Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti CPU Showdown

Testing & Methodology

Here is the test system used for all graphics card reviews and game performance analysis:

Hardware – X99 Test Bench

• Motherboard – Gigabyte X99-Gaming G1 WiFi LGA 2011-3
• CPU – Intel Core i7 5820K at Stock 3.3GHz
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
• RAM – 16GB (4 X 4GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz
• CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1200W
• Main Storage Drive – Crucial M550 512GB
• Chassis – Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Operating System – Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit

Hardware Z270 Test Bench

• Gigabyte Aorus Z270 Gaming 7
• CPU: Intel i-7700K at Stock
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
• RAM – 16GB (4 X 4GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz
• CPU Cooler – Thermaltake Water 3.0 with Gelid GC-Extreme
• Case: Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Main Storage Drive – Crucial M550 512GB
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1200W
• Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit

Hardware X370 Test Bench

• MSI X370 XPower Titanium AM4
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
• GPU: Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
• RAM – 16GB (4 X 4GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz
• Cooling: be quiet! Silent Loop 240mm
• Case: Lian Li T80 Test Bench
• Main Storage Drive – Crucial M550 512GB
• Power Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 11 1200W
• Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit

Additional Hardware

• “Killawatt” style electricity usage meter wall plug
• Precision Gold N05CC Decibel meter

Games

Throughout the testing procedure, we always use demanding presets which stress graphics cards to their absolute limits. However, in the interest of fairness, any technology which favours either AMD or NVIDIA is disabled. More specifically, this refers to PhysX, Hairworks and more. Additionally, we also disable all forms of AA to gauge performance levels which aren’t impacted by sophisticated AA. Theoretically, we could have employed FXAA because it only has a minor impact on the frame-rate, but many users strongly dislike the hazy image this causes. Apart from the details mentioned above, all settings remain at the maximum values.

Some benchmarks may feature more cards, this is due to some tests being older or newer than others, and being used in other game specific feature tests we have conducted, so you’ll find all relevant cards included in each chart as we add or remove new and old tests.

Selecting strenuous presets especially at higher resolutions can cause hitching and other performance problems on graphics cards with lower amounts of video memory. For example, Rise of the Tomb Raider’s Very High textures requires 4GB of RAM to maintain a smooth frame-rate. In theory, we could run the benchmarks at the High setting, but this defeats the purpose of high-end graphics cards which are designed to cope with the absolute best graphics on the market. Furthermore, the notion of enthusiast cards sporting less than 4GB memory has become less of an issue. Of course, whenever we’re tackling more affordable GPUs, the settings will be altered accordingly and detailed for clarity.

Software

• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (DirectX 12)
• Doom (Vulkan)
• Far Cry Primal (DirectX 11)
• Hitman (DirectX 12)
• Rise of the Tomb Raider (DirectX 12)
• 3DMark