Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Graphics Card Review

Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Extreme gaming is big business, and there's a growing demand from gamers who want to break past the 60fps barrier on high refresh rate displays, going above 1080p resolution, gaming in VR and more. To do all of these things, a faster graphics card is the obvious solution. The GTX 1080 Ti has already proven to be one of the best gaming cards we've ever seen, and no the Aorus one looks to be even better. Coming with a huge cooler, factory overclocks, and a surprisingly competitive price tag, the Aorus GTX 1080 Ti is something to be excited about. What Aorus Had to Say "AORUS graphics cards are crafted for perfection in pursuit of the ultimate graphics experience for gaming enthusiasts. Based on the revolutionary NVIDIA® Pascal™ GPU architecture, AORUS graphics card brings you incredible gaming experience." - Gigabyte Features Equipped with the latest WINDFORCE Stack 3X cooler, this should be one of the coolest cards on the market. That big cooling solution does make the card quite thick but also allows for some respectable factory overclocks, giving you more bang for your buck. Powered by GeForce® GTX 1080 Ti Integrated with 11GB GDDR5X 352-bit memory interface WINDFORCE Stack 3X 100mm Fan Cooling System Advanced Copper Back Plate Cooling AORUS VR Link provides the best VR experience RGB Fusion – 16.8M customizable color lighting Protection Metal Back Plate Built for Extreme Overclocking 12+2 Power Phases Core Clock Boost: 1708 MHz / Base: 1594 MHz in OC mode Boost: 1683 MHz / Base: 1569 MHz in Gaming mode (Reference Card Boost: 1582 MHz / Base: 1480 MHz) Specifications A Closer Look Without a doubt, the first thing you notice about this graphics card is how big it is. It's a thicker design that could hinder SLI configurations on some motherboards, but for those seeking a single fast card, that's obviously not an issue. The bigger cooler design allows for three 100mm fans, and that means a lot more airflow even at lower RPM. Of course, lower RPM fans also means less noise, and that's always a good thing. Like anything else in the gaming market these days, the graphics card is kitted out with RGB lighting. There's an "X" shape on the top, with four LED light bars, and the Aorus logo on the side is RGB lit too. You can customise the colours or even turn them off, giving you plenty of tinkering to enjoy. Connectivity is superb too, with DVI-D, 2 x HDMI and 3 x DP. That's all the connections you're likely to need, and all come with 4K support too. But wait, there's more! Tucked under the back of the card, there's another HDMI port. This is great if you have a VR connector on the front of your chassis and makes it easier to hook up without cables trailer around your PC. That massive cooler design is supported with a full-size backplate. There's an exposed section over the chipset, where you can see a copper vapour chamber. This feeds through five absolutely huge copper heat pipes to the two-part radiator design. Overall, this is a monster of a graphics card, and I'm as eager as you to see the performance. Let's get it on the test bench! Testing & Methodology Please note that on 16/04/2017, the graphics cards featured in this review have are retested. The retesting was done to implement new changes in the way we review, the settings we use, the software required and more. We've also made some slight hardware changes to our test benches, and all games were updated, as has the OS, graphics drivers, etc. Of course, this would mean new results would not be a fair comparison to old. For your reference, the last review to feature our past results is found here. Here is the test system used for all graphics card reviews (pictured above) and game performance analysis: Graphics Card Test System Motherboard – Asus Rampage V Extreme X99 Processor – Intel Core i7 5960X at stock with Turbo enabled RAM – Crucial 16GB (2 x 8GB) 2666 MHz Graphics Card – Varies per review CPU Cooler – Noctua NH-D15S Power Supply – Be Quiet Power Zone 1000W Main Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GB Chassis – Lian Li T80 Open Air Test Bench Operating System – Windows 10 64-bit Additional Hardware "Killawatt” style electricity usage meter wall plug Precision Gold N05CC Decibel meter Games Throughout the testing procedure, we always use demanding presets which stress graphics cards to reasonable limits. However, in the interest of fairness, any technology which favours either AMD or NVIDIA is disabled. More specifically, this refers to PhysX, Hairworks and similar technologies. Additionally, we also disable all forms of AA, including FXAA, to gauge performance levels which aren't impacted by sophisticated AA. Theoretically, we could have employed FXAA because it only has a minor impact on the frame-rate, but many users strongly dislike the hazy image this causes. V-Sync is always disabled in our testing, graphics card power usage set to optimised or balance, and the system power mode set to High Performance. Some benchmarks may feature more cards, this is due to some tests being older or newer than others, and being used in other game specific feature tests we have conducted, so you'll find all relevant cards included in each chart as we add or remove new and old tests. Selecting strenuous presets especially at higher resolutions can cause hitching and other performance problems on graphics cards with lower amounts of video memory. For example, Rise of the Tomb Raider's Very High textures requires 4GB of RAM to maintain a smooth frame-rate. In theory, we could run the benchmarks at the High setting, but this defeats the purpose of high-end graphics cards which are designed to cope with the absolute best graphics on the market. Furthermore, the notion of enthusiast cards sporting less than 4GB memory has become less of an issue. Of course, whenever we're tackling more affordable GPUs, the settings will be altered accordingly and detailed for clarity. Identical settings are used for all resolutions, 1080, 1440, 2160, and 1440 Ultrawide unless otherwise stated. