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Review: Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 980 Ti Black

by Parm Mann on 21 October 2015, 16:40

Tags: Inno3D, NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qacvls

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Conclusion

...iChill Black is among the quickest single-GPU graphics cards available today and partners face-melting performance to a capable liquid cooler.

Almost five months after launch, Nvidia's GeForce GTX 980 Ti retains the single-GPU performance crown and with it serves as the go-to solution for enthusiast gamers seeking top-notch performance at any cost.

AMD is back in contention with the hard-hitting Radeon R9 Fury X, but Nvidia still has the aces up its sleeves, and at the very top of the pack overclocked and custom-cooled GTX 980 Tis reign supreme.

There's a diverse selection available from Nvidia's myriad of partners, though your choices do narrow when actively seeking a liquid-cooled solution. If that's your preference, Inno3D's iChill GeForce GTX 980 Ti Black is one of the most keenly-priced GTX 980 Ti cards outfitted with a hybrid cooler.

Going like the clappers right out of the box, the iChill Black is among the quickest single-GPU graphics cards available today and partners face-melting performance to a capable liquid cooler. A Molex power requirement and potential coil whine are the only real blots on an otherwise impressive specification sheet, and anyone in the market for a liquid-cooled, all-in-one GeForce GTX 980 Ti should have Inno3D's card on their radar.

The Good
 
The Bad
Awesome single-GPU performance
Primed for high-resolution gaming
Liquid cooler works a treat
Onboard fan turns off at low load
Keen pricing for a hybrid GTX 980 Ti
Good choice of outputs
 
Coil whine could be an issue
Not a lot of overclocking headroom
Pump powered by Molex



Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 980 Ti Black

HEXUS.where2buy*

The Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 980 Ti Black graphics card is available to purchase from Overclockers UK.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.



HEXUS Forums :: 9 Comments

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Folks complained about the Radeon 300 series rebrand but the 980 train keeps on chugging.

Fair enough it's a good card but the surge of these a year or more after the 1st ones makes me wonder is there a backlog of chips they want to shift before a new gen.
Just like when a car manufacturer sells you a car which is just a different model witha new skin/shell on it.
Although this level of speed is technically termed “redonkulous”, it's not something I'd buy. It just adds more failure points in a product, and in this case, critical ones. Fans can be changed easily, and if outside of warranty, inexpensively too. But if the pump goes on this ? It's not gonna be pretty.

I'm not disparaging the company in anyway whatsoever, just..I'm unlucky ha
So I take it the people round the HEXUS offices are looking like Emil from the end of Robocop?! :P
This is an odd product, neither fish nor fowl. If I was going to watercool a GPU (which makes much more sense than for a CPU given their relative TDP these days,) I'd want an entirely watercooled solution, including the VRMs. The extra fan & air cooling give you another point of failure and noise, as well as having overclocking headroom potentially stunted by the air cooled elements.
Is there a reason these partner video cards only water cool the GPU but not the other heat generating components? Seems like a lame compromise given their premium nature.