NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 custom cards have landed, and they're cheaper than expected (Updated)

Note: This article was first published on 29th May 2016.

Updated on 15 July 2016: Added details on price of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming and Xtreme Gaming.

Updated on 12 July 2016: Added details on price of the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G and 1080 Armor 8G OC.

This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for. While Founders Edition cards from the various brands are already available at S$1,188, you’ve probably been keeping an eye out for what NVIDIA’s add-in card partners have in store, especially considering the odd Founders Edition pricing. Brands like ASUS, MSI, and Gigabyte have now taken the wraps off their own custom versions of the GeForce GTX 1080, which means goodies like more powerful coolers with semi-passive fans, factory overclocks, and varied designs to choose from.

But wait, there’s more. Many of these custom cards are priced below US$699, which is the price of NVIDIA’s Founders Edition cards (it’s since been established that these are just another name for reference cards). What this means is that these cards will serve up faster performance and cooler temperatures while still costing less, and it looks like NVIDIA is actually selling a “slower” card that is more expensive.

That’s a strange situation that it has put itself in, but whatever the case, it’s good news for consumers all around. Read on for what’s been announced so far, but do note that local pricing and availability information is a little sparse at the moment, so we’ll have to update as more information comes in.

ASUS

The ASUS ROG Strix GTX 1080 brings the Strix treatment to NVIDIA’s Pascal flagship. It features ASUS’s DirectCU III cooler and a triple-fan configuration to keep temperatures in check. As expected, the fans are of the semi-passive variety, which means they can spin down when the card is idle or processing light workloads, thus ensuring the card is as quiet as possible.

According to ASUS, these fans have also been tuned for maximum static pressure and can reportedly offer up to 30 percent better cooling performance than the Founders Edition cards.

On top of that, there are additional features like an extra power connection for greater overclocking headroom. The number of power phases has also been bumped up to an 8+2-phase design that supposedly runs cooler and more efficiently than the reference design.

Other standout features include customizable Aura RGB lighting on the cooling shroud and the metal backplate. ASUS says that a future software update will even allow users to synchronize the lights on the Strix card and ASUS motherboards with Aura lighting.

On top of that, ASUS has introduced a novel new way to control the speeds of case fans. Dubbed ASUS FanConnect, the cards now feature dual 4-pin fan headers that can be hooked up to your case fans, which will then adjust their speeds according to the GPU load instead of that of the CPU.

There are actually two variants of the ASUS Strix GeForce GTX 1080 – the standard one and an OC Edition card. The standard model features the same clock speeds as the Founders Edition cards, but the overclocked model boasts a more aggressive boost clock of 1,898MHz in gaming mode, and 1,936MHz in OC mode.

The ROG Strix GTX 1080 OC Edition will retail for S$1,239 locally. Unfortunately, it looks like local customers won't get to benefit from the fact that the original US pricing is less than the Founders Edition version. 

EVGA

EVGA has taken the chance to debut a brand new cooler on custom versions of the GeForce GTX 1080. As is typical of EVGA, there are multiple flavors of the card featuring a wide variety of clock speeds.

So far, the company has announced four custom cards as follow (prices have been included, where available):

• EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Classified Gaming ACX 3.0
• EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 (US$679.99)
• EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 (US$649.99)
• EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 ACX 3.0 (US$619.99)

However, EVGA has held back on releasing all the details pertaining to the cards. Clock speeds for the Classified and FTW cards are still not known, but it did reveal that the SC card will have a base clock of 1,708MHz and boost clock of 1,847MHz, while the regular ACX 3.0 card will follow reference speeds.

What they all have all in common is the new ACX 3.0 cooler, which includes additional heatpipes and a more efficient heatsink design. The cooler also features two 0dB double ball bearing fans that can stop spinning when the card is idle, and which employ a swept fan design intended to improve airflow and consume less power.

In addition, the ACX 3.0 cooler now has a dedicated memory and MOSFET cooling plate that is in direct contact with the memory and power regulation modules. The company claims this helps the relevant components operate up to 13 percent cooler than the reference design.

Custom lighting has also been thrown into the mix, and the cards feature illuminated mesh grills that can be set to your color of choice. However, the RGB lighting is only available on the higher-end cards, and standard ACX 3.0 coolers will have white LEDs instead.

Gigabyte

On Gigabyte’s end, it has announced the GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming. The card will feature Gigabyte’s signature WindForce 3X cooling solution, but with some enhancements. The company says the three WindForce fans have been redesigned and are different from previous iterations, but it did not elaborate further on what benefits this would bring.

The traditionally stealthy WindForce cooling shroud has also been adorned with red accents, and the top of the shroud features an illuminated Gigabyte logo and familiar fan stop light. Both of these are backlit by RGB LEDs that can be tweaked via Gigabyte’s OC Guru II utility. In OC mode, the card even has a fairly aggressive base clock of  1,721MHz and boost clock of 1,860MHz.

