Conclusion
PNY’s GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC may be a relative latecomer to retailers’ shelves but the wait was certainly worth it. This card personifies the strengths of NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture by providing it a platform that offers high performance, low temperatures and extremely quiet operation. While the GTX 980 may have recently been eclipsed by the insanely expensive TITAN X, cards like the Pro OC offer a perfect bridge solution between more affordable options and ultra high end products.
Right from the get-go we were quite impressed with PNY’s latest offering since it offers some surprisingly robust performance. While the memory overclock may not amount to much, it does alleviate some memory-borne bottlenecks in bandwidth hogging titles like Dying Light, Dragon Age and Shadow of Mordor. In some situations the combination of an overclocked, cool running core and those higher GDDR5 speeds contributed to performance boosts that approached 15% over the reference card.
Temperatures and acoustics factor heavily into this equation as well. The GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC was easily able to achieve core levels that were more than 10°C cooler than the reference design despite substantially higher clock speeds and much quieter operational acoustics. Credit for this can be placed firmly at the feet of PNY’s cooler design which may have been carried over from the 700-series but is more than capable of handling a heavily overclocked Maxwell core.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the real star of this show for many folks will be PNY’s Lifetime Warranty. Long coverage like this feels like a holdover from a bygone era since no other GPU company offers this to their North American customers anymore. While few gamers who buy the GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC will keep it for longer than the usual 3 years most other companies cover, having extended peace of mind still holds a great deal of added value.
The GTX 980 may not be an absolute leader in the price / performance category, its cards like PNY’s GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC which make it so desirable to gamers looking for a somewhat future-proof upgrade. It offers leading-edge performance, good overclocking headroom, low temperatures, a lifetime warranty and virtually silent operation all without breaking the bank. To us that’s a winning combination.
Conclusion
PNY’s GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC may be a relative latecomer to retailers’ shelves but the wait was certainly worth it. This card personifies the strengths of NVIDIA’s Maxwell architecture by providing it a platform that offers high performance, low temperatures and extremely quiet operation. While the GTX 980 may have recently been eclipsed by the insanely expensive TITAN X, cards like the Pro OC offer a perfect bridge solution between more affordable options and ultra high end products.
Right from the get-go we were quite impressed with PNY’s latest offering since it offers some surprisingly robust performance. While the memory overclock may not amount to much, it does alleviate some memory-borne bottlenecks in bandwidth hogging titles like Dying Light, Dragon Age and Shadow of Mordor. In some situations the combination of an overclocked, cool running core and those higher GDDR5 speeds contributed to performance boosts that approached 15% over the reference card.
Temperatures and acoustics factor heavily into this equation as well. The GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC was easily able to achieve core levels that were more than 10°C cooler than the reference design despite substantially higher clock speeds and much quieter operational acoustics. Credit for this can be placed firmly at the feet of PNY’s cooler design which may have been carried over from the 700-series but is more than capable of handling a heavily overclocked Maxwell core.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the real star of this show for many folks will be PNY’s Lifetime Warranty. Long coverage like this feels like a holdover from a bygone era since no other GPU company offers this to their North American customers anymore. While few gamers who buy the GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC will keep it for longer than the usual 3 years most other companies cover, having extended peace of mind still holds a great deal of added value.
The GTX 980 may not be an absolute leader in the price / performance category, its cards like PNY’s GTX 980 XLR8 Pro OC which make it so desirable to gamers looking for a somewhat future-proof upgrade. It offers leading-edge performance, good overclocking headroom, low temperatures, a lifetime warranty and virtually silent operation all without breaking the bank. To us that’s a winning combination.
