GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid Results: Removing the Thermal Limit

Conclusion of our GTX 1080 Ti Hybrid DIY series! We show thermal and FPS results, which are now boosted thanks to the mod.
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[@jerq887]

"its very simple, the first step is to get a GTX1080Ti" *single tear*

[@alice672]

Its 2021, I still feel you man

[@GamersNexus]

Here's the full article! We are traveling right now. Hope everything looks good! www.gamersnexus.net/guides/2841-gtx-1080-ti-hybrid-benchmarks-remove-thermal-limit

[@KenneXS]

Finally Great bench at least we got an idea how further this GPU would go... Thanks great Job Guys

[@Waldherz]

Hi Steve, Ive just came back to some of your older content for some information on hybrid (AIO) GPUs. I never noticed how much you and your team have improved your already great content over the past few years! Your content is still relevant 5 years after you filmed them.

[@seydzhchernopiski3122]

Amazing job gents, thank you for this! I see tons of guys in the 1080Ti Owners Thread referencing these videos so others could put together the hybrid 1080Ti. Keep it comin'!

[@WyzrdCat]

Thanks for doing this man. I just got mine installed. It was a bit scary, had some weird hiccups on the way, but now that it's all done, I got my temps cut basically in half. Freakin sweet. And it's also very awesome that I get to keep the FE shroud as it matches my build. Appreciate your efforts.

[@sirgeeky]

Excellent! Looking forward to the EVGA 1080Ti Hybrid. Hoping they announce it sooner than later.

[@solocamo3654]

tech jesus

[@bigmack70]

Just did this to my 1080 Ti earlier this week... such a massive improvement. Love that you guys did this - saved me $100+ and a few weeks of waiting for the "official" 1080 Ti Hybrid.

[@giggs_4208]

That's just awesome, well done!! Thanks

[@justskate000]

You guys deserve a lot more views and recognition then you get. Great video as always

[@RezzaNL]

Thanks to for these videos. My own Gtx 1080 hybrid still going strong after months (overclocked to 2100). Also really quite and temp. wont go over 45-50C.

[@NicolasGuerraOficial]

I recommend that in this type of informative videos make a glossary of all the terms used in the graphics so that all of us understand your videos.

[@markjakobsen1334]

Once again, awesome job. I do wish you stated the "max stable frequency", I know it dosnt exactly work like that, but you know what I mean.

[@twiztedhadji3713]

Thanks for the knowledge.

[@UporaFilms]

You didn't mention db level difference.. i'd assume at full load its lower level than the stock FE right?

[@lwizzit]

Confirms my idea to wait for a 3rd party hybrid (EVGA FTW!). This is a powerful card, so the gains might not be that noticeable. What I am after is the 'comfort of use' - high end performance with low noise. The lifetime of the card will likely be extended due to the lower thermals as well. Well done and thanks for the info. These are the types of reviews that directly influence my purchasing decisions.

[@SignedAdam]

Thank you, very cool results

[@callmekitt]

thanks for sharing!

[@Pathogen406]

very cool video series

[@bjorksven]

Hey guys, just a few friendly tips when it comes to showing data: When showing graphs of the same variables but for different cases, it is usually a good idea to change the line type for one case to dashed, dashed-dotted, or whatever else you might want. That way, you can (sometimes) have the same color for the same variables and you don't necessarily need to refer to the legend as much when viewing the graph. Also, when showing something like the graph at 5:20; apart from the few spikes in the graph for GPU Clock (80%), it's not really clear that there is much of a difference in stability w.r.t. the hybrid case. Showing numbers like the mean and the standard deviation from the mean at steady-state would give a more quantitative view of the exact difference. Should be really easy to calculate, even for a quite large data set, in pretty much any computational software, Octave being one (www.gnu.org/software/octave/). Thanks for the vid!

[@obrien_murphy]

indeed, this is a fun project with satisfying results. I did this with my gtx 980 and nzxt Kraken g10. I was blown away with temps

[@techbizcanada7594]

Interesting stuff. Thanks.

[@ByGraceThroughFaith777]

I did it for the noise, it does make quite a difference

[@HFIntegrale]

Very interesting! thank you

[@fndrn8]

its sooo guuud! i installed evga hybrid cooler on my fe 1080ti and it went from 75 c fan speed 70% to 45 c fan speed 40% while playing ffvx with everything except nvidia vxao and shadowlib off, maxed at 1440p

[@ferdis7]

I followed this whole guide and it worked flawlessly; thank you!! Boosts to 2050mhz steady @42C. 4k 60fps is finally doable :D

[@alexandreesquenet3736]

I use that EVGA hybrid kit on my inno3d gtx 1070 x3, it works great.

