Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti vs 1080 vs 1070 vs 1060 vs 1050
If you’re about to buy agaming laptopor a new graphics card for your PC, then you’ll be looking at Nvidia’s 10-series GPUs. The full range now includes the 1080 Ti, 1080, 1070, 1060 and entry-level 1050. AMD’s currentRadeon RX rangecompetes with Nvidia only at the lower end. TheRadeon RX Vegais coming soon.
The GeForce GTX 10-series cards are all fast, but as well as being great for the latest PC games, they’re also ideal if you want to hook up aVR headset.
The ‘prosumer’ Titan Xp is not included here but we have compared it with the 1080 Ti in ourTitan Xp vs 1080 Ti head to head.
You’ll find full reviews of all of these in ourbest graphics cardsround-up and more about the cards’release date, UK price and availability.
How much do they cost?
The cards are all available now, with prices ranging between £99 and £850 depending on model and supplier. The table below summarises the prices you can expect to pay for the Nvidia reference card (the Founders Edition) and cards made by partners including Asus, MSI, XFX, Zotac and others.
Founders Edition price
Average price
GTX 1080 Ti
£699 / $699
£800 / $800
GTX 1080
£545 / $549
£570 / $535
GTX 1070
£395 / $399
£450 / $400
GTX 1060
£275 / $299
£220 / $270
GTX 1050 Ti
N/A
£150 / $150
GTX 1050
N/A
£115 / $110
The Founders Edition cards aren’t always cheaper than overclocked third-party cards. The average prices we’ve listed here are for overclocked cards from partners, but you can save a little money if you buy a card running at Nvidia’s standard speeds.
In the UK, you can buy these cards from a variety of UK retailers including:Overclockers UK,Ebuyer,Scan,Amazon,MaplinandCurrys.
You can buy Founders Editions directly fromNvidia’s website.
GeForce 10-series in laptops
Obviously these prices doesn’t apply if you’re considering a gaming laptop that has the graphics processor built in. However, there are a small number of laptops, including theRazer Blade Stealth, which optionally let you connect a full-size PCI-express graphics card in an external housing.
Crucially, this means you can upgrade your laptop’s graphics card – something that isn’t possible with most gaming laptops.
Read ourbuyer’s guide for gaming laptopsbefore you spend your hard-earned cash.
How do their specifications differ?
Here’s a summary of the cards’ main specifications:
1080 Ti
1080
1070
1060
1050 Ti
1050
CUDA Cores
3584
2560
1920
1280
768
640
Core Clock
1480MHz
1607MHz
1506MHz
1506MHz
1290MHz
1354MHz
Boost Clock
1582MHz
1733MHz
1683MHz
1708MHz
1392MHz
1455Mhz
VRAM
11GB
8GB
8GB
6GB
4GB
2GB
Memory Clock
11GB/s
10Gb/s
8GB/s
8GB/s
7Gb/s
7Gb/s
Memory Bus Width
384-bit
256-bit
256-bit
192-bit
128-bit
128-bit
Memory Bandwidth
484GB/s
320GB/s
256GB/s
192GB/s
112GB/s
112GB/s
TDP
250W
180W
150W
120W
75W
75W
Power connector(s)
1x 8-pin, 1x 6-pin
1x 8-pin
1x 8-pin
1x 6-pin
None
None
SLI support
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
What is GDDR5X?
Apart from the two GTX 1080 cards, the range all use GDDR5 memory. But the top two useGDDR5X which allows double the theoretical bandwidth speed of traditional GDDR5 memory.
The higher memorybandwidth of the GTX 1080 (and Ti) allows it to run a third faster than the GTX 1070, GTX 1060 and other GDDR5 cards. Bottom line: they perform better.
What features do they have?
Every 10-series card is based on Nvidia’s Pascal platform, which means they all support the same set of features. Performance is the only real differentiator, although certain cards lower in the range are available in ‘mini’ versions which will fit into small PC cases, such as theZotac 1050 Ti.
Power
From the specifications table above, you’ll note that the power requirements decrease as you go down the range. The 1050 and 1050 Ti only require power from the PCIe slot itself and don’t need a separate power connector from your power supply. This makes them a reasonable upgrade option if you don’t want to buy and install a higher-wattage PSU.
Shadowplay
The cards have the same streaming-, game recording- and light-customisation options through Nvidia’s Shadowplay software.
Ansel
There’s also support forNvidia Anselon all cards in the range. Ansell allows you to take in-game pictures in 3D which can then be viewed in a suitable viewer, such as a VR headset.
Fast Sync
The cards also have an advanced and improved version of V-sync, which locks the graphic card’s output to your monitor’s refresh rate. In the past V-sync has negatively affected the latency of a monitor.
Nvidia claims that Fast Sync will eliminate tearing while maintaining the low latency benefits. The graph shows the latency differences between V-sync and Fast Sync in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Which card should I buy?
If you want the best performance, the 1080 Ti is the obvious choice. However, not everyone needs this much power. Really, the 1080 Ti is only for those gaming in 4K at ‘ultra’ quality settings or those who have VR headset.
The GTX 1060 arguably provides the best bang for your buck in the range. It will happily play the latest titles in 1080p at maximum quality and can even handle 2560×1440.
But the 1050 (and Ti variant) are great upgrades for older PCs as they will also handle modern games at 1080p, and for between £100 and £150 represent good value as well.
Of course, before choosing a specific card, you should also consider AMD’s options which are also great value for 1080p gaming. For the most up to date information, see our list of thebest graphics cards.
If you’re unsure of how to fit it, see our tutorial onhow to install a graphics cardand – if you’re starting from scratch,how to build a gaming PC.
Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor
Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.
