14 DAY TRIAL // As the flurry of aftermarket versions of Nvidia's GeForce GTX 980 Ti grows in intensity, Gainward joins the fun and launches the Phoenix GS graphics card.
Being a popular brand in the enthusiastic segment of aftermarket graphics card manufacturers, Gainward has provided customers with an offer largely similar to that of other aftermarket manufacturers, promising an already ominous 11% boost in performance.
Called GeForce GTX 980 Ti Phoenix "Golden Sample," based on the "next"-generation Maxwell architecture, it promises "unbeatable" 4K and virtual reality experience. Bringing 2816 Cuda cores running at a base clock of 1152 GHz, boostable to 1241 GHz, it basically has the same specs as Palit's version of the GTX 980Ti announced yesterday.
Gainward also comes with a new cooler for its graphics card, claiming it to be an excellent thermal solution for high-end graphics. Coming with three fans, the cooling system is supposed to be very stable under heavy loading environment and still have room for extra overclocking when needed.
The "Zero RPM fan design" will allow all three fans to stop until the temperature reaches 60 degrees or above. This technology is apparently mainstream among graphics card manufacturers, as Palit and Asus also bring different brand names to basically the same functionality: to stop fans when the card is cool enough not to need them, to save energy and reduce noise.
Standard overclocked goodness
On the solder side of the board, we'll find the back plate. It's placed there to offer extra cooling effect for the board. Also, the two-slot cooler design will offer the possibility of putting it in smaller computer cases. Gainward claims that the Phoenix GS will be 10% cooler and 6dB more silent than the stock version even when being overclocked.
With EXPERTool utility, it adds some features for the GTX 980 Ti board, such as changing fan curve and BIOS saving function, allowing users to change fan curve or saving BIOS data by their requirement.
It's being sold as a solid aftermarket version of the stock GTX 980Ti with perfect attributes for 4K, just like other aftermarket versions of the 980Ti. However, we concluded in our tests that the stock version struggles with 4K entertainment unless it's in SLI. Overclocked, however, it could prove much more capable.
For more info and specs, you can check our gallery.
