Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti
4K and HFR, here we come!
If you’re looking to blow the budget on a toplevel card, you can’t really put a foot wrong with the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti. AMD’s recently-released Vega graphics cards are aimed at the GTX 1070 and 1080, respectively, so for now, there’s nothing from the red team that that can compete against Nvidia’s latest Ti flagship, with AMD seemingly content to focus on the midrange and entry-level markets until at least 2018.
However, given the 1080 Ti is a whopping $500 more than the 1070 and around $300 more than a standard 1080, the question becomes one of how excessive you want to get. In other words, should you go for a single 1080 Ti for around $1,100, or opt for a pair of GTX 1070s for about $100 more?
If you’re gaming at 4K or on a larger ultrawide, a single overclocked GTX 1080 Ti can net you a 60fps average in most games — across our 15-title suite, our 4K average was 65fps, while a pair of 1070s in SLI was 75fps. At lower resolutions, the higher clockspeeds of a single 1080 Ti actually turns out higher average framerates. There are still lots of caveats with SLI, like the need for a beefier PSU (although an 850W will be ample of two 1070s), game support isn’t universal and, moreover, that SLI tech still doesn’t work with VR. You’ll also want to pick up an HB bridge, for around $60, to ensure the best SLI performance.
Unless you’re running a 4K or multi-monitor setup, then, the GTX 1080 Ti is the safer, simpler bet — and the one we’d recommend for most setups. If you do go the SLI route, be prepared to have to tinker and troubleshoot.
Verdict
If you’ve got cash to burn, the best option in this category is also the most reliable.