ASUS 980Ti Strix Gaming Review

I got the Asus GTX 980 Ti Strix Gaming and here is a review:


The imposing DirectCU III cooler is covering the card and beyond. The 3x 90mm fans are using Wing-blade and 0dB technology so it should provide 30% more airflow and 3x less noise.

Asus installed a GPU Fortifier and a backplate to prevent eventual damage and/or bending of the card. There is also the reinforcement frame on the top edge.

The card is powered by 2x 8-pin connectors and can be used in 4-way setups through 2x SLI interfaces.

Up to 4 monitors can be driven using a combination of the 5 interfaces: 1x DVI, 1x HDMI and 3x DisplayPort.

And now the naked part . The DirectCU III cooler has 2x 10mm heatpipes and 3x 8mm ones plus a bigger heatsink. That means 220% larger heat dissipation area against the DirectCU II version.

The new Strix benefits from AUTO-EXTREME Technology with 12+2-phase Super Alloy Power II = 100% automated production process for better quality and reliability.

Asus used Hynix memory for GTX 980 Ti Strix Gaming so we should see a good overclocking here as well.
Moreover, the new Strix has a Memory Defroster on/off switch, yet no power connector for it. This a step forward to the LN2 overclocking. Great job Asus!

I have to admit the new Strix looks stronger than its predecessor and that starts with the PCB all the way up to the DirectCU III cooler and the integrated technologies.

nice looking card!

Results:

Thanks for taking the time, the card looks to have a very nice design.
DCII and now DCIII always bring it strong and willing to bet this card will not be out to lunch on the price either.

Move over all you reference designs out their, looks to be a new sheriff in town

why are the strix and regular ti getting lower temps when overclocked? i assume you cranked the fan to 100% to show maximum cooling capability just making sure. what was the temp fully oc'd without cranking the fan?(if that's what you did).

That's a good question, I would either assume the chart is backwards or a more aggressive fan profile was set (?)

ah damn i just realized there's no cooling on anything but the gpu. bummer. seems beastly otherwise.

For default settings the fan was on AUTO and it went to 41%. For overclocking I used a static profile of 50% to be perfectly quiet in the chassis. That's why the OC temp is lower.

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Brando said:

ah damn i just realized there's no cooling on anything but the gpu. bummer. seems beastly otherwise.

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The VRM radiator is bound to the big heatsink, making a pretty good cooling. The memory is not cooled though.

Bruno_ro said:

For default settings the fan was on AUTO and it went to 41%. For overclocking I used a static profile of 50% to be perfectly quiet in the chassis. That's why the OC temp is lower.

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The VRM radiator is bound to the big heatsink, making a pretty good cooling. The memory is not cooled though.

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ok yeah i see that plate sorry i missed it. so the main thing i'm looking at now is the dcuIII only 3c lower at the same noise level. is that right? i'm just trying to get a feel for how good the temps are at full load vs stock when overclocked. in the chart it looks like the stock 980 ti with a 300mhz oc got 9c lower temps with only .5db extra fan noise.

Brando said:

ok yeah i see that plate sorry i missed it. so the main thing i'm looking at now is the dcuIII only 3c lower at the same noise level. is that right? i'm just trying to get a feel for how good the temps are at full load vs stock when overclocked. in the chart it looks like the stock 980 ti with a 300mhz oc got 9c lower temps with only .5db extra fan noise.

Click to expand...

The 980 Ti reference runs at 83C with auto settings and 72C with the cooler at 50%, but the VRM gets hotter.

Bruno_ro said:

The 980 Ti reference runs at 83C with auto settings and 72C with the cooler at 50%, but the VRM gets hotter.

Click to expand...

apparently the stock cooler is a lot better than i thought.