512 bit | 384 bit | 256 bit | 384 bit | 384 bit | 384 bit | 2x 512 bit |
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Core Clock | 947 MHz | 1051 MHz+ | 1000 MHz | 876 MHz+ | 1126 MHz+ | 1000 MHz+ | 1190 MHz+ | 1000 MHz+ | 1018 MHz |
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Memory Clock | 1250 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1250 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1800 MHz | 1750 MHz | 1250 MHz |
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Price | $250 | $310 | $300 | $390 | $480 | $650 | $670 | $1050 | $620 |
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Packaging
Contents
You will receive:
- Graphics card
- Driver CD + documentation
- PCI-Express power cable
The Card
For their latest cards, ASUS designed a new DirectCU thermal solution, which has a great look and feel to it thanks to its red highlights and high quality plastic that feels almost like metal. You find a baseplate on the back. Dimensions of the card are 30.5 cm x 15.0 cm.
Installation requires two slots in your system.
Display connectivity options include one DVI port, one HDMI port, and three DisplayPorts.
The GPU also includes an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 2.0 compatible, which includes HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies support.
NVIDIA has confirmed Quad-SLI support, so you may combine four GTX 980 Ti cards in a multi-GPU SLI configuration.
Pictured above are the front and back, showing the disassembled board. High-res versions are also available (
front,
back).