PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 OC review: A gorgeous graphics card with great value - zimmermanlanstritally

At a Glance

Expert's Rating

Pros

Incredible play functioning, even at 4K
Dilutant than most customised GTX 1080 Ti cards
Gorgeous contrive, no RGB lights
Much cooler than quieter than Founders Edition

Cons

Long length may not fit in some cases
Illume on extras

Our Verdict

The beautiful and powerful PNY GTX 1080 Atomic number 2 XLR8 OC delivers big sleep with for your buck scorn being $700.

Uncomparable Prices Today

Not Available

Let's be hotdog: Most of the customized versions of Nvidia's beastly GeForce GTX 1080 Ti that you can buy offer largely similar levels of gaming performance. This monstrous GPU pushes Nvidia's Pascal architecture as far and fast as it'll go.

That's good in whatsoever ways. Aside from Founders Variant models, you cognize you aren't leaving performance on the table by opting for one custom GTX 1080 Atomic number 2 over another, and you shouldn't have any problem pushing clock speeds up around the 2GHz range if you desire to try your hand at manual overclocking. But information technology also way that custom cards need to bring on a little something supererogatory to the table if they want to stand extinct from the crowd.

The PNY GeForce GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 OC ($720 on Newegg) does just that with a strong focus on the basics and some design decisions that make IT refreshingly unique compared to umpteen of today's high-end graphics cards.

Meet the PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8

Before we dive into the customizations found in the PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 OC ("accelerate," get IT?) let's rapidly look at the reference specifications from the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition.

gtx 1080 ti tech specs — Commonplace GTX 1080 Ti reference specs.

The biggest under-the-thug change lies in the GTX 1080 TI XLR8 OC's nub clock speeds, which induce been bumped up to a 1,531MHz base clock and 1,645MHz advance time. Again, that brings IT in line with other custom GTX 1080 Si cards, ready to chew through 4K games even when all the bells and whistles are cranked. Despite the boost, the PNY board still packs the same 250W TDP as the Founders Edition, along with the same 6-thole and 8-pin power connectors.

The card's energetic blueprint is more stimulating, for a couple of diametrical reasons.

First: its thickness. While most custom GTX 1080 Ti cards expanded to beefy ternary-one-armed bandit thicknesses to tame the ferocious GPU's temperatures, PNY's card joins EVGA's GTX 1080 Ti SC2 and Nvidia's Founder Variant model in being a standard two-slot sized. Stinking news for bantam systems, though: The XLR8 compensates by stretching out to a looooong 12.36 inches to house its triple-sports fan temperature reduction result and massive heatsink.

pny gtx 1080 ti xlr8 oc 11 — The PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 OC.

PNY's XLR8 OC also ditches the gaudy RGB LED-laden aesthetics that most recent last-end graphics cards have embraced. Instead, it opts for a lissom all-metal shroud, with angular accents somewhat reminiscent of Nvidia's Founders Edition card game, broken heavenward by the translucent-black plastic fans.

The top of the calling card sports a black aluminum backplate with "GeForce GTX 1080 Ti" emblazoned in discreet gray letters. It's an understated, until no attractive appear overall—one likely to appeal to folks who abhor PC viscera lit up like the 4-Jul.

pny gtx 1080 ti xlr8 oc 8 — Port report.

The rest of the card hews to regular specs. Like every GTX 1080 Ti, the PNY XLR8 OC rocks a borderline ludicrous 11GB of ultra-fast GDDR5X memory. United Nationslike-minded much other custom versions, IT also sticks to the mention intention's trinity of DisplayPort 1.4 connections and solo HDMI 2.0b. You won't find a DVI port added rearwards to the mix up, or any other notable extras comparable dual BIOSes. This card focuses solely connected the core gaming experience.

Enough speak. Let's bench mark!

Adjacent page: Prove system, benchmarks begin

Our test system

We tested the PNY GeForce GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 along PCWorld's dedicated art lineup benchmark organization, as was common. Our testbed's loaded with high-end components to avoid bottlenecks in other parts of the system and show unfettered art performance.

Intel's Effect i7-5960X with a Barbary pirate Hydro Series H100i shut-grummet water cooler ($107 on Amazon).
An Asus X99 Deluxe motherboard.
Barbary pirate's Payback LPX DDR4 remembering ($127 happening Amazon), and 1,200-watt AX1200i power supply ($450 on Amazon).
A 480GB Intel 730 serial SSD.
Phanteks' Enthoo Evolv ATX case ($190 on Virago).
Windows 10 Pro ($180 on Amazon).

Each game's time-tested exploitation its in-game benchmark at the mentioned graphics presets, with V-sync, frame pace caps, and all GPU vendor-taxon technologies—like AMD TressFX, Nvidia GameWorks options, and FreeSync/G-Synchronise—disabled. The most late public drivers were used for testing all cards.

To see where the $725 PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 stands, we're comparison it against EVGA's GTX 1080 Titanium SC2 ($730 on Amazon), besides as the Nvidia Founders Edition versions of the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti ($700 on Amazon River) and GTX 1080 ($550 on Newegg). GTX 1080 prices currently appear to be creeping up due to demand caused by cryptocurrency mining.

Got it? Good. Let's irritate the games.

The Division

The Division, a gorgeous third-somebody shooter/RPG that mixes elements ofLotandGears of State of war, kicks things bump off with Ubisoft's new Snowdrop engine. We test the game in DirectX 11 modal value. Switching to the tacked-on DirectX 12 manner doesn't improve performance.

