Zotac and EVGA Reveal Custom GeForce GTX 1080 Designs
by Daniel Williams on May 27, 2016 9:00 AM ESTA few weeks back we saw the announcement of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 1080. NVIDIA put the founders cards on sale first, with third-party cards set to be released later. As we approach the sale date of the 1080 we can now lift the covers on the solutions other vendors will be releasing. Today features cards from both Zotac and EVGA.
Zotac will be releasing two custom version of the GeForce GTX 1080, the GeForce GTX 1080 Amp Edition and Amp Extreme. Both cards will receive their own revision of their Icestorm cooler. The key differences between the two for the cooler is that the the AMP Edition (pictured above) sports five heatpipes and two 100mm fans, while the AMP Extreme will have six heatpipes, three 90mm fans, and those fans will have a new design aimed at reducing the dead spot in the middle of the fan. Zotac claims that on the latter this will increase airflow and reduce noise.
Speaking of noise, both cards will have a 0 dB fan idle mode that they call Freeze, which stops the fan under low load situations. Each of these cards will be wearing what Zotac calls “Carbon Exoarmor”. Featuring a full backplate, a metal fan shroud, and what appears to be carbon fiber highlights.
To aid with fitting these cards in with any build these cards will feature Zotac’s all new Spectra lighting system. Meaning that these cards will have RGB LED’s on both the front and back of the card, and will be fully adjustable from the redesigned FireStorm App. Pricing and availability for these cards is not yet known.
EVGA’s entry into the ring is the EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0. What this will mean is a card that carries the third iteration of their ACX 3.0 Cooler Featuring a 0 dB fan idle mode, RGB lighting, and a load of heatsink changes. EVGA is specific on two features of this cooler including their Straight Heat Pipe 3.0 technology which they say increase heat pipe and copper contact to increase cooling. They also note a cooling plate, a.k.a. heat spreader, that sits between the PCB and the heatsink to cool memory and MOSFETs.
GTX 1080 Specification Comparison | ||||||
EVGA GTX 1080 SC Gaming |
GTX 1080 Founders Edition |
|||||
Core Clock | 1708MHz | 1607MHz | ||||
Boost Clock | 1847MHz | 1733MHz | ||||
Memory Clock | 10Gbps GDDR5X | 10Gbps GDDR5X | ||||
VRAM | 8GB | 8GB | ||||
TDP | 180W | 180W | ||||
Launch Date | Early June | 5/27/2016 | ||||
Launch Price | MSRP: $649.99 | MSRP: $699 |
Worth noting for these numbers is increased base and boost clocks to the tune of about 6%. A moderate but practical difference. Aside from that we are looking at the standard memory and memory speeds. EVGA will also be releasing Precision X 6.0 to Coincide with the upcoming release. The EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 SC Gaming ACX 3.0 card will release in early June for $649.99.
As the incoming hardware approaches we can look forward to learning more of what the market will bring us. Today saw the announcement of cards from Zotac and EVGA, though I’m sure we’re bound to see many more releases as summer comes upon us. Be sure to keep an eye out here in the coming weeks as review samples start to trickle in.
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HollyDOL - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
Indeed, for same $100 you probably get model running ~ 10% faster at same or better temperature/loudness... in 2-3 months give or take. Not that I couldn't understand the "Lego under the xmas tree" feelings of early adopters :-)crimsonson - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
Actually, look at it this way. The Founders Edition FORCED all 3rd party makers to price better cooled and OC'd version of the 1080 for LESS than the standard version. Normally, you would see $50-$150 difference. Now they are forced to do it on the low end.It actually benefiting the end users. It actually forced the third party to lower the profit margin.
I'm sure this was Nvidia's plan all along in order to combat any AMD price adjustment they normally do after a new NVidia card is released.
crimsonson - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
"1080 for LESS than the standard version." as in Founders Edition. Not the normal 1080 version. Sorry about that.Morawka - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
yeah but these custom PCB cards arent much cheaper. Maybe $50 off the founders edition. The only $599 one i saw was a plastic shroud with a blower type, and my gtx 960 looks better than that.Founders buyers will also have their cards 2-3 weeks before custom buyers, and gaining HWBot points and playing the latest titles while you guys wait for while.
cmdrdredd - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
Playing the latest titles? You mean like Doom that we've been playing for 2 weeks already?taisserroots - Saturday, May 28, 2016 - link
Here are offerings from EVGA which are cheaperhttp://imgur.com/wo65qIy
Pneumothorax - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
Any mention if these have a better power delivery section, ie 8/6 pin and more VRM's? Not the 'nerfed' single 8 pin connector of the 'sucker's edition'?eddman - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
I don't think 225W would be much of a limiting factor, but if you really want to go overboard there is the 8+8 pin EVGA 1080 FTW, although I don't see how this GPU could ever come close to even 300W, let alone 375W.http://cdn.videocardz.com/1/2016/05/EVGA-GeForce-G...
Morawka - Friday, May 27, 2016 - link
This, the beefed up power delivery is wasted on a 1080 because of it's TDP limit. It's only valuable for LN2 overclockers who volt mod and install custom firmwares. Your not gonna get better clocks unless you buy a binned chip. FE buyers can just raise the fan speed and get the same effect as custom cards.taisserroots - Saturday, May 28, 2016 - link
It's cheaper than founder's edition