MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Lightning X
June 2017Type
Graphics CardPrice
$839.99 USNVIDIA Embraces FinFET With Pascal Graphics Architecture
The Pascal GPUs were designed to deliver a generational leap in performance over its predecessors by embracing the latest FinFET process. The increasing demand of graphics performance in high-end gaming PCs and also the emergence of Virtual Reality market have opted graphics manufacturers to focus on next generation of DirectX 12 and Vulkan graphics while delivering increased performance to drive high-resolution, HDR capable displays.
Using the TSMC 16nm FinFET process, the Pascal GP102 GPU was crafted for GeForce gamers and offered in two products that stand a class apart from their predecessors like the 980 Ti and GTX Titan X. Right now, we are going to give you a run through of the entire GP102 GPU which is the heart of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card.
NVIDIA GP102 GPU Dissected - A More Tamed Version of NVIDIA's Flagship GP100 GPU
NVIDIA has gone all out with the specifications of their grandest graphics card to date. The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti features the same Pascal GP102 GPU featured on the NVIDIA Titan X but is better than that in all ways possible. The NVIDIA GP102 Pascal GPU packs 12 Billion transistors and has 6 graphics processing clusters of which two are disabled. This adds up to a total of 28 SM units with 128 cores each. The card is geared to power compute and memory hungry gaming applications at higher resolutions with tons of texture and geometry processing power.
The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti features 3584 CUDA Cores, 224 Texture Mapping Units and 88 ROPs. These are clocked at a base clock of 1480 MHz and boost clock of 1582 MHz which can go as high as 2 GHz with overclocking. The Pascal cards are built to overclock like crazy and custom models will further boost the clock rates on availability day.
The Pascal FinFET architecture allows significant increase in clock frequency. The reference GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is clocked at 1506 MHz base anad 1683 MHz boost clock. The model ASUS sent us is clocked much higher thanks to their factory overclocked specs.
The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti delivers 12 TFLOPs of compute performance on its stock configuration. All of this circuitry is housed in a 471mm2 die size which is impressive. As for performance, you would be delighted to hear that the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is 35% faster on average and up to 40% faster than the GeForce GTX 1080 in gaming benchmarks. The GTX 1080 Ti’s blazing fast even comes at the same price of the original GTX 1080, at just $699 US.
The card also features a 11 GB GDDR5X VRAM that run across a 352-bit bus interface. NVIDIA has shipped their flagship with the fastest G5X solution to date. The Titan X (P) used 10 GB/s models while the 1080 Ti makes use of the new 11 GB/s memory chips which results in a cumulative bandwidth of 484 GB/s that’s going to be on par with SK Hynix’s HBM2 memory launching in Q2 2017. The card is powered by a 8+6 Pin power configuration and has a rated TDP of 250 Watts.
For those who are wondering what to do with the massive 11 GB frame buffer? Well, NVIDIA is touting this card as a 5K ready frame buffer so you can enjoy your favorite games at even higher resolutions then was ever possible before.
With the new compression and tiled caching system, the bandwidth on GTX 1080 Ti can be boosted up to 1200 GB/s which is more than what’s achievable with HBM2 as of right now.
In addition to better performance, NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is also packing new technology features such as compression and tiled caching boost bandwidth, tiled rendering, DirectX 12 Flex and Flow, NVIDIA Aftermath (A New Tool To identify cause of GPU crashes) and Shadowplay Highlights which will further boost gamer experiences running GeForce hardware.
Faster clocked GDDR5 memory still offers great performance and loads of bandwidth to the card. There are tons of features enabled on the Pascal cards such as Compute Preemption, memory compression, simultaneous multi-projection which you can read in our detailed post here. Also, NVIDIA has launched the full fat configuration of the GP102 GPU on the latest NVIDIA Titan Xp graphics card which was just launched a few days ago.
NVIDIA GeForce 10 Pascal Feature Slides:
Contents
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The MSI GTX 1080 Ti Lightning X is an enthusiasts choice with a high-end PCB design, tremendous overclocking potential and tons of gaming performance packed inside its belly.
- Great performance at 4K resolution
- Factory Overclocked Out of Box. Ships with 3 profiles (Silent/Gaming/OC)
- Tri Frozr heatsink cooling performance is great
- ZeroFrozr Technology Included on Torx 2.0 fans
- Close quarter heatsink design promises optimal VRM, MOSFET, VRAM temps
- Great overclocking potential, full tuning options with MSI Afterburner app
- Memory modules on the Lightning X can hit more than 500 GB/s bandwidth
- Backplate includes heatpipe solution for increased heat dissipation
- RGB Lighting support on the shroud and backplate are a plus
- Included stickers for personalization on the front of the shroud
- Good driver support for GeForce products, compatibility with DX11, DX12, Vulkan, OpenGL titles
- Performance per watt is great on Pascal graphics cards
- Lot's of display connectivity, great for VR and multi-display PCs.
Pros
- High Price ($839.99 US)
- Requires Three 8 Pin connectors
- Triple Slot Design, May not fit in small cases
- Overclocking limited unless using custom vMods
Cons
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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