GTX 980 MSI vs EVGA vs ASUS

GTX 980 EVGA vs MSI vs ASUS

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theagent

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Hi everyone, I haven't logged in in such a long time I'm glad my account still exists (last time I posted was in 2008 :D)

I want to pick up two GTX 980's, but I can't decide which brand to go with. MSI, EVGA, and ASUS are all at the same price point, and they seem to all have pros on cons. I don't want to spend the extra $60 for Gigabyte (+$30x2), which I hear is the best, so it's going to be between the three.

I've been reading discussion and discussion, but they're all biased.

What do you guys think? Is there a reason I should choose one brand over the other? I was leaning towards MSI, because I heard EVGA had issues with coil whine in the fans, then someone suggest ASUS.... so now, I'm stuck. Going to be an $1100 spend, so figure it's worth taking time to choose correctly.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 
I always roll EVGA because of their service. I personally prefer the reference blower cooler - in case of an unexpected three-way or four-way. :cool:

MSI is also good from a service perspective. ASUS has been bad for me - so no more. Can't comment on Gigabyte other than to say: if you think/know they're the best then why let $60 (of an $1100 spend) get in your way?
 
sk3tch said:
I always roll EVGA because of their service. I personally prefer the reference blower cooler - in case of an unexpected three-way or four-way. :cool:

MSI is also good from a service perspective. ASUS has been bad for me - so no more. Can't comment on Gigabyte other than to say: if you think/know they're the best then why let $60 (of an $1100 spend) get in your way?
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I've always gone EVGA too, so I don't have experience with the others. They always seem to have decent reviews, but this time around the reviews aren't very revealing. Hearing so many contradictions I don't know what to believe.

This is the one with the reference blower cooler, right? http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GTX-GDDR...e=UTF8&qid=1423972172&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+980

As for the GB... I'm not sure it's worth the extra $60. They should all perform similarly enough. I don't think I'd see $60 worth of improvement for the GB.
 
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Asus pros vs MSI and evga being an owner.

1. Included backplate
2. Full metal shroud vs plastic on others
3. Strong cooling system

Cons.

1. Overclocking headroom hit and miss
2. No heatsinks on VRAM
 
Arct1c0n said:
Asus pros vs MSI and evga being an owner.

1. Included backplate
2. Full metal shroud vs plastic on others
3. Strong cooling system

Cons.

1. Overclocking headroom hit and miss
2. No heatsinks on VRAM
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Thanks. The metal shroud was one of the things I liked about the Asus.
 
Really comes down to what's most important to you. EVGA has the best service IMO, their cards are decent but usually not the cheapest route. MSI seems like they have decent customer support for the most part and very good cooling and often the price is competitive even with reference cooled cards. ASUS always seems to have more extra's (like the shroud and backplate), often some innovative designs or tech, and very good cooling- but I don't trust their customer service at all.

There are lots of threads about ASUS on this forum and others. Often they get resolved after the thread gains some exposure and lots of jumping through hoops. Some people have had really good experiences with ASUS RMAs, but personally I won't chance it. After spending as much as I do on components I want to make sure I wont be stuck with a paper weight because the RMA tech came up with some questionable excuse not to honor the warranty, and that appears to happen too often with ASUS. MSI also has a good reputation for the most part, but I don't have as much experience with them.
 
Thanks for the help. Pulled the trigger on EVGA. I ordered one for now, but I'll probably order the second very soon after. :)
 
Do any of these companies cross ship? I don't believe EVGA does a cross ship if your card goes bad
 
Can't go wrong with any of them, but out of your choices I perfer the ASUS STRIX.
 
lodoss900 said:
Do any of these companies cross ship? I don't believe EVGA does a cross ship if your card goes bad
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I'm pretty sure you can have it cross-shipped, but you have to put a down payment on the one they send you. If they don't get your old card, you pay full retail.
 
EVGA is the best. Got a couple ACX 2.0 980s, they OC to 1520 on the core (can go higher w/voltage added) +400 on the memory at stock voltage (~1.206/1.212v). GPU 1 maxes at 78C and GPU 2 at 70C with fans never going above 75% on GPU 1 and 65% on GPU2 and this is in a tight NZXT H440 case. Plus their customer service is by far the best. It's the only brand I'll ever buy video cards from unless they do a 180 and become a shit company.
 
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5150Joker said:
EVGA is the best. Got a couple ACX 2.0 980s, they OC to 1520 on the core (can go higher w/voltage added) +400 on the memory at stock voltage (~1.206/1.212v). GPU 1 maxes at 78C and GPU 2 at 70C with fans never going above 75% on GPU 1 and 65% on GPU2 and this is in a tight NZXT H440 case. Pus their customer service is by far the best. It's the only brand I'll ever buy video cards from unless they do a 180 and become a shit company.
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Thanks for making me feel better about my choice man. I see those numbers on the MSI poll going up, started to second guess my decision. I always have buyers remorse, regardless of what I buy.
 
theagent said:
Thanks for making me feel better about my choice man. I see those numbers on the MSI poll going up, started to second guess my decision. I always have buyers remorse, regardless of what I buy.
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No problem and you definitely made the right choice.
 
theagent said:
This is the one with the reference blower cooler, right? http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GTX-GDDR...e=UTF8&qid=1423972172&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+980
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Blower cooler as in this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487068

Exhausts air out of the case in case you do a 3-way or 4-way build.

