Is there a best 1080ti card? not fastest but most reliable

E

eddie500

Gawd
Joined
Jan 23, 2003
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Was thinking of buying a 1080ti, but overwhelmed with how many versions there are.

I was leaning towards an EVGA because I wasn't happy with ASUS warranty on my 970 Asus strix. But then I read where EVGA only has 2 slot cards and they don't cool well, and you need a 3 slot card.

Does anyone know what is the best card to get right now for warranty, cooling, reliability?

Thanks.
 
eddie500 said:
Was thinking of buying a 1080ti, but overwhelmed with how many versions there are.

I was leaning towards an EVGA because I wasn't happy with ASUS warranty on my 970 Asus strix. But then I read where EVGA only has 2 slot cards and they don't cool well, and you need a 3 slot card.

Does anyone know what is the best card to get right now for warranty, cooling, reliability?

Thanks.
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What is your concern? Are you needing to use this card for 20 years 24/7 in a non temperature controlled environment?

The warranty service will probably be a much more useful tool than trying to find a card with the best cooling.

EDIT: and with that, probably EVGA.
 
UnknownSouljer said:
What is your concern? Are you needing to use this card for 20 years 24/7 in a non temperature controlled environment?

The warranty service will probably be a much more useful tool than trying to find a card with the best cooling.
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I just had so many issues with my 970GTX, not sure if it was cooling related or what. I just didn't want to deal with any of that. I heard that you really need a 3 card slot for effective cooling, and EVGA 2 card slot was not enough.

I also was not happy with ASUS warranty, especially how long it took to send back and receive a card.
 
eddie500 said:
I just had so many issues with my 970GTX, not sure if it was cooling related or what. I just didn't want to deal with any of that. I heard that you really need a 3 card slot for effective cooling, and EVGA 2 card slot was not enough.

I also was not happy with ASUS warranty, especially how long it took to send back and receive a card.
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You don’t “need” a three slot cooler for a 1080ti, otherwise people would have cards failing all over the place.
 
Evga Black SC
or SC2

Are amazing cards. The ICX cooler is only 2 fans and it works fantastic. It’s about 25*c cooler than a reference blower at the same speeds. The EVGA ICX based coolers are my favorite of the 9, 1080ti cards I have. (Mining)
 
I have a gigabyte 1080Ti, been running great for months now....

i did have to RMA some cards in the past tho.. MSI & XFX
 
I buy EVGA cards since they have great warranty service if you need to RMA a card. I've only had to RMA 3 cards over the past 8 or so years,
First one was an AGP 7800GS, second was a GTX260, and then a used GTX980 SC that I bought earlier this year on craigslist, failed a week after I bought it.
I am replacing the 980 SLI setup later today with an EVGA GTX1080ti FTW3 card when it arrives this afternoon.
 
If you want a cool card and don't want to go water cooling grab a evga ftw3. The elite model has memory rates for 12ghz over the normal 11ghz model. Mine ran at 51/53c 100% fans that are not loud. Room temp at 72c.

Went with water cooling anyways cause the new case I bought was for a water cooled system and grabbed a ek ftw3 block and now she runs at 22c idle and 31-33c load durring benches!!
 
Another happy evga customer here. Runs great, looks great and does the job. I’ve never had to rma an evga card and I’ve owned 6 of them over the years.
 
EVGA

free 24/7 tech phone support (average time on hold < 5 minutes) and EVGA uses the best available components, best build quality, etc
 
Yup will answer the phone in a min on sunday!! Yup.. and an American guy answered!! Can you imagine that??
 
It’s the little things and EVGA delivers. The retail box for an EVGA cards makes you feel like you’ve just been awarded a gift of honor. Lots of foam for cushioning, stickers, a full size EVGA poster, adapters, Black rubber Evga labeled slot guards. — the works. It feels like you are opening a package with precious cargo that the manufacturer is proud of and thus so should you be. Contrast that to many cards these days have moved to minimalist packing with nothing included in the box — so much so that my Powercolor cards didn’t even ship with protective foam — just brown ordinary cardboard protecting the video card inside the retail box. Lame.
 
Also a vote for EVGA. Solid customer support and good cards. I would have gone EVGA on my last GPU purchase as well, only Nvidia was the only vendor to sell them.
 
Decibel said:
If you're in North America, EVGA.
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Yup seems like a no-brainer considering they seem to have the best warranty options. In Europe all cards have two year warranty and you deal with the shop rather than the OEM so it matters much less and then I would look into ASUS and MSI just because their air cooled solutions usually make less noise than the competition.
 
One thing to consider: the best/easiest way to get a great cooled 1080Ti is to get the watercooled version that Corsair made for Evga and MSI with the radiator preattached.

Top overclocks while silent under load and low load temps to boot; the MSI version seems to go on sale for US$709 (and it's made/customized by Corsair).
 
IdiotInCharge said:
One thing to consider: the best/easiest way to get a great cooled 1080Ti is to get the watercooled version that Corsair made for Evga and MSI with the radiator preattached.

Top overclocks while silent under load and low load temps to boot; the MSI version seems to go on sale for US$709 (and it's made/customized by Corsair).
Click to expand...

If you have space to fit the radiator. I have a similar setup on my MSI 980 Ti and I love it. These top end cards should definitely have AIO coolers because it makes such a huge difference in noise.
 
Most reliable card would probably be a EVGA founders edition. They are a little loud, but made to last for a very long time. And with EVGA you get their warranty and rma team, both are great.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
One thing to consider: the best/easiest way to get a great cooled 1080Ti is to get the watercooled version that Corsair made for Evga and MSI with the radiator preattached.

