Or, "How I learnt to stop worrying about spending £3000 one weekend, and loved the results"
The Reason - So, I've got a wife doing a PhD in Molecular Analytical Chemistry, she does a load of computational modelling and mathsy-sciency-wiency stuff on her PC and the Universities Nvidia powered "Super Computer".
As we have 3 kids at home, and I work full time getting her home is a challenge at the best of times as she creates frankenstein like stuff in her lab... To be honest the stuff she is working on has real possibilities in the treatment of Cancer and load of Genetic conditions that do no one any good! But being a PhD student at 42 with kids and a hubby is no joke and so I decided to save up and build her a new rig that's capable of her kicking back in World of Warcraft when she does want/need/get a break and makes mincemeat of the science stuff she needs to do without having to muck around staying late at Uni.
The Build - Strix Z270e Mobo, i7 7700k (OC'd to 4.8GHz), H100i V2, 32GB Vengeance 3000 DDR4, M.2 for OS, SSD for Apps, normal SATA3 Data Drive... and a fresh ASUS GTX 1080 ti FE Graphics Card to put all the cherries, icing, sprinkles, silver balls etc. on this cake. Packed into a Crystal 460X RGB. And she insisted on a ASUS 4K 28" Monitor.
Getting One - Well, not being versed in Internet Based Day 1 purchases, as I am 47 and waaaay too old for that stuff (lol) I got one easily. Well, after I realised the 1st retailers site had crashed when we all hit CHECKOUT at the same time. So, a tactical sidestep to supplier 2, left me with a silly grin knowing that I would have one before Midday on Saturday. Awesome. What's all the fuss about, pah, this t'internet shopping is easy!
Boring Stuff - It's a Founders Edition card, so it looks like a Founders Edition Card. You love that Nvidia Corp. look or you hate it. Personally, I think that they look killer. Powering it up shows off that lovely Green Team LED "GEFORCE GTX" bling on the top. It needs 1x8 and a 1x6 PCIE power cables to power it up. Its also, as everyone now knows, devoid of DVI, but comes with an adapter, so your bases should be covered.
1st Thoughts - WOW. Now, I have never ever bought a top end card before. Always coming in at the low to mid price end of the market, and always been really impressed. The "ti" cards always seem to be where the sweet spot is, so from the 560ti thats where we have bought. A couple of hundred quid, bosh. Well, why pay 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or even 9 HUNDRED quid for a card? Those guys must be bonkers, right?
Oh, what a fool I have been. Seriously, what a step up in performance. Things go, whizz and bang and boom and it just hums along giving ZERO F's. WHAMO! And the fan speeds up by a percent. 4k? Games never looked better, jaws never hit the ground as hard. "It's just eating them." The Good Lady Boss Wife (BSc 1st Class, MSc with Merit) says. Boy done good.
Time to tinker.
Overclocking & Benchmarks - So after doing a bit of reading, I used MSI Afterburner to put the Power Target thingy up to 120, and managed to get the GPU clock up 90 and the memory to 300 and still run Catzilla (the Wife loves it, that's why we use it) without it bailing. In 1080p mode we came in in the top 1%, so went and found us at 75th in the list with a score of 35591. The whole damn list. I don't think that we have had anything that got us 75000th before! Now I am fine at building, but always conservative at OC'ing, so I know that I am not pushing it. But I am happy with that. Did the same with ASUS GPU Tweak 2, fiddled without turning up the memory clock this time. We ran 3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra (4k) and got results in line with what TTL got as well (7284). Wow.
And yes I know, I can use screen cap to get this...
Conclusion - Everything TTL said in the main review and on the video, IS (as usual) bang on the money. We've never owned at top tier card before, but after this, I am sure that the Mrs will let me get at least one in the house, if just to get it in her rig.
I am super impressed. I have a massive "Nerd Grin" on my face, and even though, it's not my system, I am more than happy to have put the whole thing together for her.
She's worked damn hard to get her degree, MSc and place doing a PhD in the last 6 years, and she deserves it.
Oh, and the GTX 1080 ti... If you have the cash, don't own a Titan and can get it in the house without being struck over the head by a frying pan? BUY ONE... when they eventually get them back in.