[@MegatronAngel]

Did you ever test vRAM? I've been waiting for almost 2 years and haven't seen you post any results thereof. :(

[@rfx2901]

Just got my first Job, already very close to a 1080Ti coming from a 970, this is going to be an insane change for me.

[@chazdills8675]

I recently did this to my 1080ti I picked up. My question is, if I turn the pump to let the tubes face the back of my case, will I be able to 1. install the 1080ti panel back onto the card? and 2. will it have enough room to mount onto the rear exhaust location?

[@brianfield7020]

love these videos, Can't wait to afford a 1080 ti

[@billymays489]

Would like to see a comparison in clock rate lines between these hybrids and aftermarket coolers, like the strix, twin frozr ect.

[@Doegiz]

This makes me wonder if it is actually possible to have an aftermarket gpu, with water cooling built strictly within the casing. That would be a cool thing to see.

[@jameskillbot2867]

I just completed this exact mod following you today. Running successfully for a couple hours at load. Please please, emphasize protecting the gpu die in the future, I nicked mine with the bottem of the block feet as I was trying to follow along. All seems to be well and it is an awesome mod, 11.5c reduction+ 40-50% noise reduction. Running nicely at 2025mhz clock, 11610 memory. 64c.

[@spy2778]

Any idea where I could get one of those coolers for a 1080 founders edition? They discontinued them! :(

[@spy2778]

Looks like the NZXT kraken g12 is the only option available now. Does installing a backplate improve VRM temps?

[@tahsin95]

I might do this hybrid set-up when my warranty runs out.

[@abec666]

Dude DOOM looks so awesome and performs insane.If all games had this performance we would need 4K 144hz monitors. I wish more games come with this magnificent optimisation. *4K ULTRA almost 100 fps?!* Someone is doing his work very well.

[@ashleywilliams4587]

Why dont the refference cards just come with an aio cooler on it like this, that way a Founders Edition would compete/beat most other Designs

[@jackwiedemann]

Ashley Williams yeah amd did that with the Fury cards :)

[@ahmet6144]

also the vega :) @@jackwiedemann

[@ionelmantea7793]

if nvidia thats what you said,no one will buy from other brands...so they overprice the FE so ppl can buy aftermarket,i thought is stupid,but thats what they do,but they make more money from resellers ,rather to do what you said

[@silver1407]

@@ionelmantea7793 you were correct, loook at FE now

[@kennethcrisp1856]

I've got a 980Ti also. It's a Gigabyte G1 with an EK water block on a 2011-v3 board and 5960x.CPU and it took me forever to save up for it. Since I still use a 43" TV that's only 1080p for my monitor I'm gonna stick with the 980Ti for awhile longer. The 1080Ti sure is nice for 4K though. Hope all you guys that buy one enjoy it. Setting my sights on a 1280Ti and a new build if such an animal exists in the future.

[@WickedSlammy]

Will the shroud from the EVGA fit? I know it will have to be trimmed for the power plugs but what else? Or will it not fit because the PCB is so different?

[@carlosrios7088]

i have a similar setup. i usually set my onboard fan to static 30% (since its the highest i can set it without being able to hear it). is that good enough?

[@jasongooden917]

I would straight up solder extra long wires to the stock fan so i can put it in a sound insulated box tricking the card into thinking its connected, then put an aftermarket fan on the card connected to a fan controller.

[@gctdonyre]

With hybrid coolers like this, I use SpeedFan to control the GPU AIO, and the blower fan with MSI Afterburner. It doesn't have to be one way or the other.

[@sir-red1138]

In most of Australia you either have the room fan/AC running so high that setting the pc fans to 100% makes almost no noise difference :P

[@NineToFiveGamer]

Just curious, but what's with the dip in the .1% lows on the OC?

[@james2042]

the oc performance issues are power related. the Titan xp has the same issue with that pcb when being put under water. the gp 102 is a power guzzler and could probably eat through 300+ watts easily

[@FrankieHiltz]

I really hope more games adopt Vulkan. Doom is one of the best looking games graphically, and is one of the best PC ports out there, and Vulkan allows pretty much everyone to experience this game at max settings.

