Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming 6 GB Review

Name: Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming 6 GB
Brand: GIGABYTE

W1zzard

on Jun 15th, 2015,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: GIGABYTE

(47 Comments) »

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 with 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 Titan X, which means custom designs could be able to surpass Titan X performance at a much lower price point.

The first custom GTX 980 Ti design we are reviewing is the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming. It uses a custom PCB design and comes with Gigabyte's Windforce 3X cooling solution, which should definitely be a step up from the reference design cooler. Clock speeds have been increased to 1152 MHz base and memory clock remains at 1753 MHz. With a price of $690, it is certainly not cheap and looks to be one of the more expensive GTX 980 Ti variants.

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	Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti	GeForce GTX Titan X	Radeon R9 295X2
Shader Units	2560	1664	2816	2880	2048	2816	2816	3072	2x 2816
ROPs	64	56	64	48	64	96	96	96	2x 64
Graphics Processor	Hawaii	GM204	Hawaii	GK110	GM204	GM200	GM200	GM200	2x Hawaii
Transistors	6200M	5200M	6200M	7100M	5200M	8000M	8000M	8000M	2x 6200M
Memory Size	4096 MB	4096 MB	4096 MB	3072 MB	4096 MB	6144 MB	6144 MB	12288 MB	2x 4096 MB
Memory Bus Width	512 bit	256 bit	512 bit	384 bit	256 bit	384 bit	384 bit	384 bit	2x 512 bit
Core Clock	947 MHz	1051 MHz+	1000 MHz	876 MHz+	1126 MHz+	1000 MHz+	1152 MHz+	1000 MHz+	1018 MHz
Memory Clock	1250 MHz	1750 MHz	1250 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	1750 MHz	1250 MHz
Price	$250	$310	$300	$390	$480	$650	$690	$1050	$620

Packaging

You will receive:

Graphics card
Documentation

The Card

Gigabyte's new GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming comes with a new color theme that uses silvery metal highlights, which looks quite good. Unlike the GTX 980 Ti reference design, a metal backplate is installed on the board. Dimensions of the card are 30.0 cm x 12.0 cm.

Installation requires two slots in your system.

Display connectivity options include two DVI ports, one HDMI port, and three DisplayPorts, a unique output configuration Gigabyte calls "FlexDisplay". Gigabyte put an automatic TMDS switch chip on the board, so you may run 2x DVI, 1x DP and 1x HDMI or 3x DP, 1x DVI and 1x HDMI at the same time. This setup provides additional flexibility while allowing for a triple-monitor-surround gaming setup with a single card.

The GPU also includes an HDMI sound device. It is HDMI 2.0 compatible, which includes HD audio and Blu-ray 3D movies support.