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 EVGA GTX 1080 Ti SC2 is the company's version of a custom design GTX 1080 Ti, using improved cooling and an overclock out of the box. Also included is adjustable RGB lighting and EVGA's iCX sensor technology, which provides nine temperature sensors spread all over the board. The card comes overclocked to a frequency of 1557 MHz and is available online for $750.

Packaging

You will receive:

• Graphics card
• Documentation + driver CD
• 2x PCIe 6-pin to 8-pin adapter
• EVGA stickers
• EVGA case badge
• EVGA poster

The Card

EVGA's cooler looks sexy, thanks to a metal construction. On the back, you will find a metal backplate. Dimensions of the card are 27.0 cm x 12.0 cm.


The SC2 features adjustable RGB lighting, which defaults to a clean white, but can be switched to other colors or off using EVGA Precision.


Installation requires two slots in your system.


Display connectivity options include a DVI port, an HDMI port, and three DisplayPorts. It's nice to see that 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.


We shine the light from a self-leveling line laser onto the card, which shows no noteworthy sagging.


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

A Closer Look

Just like on the GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, the EVGA backplate consists of two pieces. It is ok to break the sticker, EVGA will not void the warranty for card disassembly and even thermal paste replacement. The sticker is only there to track if someone disassembled the card or not - warranty won't be affected. Also noteworthy is the inclusion of a bunch of thermal pads on the backplate, which will provide a little bit of extra cooling.


The EVGA cooler uses two fans and four heatpipes to keep the card cool. Here again, we see a ton of thermal pads which provide cooling for VRM circuitry and memory chips.


EVGA is using the NVIDIA FE power input configuration, which is 6+8. This input configuration is specified for up to 300 watts of power draw.


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.