Review: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition (16nm Pascal)

Conclusion

Nvidia's latest GPU architecture, Pascal, finds its gaming feet with the GeForce GTX 1080 launching today in Founders Edition guise. The high-level design is reminiscent of the Maxwell blueprint that has been put to good use on the 9-series GPUs.

Yet delving deeper is instructive. Pascal, or GP104 in this case, uses frequency and elegance in equal measure. Now delivered on a 16nm process, one that inextricably ties in with these two characteristics, GTX 1080's 2,560 cores run at 1.6GHz, rising to at least 1.73GHz under load. Augmented by new memory technology that does more with less - a common theme on this GPU - the vital stats are impressive.

Though able to blaze through today's games at a never-before-seen velocity, calling the GTX 1080 an enhanced Maxwell is doing it a disservice. Nvidia has implemented additional technology to increase the speed of VR, asynchronous compute and faster V-Sync - features which it believes will become key in the next year or so.

Table-topping performance is presented in a beautifully engineered design that's cool, quiet and very efficient. Readers with GTX 980 Ti cards are unlikely to be moved enough to purchase the newest chief of the GTX clan, but anyone upgrading from an older generation, budget permitting, can do no better right now.

The current graphics landscape in the premium end of the market is such that Nvidia can charge a wholesome $699 for a GTX 1080 Founders Edition card that's relatively small in size but truly heavyweight in performance. It's fair to say that GTX 1080 is better than all other available GPUs in almost every way.

It's also known that rival AMD will go after the mainstream market first with its Polaris architecture, leaving this premium segment wide open for Nvidia to exploit as it sees fit, which is unfortunate for those that like to see real competition. GeForce GTX 1080 is predictably impressive, and Pascal has finished what Maxwell had started - the drive to performance via efficiency.

Want the best consumer graphics card in the world? The GeForce GTX 1080, in no uncertain terms, is it.

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition

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The Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition will be available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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