Review

Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980 Review

Today we are reviewing our first GIGABYTE's Graphics Card featuring the latest high-end single NVIDIA's GPU based on the new Maxwell architecture, the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 980.
Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 980 is powered by the 28 nm GM204 graphics processor silicon with shader count of 2,048, 128 texture units and the ROP count is a massive 64, with a 256-bit bus connecting 4 GB of GDDDR5 memory.
With a custom PCB and WINDFORCE 3X 600W cooling system the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 980 hits a modest 1228MHz Base Clock and 1329MHz at Boost and 1253/1354 MHz in OC Mode.
Now let's see what this GIGABYTE GTX 980 has for us.

Features

G1 GAMING Graphics Cards are forged with only the top-notch GPU via the very own GPU Gauntlet and Ultra Durable VGA components to ensure highest performance without compromising system reliability. Combined with the WINDFORCE cooling system and ultra HD support, gamers can immerse themselves in the most enriched gaming environment than ever before.

GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 3X 600W cooling system.
GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 3X 600W cooling system once again break the record and bring the air cooling capacity up to 600W by only using 2 slots heights. The WINDFORCE 3X 600W cooling system is equipped with five 8mm and one 6mm composite cooper heat-pipes , special fin architecture, unique blade fan design, and GIGABYTE “Triangle Cool" technology. This not only provides an effective heat dissipation capacity but also enables higher performance due to a lower temperature

WINDFORCE 3X With Unique Blade Fan
WINDFORCE 3X cooling system is equipped with high performance pure cooper heat-pipes which direct touch the GPU can strengthen the speed of heat dissipation. Besides, the air flow is effectively enhanced by the unique blade fan design, this not only increase the cooling capacity while reducing air turbulence but also results a lower noise level.

“Triangle Cool" Technology
By the combination of fins and clip module, GIGABYTE innovatively designs the WINDFORCE thermal into a special triangle shape! The patented “Triangle Cool" Technology enhances the efficiency of heat dissipation dramatically by minimizing the turbulences between fans.

Special Fin Architecutre
The special design of unequal fins height does not only enhances the turbulence between the fins but also results in a lower noise level and better cooling capacity.

Illuminated LED
Features illuminated LEDs that can be customized the brightness and animation by"NVIDIA GeForce GTX LED Visualizer".

Stylish Metal Back Plate
Glorious black metal back plate engraved with G1 GAMING logo inspires passion for gaming.

SOC ─ GPU Gauntlet™ Sorting
With GPU Gauntletâ„¢ Sorting, the Gigabyte SOC graphics card guarantees the higher overclocking capability in terms of excellent power switching.

Flex Display technology
GIGABYTE Flex display technology (patent-pending) can automatically detect any connected monitors and achieve multi-display gaming up to 4 monitors at the same time by using various output groups. Users could enjoy the best gaming experience in ultra HD resolution with extended flexibility in arranging monitor configurations and making future system upgrade extremely easy.

OC GURU ll
Brand-new intuitive user interface helps you easily modify important settings and directly update driver and BIOS. Clock speeds, voltage, fan performance, and OSD setting can be monitored and tuned in real-time according to your own preference.

Specifications

• Chipset: GeForce GTX 980
• Core Clock: Boost:1354 / Base: 1253 MHz in OC Mode Boost:1329 / Base: 1228 MHz in Gaming Mode
• Process Technology: 28 nm
• Memory Clock: 7Gbps
• Memory Size: 4 GB
• Memory Bus: 256 bit
• Memory Type: GDDR5
• Card Bus: PCI-E 3.0
• DirectX: 12
• OpenGL:4.4
• PCB Form: ATX
• Digital max resolution: 4096 X 2160
• Analog max resolution: 2048 x 1536
• Multi-view: 4
• I/O: Dual-link DVI-I / Dual-link DVI-D / HDMI / DisplayPort*3
• Card size: H=39 L=299 W=114 mm
• Power requirement: 600W(with two 8-pin external power connectors)

Package

The GIGABYTE G1 GAMING GTX 980 comes in a box securely packaged with G1 Gaming graphics and features highlights on front and the back of the box.

Inside the box

Along with the GFX card box also includes driver installation CD, quick start guide, a dual 6-pin to 8-pin PCIe connector.

Looks

GIGABYTE G1 GAMING GTX 980 with predominating black colour scheme with a back-plate, typical with most enthusiast graphics cards alongside having an array of three fans as part of the GIGABYTE WINDFORCE 3X 600W cooling system .

Inside

Removing the cooler reveals six heatpipes, five 8mm and one 4mm soldered onto a big copper plate which makes a direct contact with the GPU core and memory chips. Heatpipes are connected with an array of aluminum fin stack and three 80 mm POWER LOGIC 12v 0.35 amp brushless fans (Model:PLD08010S12HH) for cooling.

Component Layout

Detailed PCB layout of GIGABYTE G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 980 shows that GIGABYTE equipped this card with an eight phase digital power design. Gigabyte uses an ON Semiconductor's NCP81174 buck controller(the same as on the NVIDIA GTX 980 reference design) for all of its power needs and the onboard GDDR5 memory is provided by the SKHynix H5GQ4H24MFR-R2C ICs. They are rated for 1750 MHz (7000 MHz effective) at 1.55 V.

Testing

Test system configuration -

Benchmarks

Temperatures

Room Temperature: 30C

In idle, the temperature is real good and at full load running 3D Mark Fire Strike temperature was ok and fans were slight loud.

Power Consumption

Wattage reading as per displayed by APC Pro 1000VA (Model no. BR1000G-IN) UPS.

Pros

• Factory Overclocked
• 4GB of Graphics RAM
• Very quiet when idle
• Excellent temperatures
• Flexible Output ports

Cons

• Back Plate should be more thick and rigid

Conclusion

GIGABYTE G1 GAMING GeForce GTX 980 is a great card with a good approx 8% factory overclock out of the box over the reference design. With the WINDFORCE 3X 600W cooling system the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 980 gave excellent temperature reading throughout the tests. In idle, the cooler runs very quiet, but it does not completely stop its fans like ASUS's STRIX 980 cards and during heavy graphics load, noise output is slight high than other GTX 980

The only problem we found was the thin metal sheet back plate. Beside that we are very satisfied with the overall performance of the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 980 Card.

At the conclusion GIGABYTE G1 GAMING GeForce GTX 980 video card is a good product for gamers and enthusiasts , worthy of our PC TeK REVIEWS CHOICE Award.

Manufacturers Info

Thanks.

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