MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G review

Graphics cards 1048 Page 39 of 39 Published by

teaser

Conclusion

Conclusion

Obviously Nvidia unleashed Fury (pun intended) with their 16nm Pascal processors. They nailed it performance, TDP and temps wise, but unfortunately did price the 1080 series very steep. I spotted the card on-line this morning for € 750, but due to low volume availability retailers will easily inflate that to € 800 in most shops for the time being. This is why I've been waiting anxiously on board partner cards which often are better cooled (less throttling), more silent, run faster and often look damn terrific. The MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G review as far as I am concerned ticks the right boxes. 

You may expect that dynamic boost clock hovering at the 1.9 GHz marker with the default clocks and yes it's is a notch faster compared to the founder editions. It does seem that the Pascal generation scales a little less compared to Maxwell in terms of relative tweaking/overclocking performance. It's mostly due to the high clocks really, if you go from 1800 towards 2000 MHz it's just ten percent extra perf. Despite that observation, it remains a truckload of performance + you get 8GB of the fastest graphics memory your money can get you. AIB/AIC prices will more competitive opposed to the reference founder edition cards, meaning that for roughly the same amount of money you can purchase that muscular, beefy board partner product. The Pascal GP104 architecture is interesting, however aside from a few changes in the pipeline, it looks VERY similar to Maxwell. Make no mistake there have been changes, but it shares a very similar structure. So the biggest benefit for Nvidia was the move to 16nm, as it allows them to drive their products to incredible clock frequencies whilst they can use less voltage, and that results in power consumption under the 200 Watt marker. The next ticked box for GeForce GTX 1080 is GDDR5X, effectively it brought them a data-rate of 10 Gbps which brings in a very nice memory performance boost. Combined with the new color compression technologies they can effectively achieve 43% more bandwidth compared to the GeForce GTX 980. And I do bring up the GeForce GTX 980 with good reason, the GTX 1080 is to replace that product. However the 1080 is faster than the 980 Ti and faster then the Titan X. You really are looking at 20% to 40% performance increases depending on game title and resolution. So that is a huge step forward, and again... this is just the reference clocked product. The board partners are going to get crazy with this chip. I also need to applaud the step of moving towards 8 GB of graphics memory. Whilst the highest used we ever measured is in the 5 to 6 GB VRAM domain, that 8 GB 256-bit GDDR5X memory is an excellent and well-balanced amount of graphics memory. Keep in mind:

  1. Enthusiast level gaming requires a lot of graphics memory.
  2. People simply like gigantic graphics memory buffers. 

So yes, the raw rendering performance versus that massive VRAM partition is going to attract a certain kind of people, the demographics would match a large chunk of the Guru3D.com reader-base. Honestly I can talk and explain why you should or shouldn't purchase a card like this, the fact remains people that can afford it will purchase it, people that can't or refuse to, won't. This is the Porsche that nobody can afford, but really likes (the Ferrari still needs to be released with Big Pascal). But hey, who knows with titles like The Division / GTA5 and technologies like Ultra HD and / or DSR versus performance and VRAM what you find valid, or not. High up there in the enthusiast space there certainly is a market for cards like these. That makes these 8 GB models relevant for gaming. And it really is a partition of 8 GB and not 7.5 GB of graphics memory :P 
 
  

22350_img_3977 

Aesthetics

MSI tweaked the design a bit for the new Gaming X and upcoming Z series, the more stylish TwinFrozr VI cooler looks serious and now comes with RGB LED lighting control. Switch it on/off or to any color and animation you prefer, the choice is yours. Cool dibs is that backplate, with opening at the proper areas (GPU/VRM) for venting. As you can see, I remain skeptical about backplates, they potentially can trap heat and thus warm up the PCB. But the flip-side is that they do look better and can protect your PCB and components from damage. Consumer demand is always decisive, and you guys clearly like graphics cards with backplates. Both the front IO plate and backplate are dark matte black which certainly gives the card that premium feel. All that combined with a nicely design 10 phase PCB again in matte black, and the end result is a lovely looking product.  

Cooling & Noise Levels

The reference design (founder editions) of the GTX 1080  are set at an offset threshold of 80 degrees C. Once the GPU gets warmer the card will clock down / lower its voltage etc to try and keep the card cooler, that's throttling and it part of the design. MSI however throws in a cooler that manages roughly 500 to 600W of cooling performance. It is a really good one, so good that up-to a degree or 60 on the GPU, this card remains passive and thus inaudible. Once the fans kick in, you can expect to hover at the 70 Degrees C marker, with seriously demanding games. Please do note that you will need proper ventilation inside your chassis to achieve that number. So MSI shaved off a good 10 Degrees C over reference. Noise wise, we can’t complain about cooling whatsoever. Expect sound pressure values in the 38~39 dBA range at max under load and warm circumstances. That's measured 75 CM away from the PC. This means you can barely hear the card while using it. Once overclocked with added voltage we always do recommend a little more fan RPM, this does increase noise a tiny bit, but it's nothing dramatic by any standard. Overall this is a very silent and solid cooling solution.

Power Consumption

Any GP104 Pascal GPU and thus GP104 based graphics card is rated as having a 180 Watt TDP under full stress, our measurements back that up albeit a notch higher due to the faster clocks and thus voltage usage. Anyhow, at this performance level you are looking at a card that consumes roughly 400~450 Watts for a stressed PC in total, that is okay. We think a 500~600 Watt PSU would be sufficient and if you go with 2-way SLI say an 800 Watt power supply is recommended. It's definitely more than needed but remember - when purchasing a PSU, aim to double up in Wattage as your PSU is most efficient when it is under 50% load. Here again keep in mind we measure peak power consumption, the average power consumption is a good notch lower depending on GPU utilization. Also, if you plan to overclock the CPU/memory and/or GPU with added voltage, please do purchase a power supply with enough reserve. People often underestimate it, but if you tweak all three aforementioned variables, you can easily add 200 Watts to your peak power consumption budget as increasing voltages and clocks increases your power consumption.


