Nvidia GTX1080 Founders Edition Review

nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review

Up Close

Before we get a look at some of the other new elements to the GTX 1080 besides the whoppingly fast core clock and mind-bendingly large throughput of the new GDDR5X Memory, let’s take a shufti at the latest card to make you consider selling your first born, the GTX 1080. 

When you’ve spent as long as nVidia have in getting their brand solidified in the mind of the world it’s not a great surprise to see them sticking to the lurid lime green that is their trademark. We can’t think of any other manufacturer that we’d let get away with such a horrible colour choice, but at the very least it’s distinctive. Anyone checking their phone for Instagram and wondering where it’s gone will understand the importance of retaining a brand identity that’s readily recognised.

Out of the box the cooler is vaguely similar to that of the most recent nVidia graphics cards with the silver and black aesthetic dominating things.

nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review     nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review  

It is quickly apparent that this isn’t just a rehash of an old favourite though. There are angles, edges and carefully sculpted air-flow designs everywhere. The GTX 1080 is designed with multi-card users in mind, and the slab-sided coolers of old were notorious for reducing the main card to a heat soak. Thankfully this new design ensures that even recent lottery winners can be comforted knowing all of their cards will receive equal amounts of fresh air to keep them cool. We think it looks gorgeous. It reminds us of a Lamborghini Aventador and that has to be a good thing.

nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review     nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review  

No your eyes do not deceive you. By reducing the transistor size still further and enhancing the efficiency of the Pascal GPU, nVidia have managed to drop the TDP of the GTX 1080 down to 180W. Or, to put it another way, this is a card with the theoretical capability of two SLI GTX 980s but running from a single 8-pin PCIe power input.

The backplate dispenses with the holes, gaps and general ‘afterthought’ nature of the backplates on the Maxwell cards and brings a singular sheet to the attention of creative types everywhere. We can’t wait to see what the partner suppliers do with such a huge canvas. 

nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review     nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review  

Doesn’t the GTX 1080 look gorgeous. From this angle you get a really good feel for the angles built into the shroud, designed to keep the air flowing in all the right places. The radial fan and vapor chamber working in sync to make sure that you have the maximum thermal headroom available for your overclocking shenanigans.

Three DisplayPort adaptors are found alongside the regular HDMI and DVI-D ports. Although in our single card testing this wont really be utilised, it’s interesting to note that nVidia are finally supporting multiple display outputs from a multi-GPU setup. Or, in other words, if you’re running three monitors and two cards you can plug other monitors into the other card. Useful.

nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review     nVidia GTX 1080 Founder Edition Review Â