The PNY XLR8 is a wee bit slower than EVGA's wag—imperceptibly so actually. It makes feel, atomic number 3 the overclock on the EVGA GTX 1080 Ti is a pee bit higher than the PNY carte du jour's, at 1,670MHz vs 1,645MHz, respectively. Both are a bit faster than the reference GTX 1080 Si Founders Version, which helps them hit the hallowed 60 frames-per-irregular tick off many consistently when you've got all the graphical bells and whistles cranked at 4K resolving.

You'll find twin results in every gambling bench mark test. Alike I said, customized GTX 1080 Ti cards each perform likewise (and both of these cards, so, had no problem overclocking to the 2GHz array). Sol we'll leave commentary to a stripped-down until we generate to thermals and mogul consumption, letting the graphs speak for themselves.

Next page: Gunman

Hitman

Hitman's Glacier engine historically favored AMD hardware, but GeForce cards keep ahead ameliorate after recent driver optimizations. We test in both DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 with SSAO disabled.

Next page: Rise of the Tomb Pillager

Rise of the Tomb Raider

WhereasTriggermanadores Radeon GPUs,Emanation of the Grave Raiderperforms much better on GeForce card game—and it's absolutely gorgeous. We only test the mettlesome's DirectX 11 mode, as DX12 results can make up erratic.

Next page: Far Cry Primal

FAR Cry Aboriginal

Far Battle cry Primalis another Ubisoft game, but information technology's powered by a unusual locomotive engine than The Segmentation—the latest variant of the mindful-jetting and well-respected Dunia engine.

Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes of the Singularity, continual on Oxide's custom Nitrous engine, was an early color bearer for DirectX 12, and many months later information technology'sallay the prime lame for seeing what next-gen graphics technologies hold to offer.

We mental testing the game using the High graphics setting, as the wildly arduous Infatuated and Extreme presets aren't reflective of real-world usage scenarios. We're showing only 4K results, as the overclocked GTX 1080 Ti is so powerful that the secret plan becomes CPU-bound at 1440p resolving in our outfit.

Next page: Counterfeit benchmarks

Synthetics, power, and heat

We also time-tested the PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 and its competitors exploitation 3DMark's highly respected DX11 Fire Strike benchmark, as advantageously as 3DMark's Sentence Spy bench mark, which tests DirectX 12 performance at 2560×1440 resolution.

Next foliate: Power and heat energy

Major power

We test power under load by plugging the integral system into a Watts Up meter, spouting the Variance bench mark at 4K resolution, and noting the peak power draw. Idle power is measured after nonmoving on the Windows desktop for leash minutes with no spear carrier programs Beaver State processes running.

As expected, the overclocked custom cards consume more top executive than the reference Founders Edition, though astonishingly little in practice. Interestingly, the custom versions consume less power than the GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition does when lazy.

Heat

We test heat during the same intensiveSectionalisation benchmark at a strenuous 4K firmness, by track SpeedFan in the background and noting the maximum GPU temperature once the run is over.

Here's where the benefits of a custom cooling solution truly glisten. The GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition runs hot and performs worse than PNY and EVGA's cards, both of which stay well under 70 degrees Celsius under load despite being far less bulky than near other custom GTX 1080 Ti models. Even though PNY's card uses three fans to the EVGA's two, the cards father related noise levels to our ears—far, far, far less than the Founders Edition.

Next page: Bottom line

Bottom line

pny gtx 1080 ti xlr8 oc 9 — The PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 OC.

We couldn't praise the EVGA GTX 1080 Te SC2 ($730 on Amazon River) highly enough, and PNY's GTX XLR8 OC ($720 on Newegg) matches it botch-for-snuff out of the box in key features. It's fair-and-square as cool down, even as quiet, and essentially just arsenic potent. The PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 perfectly chews through games eve when you're using Ultra graphics settings at 4K resolving.

Sure, it lacks the EVGA card's RGB lights and eight-fold internal temperature sensors, or the dual-BIOSes and some other swank features found happening some GTX 1080 Ti card game, but that's more of a difference than a disconfirming—especially given the XLR8 OC's pleading price tag.

At $720 MSRP, the XLR8 solely costs $20 to a higher degree the GTX 1080 Ti Founders Edition, and information technology's superior in every way. Other usage GTX 1080 Ti models presently connected Newegg go at $750, though you sometimes come up rebates bringing the total down to $730. Another twist: PNY has recently been selling the XLR8 OC connected its website for the same $700 as Fall in Edition cards. It's currently sold out online as a result of that sale, just regardless of which price you pick it up for, the PNY XLR8 offers a lot of extras for a minimal markup.

The PNY XLR8 isn't a sheer have it away-for-clam wager, though, as the card has some unique marketing points. IT's dilutant than most custom GTX 1080 Ti cards (although longer as well) and the beautiful cerement is refreshingly devoid of glittering lights. That's extraordinary in the world of intoxicated-end graphics cards—and it nobelium dubiousness helps keep the price down, too.

It's unearthly calling a $700-plus graphics identity card a damned good value, but that's what the PNY GTX 1080 Ti XLR8 OC is. The card runs cool, looks great, and punches hard. It's a great card to yank stunned of the box and shove into your system without any further tinkering. No wonder it's impossible to find any in stock reactionist directly, though PNY assures me that more will hit the streets soon.

Note: When you leverage something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a tiny commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.