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Gigabyte has gone one better with the release of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Mini ITX 8G, which measures just 169mm in length. That's a perfect match for mini-ITX motherboards, which top out at around 170mm in width. Many of the new breed of ITX cases, which includes the popular NFC S4 Mini, shrink the total size of the case to console-like dimensions by limiting the length of graphics cards to the length of the motherboard. While Zotac's GTX 1080 Mini will technically fit in such cases with modification, the Gigabyte GTX 1080 Mini simply slots in place.

Well, sort of. Since the cooling system still has to shift the heat from the GTX 1080's 180W TDP, Gigabyte has increased the height of the card over standard PCIe height to 131mm. That's not a problem in most PC cases, but there are some that don't allow for extra PCIe height, so it's best to double check before purchase. Other than that little issue, the Gigabyte GTX 1080 Mini is like any other GTX 1080, sporting a single 8-pin power connector, 8GB of GDDR5X memory (factory overclocked to 1010MHz), and plenty of gaming oomph.

As for clock speeds, the card meets the Nvidia reference design, while also featuring an OC mode that adds a small increase in MHz to the base and boost clock, which clock in at 1632MHz and 1771MHz respectively. Keeping the card cool is a semi-passive 90mm fan, which shuts down at idle, a triple heat-pipe cooling solution, and 5+2 power phases. Hopefully, Gigabyte's cooling solution is enough to prevent the GTX 1080 Mini from throttling, but it has had success with smaller cards in the past in the form of the GTX 1070 Mini ITX and 1060 Mini ITX.

While the Gigabyte GTX 1080 Mini is currently the fastest graphics card you can buy in such a small form factor, AMD did tease a small version of its RX Vega graphics cards in the form of the Vega Nano. There's no word on when the Vega Nano will be released or whether it would be able to top the GTX 1080 in a small form factor given the higher TDP, but it is a potential option for those sticking with team red. The Gigabyte GTX 1080 Mini doesn't yet have a release date or price, but it's likely to be around £600/$600.