 We don't always get near immediate availability of non-referenced designs from Nvidia's partners when they launch a new GPU, but in the case of the GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming, it's a bit of a mouthful, from Gigabyte, it's a good thing we did. Corsair Gaming RGB keyboards feature precision Cherry MX RGB keyswitches for 16.8 million color-per-key backlighting for virtually unlimited customization. Click now to learn more. Now, usually with a non-referenced graphics card, where the board manufacturer designs their own PCB and cooler for the GPU they buy from Nvidia, we run through the normal stuff. Improved VRM designs for more stable, efficient power delivery and a longer lifespan, better cooler designs for lower card temperatures and a longer lifespan, and visual improvements that most folks will either prefer or not prefer compared to a reference board. But in the case of the GTX 980 G1 Gaming from Gigabyte, seriously, I gotta stop saying that, they have actually made some serious improvements here that would make me consider this card over an Nvidia-designed one. We'll start with the stuff that I only sorta liked. The WindForce cooler with its three redesigned 80mm fans looks pretty good. I think Gigabyte could improve this in a couple ways. While the random chunk of metal that increased card height for no reason is thankfully gone from the older WindForce cards, leaving behind a sleeker housing, and the backplate is gorgeous with angular vent cutouts and a surprisingly tasteful G1 eye on it, that WindForce logo at the top needs to be RGB since blue isn't even gonna match Gigabyte's own G1 series motherboards, and the aluminum fins for the cooler need to be dark nickel plated. Gigabyte does that, and they'll have the best looking cooler on the market to go along with their quoted 600 watts of total heat dissipation, a number that I truly believe based on what Luke observed about the power consumption of this card once we cranked it and the temps of the GPU, not to mention that it did all of this while remaining pretty darn quiet. Now we can move on to the stuff that kicks ass. The I.O. on this board is perfect. Flawless f***ing victory Gigabyte. Triple display port, 1.2 ports for surround gaming with G-Sync or at resolutions higher than 1440 60p off a single card, and HDMI 2.0 and dual dual-link DVI ports for folks with non-display port monitors to run surround as well. You can even hook up a VGA monitor with a couple cent adapter thanks to the fact that one of the DVI ports is DVI-I and carries an analog signal. This is the new I.O. gold standard, guys. Speaking of gold standards, Gigabyte is calling out their processor binning procedure in their marketing materials now. That's a weird move. Their name for it is GPU gauntlet sorting, and they're claiming that their SoC or super overclock class cards will guarantee higher overclocking capabilities. Seriously, this is right off their site. I guess how much truth there is to this remains to be seen, but if their shipping clock speeds are anything to go by, this one is rated at 1329 megahertz boost, maybe there's something to it. Now, of course, there's the usual GTX 980 technology, so along with GeForce Experience, ShadowPlay game recording, Game Stream network gaming on shield devices, and automatic game optimization and driver updates, Nvidia has added third-generation Delta color compression to make better use of memory bandwidth, dynamic super resolution, a way of running less demanding games at higher res than downsampling them to the resolution of your monitor for better visuals, MFAA, a new less demanding anti-aliasing mode, and Auto Asynchronous Warp, a VR feature that should improve the experience for users of the Oculus Rift or similar head tracking head mounted displays who are prone to motion sickness. You can get more in-depth explanations of these technologies in my reference GTX 980 video linked here. But now, it's time to put this card to the test. As usual, we'll be overclocking not only the GTX 980G1 gaming, but also all the cards it's going up against. So we shall see how it fares. Alright guys, first up we have overclocking. To see the settings for all of my cards, check out the overclocking dock in the description of this video. This card specifically was configured in Afterburner with a core voltage offset of 70, a power limit of 122%, a core clock offset of 160, and a temperature target of 91, which resulted in its actual core clock averaging around 1531 to 1561. In terms of benchmarking results, I was happy to see that the extra overclocking headroom allowed by this card gave it enough of an advantage to achieve a clear win in all of my gaming benchmarks in both 1080p and 4K. And upon further inspection, I noted that it did this while maintaining a heavy load running temperature of only 70 degrees Celsius. The power draw on the other hand was a little bit surprising. Instead of being drastically lower than our reference 780Ti like our reference 980 was, this Windforce Cooled Extra Power Pins GTX 980 actually drew more overall system power, which may suggest that Gigabyte is binning leakier chips for enthusiast grade cards, resulting in a higher potential performance at the cost of power efficiency. Anyways, just some food for thought, and back to you Linus. Thanks Luke. So there you have it. Is the Gigabyte GTX 980G1 Gaming an enthusiast's delight? Do you prefer Gigabyte's design that favors folks with high airflow cases and beefy power supplies, or would you rather have Nvidia's reference blower cooler that exhausts air outside of the case and lower power consumption at the cost of some GPU overclockability? Let us know in the comments. Speaking of the comments on this video, I know they're going to be chock full of appreciation for today's sponsor, Little Bits. They're a brand new sponsor here on Linus Tech Tips, and we think they have a pretty awesome concept, and we know that many of you will agree. Their goal is to lead a hardware renaissance, where everyone regardless of age, gender, technical ability, or discipline can be creative with electronics. They offer over 60 modules with a wide range of complexity. Their simplest ones include power sensors and LEDs, and then they range all the way up to programmable, wireless-capable modules. With Little Bits, you don't have to be an expert to tinker with electronics, so no matter what background or skill level you currently have, they're going to have something for you. And for Linus Tech Tips viewers, they're offering a savings of $20 off your first kit when you head over to littlebits.com and use offer code LINUS. So whether you're a young maker just getting started, or a seasoned pro who wants to cut down on prototyping time, head over to littlebits.com and check out what they have to offer. Thank you guys for watching this video on Gigabyte's G1 Gaming GeForce GTX 980 Super Overclocked GTX graphics card. Anyway, sorry I got carried away with the longness of the name there. Like the video if you liked it, dislike it if you disliked it, leave a comment letting me know if your feelings are more complicated than this. Check out the link in the video description to our support us link. You can buy a cool t-shirt like this one, give us a monthly contribution, or change your Amazon bookmark to one with our affiliate code, so we get a small kickback whenever you buy stuff on Amazon. Say for example, graphics cards. Thanks again for watching, and as always, don't forget to subscribe.