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Graphics Settings For this game, we use the Very High preset, with some small changes to increase the Texture Filtering, turn off the AA, and all V-Sync settings. Preset: Custom Fullscreen: On Exclusive Fullscreen: Off DirectX 12: On VSync: Off Anti-aliasing: Off Texture Quality: Very High Texture Filtering: 16x Anisotropic Shadow Quality: Very High Sun Soft Shadows: High Depth of Field: Very High Level of Detail: Very High Dynamic Foliage: High Ambient Occlusion: On Specular Reflection Quality: Normal Vignette Blur: On Motion Blur: On Bloom: On Tesselations: On Screen Space Reflections: On Lens Flares: On Screen Effects: On Film Grain: On Rise of the Tomb Raider Graphics Settings Preset: Custom Fullscreen: On Exclusive Fullscreen: Off DirectX 12: On MSAA: Off VSync: Off Texture Quality: Very High Texture Filtering: 16x Anisotropic Shadow Quality: Very High Ambient Occlusion: Very High Contact Hardening Shadows: On Parallax Occlusion Mapping: High Depth of Field: Very High Level of Detail: Very High Volumetric Lighting: On Screenspace Reflections: On Temporal Anti-Aliasing: Disabled Motion Blur: On Sharpen: On Bloom: On Lens Flares: On Cloth Physics: On Subsurface Scattering: On Chromatic Aberration: On Tesselations: On Far Cry Primal Graphics Settings Graphics Quality: Custom HD Textures: On Textures: Very High Shadow: Ultra Post FX: High Geometry: Ultra Terrain: Very High Water: Very High Environment: High Anti-Aliasing: Off Volumetric Fog: Very High Motion Blur: On Ghost Recon: Wildlands Graphics Settings Preset: Custom Antialiasing: Off Ambient Occlusion: SSBC Draw Distance: Very High Level of Detail: Ultra Texture Quality: Ultra Anisotropic Filtering: 16 Shadow Quality: Ultra Terrain Quality: Ultra Vegetation Quality: Ultra Turf Effects: Off Motion Blur: On Iron Sights DOF: On High-Quality DOF: On Bloom: On God Raws: Enhanced Subsurface Scattering: On Lens Flare: On Long-Range Shadows: Ultra Software 3DMark Firestrike 3DMark Time Spy Unique Superposition Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Rise of the Tomb Raider Far Cry Primal Ghost Recon: Wildlands CPU-ID HWMonitor TechPowerUp GPU-Z Noise Everyone has a reasonable noise level preference when it comes to comes to components on a computer. Some can handle all fans at 100% load to keep temperatures down; some want an entirely silent computer. To accurately gauge the noise output of a graphics card, we position a Precision Gold N05CC Decibel meter from one meter above our open-air test bench and take an average reading at idle and load. Power Consumption With electricity becoming increasingly expensive across most parts of the world the need for computer components to become energy efficient has never been more relevant. Graphics cards are often the most power-hungry components of a desktop system so having a capable graphics card is crucial to keeping power bills under control. Power is tied to heat, so lower power consumption means a graphics card is likely to run slightly cooler and put out less heat into your system, meaning your other components will run cooler with improved longevity. AMD and NVIDIA have both made power consumption an integral part of the way graphics cards dynamically overclock, so the need for graphics card vendors to use efficient VRM and PCB designs is becoming essential to maximise performance. We take power readings during idle state with no background applications running. Then again at 25%, 50%, and 99% completion of the Unigine Superposition benchmark, using the average as the final published result. Temperatures The cooling solution which graphics card vendors choose to implement is one of the main differences that consumers have to contend with when selecting a graphics cards. Apart from their acoustic properties, the thermal properties of graphics card coolers are critical. Lower temperatures are always better, and with AMD and NVIDIA opting to use dynamic overclocking algorithms that take temperature into account, it is important that graphics card vendors use high-performance cooling solutions to maximise performance. The era of graphics cards reaching critical temperatures are now in the past, but the importance of low temperatures remains. Lower temperatures mean better stability, longer component longevity, and lower fan speeds. We take temperature readings after 10 minutes of desktop idle with no background programs running, then take the recorded maximum delivered from Unigine Superposition after a 4K optimised run, confirming the numbers are accurate with HWMonitor. Ambient temperature is always kept +/- 1c from 21c. 3DMark No mucking about, the Aorus GTX 1080 Ti set our second highest graphics card to date, and our third highest score overall. Without a doubt, this is already showing to be one of the fastest GPUs on the market today. Of course, it held onto a top-three spot through all resolutions. Using the DX12 Time Spy test, our fourth fastest score, it should have done better, but it's hardly slacking either. Unigine Superposition Unigine is extremely demanding and separates the heroes from the pack. The Aorus scored a fantastic 5730, nicely ahead of the stock Nvidia 1080 Ti at both 1080p and 4K resolutions. