One thing’s for sure – if you’re describing a graphics card as both “insane” and “irresponsible”, it’s probably pretty fucking good.
It certainly seems that way for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, the latest graphics card from Nvidia that was unveiled during DreamHack in Austin, Texas.
This is the first GPU based on Nvidia’s Pascal architecture, built with a focus on the increasing demands of next gen displays and VR performance.
The GeForce GTX 1080 actually offers major performance improvements over the companies last top-of-the-line card, the Titan X. It’s cheaper, too. The Titan X currently goes for around £900, while the GTX 1080 will launch this month at $599 (so about £415).
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said:
It’s insane. The 1080 is insane. It’s almost irresponsible amounts of performance. This is the largest GPU endeavor, the largest chip processor endeavor, in the history of humanity. The R&D budget was several billion dollars.
GPUs were previously designed to work with single screens, but in the age of 4k gaming, multiple monitors, and VR headsets, the GTX 1080 was designed with new simultaneous multi-projection technology.
Nvidia also gave those in attendance a look at their new in-game photography tool, Ansel. The “easy-to-use capture tool” will be available on supported games for GeForce GTX 600-series and up.
Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080 “Founders Edition” will be available on May 27 for $700 (£480) while the company will also release a slightly cheaper 1070 card on June 10 for $450 (£310).
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.