​Nvidia unveils 'fastest ever' GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPU

Nvidia has lifted the lid off its new GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics processing unit (GPU), touting its new offering as the “fastest ever” gaming GPU.

The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti delivers up to 35 percent more performance than the GeForce GTX 1080 and up to 78 percent faster performance than the GTX 1070.

The latest GPU comprises 3,584 Nvidia Cuda cores and 11 gigabytes of next-generation GDDR5X memory, running at 11 gigabytes per second.

According to Nvidia, the GTX 1080 Ti is also faster than the Nvidia Titan X Pascal, its $1,200 big brother that was designed for deep learning and artificial intelligence (AI).

The GeForce GTX 1080 Ti is based on Nvidia’s Pascal architecture, which the technology giant said is purpose-built to be the engine of computers that learn, see, and simulate the world.

“These gains in performance and power efficiency are enabled by the marvels of the Pascal architecture,” the company said previously. “The first of these marvels is the introduction of cutting-edge 16nm FinFET chip construction. This new, smaller chip design uses fewer watts of power and emits less heat, enabling us to crank up the core clock speed of the GPU, which is key for increasing a graphics card’s performance.”

Nvidia said it designed the GeForce GTX 1080 Ti to handle the graphical demands of 4K and 5K gaming, DX12, HDR, and immersive virtual reality (VR).

“GTX 1080 Ti is the world’s first GPU to feature Micron’s next-gen G5X memory,” the company said. “11 gigabytes of G5X memory running a blazing 11 gigabytes per second quad data rate delivers the most effective memory bandwidth of any modern gaming GPU. And it still has plenty of headroom for overclocking.”

In addition, Nvidia said the GTX 1080 Ti runs with superior heat dissipation from a new high-airflow thermal solution with vapor chamber cooling, two times the airflow area, and a power architecture featuring a seven-phase power design with 14 high-efficiency dualFETs.

“Accelerated computing is the only path forward to keep up with researchers’ insatiable demand for HPC and AI supercomputing,” Ian Buck, vice president of accelerated computing at Nvidia, said.

At a suggested retail cost of $699, the latest GPU is a price hike from its predecessor, the GeForce GTX 1080, which debuted in May last year at $599. In comparison, the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, launched in mid-2015, retailed for $649.99, while the GeForce GTX TITAN X previously sold for $999.

GTX 1080 Ti graphics cards, including the Nvidia Founders Edition, will be available worldwide from March 10, 2017.