[@DangerDavez]

Yeah AMD and Kronos did a really good job there. Hopefully everyone adopts it and we don't need to spend over 600$ on video cards anymore

[@ICeyCeR3Al]

as long as nVidia has control over the market, sponsors devs and don't update their architecture accordingly with the modern APIs we can continue to see glorious master race dx11 titles with gameworks :D. Its pretty great since games that can't do half as much as crysis 3 technically require a 1060 or 480 to get the same amount of performance seen in a 7970 in similar settings in crysis 3 ^.^.

[@Demon09-_-]

gotta agree vulkan works much better than any dx12 title i have seen. dx12 usually ends up affecting 0.1 and 1% lows . I wish they would forget windows 10's dx12 and just go to vulkan api

[@Xibyth]

Luckily there are many Vulkan advocates in the industry, such as Bethesda and Valve. With Valve's influence over the vast majority of games many devs will likely make the move. The only drawback is so long as most AAA games run DX, and most users on Windows, MS will likely keep pushing it.

[@redpandabits6675]

doom is as graphically pleasing as csgo. not worth gloating about. id say its on par with dead space 2.

[@InekoBK]

Why do a setup this way when you can get a NZXT G10 or G12 bracket for 30 bucks ? It even includes a normal casefan instead of a noisy blower to cool the vrm part of the card

[@dexterryu]

I have the same EVGA 1080ti FE. What do you guys feel is the optimum stable OC for this card using the hybrid cooler?

[@Richard_HD]

(PLEASE HELP) I did this and now the VRAM fan spins at full RPM and won't show any picture on my monitor, just goes into standby mode, what have I done wrong?

[@willis1116]

Richard HD Did your GPU go R.I.P?

[@d3nswiper]

what's with this "pushing for average" method? gain 5 fps on average risking dipping for more than 15 in low values? Why would you do that?

[@sarolikia]

I have a 1080ti fe that is way too loud and hot and plan on paying the 160$ that evga is currently charging for their kit. Would taking the cap off the pump allow for more airflow over the vram section of the baseplate and thus allow for cooler temperatures for them and would there be any downside to this? Also if you had some contact who could get you another gddr5x ram set and had a way of cold soldering it on there. Could you install it in the missing spot you pointed out on the tear down video? (to fill it out to titan amounts)

[@zGunBLADEz]

whats the size of the square with the vrm plate on? im planning to use a ek vga supremacy block which is 50mm all square around

[@vpkb]

I installed an EVGA Hybrid kit for the Pascal/1080ti tonight and the temperature reduced significantly. It was peaking at 80c and now less than 52c.

[@MrWinningMan]

Can you link me where you purchased from?

[@vpkb]

www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=400-HY-5388-B1

[@MrWinningMan]

Thanks, that's the one I've been looking at. :)

[@vpkb]

Clarky Newefg has the same part # for less $$ but I'm not sure if there's a difference since it doesn't state "Pascal".

[@brandonv8721]

You see any of the fan rub issues that seem to be common? I eventually gave up on EVGA warranty and took out the dremel .

[@neonlights_12]

Well looks like I'm getting a Ti and a custom loop setup. This is almost too tempting to have to wait to 2018.

[@lukecheski1747]

those 0.1% lows really take a hit on that overclock

[@Great_America]

For me, the Hybrid variants are more desirable for the low noise levels vs. minor gains from slightly higher overclocks.

[@steverx4460]

It'll be interesting to see if any AIB versions smooth out the fps - so 0.1% and 1% fps figures are closer to avg fps. I wouldn't do a water cooled (more expensive) version for higher fps. But for a better/smoother game it might be worth spending a bit more on.

[@dennisfreytes2652]

how much are these things now since everyone is going to go out and buy a evga liquid cooler

[@OrganicStuff1]

I think gamers nexus should start making their own aio gpus

[@bofoot99]

Hello! I have a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming G its not a reference card, i want to hybrid cool it, does the one you used on the video works with my card? i have no idea thanks

[@rubenechezabal6397]

Hello Gamersnexus I have a quick question is the 1080ti better than 980tis in sli in games that support sli of coarse, Im talking in relation to straight gaming . THANKS RUBEN

[@_Randwulf]

Well done my man....

[@adrianstealth340]

I'm getting my 1080ti (fe) tomorrow, I'm also putting a full waterblock on it how do I remove the thermal limit ? what sort of clock setting should I be able to achieve ? I have a large 3 fan water tank etc so cooling is no problem ps I only use VR be great to see some VR comparisons stress tested etc

[@Spaiser]

Why your wall is your Floor ? :O

[@ghostdog662]

It's not noted in the article but in the video he mentions they used +150 core / +450 memory.

[@BigPaco213]

Can't wait for the SLI numbers!!!

