Inno3D GeForce GTX 1080 iChill X3 Graphics Card Review

Final Thoughts

Price

At the time of writing, the Inno3D iChill GTX 1080 is available to pre-order from Overclockers UK for £589.99 including shipping. Unfortunately, the poor supply of GTX 1080s from various resellers has caused huge pricing fluctuations and it’s difficult to gauge a product’s accurate RRP. This means the GPU could be £30-£50 cheaper once more stock arrives. Of course, I can only go by the current market price as a way of judging value.

Clearly, the GTX 1080 in European markets is very expensive and a huge increase compared to the GTX 980 launch price. On the other hand, it’s faster than the GTX 980Ti and Titan X which means it may be justified to many users. Honestly, the value aspect depends on perspective and if you’re concerned about the GTX 1080Ti arriving with HBM2, much better performance and a similar launch price within the next few months. I doubt this will occur though due to low-yield HBM2 and NVIDIA’s current pricing strategy for flagship products.

Nevertheless, this particular version of the GTX 1080 is one of the better options because it features overclocked GDDR5X memory by default and comes at a cheaper price than the MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X, ASUS Strix, Gigabyte G1 Gaming and other popular models.

Overview

Whenever a premium graphics card comes into the foray, it’s important to use a luxurious cooling solution and ensure the end-user feels like they’ve received something which is worth the initial investment. Many of you might remember the R9 290X’s plastic shroud which struggled to evoke a sense of pride in the product even though the performance numbers were very impressive. Thankfully, Inno3D haven’t gone down this path and decided to employ the highest quality of materials. The GPU’s heavy construction exudes confidence in the product and it’s probably the best graphics card I’ve tested in terms of build quality. For example, the removable metal cover has a perfect finish and the backplate is remarkably thick.

On another note, Inno3D’s Power Direct Cooling System revolves around three Scythe fans with high angled blades and Japanese bearings. Additionally, the 123-piece aluminium heatsink, 5 heatpipes, large memory heatsink and side air intakes combine to maintain low temperatures and a good noise to performance ratio. Despite opting for three fans, the graphics card is quiet under full load and silent during basic tasks due to the 0dB fan mode.

Aesthetically speaking, the graphics card’s silver finish evokes a sophisticated feel and it’s going to look sublime in a wide range of system builds. The product’s large size means it’s really imposing and almost dwarves other components. This is a positive notion because your eyes are drawn to the GPU and you quickly become enamoured with its simplistic, professional appearance. Also, the introduction of red illumination through a striking cut-out in the metal cover is ingenious and works remarkably well. This allows you to enjoy vibrant lighting without it being too over-the-top. Inno3D have implemented RGB lighting into their logo which acts as a quick way of determining GPU loads. While this isn’t that useful for the majority of cases, it’s a nice addition which improves the product’s visual flair.

The GTX 1080’s overclocking potential isn’t great judging by my experience so far and it seems that custom cards are already near the bleeding edge of performance. Sadly, I only managed to increase the core clock by 62MHz and memory by 632MHz. This resulted in a maximum boost reading of 2062MHz. Of course, the graphics card already has a 1759MHz core clock out-of-the-box which is a great overclock compared to the Founder’s Edition 1607MHz base. When monitoring the stock boost clock, the top figure was 2025MHz. This is an excellent showing without requiring any user modifications. Prior to the review, I was hoping to exceed the 2.1GHz boost mark on air but this might have been overly optimistic. Whatever the case, the factory overclocked and manual overclocked boosts are absolutely mind-blowing.

When it comes to performance, the GTX 1080 is in a class of its own and posts significantly better frame-rates than the Titan X, Fury X and GTX 980Ti. Despite being hammered with an assortment of demanding presets, the GPU offers very consistent minimum numbers and doesn’t falter even when the resolution is increased to 4K. Saying that, it doesn’t quite reach 60 frames-per-second when you select a 4K display, but it’s close enough to only require minor concessions in the settings menu. Personally, I think the GTX 1080 is the perfect option for those using a high refresh 1440P monitor or 3440×1440 21:9 ultrawide. The GPU doesn’t appear to suffer in DirectX 12 titles either and defeats AMD solutions quite easily. On the other hand, I’m speculating that this is more to do with pure graphics power and not a sudden improvement in Pascal’s architecture to employ effective Asynchronous Compute or take advantage of vast optimisation enhancements. In an ideal world, I’d love to compare this custom version with the Founder’s Edition but this wasn’t possible at the time of review due to sample issues beyond my control.

Pros

• Capable of consistent frame-rates on a 4K display
• Excellent temperatures
• Extremely efficient
• Gorgeous aesthetic design
• Premium build quality
• Remarkably quiet under load for a three-fan GPU
• Silent 0dB idle mode
• Three-year warranty
• Unbelievable performance

Cons

• Limited availability

“The Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 1080 offers wonderful performance and it’s even able to cope with extreme graphical presets on a 4K display. Not only that, it’s beautifully made, competitively priced, extremely quiet and a complete joy to use.” 

Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 1080 Graphics Card Review