GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER Edition 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Just a notch below GALAX’s HOF GTX 980 is the new Super Overclocked graphic card. Wait, what’s this GAMER thing? I don’t see any GAMER stuff being part of the product packaging nor official product page.

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Well you’re right, it isn’t but it is there on the graphic card! GAMER is GALAX’s new product range, pretty much how like STRIX is to ASUS. Here’s the beautiful GALAX GTX 980 SOC card, it comes with a Tri-fan cooler with semi-transparent red-colored blades.

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Oh and where’s this GAMER thing I mentioned? Here it is, so when the card is installed you see GAMER instead of GALAX, just like how you see WINDFORCE on Gigabyte’s card. It’s a pity that the GAMER words are just slapped on the shroud like a sticker, it doesn’t glow like the GEFORCE words on nVidia’s reference cards. 🙁 Would’ve been great if it glows, and make it glow in red or white, lovely!

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

The GTX980 comes with a backplate, something I very much welcome when it comes to graphic card. Backplates are great when it comes to holding heavy cards in place to avoid bending, unlike other cards the GALAX GTX 980 SOC seems to be quite light weight. I you look at the earlier image, you’ll notice that the cooler isn’t huge, it’s long but it doesn’t go beyond 2 PCI-E slots’ width like cards from other brands, or like the HOF editions.

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

From the bottom you’ll see the heatsink, a whole lot of fins but no pipes were visible, which is very unlike the GPU cooler from other brands.

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Lastly, the I/O connectors that speaks for itself. I’m glad to see that GALAX maintained a DVI port.

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Here’s the GPU-Z for the GALAX GTX 980 SOC

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Despite being an already overclocked card, I decided to take it further with some overclocking of my own, no voltage pump.

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER 4GB GDDR5 Graphic Card Review

Test Setup

Processor Intel Core i5-4670K
RAM Kingston HyperX 2x 4GB DDR3 2400Mhz Kit
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z97X Gaming 3
Cooler NZXT Kraken X31
Monitor Dell U2414H
Power Supply FSP AURUM S 600W
Casing NZXT S340
Operating System Windows 8 Pro 64bit

Benchmark

Here we go!

Unigine Heaven 4.0

Heaven 4.0

Card 1080p (avg)
GALAX GTX 980 SOC 99.7
GALAX GTX 980 SOC Overclocked 108.2
GALAX GTX 970 HOF 83.1
GALAX GTX 970 HOF Overclocked 93.1
ASUS STRIX GTX 970 77.2
GALAX GTX 960 46.3
HIS Radeon R9 285 50.4
Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 58.4

Metro Last Light

Heaven 4.0

Card 1080p (avg)
GALAX GTX 980 SOC 93.5
GALAX GTX 980 SOC Overclocked 99.0
GALAX GTX 970 HOF 86.5
GALAX GTX 970 HOF Overclocked FAILED
ASUS STRIX GTX 970 78.5
GALAX GTX 960 56.5
HIS Radeon R9 285 53.0
Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 55.0

Bioshock Infinite

Settings are at
2 – UltraDX11_DDOF | 2 – Custom | 1 – 16:9 | 4 – 1920×1080

GALAX GTX 980 SOC 130.71
GALAX GTX 980 SOC Overclocked 137.88
GALAX GTX 970 HOF 118.23
GALAX GTX 970 HOF Overclocked 129.02
ASUS STRIX GTX 970 114.07
GALAX GTX 960 73.29
HIS Radeon R9 285 85.82
Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 82.03

The GTX 980 SOC performed admirably, with additional performance gain once overclocked.

Temperature

Furmark Burn-in Test was used to stress the card. Fan settings are at Auto. Room set to ~25c.

Below is the full load details.

Card Idle(°C) Load (°C)
GALAX GTX 980 SOC 41 80
GALAX GTX 980 SOC Full RPM 41 76

The fans run sufficiently silent when left at default, hovering at 72% RPM on load. Suffice to say that it’s quite noisy at 100% RPM and doesn’t improve much on the cooling at this point.

Power Consumption

Here’s what the power draw of the card is like. Power consumption reading was taken from the watt-meter, actual power draw by the entire system from the wall point. Seeing that it’s a 90% power efficient PSU that I’m using on the rig, the actual power draw will be estimated on the right most column.

The stress was done with Furmark Burn-in Test.

Card GTX 980
Wattage
GTX 980
Estimated Draw
Furmark Burn-in 330 297
Idle 58 45
Idle without GPU 36 33
Estimated
Card Power Draw
252

The Verdict

GALAX GeForce GTX 980 SOC (Super Overlocked) GAMER Edition retails at slightly above RM 2400, a very good price point for a GTX 980 that not only looks great but performs well too with quite some overclocking headroom.

One thing I really like about this card is the slim nature of it, where the cooling system does not exceed 2x PCI-E slot’s width.

goldfries recommended