Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti 6GB Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

Price

The Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti is currently available in the UK for the reasonable price of £599.99 when not on offer. In the US, it isn’t currently available from our recommended retailer list, but can be assumed it would be in the region of $699.99. This also includes a return to base 3 year warranty.

Overview

Well there we have it, the most powerful single GPU graphics card to pass through the doors of eTeknix and it will leave a lasting impressing. I personally really like the Gigabyte G1 Gaming range, somewhat subtle and no fuss gaming and it works from the minute you plug it in; well you have to look at the screen to check that because it is so quiet compared to the rest of the computer; that you can’t tell it works just by looking or listening to it.

To some, the G1 Gaming design has an acquired taste and some may be put off; be it the overall design, length or even the colour. Personally I love the styling, the sharp lines over the entire card and even onto the fans give a very robust industrial feel and just adds a bit of shock and awe to the inside of your case when you open it up for friends to look at. In hand, it feels very robust and that added backplate not only adds additional cooling for the rear components but also adds strength; a card this length needs all of the support it can. Now that’s where a problem comes into it, the overall length of the card is daunting and anyone with a case that can’t fit a graphics card larger than 315mm should probably look elsewhere.

I personally own a G1 Gaming GTX 970 which is 3mm longer (312mm) and I had to bend the metal on the end of the card to fit into a Corsair 250D; not ideal, but a worthy sacrifice and I will do exactly the same when I get my hands on another G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti. A redeeming feature of the Windforce cooling solution is the fact that Gigabyte can offer one of the best solutions on the market and still keep it within a traditional 2 slot footprint and no additional width to the card either with a stupidly wide PCB.

Here is the swan song for Gigabyte, not only have they produced one of the most powerful GTX 980Ti’s, but also one of the most powerful single GPU graphics card on the planet thanks to the lack of sub-vendor modification to the Titan X and the lack of performance figures from the Titan X hybrid cards floating about. It will hold onto that title until it hits the VRAM limit, but by the time displays and games are that demanding a whole new generation of graphics cards will be released.

I found nothing wrong with the card during my testing, maybe Gigabyte could have moved the fans up towards the IO plate a few mm to decrease the overall length or added a little bit of colour to the face and backplate to brighten it up or maybe even added in a gaming mouse as a bundle deal; heck I don’t know I’m clutching at straws here!

Pros

• Extremely quiet
• Amazing out of the box performance
• DX12 compliant
• Well rounded OC Guru II utility

Cons

• The length of the cooling shroud can prove problematic with some cases
• Availability in the US is poor

“The G1 Gaming GTX 980Ti is designed to blow away everything; competition, heat and even you! If you haven’t already upgraded, now is the time to do so.“

Thank you to Gigabyte for providing this review sample.