• News

New Mini GTX 1080 Assures You That It Just Got Out of the Pool

Gigabyte delivers a powerful GPU in a bite-sized package.

Chris Jarrard

September 5, 2017 2:00 PM

12

It is easy to become enamoured with all the big, beefy graphics cards that release throughout the year. Each one is bigger than the last and you sometimes wonder if you can even fit all of them into your case. Gigabyte wants you to know that it isn’t the size of your GPU boat, but rather the motion in your gaming ocean. The GeForce GTX 1080 Mini ITX 8G packs a big load of graphics power into a small package.

Previously, the Zotac GTX 1080 Mini was the top dog on the petite PC gaming mountain at 211mm long. The Gigabyte GTX 1080 Mini ITX 8G manages to do the same amount of lifting at a slim 169mm. The reduced footprint allows the Mini ITX 8G to slip right into the tightest small form factor cases on the market. Installation will be so easy, Mini ITX case users may wonder if the card is even in yet. The extra shrinkage provided by Gigabyte was achieved by slightly increasing the height of the card to 131mm, which is a bit above the standard PCI-E card spec, but some gamers actually prefer the wider cards to the longer ones.

Packing the same 8GB of GDDR5X memory and 8-pin power plug as its more girthy brothers, its able to deliver clockspeeds slightly higher than the nVidia reference GTX 1080 boards when using the included OC mode. A single 90mm fan on the card works to keep the heat produced by this pocket rocket under control.

I would not be surprised if this card arouses interest in the smaller GPU market. Expect the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080 Mini ITX 8G to expose itself on retailers shelves within the coming weeks.

Chris Jarrard

Contributing Tech Editor

Chris Jarrard likes playing games, crankin' tunes, and looking for fights on obscure online message boards. He understands that breakfast food is the only true food. Don't @ him.