Asus ROG Poseidon GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Platinum Edition Review

By Igor Wallossek
published

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Conclusion

There is no such thing as a jack-of-all-trades that excels in every discipline. Our testing of Asus' ROG Poseidon GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Platinum Edition makes this point clear. The card doesn't have any serious flaws, nor does it do anything explicitly wrong. Yet, it doesn't achieve top scores under air or water cooling. Simply, this is the result of compromises made to give the ROG Poseidon its flexible hybrid cooling solution.

The card's saving graces are, first, its aggressive factory overclock, and second, the ability to easily switch from air to liquid cooling without voiding Asus' warranty.

And how about its weak points? As soon as the card is installed horizontally in a closed case, the air cooler's slight deficits compared to competing solutions start to show. The ROG Poseidon GeForce GTX 1080 Ti may even sit at a disadvantage to Asus' own ROG Strix GeForce GTX 1080 Ti when it comes to air-cooled performance. Even though the ROG Poseidon isn't particularly loud or hot, there is room for improvement.

The same conclusion applies when you switch over to water-cooling. Obviously, a small, U-shaped heat pipe doesn't stand a chance against a proper water block with micro-channels. Furthermore, we noticed that flow through the pipe was almost halved compared to more purpose-built solutions. While this is still acceptable, it doesn't earn the ROG Poseidon any victories.

In the end, though, Asus set out to enable a simple solution, perhaps for folks uncomfortable with the idea of installing their own water block. To that end, the company succeeded. It serves up reasonable performance under air or water, and it doesn't inconvenience you when it comes time to swap between them.

We're comfortable giving this card our Approved award for doing exactly what it set out to. However, we have a hard time recommending it, particularly given an $860 price tag. It may work well in certain niche applications, but for enthusiasts who know that they want air or water cooling, you'll either find cheaper or better-performing purpose-built solutions in both categories.


MORE: Best Graphics Cards


MORE: Desktop GPU Performance Hierarchy Table


MORE: All Graphics Content

Igor Wallossek
26 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Pat Flynn
    I wonder how their cooler compares to something like EKWB's blocks? Temps/overclock wise that is.
    Reply
  • max0x7ba
    No one plays Battlefield 1 in DirectX 12 because it stutters. Test it in DirectX 11.
    Reply
  • dan88rx7turbo
    I have the Poseidon , sits at about 43c on load in Valley and Superposition 4k , 1080p extreme settings!
    Reply
  • JackNaylorPE
    1. The Poseidon is a great idea in concept but suffers from poor implementation.

    2. The addition of the PCB parts is a welcome addition. However w/o an explanation of how they differ from reference cards or compare to other AIB cards, it inda falls flat.

    3. Benchmark Comparisons w/ just the reference model again leaves me wanting more. Asus Strix would at least allow comparisons to other AIB cards
    .
    4. And yes .... would have been very useful to compare against other options. An EVGA Hybrid and say the MSI Seahawk EK X (w/ full cover EK water block) would also be a big plus.

    Reply
  • drmacaron
    i also have a poseidon. Super good temp dont know why the warer development aded maby if you should clocke it bigtime ?
    Reply
  • drmacaron
    and performance !
    Reply
  • mac_angel
    I have the Asus Strix 1080ti OC. It 'boosts' to 2Ghz on it's own. But playing with the curve in Afterburner, I get 2076MHz, on air. That's without flashing the ROM
    Reply
  • JackNaylorPE
    20192947 said:
    I have the Asus Strix 1080ti OC. It 'boosts' to 2Ghz on it's own. But playing with the curve in Afterburner, I get 2076MHz, on air. That's without flashing the ROM

    The OC is be expected ... from the article :

    With sufficient water cooling, however, we were able to reach 2076 MHz. That's where our chip hit its ceiling, even after installing a high-end loop, increasing the power target, and applying a bit of extra voltage.

    But outta the box, the boost is down at 1708 / 1709

    http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-rog-poseidon-gtx-1080-ti-platinum,5151.html
    Reply
  • Rheotome
    Both of these statements are incorrect:

    "lay down a flat heat pipe on a large sink and, as an option, send water through to dissipate thermal energy"

    "The thermal solution utilizes a copper sink that doubles as a block for water cooling (by guiding liquid through the hollow heat pipe). "

    No water flows through a heat pipe. A heat pipe is hollow, closed and sealed to contain the working fluid that evaporates and condenses to transfer heat from a hot to cold point.

    The author is confusing heat exchanger and heat pipe technology.
    Reply
  • JackNaylorPE
    Actually, no ... there is no air involved in a heat exhanger

    "A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat between a solid object and a fluid, or between two or more fluids."

    The proper term here would simply "radiator tube" under normal circumstances ... as it is employed here, it's simply part of a hybrid water block, heat sink / radiator.

    Reply