Sound Performance
We tested the sound performance at idle and during load. We used a certified Db meter at a range of 15 inches. Fourth place is all the EVGA GTX 1080 could manage, and even if the fan was static at idle, it would still be in fourth place due to its rather lacklustre load performance. As stated earlier, we used the 368.39 drivers for the actual sound performance test and they are a significant improvement over the 368.25 release drivers from a sound profile point of view.
With the 368.39 drivers card is comfortable to use in gaming without being distracted by what we would describe as a gusting wind coming from our test rig.
Coil whine is apparent during 3D load situations, but this is what we would describe as average, even with good hearing. We don’t want to have a pop at AMD here, but the EVGA Nvidia GTX 1080 Founders Edition has coil whine more like an AMD card in our experience than a Nvidia card.
A lot of people will pretty much refuse to own a card that has any coil whine , and we would agree, though it can be a subjective or personal view because of your hearing and your tolerance of high frequency sounds.
It disappoints us that any graphics card is released with coil whine , there are easy fixes out there for the designers and manufacturers.
It is important to note we used the MicroCool Banchetto 101 Chassis for testing which is an open chassis. This means you are hearing the GPU cooler fan unobstructed and the card should have maximum airflow around it. With all of these test results, they are raw and uncut, take all sound results as guidance, an open chassis will not deaden any of the sounds coming from the card. If any of these cards are installed in a chassis, this may reduce in sound levels due to the acoustic dampening effect of the chassis itself. Though if your chassis has poor airflow, then the card will labour under load, and possibly increase the overall sound when gaming.
EVGA Nvidia GTX 1080 Founders Edition Graphics Card Review
Package and Bundle - 8
Performance - 9.5
Price - 8.5
Consumer Experience - 9.5
8.9
Nvidia may have dropped the ball a little with the release drivers, and the subsequent drivers that game to fix the issues, but there's no doubt, the Nvidia GTX 1080 Founders Edition is a stellar performance, and the VGA GTX 1080 Founders Edition exercises the GPU core perfectly.
