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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 12 GB

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 12 GB: A Legend of the Past in the Realities of 2025

Introduction

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, released in 2017, became a symbol of the high-performance GPU era. Even though nearly 8 years have passed since its release, this graphics card still garners interest from gamers and enthusiasts. In 2025, it remains an iconic model, albeit one that lags behind modern counterparts in supporting new technologies. Let's explore what the GTX 1080 Ti is capable of today and who might still find it useful.

1. Architecture and Key Features

Pascal Architecture: the Power Foundation

The GTX 1080 Ti is built on the Pascal architecture, fabricated using a 16nm process. Its GP102 core features 3,584 CUDA cores, 224 texture units (TMU), and 88 raster operation units (ROP). The card does not support ray tracing (RTX) or DLSS—these features were introduced in later generations (Turing, Ampere). However, the Simultaneous Multi-Projection technology enhances performance in VR applications and games that support multi-monitor configurations.

Lack of RTX and DLSS: Limitations of 2025

By 2025, ray tracing and AI scaling have become standard. The GTX 1080 Ti, lacking hardware RT and Tensor cores, cannot utilize these features. Launching games with RTX (for example, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty) will require enabling software emulation, which reduces FPS by 40–60%.

2. Memory: Size and Bandwidth

GDDR5X: Outdated yet Ample

The card comes equipped with 11 GB of GDDR5X memory (the article erroneously states 12 GB; the original model has 11 GB). The 352-bit bus provides a bandwidth of 484 GB/s. For 2025, this is insufficient: modern 4K games with ultra settings require at least 12–16 GB of GDDR6X or HBM.

Impact on Performance

In games with high VRAM consumption (such as Starfield or Horizon Forbidden West), 11 GB may become a bottleneck. Texture settings may need to be reduced to "High" to avoid stuttering.

3. Gaming Performance

1080p and 1440p: Comfortable Gaming

- Cyberpunk 2077 (without RTX): 65–75 FPS at ultra settings in 1440p.

- Apex Legends: Stable 144 FPS in 1080p.

- Elden Ring: 50–60 FPS in 1440p (maximum settings).

4K: Only for Undemanding Titles

In Fortnite (epic settings, without DLSS), the card delivers 40–50 FPS. For smooth 4K gaming in 2025, a minimum of an RTX 4070 or AMD RX 7800 XT is required.

4. Professional Tasks

CUDA: Support without Optimizations

Thanks to its 3,584 CUDA cores, the GTX 1080 Ti handles rendering in Blender or video editing in DaVinci Resolve. However, modern NVIDIA drivers are poorly optimized for Pascal in professional applications. For working with neural networks (Stable Diffusion, TensorFlow), it's better to choose cards with Tensor cores.

Rendering: Examples

- Blender (BMW demo scene): rendering takes 12 minutes (compared to 4 minutes for an RTX 4060).

- Premiere Pro (exporting 4K video): 30% slower than the RTX 3060.

5. Power Consumption and Heat Generation

TDP 250W: System Requirements

The card consumes up to 250W under load. A power supply of at least 600W with 8+6 pin cables is recommended.

Cooling: Tips for 2025

- Optimal cases: with good ventilation (e.g., NZXT H5 Flow or Lian Li Lancool 216).

- Thermal paste replacement: if the card is used, replace the thermal interface to reduce temperatures by 5–10°C.

6. Comparison with Competitors

AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 (2017): Parity with Nuances

- Vega 64 lags by 10–15% in DirectX 11 but gains in Vulkan (Doom Eternal: 120 FPS vs. 110 for the GTX 1080 Ti).

- Consumes more power (295W TDP).

NVIDIA RTX 3060 (2021): Superiority of the New Generation

- RTX 3060 is 20% faster at 1440p and supports DLSS and RTX.

- Price of new models in 2025: $300–$350.

7. Practical Advice

Power Supply: Don’t Skimp

Choose models with 80+ Gold certification (Corsair RM650x, EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G6). Avoid cheap noname PSUs—voltage spikes can damage the card.

Compatibility with Platforms

- Motherboards: Any PCIe 3.0 x16 slot will work.

- Processors: Optimal choices are Intel Core i5/i7 10th generation or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and newer.

Drivers: Use Optimized Versions

Official driver support from NVIDIA will cease in 2024. For usage in Windows 11 24H2, use modified drivers (for example, from the NVCleanstall community).

8. Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Affordable price on the secondhand market ($150–$200).

- 11 GB of memory suitable for older and some new games.

- Reliability and durability (with quality cooling).

Cons:

- No support for RTX, DLSS, or FidelityFX.

- High power consumption.

- Limited optimization for modern games.

9. Final Conclusion: Who is the GTX 1080 Ti Suitable For?

This graphics card is a choice for:

1. Budget gamers who are willing to play at 1080p/1440p on high settings without the expectation of ultra graphics.

2. Retro hardware enthusiasts building PCs in the style of the 2010s.

3. Users of older workstations where CUDA support is essential for basic tasks.

Alternative for 2025: If your budget is $300–$400, consider the new RTX 4060 or AMD RX 7600 XT—they offer better performance, energy efficiency, and support for modern technologies.

The GTX 1080 Ti remains a legend, but time waits for no one. It should only be purchased as a temporary solution or for nostalgic builds.

Basic

Label Name

NVIDIA

Platform

Desktop

Model Name

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 12 GB

Generation

GeForce 10

Base Clock

1557MHz

Boost Clock

1670MHz

Bus Interface

PCIe 3.0 x16

Transistors

11,800 million

TMUs

Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.

200

Foundry

TSMC

Process Size

16 nm

Architecture

Pascal

Memory Specifications

Memory Size

12GB

Memory Type

GDDR5X

Memory Bus

The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.

320bit

Memory Clock

1376MHz

Bandwidth

Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.

440.3 GB/s

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate

Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.

133.6 GPixel/s

Texture Rate

Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.

334.0 GTexel/s

FP16 (half)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.

167.0 GFLOPS

FP64 (double)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

334.0 GFLOPS

FP32 (float)

An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.

10.904 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

SM Count

Multiple Streaming Processors (SPs), along with other resources, form a Streaming Multiprocessor (SM), which is also referred to as a GPU's major core. These additional resources include components such as warp schedulers, registers, and shared memory. The SM can be considered the heart of the GPU, similar to a CPU core, with registers and shared memory being scarce resources within the SM.

Shading Units

The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.

3200

L1 Cache

48 KB (per SM)

L2 Cache

0MB

TDP

250W

Vulkan Version

Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.

1.3

OpenCL Version

3.0

OpenGL

4.6

DirectX

12 (12_1)

CUDA

6.1

Power Connectors

1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin

Shader Model

6.7

ROPs

The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.

Suggested PSU

600W

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)

Score

10.904 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS

GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile

11.842 +8.6%

Radeon RX 9060 XT

11.201 +2.7%

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 12 GB

10.904

P102 100

10.555 -3.2%

PG506 242

10.114 -7.2%