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An overclocked GTX 1080 Ti will always be something to behold in the performance stakes and the Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition 11GB is no exception here. Gigabyte's attention to detail and focus on performance and quality has paid off as this graphics card is a strong performer in all areas.
Performance is generally between 5 and 10 per cent better than a reference GTX 1080 Ti, depending on the application, and that can be increased further with its small amount of overclocking headroom and by raising the Nvidia power limit.
There are two Aorus models for the GTX 1080 Ti, and the standard edition makes considerably more sense than this Xtreme Edition, purely because the majority of GTX 1080 Ti GPUs overclock to the same level irrespective of any manufacturer claimed speed-binning. In the UK that means a saving of almost £50 for what is an identical graphics card, except with slightly slower ‘out of the box' clock frequencies and a slightly different backplate design.
The only potential drawback here is if the standard edition card wasn't capable of reaching the factory speeds of the Xtreme Edition, there would be no recourse in this situation as a graphics card only has to be stable at its advertised clock speeds. However, this situation is highly unlikely to happen because the maximum overclock is fairly similar across all Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti GPUs.
Despite the fairly sizeable power consumption of the overclocked GTX 1080 Ti GPU the triple slot cooler has absolutely no issues keeping temperatures in check and noise output to a very low level. Gigabyte's mammoth cooler sacrifices the convenience of dual-slot form factor and a reasonable size to deliver better cooling and performance.
For most system builders, the over-sized cooler is a beneficial trade-off against practicality since the chances of the triple-slot design getting in the way of something are minimal these days with the high quality of integrated audio and networking on most motherboards.
System builders will perhaps need to wary of sagging since this is a very heavy GPU, but providing the card is securely fastened and the motherboard has reinforced PCIe lanes, there are no significant concerns.
The Gigabyte Aorus GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition 11GB is available at Overclockers UK for £859.99 while the standard version sells for £799.99. However, Gigabyte assures us the pricing for this card is usually lower – £809.99 for the Xtreme Edition with the standard version selling for less, around £759.99. OCUK's current high prices simply reflect low availability. The standard warranty duration is 3 years but this can be extended to 4 years through online registration.
Pros
- Excellent cooling and low noise
- Class-leading single GPU performance
- 4 year warranty (with online registration)
- High quality backplate
- RGB LED lighting
- Quality construction and components
- Excellent display output flexibility
Cons:
- Significant premium over reference design
- Cooler is substantial – triple slot design
- Limited overclocking headroom
- LED lighting zones cannot be independently controlled
KitGuru says: A feature-packed, blisteringly fast and well-built GTX 1080 Ti. The Aorus GTX 1080 Ti comes at a premium but it's a premium well worth paying.
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