The Reason - So, I've got a wife doing a PhD in Molecular Analytical Chemistry, she does a load of computational modelling and mathsy-sciency-wiency stuff on her PC and the Universities Nvidia powered "Super Computer".
As we have 3 kids at home, and I work full time getting her home is a challenge at the best of times as she creates frankenstein like stuff in her lab... To be honest the stuff she is working on has real possibilities in the treatment of Cancer and load of Genetic conditions that do no one any good! But being a PhD student at 42 with kids and a hubby is no joke and so I decided to save up and build her a new rig that's capable of her kicking back in World of Warcraft when she does want/need/get a break and makes mincemeat of the science stuff she needs to do without having to muck around staying late at Uni.
The Build - Strix Z270e Mobo, i7 7700k (OC'd to 4.8GHz), H100i V2, 32GB Vengeance 3000 DDR4, M.2 for OS, SSD for Apps, normal SATA3 Data Drive... and a fresh ASUS GTX 1080 ti FE Graphics Card to put all the cherries, icing, sprinkles, silver balls etc. on this cake. Packed into a Crystal 460X RGB. And she insisted on a ASUS 4K 28" Monitor.
Getting One - Well, not being versed in Internet Based Day 1 purchases, as I am 47 and waaaay too old for that stuff (lol) I got one easily. Well, after I realised the 1st retailers site had crashed when we all hit CHECKOUT at the same time. So, a tactical sidestep to supplier 2, left me with a silly grin knowing that I would have one before Midday on Saturday. Awesome. What's all the fuss about, pah, this t'internet shopping is easy!
Boring Stuff - It's a Founders Edition card, so it looks like a Founders Edition Card. You love that Nvidia Corp. look or you hate it. Personally, I think that they look killer. Powering it up shows off that lovely Green Team LED "GEFORCE GTX" bling on the top. It needs 1x8 and a 1x6 PCIE power cables to power it up. Its also, as everyone now knows, devoid of DVI, but comes with an adapter, so your bases should be covered.
1st Thoughts - WOW. Now, I have never ever bought a top end card before. Always coming in at the low to mid price end of the market, and always been really impressed. The "ti" cards always seem to be where the sweet spot is, so from the 560ti thats where we have bought. A couple of hundred quid, bosh. Well, why pay 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or even 9 HUNDRED quid for a card? Those guys must be bonkers, right?
Oh, what a fool I have been. Seriously, what a step up in performance. Things go, whizz and bang and boom and it just hums along giving ZERO F's. WHAMO! And the fan speeds up by a percent. 4k? Games never looked better, jaws never hit the ground as hard. "It's just eating them." The Good Lady Boss Wife (BSc 1st Class, MSc with Merit) says. Boy done good.
Time to tinker.
Overclocking & Benchmarks - So after doing a bit of reading, I used MSI Afterburner to put the Power Target thingy up to 120, and managed to get the GPU clock up 90 and the memory to 300 and still run Catzilla (the Wife loves it, that's why we use it) without it bailing. In 1080p mode we came in in the top 1%, so went and found us at 75th in the list with a score of 35591. The whole damn list. I don't think that we have had anything that got us 75000th before! Now I am fine at building, but always conservative at OC'ing, so I know that I am not pushing it. But I am happy with that. Did the same with ASUS GPU Tweak 2, fiddled without turning up the memory clock this time. We ran 3D Mark Fire Strike Ultra (4k) and got results in line with what TTL got as well (7284). Wow.
And yes I know, I can use screen cap to get this...
Conclusion - Everything TTL said in the main review and on the video, IS (as usual) bang on the money. We've never owned at top tier card before, but after this, I am sure that the Mrs will let me get at least one in the house, if just to get it in her rig.
I am super impressed. I have a massive "Nerd Grin" on my face, and even though, it's not my system, I am more than happy to have put the whole thing together for her.
She's worked damn hard to get her degree, MSc and place doing a PhD in the last 6 years, and she deserves it.
Oh, and the GTX 1080 ti... If you have the cash, don't own a Titan and can get it in the house without being struck over the head by a frying pan? BUY ONE... when they eventually get them back in.
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