An over-the-top cooler on Nvidia's finest GPU. Nvidia has used the leaner, meaner GeForce GTX 980 architecture to construct a GPU that's faster and far more energy efficient than the GeForce GTX 780 Ti going before it. Also cheaper to produce on the same 28nm manufacturing process, the GTX 980 has no single-GPU performance peer... and Nvidia knows this. Performance leadership is asserted through premium pricing. Basic GTX 980 cards start at £430 and rise to £500 for custom-designed models that elevate frequency and gaming potential in equal measure.

So while the GTX 970 is certainly the preferred option from a value point of view, the headline GTX 980 is where performance-seekers gravitate to. Charging more than £450 requires a partner company to invest in reference-beating cooling, enhanced frequencies and potential to overclock like the clappers. Hoping to hit all of these right notes is Gigabyte.

The Taiwanese manufacturer's recipe for producing high-end cards remains unchanged by the passage of time. Take the reference board as a blueprint, replace the cooler with a WindForce variant specified to a stupendous TDP, and then mesh the two together in one blockbuster package.