Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Mini Review - Introduction

Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Mini 8GB
Fast gaming on a more compact form factor

In this article we'll review the Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Mini. A product aimed at a more compact form factor DiY PC gamer, this graphics card launch offers tremendous gaming performance at a length of just 21cm. The ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Mini thus is among the smallest GTX 1080 implementations to date at its length of 8.3" inches (21cm). But is it silent and running cool enough?

Last year the full range of Pascal based processors was released. Among them, the GeForce GTX 1070 and 1080. Both models honestly are equally impressive with respect to their product positioning, though I do feel the 1070 will be the more attractive product due to its price level, but the 1080 cards really are what everybody wants (but perhaps can't afford). The good news though is that the board partners offer SKUs for less opposed to the Nvidia reference / founder edition cards. Obviously the higher-end all customized SKUs will likely level with that founders edition card price level again, but I am pretty certain you'd rather spend your money on a fully customized AIB card that is already factory tweaked a bit opposed to the reference one. 

The cooler of the ZOTAC GeForce GTX 1080 Mini has 6 mm-thick copper heat-pipes leading through a dense aluminum fin-stack. Two different fans can be spotted, a 90 mm (left) and 100 mm (right) fan. At the backside you will also spot a back-plate. The Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Mini is clocked marginally faster compared to a reference edition card, 1620 MHz on the core and 1759 MHz on the Boost. Memory has been left untouched at 10 GHz (GDDR5X-effective). The cooler still offers proper cooling performance and acceptable noise levels. Housed in a compact design this card might be just what the doctor ordered for a more compact Micro ATX build. The card is too big for Mini-ITX builds though. 

 
Zotac GeForce GTX 1080 Mini with the Nvidia GP104-A1 GPU ( 1,620 MHz base / 1,753 MHz boost / 10 GHz GDDR5X memory )