Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Power Consumption Results
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Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is now the fastest graphics card available, and at $500 cheaper than the previous champ! Should you buy now, or wait for AMD’s Vega?
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Power Consumption
Our graphics card test setup and methodology are detailed in How We Test Graphics Cards.
At idle, the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition’s power consumption lands exactly where we’d expect: right around 13W.
One result that really stands out is the >30W difference in our gaming workload between the cold and fully-exercised card. We see power drop a bunch once the 1080 Ti reaches its full operating temperature, which means it’s hitting a thermal limit and being slowed down by GPU Boost.
To back our claim, we recorded the temperature and clock rate during warm-up and plotted them in the same graph:
Our stress test yields the same drop in frequency, though it’s less pronounced due to the much higher load.
How do these results compare to Nvidia’s Titan X (Pascal)? A look at our library of data yields some interesting findings.
The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti’s average clock rate is a tad higher than the Titan X’s once both cards reach their peak operating temperature. However, the 1080 Ti gets there faster, giving the Titan X a boost early on.
Also interesting is that the Titan X’s curve is a lot smoother than the 1080 Ti’s, which behaves somewhat frenetically.
The power consumption curves as graphs are provided below, and we start by comparing the cold and warmed-up cards:
Image 1 of 2
Notice the same large difference in power consumption between the cards’ temperature levels.
Image 1 of 2
We documented the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti’s power consumption and current exclusively at its operating temperature because the two maximum values ended up being almost identical.
This is due to the power target of 250W imposing a hard limit, which Nvidia manages to hit very well.
Image 1 of 2
Adherence To Specifications
Ever since the launch of AMD’s Radeon RX 480, we look closely at every new card’s adherence to the PCI-SIG’s specifications. Nvidia’s GeForce 1080 Ti Founders Edition is no exception, and it passes our test with flying colors. It doesn’t use the 3.3V rail at all; only the 12V rail.
Our readings put the motherboard slot’s 12V rail at approximately 4.4A. Given a ceiling of 5.5A, the card has plenty of room to spare.
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Asus ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti OC in review
Asus uses the same board as the ROG Poseidon Platinum hybrid card, but with slight modifications to capacitor assembly.
Otherwise, the Strix cooler of course has much more space, which can only be advantageous.
The Kart… Asus uses its own design for this board. The two 8-pin sockets for the external power supply are followed by two coils in the input area for smoothing the tips.
Asus relies on a design of 5+2 phases, with the 5 phases for the GPU being designed. Benchmarks in 2560 x 1440 pixels
We have deliberately dispensed with Full HD (1920 x 1080p) as the card runs into the CPU limit even in the highest settings. In WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixels), on the other hand, the actual working environment and the kar… Benchmarks in 3840 x 2160 pixels
The card is also significantly faster in this high resolution than a GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition or GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition. TitanX (Pascal) in Nvidia reference design. Overall, many titles are quite good in … Power consumption at different loads
The power consumption in the gaming loop is pretty much exactly on the point that Asus set as the Power Target with 275 watts in the BIOS. In the Torture loop, the power consumption even drops below this value.
Au… Overclocking
Manual overclocking with air cooling is average, if you can withstand the fan, which then operates at maximum speed at over 3500 rpm. On the one hand, of course, as always, we have the GPU lottery, on the other hand it is now m… Cooling system and backplate
The special feature is the use of a «sandwich» system, which uses a kind of cooling and stabilization frame between the top of the board and the actual heat sink. On an integrated VRM heatsink in the … Summary
The ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti OC is conspicuously unobtrusive, apart from the unavoidable RGB effects. Asus has left the Power Target at a reasonable 275 watts ex works, which is quite sufficient. Even if you…
Asus uses the same board as the ROG Poseidon Platinum hybrid card, but with slight modifications to capacitor assembly.
Otherwise, the Strix cooler of course has much more space, which can only be advantageous. The map follows the Strix line purely visually, even though some minor cosmetic surgeries have been performed.
DirectCU was yesterday and we present in advance the scheme of the Aus-PR, which should explain the map and its structure in detail. We will of course go into all areas in more detail and with our own measurements:
Since the actual performance of all board partner cards depends more on the actual boost clock achieved, and thus causally depends on the cooling, the power target and above all the quality of the respective chip, any test based only on benchmark bars is more of a Random snapshot of a single specimen. This is precisely why we have focused on the actual technical implementation of each model and have been able to document this very well with our equipment.
Unboxing, dimensions and connections
The accessories are limited to the usual three-handers such as DVD, manual and 8-pin adapters. Otherwise, there is only the card. We will discuss their exact board and cooling design separately later. The most important features are first summarized in a table:
| Overview of installation dimensions, features and connections | |
|---|---|
| Installation length: |
30. 0 cm (slot aperture to end cover) |
| Installation height: |
12.5 cm (upper edge slot to top card) |
| Depth: |
4.8 cm (2.5 slot) 0.5 cm baking plate |
| Weight: |
1263 grams |
| Backplate: | Yes, without passive cooling function |
| Cooling: | Air Horizontally aligned cooling fins |
| Fan: |
3x 9 cm (8.5 cm rotor diameter) |
| Connections Slot blend: |
3x DisplayPort 1.4 3x HDMI 2.0 1x Dual-Link DVI-I |
| Other shots: |
2x SLI Connector |
| Power supply: |
2x 8-pin PCI-Express |
Exterior views
Let’s start by looking at the map from the outside. Asus, like many others, is back on a matte, graphite-coloured plastic cover that is haptic and visually fine, but does not rip off the stool.
