In no particular order, here's the round-up:
EVGA GTX 1080 Classified, Hybrid, Hybrid FTW, & SC
EVGA's top-down lineup starts with the Classified, a card with TBD pricing and out-the-gate clock speeds. The GTX 1080 Classified hosts a 14+3-phase power design and utilizes an external EVBot header for additional overvoltage tuning, theoretically bypassing some of the VBIOS limitations of the reference card (though we are still unsure on performance scaling; we have seen some asymptotic results with FPS). The card has RGB LEDs – as nearly all these 1080s do – and uses a new faceplate and backplate design from EVGA. We'd expect the Classified would be in the $700+ range, but there's no firm price right now.
The Classified card uses a custom PCB, custom VRM, and custom VBIOS. Two 8-pin headers are on the card.
After talking to EVGA, the company's official GTX 1080 Hybrid has seen similar cooling performance metrics to our own Franken-hybrid, and should reduce temperatures by around 100% (if not more). Read about our results here. This year's Hybrid model will use the FTW board rather than the reference design. Reference, as is the nature of the card, leaves a lot to be desired. The FTW and Hybrid both have 2x 8-pin power headers, a custom PCB, custom VBIOS, and a 10+2-phase VRM. As with the Classified, price is TBD (should be known shortly) and pre-OC is TBD.
And then there's the SC, or SuperClocked card. This is the only EVGA model where we've got a price and clock-rate. The GTX 1080 SC ACX will run approximately 100MHz faster than reference (pre-OC), will be priced lower than reference at ~$650, and uses a reference PCB and power design. The only major hardware change is the ACX 3.0 cooler rather than the FE cooler, allowing EVGA to come in at a lower price and with a significantly better thermal solution for most use cases.
ASUS GTX 1080 Strix
The ASUS Strix GTX 1080 was tucked-away in an external GPU enclosure (the XG Station 2, for what it's worth) in the middle of the Nangang Convention Center. The Strix 1080 uses a DirectCU III cooler for thermal management, which is backlit by “Aura” RGB LEDs. The Strix will start at $620 and scale upwards, depending on the level of pre-overclock applied to ASUS. ASUS staff at Computex told us that the VRM power phase design uses an 8+2 setup (core+memory, as always) and should overclock reasonably.
ASUS seems to be taking a greater focus on affordability and silence/RGB lighting than extreme overclocking, and there may yet be merit to that. If AIB cards are hitting walls at 2.1-2.2GHz resultant of throttles in-place by impassible VBIOS restrictions, then there wouldn't be much point to going beyond 8+2 phases.
Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming & G1 Gaming
Gigabyte's suite had the least hard information available, so these cards were more fly-by than the previous listings.
Gigabyte's new brand initiative is “Xtreme Gaming” – emphasis on the “X,” as ever – and has been applied to the new GTX 1080 Xtreme Gaming Stacked Fan card. The stacked fan cooler uses a bizarre thermal solution, slapping a massive piece of aluminum to the PCB and then sticking a dual-layer fan atop the center. That fan is flanked by two additional, more traditional fans. We'll look into how this solution performs in the near future. The price will be $670-$680. No VRM or pre-OC information is finalized.
The G1 Gaming is a cheaper, more mainstream-targeted video card. We are not yet clear on the design of the G1 Gaming, but know that it'll be priced around $650 – well under reference – and will have a more traditional WindForce cooler.
MSI GTX 1080 Twin Frozr VI Z, X, & Gaming
We got properly hands-on with the GTX 1080 Z at Computex, attempting a live overclock of the cards at MSI's booth. We ran into issues with the SLI setup and weren't able to disable SLI (it's a booth – we'd already been disruptive enough), but already have models en route for in-lab testing.
We know that the GTX 1080 Gaming X will ship maximally at 1847MHz (boosted, OC mode), but don't have complete, finalized numbers on the Gaming Aero, Gaming Z, and SeaHawk. The SeaHawk is a partnered collaboration with Corsair, who have slapped their H55 CLC onto the GPU as a cooling solution. This is a hybrid approach and uses a VRM blower fan in addition to the CLC.
The Gaming Z will be at the top of the stack. We were told that the Gaming Z runs a 10+1 VRM and is more OC-targeted, including custom VBIOS with additional overvoltage headroom versus the Founders Edition. Learn more on these cards here.
We've got some of the MSI cards at the lab already – it's just a matter of getting back home. Stay tuned.
Editorial: Steve “Lelldorianx” Burke
Video: Keegan “HornetSting” Gallick
