Nvidia’s Newest Graphics Card is a Monster

Nvidia, known as the creator of some darn good technology, is developing a new GPU that it claims is twice as fast and three times as efficient as its Titan X. Called the GeForce GTX 1080, it sounds more like the title of a mecha anime, but you’ll hear nothing but excitement from Nvidia over their new product. “This is the largest GPU endeavor, the largest chip processor endeavor, in the history of humanity,” says Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. The GTX card was first unveiled during the recent DreamHack convention is Austin, Texas, which met from May 6 through May 8 this year.

GTX is built on Nvidia’s Pascal architecture with the demands of HD gaming and virtual reality experience in mind. The Pascal technology allows for more transistors taking up less space in the device, and an overall smoother performance as a result. The new card typically runs at around 1,607 MHz but can reach up to 1,733.  The GTX 980 model reached 1,216 MHz. Memory-wise, the 1080 possesses 8GB of space with a bandwidth of 10Gbps. Given these stats, it seems all the boasting about its performance isn’t just marketing hype. The card, still awaiting its release date, has yet to prove itself out in the real world, but the stats look quite promising.

The Titan X excels in the memory and bus width departments. However, the 1080 may incorporate 384-bit buses in the future. Its little brother, the GTX 1070, will retain the Titan’s GDDR5.

The good news is, we won’t have to wait long to put it to the test. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 will be available May 27, 2016 at around $700 for the “Founders Editions, which are the cards manufactured specifically by Nvidia. Other models may run a bit cheaper. Another GPU, the GeForce GTX 1070, will make its debut on June 10. Less is known about this card than the 1080, but it is expected to run $500 for the Founders and $380 for the third-party builds.