Inno3D iChill GeForce GTX 980 4GB Ultra Review

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INTRODUCTION

Today NVIDIA unveiled the latest addition in their 9 line of cards, the entry-level GeForce GTX 950 (uses a cut-down version of the GM206 also used in the GTX 960) but since i never was into testing brand new models (i prefer to wait for more "mature" drivers before doing so) we went ahead and did our best to acquire what might just be the "hottest" GeForce GTX 980 model in the market currently. As many of you are aware you can find many GeForce GTX 980 models in the market some of which make use of the reference NVIDIA cooler and feature default clocks (or slightly upped ones) while others come ready with custom air and water cooling solutions and feature substantial overclocking right from the factory for the more demanding users. Well after comparing the specification sheets of no less than 15 different GeForce GTX 980 cards by pretty much every NVIDIA card manufacturer in the market the one that always came up ontop was the iChill GeForce GTX 980 4GB Ultra by Inno3D.



InnoVISION Multimedia Limited is a pioneering developer and manufacturer of a diverse range of cutting-edge multimedia PC hardware products established in 1998 Hong Kong. Our manufacturing operations have been set up since 1990 in Shenzhen, China. In this short period of time we focus on manufacturing OEM/ODM products as well as contracting out extensive production and research facilities to specialist companies. We have accomplished international recognition by PC’s top reviewers as becoming an outstanding success and one of the most fast growing companies in Asia. Our company's objective is to deliver the ultimate multimedia experience to the masses of PC users and multimedia professionals at an affordable cost. InnoVISION was then created to build brand awareness for the continuously growing product range in order to meet the fast growing market. InnoVISION's product scope comprises the successful Inno3D brand - a comprehensive variety of 3D graphic board accelerators and multimedia components and devices.



A couple of weeks ago we reviewed the GeForce GTX 970 a card which in many ways is very similar to the GTX 980 especially since both are based on the same 28nm GM204 Maxwell processor. Of course as we pointed out then the GeForce GTX 980 is a more powerful version since it sports 2048 shader processors, 16 streaming multiprocessors, 128 texture units, 64 ROPs and a 256bit memory interface (not to mention it makes use of all of its 4GB GDDR5 RAM). By default the GeForce GTX 980 has a core clock set at 1126MHz and a memory clock set at 1750MHz but the iChill Ultra model boosts those clocks to 1266MHz for the core and 1800MHz for the memory modules. To achieve these clocks and also to allow for higher ones with issue Inno3D has equipped the iChill Ultra with their latest HerculeZ X4 Air Boss cooler which features their very own A.P.C.S (active power cooling system) and although i have to admit that it's somewhat bulky compared to other models in the market (the entire cooling system consists by four fans, three 6mm heatpipes, two 8mm heatpipes and a 118 aluminum fins) it allows for efficient cooling not only for the core but also for the PCB/components and VRM.