[@weasle2904]

BigPaco213 1080 Ti SLI scaling actually really really sucks

[@BigPaco213]

Johnathan Bloch yea I saw!!!

[@Xor200]

Can you dig more into the reasons for low 0.1% values for overclocked hybrid?

[@GamersNexus]

Just borderline clock instability -- it's fluctuating a lot more due to voltage/power limits, and so the FPS fluctuates.

[@skitballesnorapa]

mike tyson He mention why in the video. Did you look at the video muted?

[@skitballesnorapa]

yes btw it is because borderline instability

[@TheCameltotem]

You saying with too high core clocks you can suffer from even worse downclocks? Seems like a serious issue.

[@HOkayson]

He only said it was probably borderline instability, it'd be good to see how it changes as you near the instability point, helps us overclockers know when to stop without running all the test ourselves :)

[@theshazman]

Will the EVGA cooler work with an Aorus non-xtreme?

[@sik59rt]

Is there any easy way (lol) to figure how these cards would fair running triple screen setups? No youtuber seems to show any results with triple screen setups. I'd think those of us with three screens outweigh those with 4K monitors.

[@UmVtCg]

Just wait for the MSI Twin Frorz version, which will cool the best and stay quiet.

[@shingnosis]

That stuttering under overclocking matters more to the overall experience than the average fps. You should test and see what caused that and if you can get rid of it. If you can't get rid of it probably best to keep the stock clock settings.

[@stevenkutschat]

he's bumping up against the voltage limit. All you have to do to fix that is back off the overclock a bit.

[@phoenix7289]

I have a Founder's Edition 1080 Ti and I've made the fan curve go up pretty quick, (I have a Fractal Design Define R4, so I can bare it) but the core clock still doesn't really want to go above 2025MHz. I'm thinking this is its actual limit, as I have the power at 120%, (Afterburner won't let me touch the voltages, even though I told it to unlock voltage control) and basically, when I've pushed the core higher, 3DMark will freeze out and crash and the core clock will drop back down to stock. =/ Meanwhile K|NGP|N has a Founder's Edition that reached over 2400MHz... so I'm just confused. My temperatures are staying at or below 70 Celsius thanks to the fan and being in a rather chilly basement... so do I just have a poor card when it comes to overclocking potential or what? Some people say above 2000MHz is great for a FE, but then I see K|NGP|N and doubt that... thoughts?

[@firemarshaldil]

Does this work in reverse? Will the 1080ti work on the 1080 fe?

[@l0unny]

Does this mod push it from 2 slots to 3 slots?

[@Aizman87]

will you test mass effect andromeda next week with this card? =)

[@erakus]

the gp102 is a larger size. will the 1080 cooler cover everything or do i need to scrape the preinstalled grease and reapply grease

[@DanielRichards644]

go watch part 2

[@SundayChild]

that's what we waited for

[@toymachine4253]

Yup...that immediate $100 price drop on the 1080s. Now to wait for the 11xx series cards so I can get a bargain on a 1080Ti.

[@DanielRichards644]

I just got a killer bargain, last night I fired up the Shopping/Cashback app Ibotta on my phone and saw they had an offer for 15% cashback up to a $100 max cashback when ordering from Jet.com, add to that Jet.com's 15% (capped at $20) and some other discounts, with tax I had an out the door price of $692.99 but after 36 days (once I pass the return window) I will get the $100 cashback from Ibotta and on top of that my Credit Card give me 1.5% cashback on all purchases so thats like another $10 worth of cashback, so when all is said and done I will have a NET cost of less then $585 for a Founders 1080ti, from there I can do this hybrid mod and come out right about $700-710 or I can do a Kraken G12 with an H55 AIO and come out around $675 plus whatever thermal paste I buy.

[@janguitarw2023]

Can somebody tell me why I get tearing in games like gta 5 with my 1080ti if vsync is turned off? Is it because of my i7 3770 (50-70% load)??? I even get tearing when I'm running the game at 60fps on my 60 hz monitor.

[@Militantmind]

Whats the highest achievable voltage without reaching instability?

[@neilhartop1979]

does this work on any 1080ti card?

[@jonnyc4744]

I'lll be honest, i skipped the first two vids :) - So the thermal limitation is removed, can the voltage limitation be removed, thus enabling potential further overclocking? i did read the article, where you said overvolting is not possible. is this the same thing ?

[@compa008]

Jonny C yes it can be removed, see the Guru 3D 1080 TI review in the overclocking section. However, you're quickly hitting a TDP power limit bottleneck instead of a voltage.

