As muscular because the GTX 1080 is, there have been some not-entirely-unwarranted grumbles about its underlying tech; particularly, that it’s principally a GTX 1070 with extra of the GPU’s cores enabled. The GTX 1080Ti is far greater break from the remainder of Nvidia’s 10-series, and a way more overtly ‘high-end’ card. It makes use of the larger, beefier GP-102 GPU, identical as within the bonkers-expensive Titan X and Titan Xp, and wields 3584 processing cores to the GTX 1080’s 2560. Its 11GB of reminiscence is probably the most you’ll discover in a mainstream card, too.
Obviously, these upgrades will put a proportionally bigger dent into your funds. The MSI GeForce GTX 1080Ti Gaming X Trio I’ve been testing – with its manufacturing unit overclocking and customized triple-fan cooler – is £750, and customarily the most cost effective GTX 1080Ti I can discover still asks for £698. With the GTX 1080 dropping as low as £500, this card must show it’s not only a checklist of fancy-sounding specs.
In Doom, a minimum of, it’s positively overkill so far as 1080p and 1440p are involved. Both ran fantastically at high settings, and if there have been any drops (throughout particle-rich explosions, say), I couldn’t inform simply by watching. 4K does brilliantly too, the GTX 1080Ti having no hassle in any respect with chaotic brawls round giant arenas.
Hitman additionally will get on very properly with this card, although not in addition to Doom – in actual fact, at 1080p, there wasn’t a lot seen distinction between this and the GTX 1070Ti. The body charge even had its worst drop in the exact same place – a brief foray onto a penthouse balcony. 1440p nonetheless seemed nice, however with negligible variations to report in comparison with 1080p.
If that sounds a bit down, know that that 4K runs like a relative dream. Funnily sufficient, I couldn’t inform the distinction as soon as once more (apart from sharpness) between this, 1440p and even 1080p with out an fps counter – you may argue that there’s one thing a bit off about not getting greater positive factors at decrease resolutions, however it’s 4K we’re actually right here for, and good 4K is what you get.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War cuts a pleasant determine on all resolutions. It’s notably constant at 1080p and 1440p, whereas 4K takes a slight hit however nonetheless goes sturdy. Only in probably the most densely detailed (or NPC-stuffed) scenes did it seem to drop under the magic 60fps.
While Rise of the Tomb Raider was at all times easy as properly, it wasn’t at all times steady; at 1080p with Very High settings, it may change between lush mega-slickness to extra modest (however nonetheless good) efficiency. 1440p was the same story, although it must be stated that you just in all probability received’t have the ability to inform with out a excessive refresh charge monitor. 1440p can also be the decision the place most playing cards begin to stumble with this recreation, so the truth that the GTX 1080Ti by no means dropped too far continues to be fairly spectacular. Even 4K, which was clearly a harder take a look at, remained pretty silky.
So far, the GTX 1080Ti has largely been strolling it, however I used to be sort of anticipating Total War: Warhammer II – a demanding bastard of an RTS – to journey it up. Not so. At 1080p, the battle map runs in addition to you’d like, and though the marketing campaign map initially seems prefer it’s going to present the cardboard a tougher time, it’s solely briefly and barely. 1440p was nice stuff as properly, once more utilizing all the very best settings.
4K, nevertheless, is the place the GTX 1080Ti meets its match. The battle map doesn’t run too badly when seen from the air, however zoom in on a unit and the body charge collapses. The very same factor occurred on the GTX 1080, so it’s a disgrace the additional £200+ isn’t sufficient to rise above it. There was some micro-stuttering on the marketing campaign map, too.
As typical, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus ran vastly higher. These was a single stutter at 1080p once we rounded a nook straight right into a startled Nazi guard, however in any other case, the whole lot is beautiful. 1440p stays glorious too, and once we recreated the nook assembly with the Nazi, that stutter didn’t re-occur. 4K is simply dandy, too, with no large points to talk of.
Similarly, The Witcher three: Wild Hunt works very properly with the GTX 1080Ti throughout all three resolutions. 1080p and 1440p are each splendid, to the purpose the place that is the one recreation the place this card outperforms the GTX 1080 by one thing approaching a big margin. It also can nearly deal with maxed-out 4K, although since this was accompanied by the occasional fps hiccup, it’d be wiser to show some stuff down.
Assassin’s Creed Origins retains its composure at 1080p, even within the usually GPU-punishing, densely-packed villages. 1440p is nearly nearly as good, although suffers from occasional hesitations on the very best settings, and 4K takes a a lot tougher hit, its diminished smoothness instantly seen. That stated, it didn’t do as badly across the populated areas I used to be anticipating.
All in all, this isn’t some large generational leap that many might have hoped for, however it’s a particularly potent graphics card. If cash’s no object, then that is certainly the very best you should purchase for single-card 4K gaming. I also can attest to this specific MSI mannequin being very well-made certainly. Strong backplate, sturdy plastics, an additional HDMI output for VR, RGB lighting – all of the trimmings are right here, and whereas the GP-102 is a giant ol’ GPU, the cardboard as an entire is now not and hardly wider than most GTX 1080s I’ve dealt with.
The exceptions, build-quality-wise, is that the followers can get fairly loud. It’s not truly just like the decibels are notably excessive, however the whirring is comparatively excessive pitched, so it cuts by means of ambient and in-game noises with an uncommon decisiveness.
This isn’t the large concern, although. While this does edge forward of the GTX 1080, it’s a lot dearer that mere edging doesn’t actually appear sufficient. This is meant to be the ultimate phrase on 4K, however Warhammer II and The Witcher three – to call simply two – present that it’s not.
I really feel fairly unhealthy for saying this as a result of gaming with it has been somewhat pleasant, however a lot of the reward given above may equally apply to its non-Ti little brother. Even if the guts says to splurge, the top says to stay with the GTX 1080.
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