Review: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming

Conclusion

The battle for high-end PC graphics-card rights took an interesting turn this month with the release of both the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti and AMD Fury X. The green team appears to be the winner on first examination of reference to reference GPUs; its Maxwell architecture overclocks better too.

Rarely is this Maxwell overclocking prowess better illustrated than with the Gigabyte GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming. Our sample's core frequency is propelled to an average 1,367MHz by a massive, well-built heatsink that's beastly enough to make the card 20 per cent faster than a regular GTX 980 Ti. Though memory is left at standard speeds, such a potent core guarantees that this card is the fastest single-GPU model we have ever tested.

Silent at low loads, customisable lighting and bulletproof construction are some of the £600 G1 Gaming's other highlights, but it's not quite perfect. Gigabyte's usually aggressive fan-speed profile is in evidence and while an OC mode is available, it's not persistent. What's more, our sample exhibited obvious coil whine in a number of titles, yet this appears a hit-and-miss affair across a broad range of boards. GTX 980 Ti pricing, too, is in flux in the UK - reference models' availability for £510 takes some of the obvious sheen off this £600 behemoth.

What's undeniable is the sheer speed of the card, which makes the AMD Fury X look rather pedestrian at times, particularly when the difference at 4K is noticeable. Gigabyte has thrown the kitchen sink at the GTX 980 Ti GPU. The end result is the G1 Gaming model that is, quite simply, rather fast.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming

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The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 Ti G1 Gaming graphics card is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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