The ACX 2.0 that you bought is a good choice for the bang/buck. Especially if you don't think you're going to rock 3 or 4 cards and your cooling setup inside of your case is solid (exhaust heat from those fans).
 
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sk3tch said:
Blower cooler as in this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487068

Exhausts air out of the case in case you do a 3-way or 4-way build.

The ACX 2.0 that you bought is a good choice for the bang/buck. Especially if you don't think you're going to rock 3 or 4 cards and your cooling setup inside of your case is solid (exhaust heat from those fans).
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Oh, gotcha. Pricey!

My card is actually at the post office waiting for me to pick it up. Had some health problems, spent the day it was to be delivered in the ER, so missed it. :(
Going to try to pick it up tomorrow if I can manage it.
 
I would feel good about MSI or EVGA. I have multiple products from both vendors in various rigs and all of my interactions with their customer service have been positive. Asus just makes me nervous with service after the sale if anything goes wrong. Enjoy your cards sir:)
 
Not a fan of asus video cards, they always have had one issue every time I've used one. Dislike the low end evga from 3 years ago but that's only because they didn't overclock well and there was nothing special about them. Msi makes great cards and I would use them any day of the week. The twin frozer cooler is really good. Never used sli though so there's that. Also a great series is the HOF which has really good customer service.
 
I am going with the MSI 980s - I decided to upgrade from a 970 to SLI MSI 980s. I am making a decent MATX build so this should be a lot of fun with only taking up a small space.
 
I've used all three brands multiple times over the years.

For the 980, EVGA with lifetime warranty, step-up program, and a reference/titan cooler seems like the way to go if you ask me.
 
Both cards are now in hand!

egdTqFw.jpg


Now I just need to decide whether I should go with a budget build 4790k ddr3, or go with something more costly like 5820k with DDR4 mem. Skylake should be just around the corner, so I'd hate to drop a lot of cash on parts that would soon be replaced. Decisions decisions!
 
Skylake E isn't around the corner, it's a long ways off. I'd go with X99 + 5820K as more and more new gen console games will likely utilize those extra cores.
 
Asus has always had some of the worst technical support. I once RMA'd 3 boards and they down right refused to believe that it was their product. However, I work on computers every day. I know when a board is broken
 
I would wait on the cpu upgrade. It does not seem terribly worth it right now. But if you have extra cash burning a hole in your wallet go for It.
 
5150Joker said:
Skylake E isn't around the corner, it's a long ways off. I'd go with X99 + 5820K as more and more new gen console games will likely utilize those extra cores.
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I was thinking more along the lines of Skylake K. I can't afford E for Haswell, so I know I won't be able to afford it for Skylake. Skylake K might be late 2015 or early 2016, so it wouldn't be very far off. I guess it really depends on what the savings are going to be for 3790k vs 5820k. I think the memory is what's really going to set the prices apart. The motherboards aren't too far apart, and neither are the CPU's.
 
|DFA| Havoc said:
I've used all three brands multiple times over the years.

For the 980, EVGA with lifetime warranty, step-up program, and a reference/titan cooler seems like the way to go if you ask me.
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I find the reference coolers are only good in certain situations - like cases that have bad airflow. I use the MSI since their Twin Frozr coolers are by far the best on the market and are very quiet, and the new ones will turn off while idle to keep the noise down further.
 
theagent said:
I was thinking more along the lines of Skylake K. I can't afford E for Haswell, so I know I won't be able to afford it for Skylake. Skylake K might be late 2015 or early 2016, so it wouldn't be very far off. I guess it really depends on what the savings are going to be for 3790k vs 5820k. I think the memory is what's really going to set the prices apart. The motherboards aren't too far apart, and neither are the CPU's.
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Weren't you considering the 5820K? Anyway, if E is out of your budget then go with something cheap now if you really want skylake. Personally I think Skylake will just be another one of those marginal iterations where you get some gain in IPC and not much else for the enthusiast. Also if you didn't know already, you need to register those EVGA cards w/in 14 days of purchasing them (not receiving) in order to qualify for their step up program. If you wait till the 15th day, they will try to sell you on their extended warranty for $30/card to requalify..something I found distasteful but whatever.
 
5150Joker said:
Weren't you considering the 5820K? Anyway, if E is out of your budget then go with something cheap now if you really want skylake. Personally I think Skylake will just be another one of those marginal iterations where you get some gain in IPC and not much else for the enthusiast. Also if you didn't know already, you need to register those EVGA cards w/in 14 days of purchasing them (not receiving) in order to qualify for their step up program. If you wait till the 15th day, they will try to sell you on their extended warranty for $30/card to requalify..something I found distasteful but whatever.
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Thanks for the heads up on the step-up program! I didn't realize it was just 14 days. Went ahead and registered just now.

Yeah, I'm still considering the 5820K. I think it's just really bad timing for CPU purchases.

Actually a really bad time in general for my PC build, but you know, impatience and all of that. What I'm waiting for is Oculus, and how that's going to play out. Otherwise, I'm probably going to also look into picking up Asus's new 27" 144hz monitor.
 
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