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Now we move onto the really tough and most important tests, real-world gaming! The Aorus didn't score the fastest time, but it's not the most expensive card we've tested either. At 1080 it hitting almost 100 FPS, and 80, 40, and 60, at 1440p, 2160p and 3440p ultrawide respective. Pretty fantastic scores given we're maxing out the graphics on a demanding game. A few tweaks will have you hitting 60 FPS at 4K with little concern. Rise of the Tomb Raider Tomb Raider is pretty well optimised and the Aorus blasted past 100 FPS at three of the resolutions, it "only" hit 80 FPS at 4K, which is fantastic, obviously. If you're gaming on a HFR display, you'll be happy you invested in this GPU. Far Cry Primal There's obviously a trend here, the 1080 Ti is an amazing chipset, and the Aorus is even better. Hitting 60 FPS at 4K with the graphics dialled up no easy task, but this card made easy work of it. So what about our most demanding game? Ghost Recon... Ghost Recon: Wildlands Not an easy game to max out, even on the flagship cards that are on the market today. It dipped a little below 60 at both 4K and Ultrawide. Of course, if you dial back the shadows and grass detail a smidge, you'll barely see a difference, but the FPS will be in that glorious zone in no time. Overall, Aorus promised a gaming card, and they've delivered. Acoustic, Thermal and Power Testing Acoustic Performance This is a powerful GPU and requires a seriously big cooler. Actually, one of the biggest GPU coolers there is! However, it's still able to run passively at low loads, making it completely silent while you're not taxing it too much. Even when you do, it's huge fans are nice and quiet, hitting just 37 dBa, so it's unlikely you'll ever hear it unless you're already in a 30c+ room with poor ventilation and an open air chassis. Thermal Performance That big cooler is pulling its weight, and even with this powerful GPU it idled at 46c and maxed out at just 64c! Of course, the idle is quite high, but keep in mind it's passive cooled at low loads, and it's still cooler than the stock 1080 Ti! Power Usage It will come as no surprise that the third fastest 1080 Ti uses the third most power. Of course, I don't mind spending more on my power if the performance is there, and it certainly was with this GPU. Final Thoughts Price This is a tough one to cover, as GPU prices seem to really fluctuate right now, most likely due to the mining problem. At the time of writing, this GPU was £779.99 and that's a lot for any graphics card. I'd suggest checking around for stock and deals, as you can pick up a range of other 1080 Ti's from the likes of EVGA for about £750, and none of the other brands are pushing slow GTX 1080 Ti's. Overview I must admit that I love pretty much a GTX 1080 Ti, as they're the fastest consumer gaming graphics cards on the market today. I love gaming at 4K, I use HDR displays and high-frame rates, so it's a no-brainer that if that's what you seek in your gaming life, any GTX 1080 Ti is the choice for you. The performance on this GPU is amazing, it's not quite the fastest GTX 1080 Ti in the world, but it doesn't have to be, as it's pretty darn close, and is priced about the same as most factory overclocked models. Shop around for a deal though, they're out there, and if you're lucky you may find one much closer to £700. Design The aesthetics of this GPU are not for everyone, it's a bit heavy on that "extreme gaming" gaudy vibe for my liking. The style is subjective though, and I always buy my hardware based on performance, not looks. If you're eager to show everything off under RGB lighting and through tempered glass, you'll already know if this is the look you want from your GPU or not. The GPU is huge though, as are many flagship GPUs. If you're wanting to SLI, be sure your motherboard has the appropriate PCIe slot spacing to house a 2.5 slot card and leave the correct amount of breathing room. Of course, make sure you're packing a powerful enough PSU too, as a pair of 1080 Ti's is going to put a dent in your electricity bill. Should I Buy One If you're looking for one of the fastest gaming cards on the market, the latest from Aorus is one of the best around. However, the addition of that massive cooler, factory overclocks, unique aesthetics, and those extra VR HDMI ports certainly add to the overall value too. Pros Exceptional performance Great for high frame rate gaming Ideal for 4K gaming VR HDMI ports on front and back Unique cooler design RGB lighting Cool and quiet Passive cooling at low load Cons Huge cooler could limit SLI on some motherboards Neutral The cooler shroud looks a little too "gamer-y" for my liking