Finally, Gigabyte added that it puts the GPUs that go into its GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming cards through a binning process that selects for above average power efficiency and lower power consumption. While that looks like the cards might overclock better, Gigabyte has opted to stick with just a single 8-pin power connector, so enthusiasts might look to a future Xtreme Gaming edition – which Gigabyte said is coming as soon as next week – for more tangible overclocking gains.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming retails locally for S$1,188, while the Xtreme Gaming costs S$1,288.

MSI

When it comes to standing out among a sea of custom cards with many overlapping features, MSI looks to have done an excellent job. The company has announced multiple variants of the GeForce GTX 1080, including one with closed-loop AIO liquid cooling solution from Corsair.

Here’s a list of everything that was announced (prices have been added where available):

• MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Sea Hawk X
• MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G (S$1,249)
• MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Aero 8G OC
• MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Aero 8G
• MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Armor 8G OC (S$1,188)
• MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Armor 8G

The MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Sea Hawk is equipped with a Corsair H55 Hydro Cooler, and has been factory overclocked to a 1,708MHz base clock and 1,847MHz boost clock.

A new Twin Frozr VI cooler has also been introduced on the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G, which likewise features a 1,708MHz base clock and 1,847MHz boost clock in OC mode. The cooler now features 8mm copper heatpipes and a solid nickel-plated copper baseplate to maximize heat transfer away from the GPU, in addition what MSI says is a “premium” thermal compound. According to MSI, the heatsink itself has also been designed to better channel air onto the copper heatpipes, while special deflectors help to enlarge the surface area available to heat dissipation.

On top of that, the Torx fans, now at version 2.0, have been redesigned with a steeper curved blade for increased airflow. This is also the only GeFroce GTX 1080 from MSI to feature an additional 6-pin power connector, so it’s clearly designed with overclocking in mind.

The Armor cards use MSI’s Armor 2X thermal solution, which boast a monochrome design for those of you who are a stickler for color-coordinated builds. As on the GeForce GTX 1080 Gaming X 8G, the Torx fans on these cards can spin down when idle, and the aluminum fins have been designed direct air toward the heatpipes. The OC version has a 1,657MHz base clock and 1,797MHz, but the two Armor cards are otherwise the same.

Then there are MSI’s Aero cards, which are also nearly identical to each other, save for the fact that the OC version has been overclocked to a 1,632MHz base clock and 1,771MHz boost clock. These use blower-style fans, so heat is exhausted out the back as in Founders Edition cards.

Palit

Palit has introduced four variants of the GeForce GTX 1080 – the GeForce GTX 1080 Super JetStream, the GeForce GTX JetStream, and the GeForce GTX 1080 GameRock and GameRock Premium, the latter of which is a brand new series from the company.

Of the JetStream cards, the Super JetStream version differentiates itself in the form of higher clock speeds, to the tune of a 1,708MHz base clock, compared to the reference clock of 1,607MHz. Other than that, both cards share the same dual-fan JetStream cooler, which comes with expected features like semi-passive fans, RGB lighting, and a beefed-up 8-phase power design.

On the other hand, the GeForce GTX 1080 GameRock features a blue-and-white cooling shroud with a more modest 1,645MHz base clock and 1,784MHz boost clock. The metal backplate even has the GameRock branding emblazoned on it, but we’d hazard a guess and say that this look isn’t really for everyone. However, the GameRock Premium has a slightly more aggressive overclock, with a 1,746MHz base clock and 1,885MHz boost clock. 

According to Palit, the heatsink on the GameRock cooler has a denser design, which when combined with the large copper base, helps improve cooling performance over the reference design.

Other features include a honeycomb mesh at the rear for better airflow, dual BIOS, and an 8+2-phase power design.

Palit has equipped all its custom cards with an additional 6-pin PCIe connector for more overclocking headroom.

The GeForce GTX 1080 GameRock Premium Edition currently retails for S$1,088, while the GeForce GTX 1080 Super JetStream is slightly cheaper at S$999.

Zotac

Zotac also debuted the GeForce GTX 1080 AMP Edition and AMP Extreme, but it has thus far left out details like clock speeds and price. The cards are equipped with two- and three-fan cooling shrouds respectively, and both feature Zotac’s new Spectra lighting that illuminates the front of the GPU and the backplate with any color you desire.

They utilize Zotac’s IceStorm cooling solution, which really just involves an aluminum heatsink attached to six copper heatpipes that are in direct contact with the GPU. In addition, Zotac highlighted the size of its fans – the GeForce GTX 1080 AMP Edition features two 100mm fans, while the AMP Extreme version has three 90mm blowers.

Finally, the company said it had overhauled its FireStorm GPU-tweaking software with new features, of which the Spectra lighting is a part. You’ll be able to adjust things like the color, brightness, and lighting effects in the software, and the user interface has reportedly been tweaked to be more intuitive and easier to use, with things like individual controls for each card in SLI configurations.

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