Color applications outside the RGB light effects are searched in vain.
The backplate is purely for the look and carries an RGB backlit ROG logo. The two 8-pin sockets of the external power supply are installed rotated by 180°. The logo on the top is also equipped with an RGB backlight and can of course also be customized by means of its own software.
The cooling fins are vertically aligned, which pushes the exhaust air undirected against the top of the motherboard and the front panel of the case.
In addition to the two DisplayPort jacks, the connectors are based on two HDMI outputs, which is e.g. VR glasses, of course. The Dual-Link DVI connector is a nice, but now hardly necessary entry.
Specifications
The GPU-Z screenshot shows us the most important key data in advance, whereby the actual boost achieved was of course higher with our model.
This in turn relativizes such theoretical data a little, so that we really want to refer to the following test results later:
Finally, the whole thing again as a tabular comparison to the other relevant graphics card models:
| Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 Ti FE |
Asus ROG GTX 1080 Ti Strix OC Gaming |
Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 FE |
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Ti |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gpu |
GP102 | GP102 | GP104 | GM200 |
| CUDA cores |
3584 | 3584 | 2560 | 2816 |
| Base clock | 1480 MHz | 1569 MHz |
1607 MHz | 1000 MHz |
| Boost clock |
1582 MHz+ | 1683 MHz |
1733 MHz+ | 1076 MHz+ |
| Memory Size & Type |
11 GByte GDDR5X |
11 GByte GDDR5X |
8 GByte GDDR5X |
6 GByte GDDR5 |
| The size |
471 mm2 | 471 mm2 | 314 mm2 | 601 mm2 |
| Technology |
16 nm | 16 nm | 16 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors |
12 billion | 12 billion | 7. 2 billion |
8 billion |
| Streaming Multiprocessors (SM) |
28 | 28 |
20 | 22 |
| GFLOPS (basic clock) |
10.609 | 11.247 |
8.228 | 5.632 |
| Texture Units |
224 | 224 | 160 | 176 |
| Texture fill rate |
331.5 GT/s | 351.5 GT/s |
257.1 GT/s | 214 GT/s |
| Rops |
88 | 88 |
64 | 96 |
| Pixel fill rate |
130.24 GPix/s | 138.1 GPix/s |
114.2 GPix/s | 116.7 GPix/s |
| Storage data rate |
11 Gbps | 11 Gbps | 10 Gbps | 7 Gbps |
| Storage bus |
352 bits | 352 bits | 256 bits | 384 bits |
| Memory bandwidth |
484. 4 GByte/s |
484.4 GByte/s | 320 GByte/s | 336 GByte/s |
| L2 cache |
2816 KByte | 2816 KByte | 2 MByte | 3 MByte |
| Tdp |
250 watts | 275 Watt (PT) |
180 watts | 250 watts |
Test system and measurement methods
The new test system and the methodology have already been described in great detail in the basic article «How We Test Graphics Cards» (English: «How We Test Graphics Cards») and therefore, for the sake of simplicity, we now only refer to this detailed Description. So if you want to read everything again, you are welcome to do so. However, we have improved CPU and cooling once again in order to largely exclude possible CPU bottle necks for this fast card.
If you are interested, the summary in table form quickly provides a brief overview:
| Test systems and measuring rooms | |
|---|---|
| Hardware: |
Intel Core i7-6900K -4. 3GHzMSI X99S XPower Gaming Titanium Corsair Vengeance DDR4-3200 1x 1 TByte Toshiba OCZ RD400 (M.2, System SSD) 2x 960 GByte Toshiba OCZ TR150 (Storage, Images) Be Quiet Dark Power Pro 11, 850-watt power supply Windows 10 Pro (all updates) |
| Cooling: |
Alphacool Ice Block XPX Alphacool Ice Age 2000 Chiller 2x Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 PWM (Closed Case Simulation) Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut (for cooler change) |
| Housing: |
Lian Li PC-T70 with expansion kit and modifications Modes: Open Benchtable, Closed Case |
| Monitor: | Eizo EV3237-BK |
| Power consumption: |
non-contact DC measurement on the PCIe slot (Riser-Card) non-contact DC measurement on the external PCIe power supply Direct voltage measurement on the respective feeders and on the power supply 2x Rohde & Schwarz HMO 3054, 500 MHz multi-channel oscillograph with memory function 4x Rohde & Schwarz HZO50, current togor adapter (1 mA to 30 A, 100 KHz, DC) 4x Rohde & Schwarz HZ355, touch divider (10:1, 500 MHz) 1x Rohde & Schwarz HMC 8012, digital multimeter with storage function |
| Thermography: |
Optris PI640, infrared camera PI Connect evaluation software with profiles |
| Acoustics: |
NTI Audio M2211 (with calibration file) Steinberg UR12 (with phantom power for the microphones) Creative X7, Smaart v. 
|