20160531_134101


Overall gaming performance

Do you really need a card as beefy as the GeForce GTX 1080 really is though? Well, that depends on a rather abstract external factor, your monitor(s) and in specific the resolution you play your games at. If you game at a resolution of 1920x1080 (Full HD) then no, not really. However, more is better and with technologies like DSR (super-sampling) and Ultra HD the raw horsepower this card offers certainly isn't distasteful. Also, with with surround gaming (three monitors) the GeForce GTX 1080 will just make a lot of sense, especially with the new simultaneous multi-projection feature build into the rendering pipeline, that probably is one of the most innovative features Nvidia has added that I have seen in a long time. From 1080p to Ultra HD the GeForce GTX 1080 hauls the proverbial toosh compared to whatever other single GPU based graphics card you can name in existence. Obviously it is the fastest kid on the block. This much performance and graphics memory helps you in Ultra HD, hefty complex anti-aliasing modes, DSR and of course the latest gaming titles. I consider this to be among the first viable single GPU solutions that allows you to game properly in Ultra HD with some very nice eye candy enabled. However, I was kinda hoping to be closer to 60 FPS on average with the GTX 1080 in Ultra HD. But that will probably take the future Big Pascal (Ti / Titan). As always, drivers wise we can't complain at all, we did not stumble into any issues. And with a single GPU there's no micro-stuttering and no multi-GPU driver issues to fight off. Performance wise, really there's not one game that won't run seriously good at the very best image quality settings. Gaming you must do with a nice 30" monitor of course, at 2560x1440/1600 or Ultra HD. Now, we can discuss the advantages of an 8 GB framebuffer, but hey, you can draw your own conclusions there. At least you won't run out of graphics memory for the years to come right? So in that respect the card is rather future proof. SLI then, we have to mention this. Starting with Pascal the primary focus for Nvidia in terms of multi-GPU setups is that they will support 2-way SLI, but really that's it and all. For those of you that want to run 3 and 4-way configuration, it's going to be difficult but remains possible as the game needs to support and you will need to obtain a driver key from the Nvidia website. Do not expect Nvidia to enhance drivers for it, they'll just open up the floodgate and have you deal with the rest. Personally I am okay with this choice. I have been complaining for years now that once you pass two card, you will almost exponentially faster run into some sort of driver issue and thus irritation. So yes, some of you might be disappointed about this news. Me personally, I am fine with the choice to focus on proper 2-way SLI opposed to all the arbitrary configurations that less then 0,01% of the end-users uses.

Once last remark on performance. You will have noticed that in some games this higher clocked product is a good 10% faster where in other just a few percent. That's Nvidia's limiters at work for you. All card under very hefty load will be limited in a way more narrow bracket. Whereas games that leave enough breathing room can advance on that GPU and score better opposed to some other games.

Overclocking

Due to the many limiters and hardware protections Nvidia has built in all and any cards will hover roughly at the 2 GHz on the Boost marker. Now, that frequency will differ per game/application. On 3DMark Firestrike for example it may hover at 1950~2000 MHz, while in Rise of the Tom Raider (2016) you will be close towards 2.1 GHz. The reality is that Nvidia monitors and adapts to hardware specific loads, e.g. an application that is nearly viral like on the GPU will have the effect of the GPU protecting itself by lowering clocks and voltages. The opposite applies here as well, if a game does not try & fry that GPU, it'll clock a bit faster withing the tweaked thresholds at your disposal. Tweaking is fun, but definitely more complicated anno 2016. The memory can reach 11 Gbps effectively, I have seen some card even reach 1.2 GHz/Gbps. Pascal GPUs do like their memory bandwidth though, so if you can find a high enough stable tweak, definitely go or it if you are seeking that last bit of extra performance.

Guru3d-recommended

Concluding

Despite being positioned in a high price bracket, it's hard to not like the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G. It does give you tremendous gaming performance, and combined with extra TLC from MSI it has been improved to an even better level. The new Pascal architecture proves its agility and the die shrink to 16 nm FiNFET shows low power consumption due to lower voltages and obviously the high clock-speeds and that GDDR5X memory offer the complete package that the GTX 1080 is. If you stick to the WHQD 2560x1440 domain this is the card that will last you years to come combined with that lovely 8 GB of graphics memory. For long-term Ultra HD usage (high FPS) however the answer still needs to be found in two cards. But hey, if WHQD is your domain then the GeForce GTX 1080 is a rather future proof product with that proper and fast 8GB GDDR5X graphics memory. The MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G is overclocked, yet relatively mildy. That tweak by itself will not be the decisive factor for the purchase as the perf increase is not that relevant. However the overall design, cooling, looks, RGB LED system and and sure, that x-factor does make the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G combined with it's raw sheer and brutal game performance a very enticing product. I still say that the 1070 cards are going to be the biggest hit of the Summer of 2016, but for those with a bigger wallet the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8G certainly is a product that we can wholeheartedly recommend.

Hold it my kind Sir - we've got more Pascal GPU related content for you to read if interested:

Recommended  Downloads

Share this content
Twitter Facebook Reddit WhatsApp Email Print