Shootouts

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti shootout: The fastest cards money can buy

By Koh Wanzi - 25 Dec 2017

GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

GALAX’s Hall of Fame (HOF) GeForce GTX 1080 Ti card stands out as one of the more extravagant offerings reviewed here. Everything from the box packaging to the card screams for attention, and GALAX even opted to include a pair of presumably anti-static gloves with the card.

This is a really chunky and long card, measuring in at 57mm tall, 313mm long, and featuring three 90mm semi-passive fans. You’ll need no less than three PCIe slots to install this card, and sufficient clearance lengthwise. For most cases with modular drive bays, this means having to forego some storage space.

The mostly white plastic shroud also makes for quite a striking look, and this is one GPU that should definitely be paired with a matching board or other components. Even the PCB is white, or "choco-white" according to GALAX, and this is really a pretty stunning card to look at, even if it may not necessarily be to everyone's taste.

 GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

Other notable features include a backlit LCD display on the card’s top side, where you can display things like the HOF logo or clock speeds and voltages. In addition, you can make it display custom text, although it can look fairly boring given the low resolution monochrome panel.

GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

When it comes to cooling, there’s unfortunately no dedicated VRM heatsink despite the card coming with three 8-pin power connectors. Instead, GALAX has gone with a mounting frame that sits between the heatsink and the PCB, and this helps to provide structural reinforcement and a degree of passive cooling. You can also see part of the silver mounting frame in the picture below. 

GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

A copper plate connects with the GPU and channels heat away to the five heat pipes, while an additional circumference of copper around the main base plate helps cool the GDDR5X memory chips. The aluminum backplate also provides further passive cooling, and there are thermal pads that make contact with some of the PCB components.

GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

GALAX also lists the card as having an impressive 16+3-phase power design, but it really consists of just eight true phases which are doubled to give rise to 16.

And unlike most of the other cards, the GALAX model comes with just a single set of base and boost clocks, and there’s no OC Mode that you can switch to for a quick performance boost. That said, the Xtreme Tuner Plus utility does come with a 1-click OC function should you really want those extra frames right away.

Alternatively, if you want a boost in cooling instead, there's a nifty HyperBoostX button at the back that will speed up the fans. This naturally means more noise, but it can come in useful in maintaining high overclocks.

You'll also notice that GALAX has brought back the DVI-D port as well, a common feature among the cards here.

GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 Ti HOF

When it comes to price, the GALAX card costs S$1,349, which is quite a palatable price for all the extras it offers.

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