Top overclocks while silent under load and low load temps to boot; the MSI version seems to go on sale for US$709 (and it's made/customized by Corsair).
Click to expand...

I had 3 of 3 of my EVGA 1080ti SC2's pumps die within two months. :\
 
Dayaks said:
I had 3 of 3 of my EVGA 1080ti SC2's pumps die within two months. :\
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I remember you posting about that- did you ever get any feedback?

I wonder if there wasn't a common denominator other than the product itself, like a power issue in your system. I'll admit that that's reaching, but your case does seem to be special (and I'm keeping a close eye on mine!).
 
I've read about alot of people complaining about dead pumps on hybrid evga cards the past month on evga forums.. No doubt a serious bad batch going around.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
I remember you posting about that- did you ever get any feedback?

I wonder if there wasn't a common denominator other than the product itself, like a power issue in your system. I'll admit that that's reaching, but your case does seem to be special (and I'm keeping a close eye on mine!).
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I never sent them in because I didn't want to pay $70-100 in shipping. I just put a 655 pump into the loop. (1/4" fittings and splicing). Eventually added my 9x140mm rad. I did everything they asked though... and my rads were higher than the pump to begin with, never over 60C, even took the cards out and shook them around a bit like they asked.

I did get confirmation because others had the exact same problem (not surprising). Running under 60C then one day - bam 91C and no or very low pump flow. A failure rate like that... I hope it was only a small batch.

The EVGA guys were very nice. Just did not care for the shipping, time, and I had my custom loop stuff laying around. :)
 
The reference cooler is never a bad option and is the one best suited for the largest possible configuration space due to the inherent trade-offs of a blower. I'm not a fan of EVGA's own air coolers (although I've never owned a card so-equipped) but their warranty service is top-notch, speaking from experience. Regardless, at this point, the GTX 1080 TI has been out long enough that I expect there is no "bad" option, so I suggest putting after-sales support at the top of your list and then buying from whomever offers the best product from among Nvidia's authorized board partners.
 
Yup, the EVGA and MSI closed-loop versions are actually Corsair (and the Corsair branding is present on both).

Mine's still going strong, FWIW, I'll count myself lucky!

[and if you get a good one, they are very nice]
 
ASUS STRIX. No pump nonsense. Quiet card. Runs 69 C max temps when my ambient is around 26 C. Plays games like a champ. Can't recommend it enough.
 
ASUS, EVGA isn't in the same ballpark. At least in my experience EVGA cards always clocked worse for me.
 
Help guys.

EVGA video cards only have one HDMI port is that enough for the future ?

What advantage would it bring to have more than 1 HDMI port?
 
ng4ever said:
Help guys.

EVGA video cards only have one HDMI port is that enough for the future ?

What advantage would it bring to have more than 1 HDMI port?
Click to expand...

In vr it makes a difference being able to plug the headset in and also a 4k monitor if that also uses HDMI.

Most pc monitors now a days use display port.

Either way one can easily buy adapters to change either port to what you need.

Currently I have the rift vr connected to the main HDMI port and a display port to 4k ultra HDMI adapter to my Samsung 40" 4k tv for my main desktop display.
 
eddie500 said:
Was thinking of buying a 1080ti, but overwhelmed with how many versions there are.

I was leaning towards an EVGA because I wasn't happy with ASUS warranty on my 970 Asus strix. But then I read where EVGA only has 2 slot cards and they don't cool well, and you need a 3 slot card.

Does anyone know what is the best card to get right now for warranty, cooling, reliability?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

EVGA theoretically has the best warranty, but they had a spate of reliability issues last year with their higher end 10 series cards related to defective surface mount components, so it's really just going to be up to luck. I would actually argue that the most reliable card is likely to be the Founder's Edition, on the grounds that it has only one fan. In 20 years of being a PC enthusiast, fan failures are the only thing I've ever actually had go wrong with a graphics card that wasn't DOA.

If your definition of reliability includes "reliably get a warranty replacement" go EVGA. If it's uptime, Founder's Edition. Otherwise, like I posted in another thread today, buy based on the features you want.

ng4ever said:
Help guys.

EVGA video cards only have one HDMI port is that enough for the future ?

What advantage would it bring to have more than 1 HDMI port?
Click to expand...

VR would be the most obvious advantage. All the current headsets connect via HDMI, meaning that if your monitor is a TV (seems like this would be common with VR setups), you need an adapter of some sort.
 
Yes a Display port to HDMI adapter.. if it's to a 4k screen grab one rated for ultra 4k.
 
I have twin Asus Poseidon 1080ti and a generic nVidia branded 1070..

I highly recommend ASUS or EVGA.

My Asus cards are very nice and well built and solidly represented.

1080ti are beast mode...

I also run a 1070 and its like weak as shit... after going from dual 1080ti's to my other box with a 1070 I feel like im on an Intel IGP. Not kidding.
 
Beware evga fans they are loud as shit. I don't understand why so many ppl are obsessed with them.
 
kirbyrj said:
Because of the warranty.
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Yeah I knew the answer I was just trying to be dramatic. I would never buy another EVGA card personally. I see so much feedback from people that wax poetic about their sc or ftw cards, who have literally never owned a card with a quiet fan. Makes me feel like i'm back in 2006 with a massive cfm beast on my cpu.
 
Best is to prob go with a founders edition from evga.. thst way evga didn't design it but you still get the evga warranty.. and that also means you can slap a water block on it or aio and also got good warranty.
 
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