The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founder's Edition Review: Bigger Pascal for Better Performance
by Ryan Smith on March 9, 2017 9:00 AM ESTDriver Performance & The Test
Alongside the launch of the GTX 1080 Ti, NVIDIA is also touting the performance of their drivers. For most users who have been regularly updating their drivers to begin with, I don’t think there’s anything too surprising here. But because of NVIDIA’s talk of driver performance gains, I’ve already seen some confusion here over whether the GTX 1080 Ti launch driver (378.78) is a special performance driver or not. For the record, it is not.
In their presentation, NVIDIA outlined their driver performance gains in DX12 since the launch of various DX12 games, including Ashes of the Singularity, Hitman, and Rise of the Tomb Raider. All of these games have seen performance improvements, but what’s critical here is that this is over the long-run, since the launch of the GTX 1080 and these respective games.
The 378.78 driver in that respect is nothing special. In terms of driver release, NVIDIA is already a few releases into the R378 branch, so any big code changes for this branch have already been released to the public in earlier driver builds.
In any case, for reference purposes, here’s how performance of the GTX 1080 stacks up now compared to performance at launch.
| GeForce GTX Driver Performance Gains: July 2016 vs. March 2017 (4K) | |||
| Game | GTX 1080 | GTX 980 Ti | |
| Rise of the Tomb Raider |
Even
|
Even
|
|
| DiRT Rally |
+8%
|
+7%
|
|
| Ashes of the Singularity |
+11%
|
+14%
|
|
| Battlefield 4 |
Even
|
Even
|
|
| Crysis 3 |
Even
|
Even
|
|
| The Witcher 3 |
|
Even
|
|
| The Division* |
-7%
|
-9%
|
|
| Grand Theft Auto V |
+2%
|
Even
|
|
| Hitman (DX12) |
+26%
|
+24%
|
|
As was the case with NVIDIA’s data, the performance gains vary from game to game. Some games have not budged, whereas others like Hitman have improved significantly, and outlier The Division has actually regressed a bit due to some major updates that have happened to the game in the same time period. But at the end of the day, these are performance gains that have accumulated over the months and are already available in the latest drivers from NVIDIA.
The Test
For our review of the GTX 1080 Ti, we’re using NVIDIA’s 378.78 driver.
| CPU: | Intel Core i7-4960X @ 4.2GHz |
| Motherboard: | ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Professional |
| Power Supply: | Corsair AX1200i |
| Hard Disk: | Samsung SSD 840 EVO (750GB) |
| Memory: | G.Skill RipjawZ DDR3-1866 4 x 8GB (9-10-9-26) |
| Case: | NZXT Phantom 630 Windowed Edition |
| Monitor: | Asus PQ321 |
| Video Cards: | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti AMD Radeon Fury X |
| Video Drivers: | NVIDIA Release 378.78 AMD Radeon Software Crimson 17.3.1 |
| OS: | Windows 10 Pro |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
161 Comments
View All Comments
mapesdhs - Saturday, March 11, 2017 - link
Some 780 Ti owners may have oc'd their cards that high, but not many I suspect. I've been searching for 780 Ti cards for a while, for CUDA, most tend to be around 980MHz at best.mapesdhs - Saturday, March 11, 2017 - link
Also recall one model which was 1002MHz.Chaser - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
Glad to see I have no need for a card that powerful and expensive. I run a single 27" 2K IPS monitor and my Gigabyte Extreme gaming 1080 is more than enough to keep me on the high end for years to come. 4K is 90% bragging rights in terms of visible difference and also game developer support.sharath.naik - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
I think you may need to consider multi monitor gaming. Then this card makes sense if you want to use this in a small case that allows only one GPU.mapesdhs - Saturday, March 11, 2017 - link
Depends on the game and what kind of detail one likes. Site reviews and forum commentaries also don't take into account game mods which often significantly increase the GPU load (check out the OCN Best Skyrim Pics thread, have a look at the builds people are using).I like to play games with all details/settings at maxed out. Thus, such a card is very relevant. Sure, plenty of players don't mind if the fps drops to 30 or 40, but some like it smooth at a minimum. I've currently no interest in high frequency monitors (which ironically can sensitise one's vision anyway), but I do seek 60Hz minimum sync'd, something I can't get atm with a single 980 at 1920x1200. I plan on moving up to 4K soon; with a 1080 Ti, and likely being able to get away with turning of some of the AA options because of the higher pixel density (which regains performance), minimum 60Hz looks very possible.
It depends on one's needs; everyone has different thresholds of what they're happy with.
Chaser - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
Very well written, balanced review. Nicely done Ryan.BrokenCrayons - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
+1!nismotigerwvu - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
Quality work as always Ryan! I spotted a minor typo on the conclusions page "Because the GeForce GTX 1080 Tii Founder’s Edition isn’t NVIDIA’s first GP102-based product". Did a little midnight coffee spill and make that i key sticky? :)BrokenCrayons - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
Typo/Error also on Page 4 of the review in the line that reads:"For our review of the GTX 1060, we’re using NVIDIA’s 378.78 driver."
Probably should be "GTX 1080 Ti"
The table directly below that line is also missing the GTX 1080 Ti in the video cards section.
Ryan Smith - Thursday, March 9, 2017 - link
Thanks!