[@jonnyc4744]

Can the TDP power limit bottleneck be removed ? - i'm not very technical as you can probably guess :)

[@neonlights_12]

Jonny C Short answer is yes, you can push it past the limits an overclocking utility provides but it can be hazardous to your GPU (Extreme heat, possibility of bricking, etc.)

[@jonnyc4744]

Neon_Lights12 so the only difference between a aib card and buying a $100 dedicated water cooling solution used in this video is 5%?

[@tomhuck9640]

~5% Better performance and its quiet!

[@Hyuts]

Dope.

[@ddasddfddasd5540]

i have noticed on some games tested like Ghost Recon: Wildlands, the 1% low fps and 0.1% low fps have got significantly improved by changing the cooler to stabilize the gpu clock. this indicates how a stable pattern of gpu clock over time affects frametime performance, although on 1080ti fe the stock cooler has improved dramatically as a result of much more stable gpu clock over time than 1080 fe and titan x pascal. a stable gpu clock pattern is always appreciated, thats why reference card and low end non reference card should be avoided to buy for intensive gaming, or ppl should flash a high power bios on them in order to get much better frametime performance. gamersnexus should study this further and deeper to show us how frametime matters in gamings, meaning that how importance is throttlings (from power or temp) affecting gaming experience.

[@Seanmm8855]

when you read charts your voice makes me fall asleep

[@DMS_134]

Could you just buy the Corsair WC used here (H55?) and call it a day?

[@panteraowns2515]

Debating between 1080 ti icx dual fan . vs 1080 ti hybrid sc or ftw3 icx is $770 on Amazon hybrid sc and ftw3 are $650 on eBay. I heard icx runs just as good but increases case temps. I'm really into low case temps as I feel heat directly effects all other pc components Wich makes me wonder about open air cards . do hybrid cards still blow the hot air out of the case like reference? But run cooler than reference ? Like best of both worlds

[@PackardBelltoll]

I was able to boost mine with 2100 mhz . But Im not dealing with ambient. I was able to maintain 40c or less on my 1080 ti fe. I never saw any fluctuations from the oc setting either .

[@percs7778]

but the ek-fc titan x waterblock fits on it says on ek website

[@KaptainCnucklz]

Meanwhile, my 750Ti never goes over 65 degrees on a stock cooler with a modest OC, and I can barely hear anything with the fan set to 100% through Afterburner. What's up with Nvidia's obnoxious fan noise on Pascal?

[@bowb5880]

what does 1% low and 0.1% low mean (I'm fairly new to PC gaming)

[@kwon8308]

awesome

[@DenzCasuela]

and I'm right here rocking with my 2013 apu from amd abviously

[@paullowe8437]

So i have a question for anyone here! I have a msi 1080 ti Aero OC and I am absolutely looking to liquid cool ! and ive been looking at this evga cooler! will it work on my card it is a refrence PCB

[@erakus]

Hey gamersnexus, your link on your youtube channel tot he kit goes to a reference kit, the one on your gamersnexus guide points to FTW hybrid cooler, which has a different base plate. Will either of them work since your using the stock base plate or can we use EVGA base plate for FTW cards on this or stick to reference and modify it for the power output pin/extra ram

[@GamersNexus]

The difference is the shroud. The FTW shroud is built for a larger PCB. Updated the link for that reason. The cooler itself will fit regardless.

[@erakus]

Thanks for the clarification, really enjoy your videos!

[@skitballesnorapa]

Thank you for this video. I have the 980Ti Hybrid with modded power limit. That gave me free performance as well. Do you believe the GP102 would be able to overclok even better with unlocked power limit?

[@compa008]

Daniel Olofsson Nvidia locked the vBIOS down. You can add your GPU to the OEM2 file in MSI AB to unlock the voltage if need be.

[@BigPaco213]

Wow man that's crazy!! But can it run MineCarft at 720p?

[@jeremyz6911]

Waiting for the evga hybrid 1080ti kit. Although is spending 100 dollars for 5 fps and lower temps worth bricking my card or voiding my warranty? (non evga FE card owner)

[@RezzaNL]

Bricking your card? Relax you will be fine. I f I can do it anybody can do it. :P Low temps and fan sound definitely worth it. You get more then 5 fps. :D

[@ExStaticBass]

I think that if I'm going to water cool my GPU, I'll just go with a complete water block for the whole card. That way the VRMs and RAM chips get cooled too. It really makes me wish they had a water block for the back plate position too.

[@ScrewUserNames6587]

Why not dual Liquid cooler?