Gigabyte today is launching a very impressive video card- the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming Edition.
Gigabyte’s Xtreme Gaming line of products represent the pinnacle of the company’sofferings. We had the chance to thoroughly test the GTX 950 Xtreme Gaming last year, and early this year we posted our evaluation of the GTX 980 Ti Xtreme Gaming–and both offerings impressed us. Now Gigabyte is back with another Xtreme Gaming edition card powered by Nvidia’s mighty Pascal GP104.
Gigabyte hasn’t revealed the clock speed that the overclocked GPU will ship with, but the card is clearly built for overclocking. The GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming features a custom PCB design with two 8-pin power connectors for higher power delivery. Gigabyte’s Xtreme Gaming edition cards come equipped with “premium-grade components” and an “aerospace-grade PCB coating” to protect the circuitry from dust, moisture and corrosion. This card also features a large heatsink with three fans and six copper heatpipes and a full-cover backplate to keep it cool.
The GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming builds on that concept by introduced by the last gen’s GTX 980 Ti Xtreme Gaming adding Windforce Stack Cooling, which features a recessed middle fan that lets the outer fans overlap its blades. This concept allowed Gigabyte to included 100mm fans on the Windforce cooler without dramatically extending the card length.
Gigabyte said the three 3D Active fans feature a double ball-bearing and sickle fan blade design tuned for air intake. The fans blow air through an array of fins with an angular design. The shape of the fins is designed to increase the cooling efficiency by up to four percent. The middle fan in the stack features a unique blade with a relief for the outer fan’s blades.
In addition to the overclocking features, Gigabyte appears to be positioning the GTX 1080 Xtreme Edition as a top choice for VR enthusiasts. While Nvidia’s latest flagship has been designed with VR-specific enhancements, Gigabytehas put additional internal-facing HDMI ports onto the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming’s PCB, which can be used to route video outputs to the front of your rig. The drive bay attachment is called the VR-Link drive bay that features two HDMI ports and two USB 3.0 ports for your VR HMD.
The rear of the card maintains the traditional three DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one DVI connection.
Gigabyte has not dislcosed the pricing and availability for the GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming edition card, but the company did say there will be two different bundles for the card. You’ll be able to pick up a standalone GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming card, or you can opt for GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming Premium Pack, which includes the card, a high-bandwidth SLI bridge, the VR-Link drive bay and an optional HDMI extension bracket that mounts in an expansion slot. Gigabyte said the package also includes a sweat band and a mouse pad.
