The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Preview: A Look at What's to Come
by Ryan Smith on May 17, 2016 9:00 AM ESTFirst Thoughts
Wrapping up our preview of the GeForce GTX 1080, I think it’s safe to say that NVIDIA intends to start off the 16nm/14nm generation with a bang. As the first high-end card of this generation the GTX 1080 sets new marks for overall performance and for power efficiency, thanks to the combination of TSMC’s 16nm FinFET process and NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture. Translating this into numbers, at 4K we’re looking at 30% performance gain versus the GTX 980 Ti and a 70% performance gain over the GTX 980, amounting to a very significant jump in efficiency and performance over the Maxwell generation.
Looking at the bigger picture, as the first vendor to launch their 16nm/14nm flagship card, NVIDIA will get to enjoy the first mover’s advantage both with respect to setting performance expectations and with pricing. The GeForce GTX 1080 will keep the performance crown solidly in NVIDIA’s hands, and with it control of the high-end video card market for some time to come. NVIDIA’s loyal opposition, AMD’s Radeon Technologies Group, has strongly hinted that they’re not going to be releasing comparable high-performance video cards in the near future. Rather the company is looking to make a run at the much larger mainstream market for desktops and laptops with their Polaris architecture, something that GP104 isn’t meant to address.
The lack of competition at the high-end means that for the time being NVIDIA can price the GTX 1080 at what the market will bear, and this is more or less what we’re looking at for NVIDIA’s new card. While the formal MSRP on the GTX 1080 is $599 – $50 over what the GTX 980 launched at – that price is the starting price for custom cards from NVIDIA’s partners. The reference card as we’ve previewed it today – what NVIDIA is calling the Founders Edition card – carries a $100 premium over that, pushing it to $699.
GeForce GTX 1080 Configurations | ||||
Base | Founders Edition | |||
Core Clock | 1607MHz | 1607MHz | ||
Boost Clock | 1733MHz | 1733MHz | ||
Memory Clock | 10Gbps GDDR5X | 10Gbps GDDR5X | ||
Cooler | Manufacturer Custom (Typical: 2 or 3 Fan Open Air) |
NVIDIA Reference (Blower w/Vapor Chamber) |
||
Availability Date | June 2016? | 05/27/2016 | ||
Price | Starting at $599 | $699 |
While the differences between the reference and custom cards will be a longer subject for our full review, the more immediate ramification is going to be that only the Founders Edition cards are guaranteed to be available at launch. NVIDIA can’t speak definitively for their board partners, but at this point I am not seriously expecting custom cards until June. And this means that if you want one of the first GTX 1080s, then you’re going to have to pay $699 for the Founders Edition card. Which is not to say that it’s a bad card – far from it, it’s probably NVIDIA’s finest reference card to date – however it pushes the card’s price north of 980 Ti territory, some $150 higher than where the GTX 980 launched in 2014. For those who can afford such a card they will not be disappointed, but it’s definitely less affordable than past NVIDIA x80 cards.
Anyhow, we’ll be back later this week with our full review of the GeForce GTX 1080, so be sure to stay tuned.
Spring 2016 GPU Pricing Comparison | |||||
AMD | Price | NVIDIA | |||
$699 | GeForce GTX 1080 FE | ||||
Radeon R9 Fury X | $609 | ||||
$589 | GeForce GTX 980 Ti | ||||
$429 | GeForce GTX 980 | ||||
Radeon R9 390X | $399 | ||||
Radeon R9 390 | $289 | GeForce GTX 970 |
262 Comments
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Ryan Smith - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
Ashes is a game that I only intend to run in DX12. For all intents and purposes it's the marquee DX12 title, and I expect hardware vendors to be able to handle it well. Especially as its engine was more or less designed for low level APIs from the start.Hitman, on the other hand, had its DX12 implementation essentially bolted on after the fact.
Achaios - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
No reason for anyone playing at 1920X1080 to buy this card and still not quite good at 4K either, meaning that it falls short of the 60 FPS mark @ 4K.Will wait for 1080TI.
Dritman - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
More half assed content from Anandtech. I'm not even surprised anymore. Can't wait to hear more excuses from Ian, thats what the audience really want right Ian? Keep coming back hoping you guys will get your shit together, but I think I'm ready to say good bye.Every single other outlet on the net with a 1080 review has achieved more than Anandtech, how do you think that reflects on you?
silverblue - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
Judge them once the review is out.Ryan Smith - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
I'm always sorry to lose a reader.But I also don't make any apologies for how I've chosen to publish this. I had 4 days to work on this, and that's not sufficient time for a full AnandTech quality review.
vladx - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
Don't sweat it Ryan, I want an in-depth look into Pascal architecture and I really want to see how Pascal IPC compares to Maxwell's, my bet is it's about 10-15% lower overall.vladx - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
Bye Anandtech is better without the likes of you with comments like that.brucek2 - Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - link
If AnandTech was not included among certain sites hand picked to receive early review samples, that may actually reflect quite well on their editorial integrity.Also, really not feeling the time urgency you seem too. It's not yet even possible to order the card, and a lot of related information that some would consider important -- ie 3rd party cards and their performance -- isn't anywhere close to being on the table either.
Ryan Smith - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
"If AnandTech was not included among certain sites hand picked to receive early review samples, that may actually reflect quite well on their editorial integrity."To be clear, we received our sample at the same time as everyone else. The issue was that I had another (previously scheduled) function to attend when those samples were distributed. No malice or anyone's part, just bad timing all around.
Michael Bay - Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - link
You`re literally attentionwhoring.Nobody will miss you.