GTX 1080 Benchmark Videos – Is the 30% Gain Over the 980 Ti Worth it?

Nvidia’s GTX 1080 offers some of the best performance from a single GPU at the moment and although OEM versions are coming sooner rather than later which should come with their own overclocking and cooling solutions, the Founders Edition performs very well and offers a suitable increase over its nearest rival in price the GTX 980 Ti. The question you have to ask yourself though if thinking of upgrading is whether the approximate 30% gain over the 980 Ti is worthwhile and largely depends on what you’re looking for. At 1440p, gaming here you’ll maintain a far more steady 60 fps than with the 980 Ti (depending on the game) and at 4K the little extra boost you’ll get over the 980 Ti means you can at least play more recent titles using Ultra settings at 30 frames per second quite comfortably. The 980 Ti struggled to hit 30 in some instances and more often than not was between 21-24 FPS (again, depending on the game).

At 1080p the GTX 1080 is most definitely overkill where there’s no reason to move up from the completely competent 980 Ti. However, if you’re looking at 3D gaming then yes the 1080 offers a bit more headroom in this area and the same can be said for VR. However, developers have yet to take advantage of the 1080’s VR specific gains and therefore at this juncture it’s hard to recommend the 1080 for VR if you’re coming from the 980 Ti. In our tests, playing Project Cars for example, the 1080 still suffered some slowdown in a few instances where lots of opponent cars were on the track.

The 1080 is an excellent addition to the Nvidia line-up of top end graphics cards although the step up from the 980 Ti probably won’t be as pronounced until some overclocking is performed. If you’re not into tinkering then obviously waiting for OEM versions is more prudent (considering these will be available in weeks rather than months). Then there’s the undoubtedly cheaper GTX 1070 on the horizon which might be a better solution especially if you’re coming from a GTX 970.

Either way, take a look at some benchmark videos to see how well the GTX 1080 performs under various conditions.

Written by: Rob Cram

Rob Cram has hundreds of video game reviews, thousands of articles under his belt with years of experience in gaming and tech. He aims to remain fair and free from publisher/developer influence. With his extensive knowledge, feels his gaming opinions are valid and worth sharing. Agreement with his views are entirely optional. He might have a bias towards cyberpunk.