A few hours ago, NVIDIA officially announced and revealed two of their latest and fastest graphics cards based on the new Pascal architecture – the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070. These two cards are said to be so much better than their Maxell predecessors. The GTX 1080 is literally faster than GTX 980 SLI, and it’s even faster than the TITAN X! On the other hand, the GTX 1070 is said to be faster than the TITAN X as well, but by how much and in what area? Check out more details below.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Pascal – The New King
There were 5 new highlighted features of the new GTX 1080: a new Pascal architecture, 16nm FinFET design, faster G5X memory, faster / cooler and more power efficient than before and finally a new corrective technology for the multiple display users and VR users – the Simultaneous Multi-Projection for correct surround views, and the NVIDIA VR Works Audio.
Five Marvels of Pascal:
NVIDIA engineered the Pascal architecture to handle the massive computing demands of technologies like VR. It incorporates five transformational technologies:
- Next-Gen GPU Architecture. Pascal is optimized for performance per watt. The GTX 1080 is 3x more power efficient than the Maxwell Architecture.
- 16nm FinFET Process. The GTX 1080 is the first gaming GPUs designed for the 16nm FinFET process, which uses smaller, faster transistors that can be packed together more densely. Its 7.2 billion transistors deliver a dramatic increase in performance and efficiency.
- Advanced Memory. Pascal-based GPUs are the first to harness the power of 8GB of Micron’s GDDR5X memory. The 256-bit memory interface runs at 10Gb/sec., helping to drive 1.7x higher effective memory bandwidth than that delivered by regular GDDR5.
- Superb Craftsmanship. Increases in bandwidth and power efficiency allow the GTX 1080 to run at clock speeds never before possible — over 1700 MHz — while consuming only 180 watts of power. New asynchronous compute advances improve efficiency and gaming performance. And new GPU Boost™ 3 technology supports advanced overclocking functionality.
- Groundbreaking Gaming Technology. NVIDIA is changing the face of gaming from development to play to sharing. New NVIDIA VRWorks™ software features let game developers bring unprecedented immersiveness to gaming environments. NVIDIA’s Ansel™ technology lets gamers share their gaming experiences and explore gaming worlds in new ways.
VRWorks: A New Level of Presence for VR:
To fully immerse users in virtual worlds, the enhanced NVIDIA VRWorks software development kit offers a never before experienced level of “VR presence.” It combines what users see, hear and touch with the physical behavior of the environment to convince them that their virtual experience is real.
- 2x VR Graphics Performance: VRWorks Graphics now includes a simultaneous multi-projection capability that renders natively to the unique dimensions of VR displays instead of traditional, 2D monitors. It also renders geometry for the left and right eyes simultaneously in a single pass.
- Enveloping Audio: VRWorks Audio uses the NVIDIA OptiX™ ray-tracing engine to trace the path of sounds across an environment in real time, fully reflecting the size, shape and material of the virtual world.
- Interactive Touch and Physics: NVIDIA PhysX® for VR detects when a hand controller interacts with a virtual object, and enables the game engine to provide a physically accurate visual and haptic response. It also models the physical behavior of the virtual world around the user so that all interactions — whether an explosion or a hand splashing through water — behave as if in the real world.
NVIDIA didn’t reveal any specific numbers yet, but during the demo, it was shown that the GTX 1080 was running at 2114MHz on air cooling alone (Founders Edition / stock cooler). Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA CEO, said that the GTX 1080 is faster than a GTX 980 SLI and TITAN X. By how much? We will find out soon. Meanwhile, the GTX 1070 is said to be faster than the TITAN X; I’m guessing actual performance may be around a GTX 980 TI’s performance give or take.
By the way, here’s some leak 3D Mark benchmark results of the GTX 1080.
In terms of technical details, the GeForce GTX 1080 features 9 TFLOPS of compute power and has 8GB G5X (GDDR5X) memory. While the GTX 1070 has 6.5 TFLOPS and also an 8GB memory, but it’s using a GDDR5 memory only. Jen-Hsun also said that the new GTX 1080 has lots of potential for overclocking; I can only imagine what partners can do with the Pascal cards and really push them.
NVIDIA hasn’t revealed the GTX 1070’s full specs yet, but below is the full specs of the GTX 1080.
NVIDIA GeForc GTX 1080 Specifications
| Specifications | GeForce GTX 1080 |
|---|---|
| CUDA Cores | 2560 |
| Base Clock | 1607 MHz |
| Boost Clock | 1733 MHz |
| Memory Speed | 10 Gbps |
| Memory Config | 8GB GDDR5X |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 320 GB/s |
| Features: | |
| Multi-Projection | Yes |
| VR Ready | Yes |
| NVIDIA Ansel | Yes |
| NVIDIA SLI Ready | Yes - SLI HB Bridge Supported |
| NVIDIA G-SYNC Ready | Yes |
| NVIDIA GameStream Ready | Yes |
| NVIDIA GPU Boost | 3 |
| Microsoft DirectX | 12 API with feature level 12_1 |
| Vulkan API | Yes |
| OpenGL | 4.5 |
| Bus Support | PCIe 3.0 |
| OS Certification | Windows 7-10, Linux, FreeBSDx86 |
| Display Support | |
| Maximum Digital Resolution | 7680x4320@60Hz |
| Standard Display Connectors | DP 1.4, HDMI 2.0b, DL-DVI |
| Multi Monitor | Yes |
| HDCP | 2.2 |
| Dimensions | 10.5" x 4.376" x 2-slot |
| Maximum GPU Temperature | 94 C |
| Graphics Card Power | 180 W |
| Recommended System Power | 500 W |
| Supplementary Power Connectors | 8-Pin |
GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 Price and Availability
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 comes with a suggested retail price of $599, and $699 for the Founder Edition. It will become available starting May 27, 2016. Meanwhile, the GeForce GTX 1070 comes with a suggested retail price of $379, and $449 for the Founders Editions and will start shipping by June 10, 2016.
No words yet regarding the GTX 1080 Ti. But expect that it will be revealed soon (probably after AMD’s Polaris), as the GTX 1080 isn’t the full potential of the Pascal yet.
