Dear all, I have tried for a while to find any thread which would give me info on if we can install a gtx 1080ti founder edition inside our beloved Rog G20; my system is the G20AJ which cost nearly £1500 around 2 years back, and it came with a gtx 980 which was at that time 'the beast' of gpus; it came with 2 power bricks as you know which were encased onto a silicon structure...1x180w and 1x230w....now what?
in the past 2 years I have certinly noticed drops in fps...games get better really, till one day when I recently installed resident evil 7 and got less that 20fps or less...no good my dear...
I HAVE TO POINT OUT THAT FOR THE PAST 2 YEARS I HAVE BEEN GAMING AT 4K RESOLUTION ONLY, NO LONGER INTERESTED IN 1080P...JUST NOT THE SAME WOW FACTOR YOU GET WITH 4K...so I am talking about 4k gaming only.
As said I have looked everywhere and nothing, nobody has ttried to install a gtx 1080ti into the g20.....ok well...I did take the plunge and got one!
this is my experience....
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MY SYSTEM:
Asus Rog g20aj
I7 4790
16gb
520gb ssd + 2tb hdd 7200rpm (which has games installed)
MSI GTX 1080ti Founder Edition (£700)
sure you are not interested in my steinberg usb audio.fluid audio speakers etc etc
I proceeded to take out the gtx980 once I opened the system; got accustomed to do so as I have done this many times...then I took photo of the metal encasing/housing which will need to go over the gtx 1080ti. This was easy...just take photos of each side, screws etc.
Now...I needed to focus on power connectors as the gtx 980 has a 6 pin only while a gtx 1080ti needs 6+8 pins; luckily if you have a gtx 980 based g20aj, these are included already inside the case...you see 1x6 pin, 1x6pin + 1x2pin connectors which join together beatifully.
I then proceeded to do one thing...look up if the 2 power brick would be enough; on one article it showed that the gtx 1080ti can drawa up to over 320w...the brick I have is 230w...soem people report of this dying while using a gtx 1080...I wanted it to power a gtx1080ti.....hmmm
in one article, a guy talked about replacing the 230w power brick with the Dell Y90RR...got on amazon and found one for about £60...I needed to buy this a a back up, weekend was approaching and I need the pc as I use it for more than just gaming/benchmarking.
Anyway, installed the new gpu, it is clear that the size was the same as the previous gtx 980, it fitted perfectly, added the pcie 45 degree gpu adapter to the new gpu, then closed the case without bothering to screw back the case (not the gpu).
Switched everything up...now...started HEaven benchmark at max (everything in 4k)...not too bad...got around 20 to 50fps; than resident evil all maxed out....average 45fps, then far cry primal....same 45 and over fps....all maxed out on literally evrything you can imagine + 4K resolution. Doom got best at 60fps;
At one point I started Mass effect andromeda....I thought well this is easy...not really...it got to around 30fps and thats fine, however I soon realised that 4k all maxed out will have to wait another gpu generation...maybe 2..
At this stage I could notice temps which quickly go to 85c...I touched the metal exhaust at the back of the gpu and nearly burned myself...veery hot. I kept playing and suddenly....fan goes to 100% then gpu stops working.....fock! did I burn it?
I waited for it to cool down, unplugged the 230w power brick...moved the hdmi to the interna gpu and the system started normally, could not believe this thing runs just with the 180w brick....however no gpu...it did not even appear in the system.
Eventually I plugged back the 230w power brick and started using the gpu again, however I waited patientl for the 330w Dell power brick to arrive..
next day it did...wow is it big! huge...plugged to the g20aj...plug is the same, voltage is 19.5v.....good. Now I told myself...go back to mass effect andromeda and push the gpu hoping it goes well.
IT DID...I have left the game on for a while, temp still go up to 84c, fan noise is there (wish I could adapt a liquid cooler, but you need to cut the case...not now, I love this machine, too good, at least till the g31 comes out, but can you imagine what price tag it will have?)
I am still at the day 2 of this, however I will try other benchmark software and I have a good selection of good and old pc games....
Now...if you are thinking about a gtx 1080ti, then please do so...it is the new 'beast' and it will be for the next year...hope so...at the moment it does not struggle with anything....however if you want everyhting maxed out (everything) then expect an average of 30fps...I believe nvidia needs to work on the drivers....not sure but when I tried benchmarking rise of the tomb raider, it gave a minimum of 14fps....no way....never!
Hope this helps many to do the same....get a GTX 1080TI...you won't regret it!!!!