EVGA 980 ti SLI-Save some money! Buy reference/stock

I

Island

Gawd
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
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883
Sup fellas. I didn't want to start a new thread but I think there is some valuable info here that I think will help a lot of you guys who might be planning on upgrading but are concerned about price versus performance. I decided to upgrade my Original Titans which have served me well for 2 new 980 ti's from EVGA.

I was going to go with the non reference and spend the extra $$ but after reading up a lot I decided to go with the EVGA reference card with the upgraded cooler. Seriously save the 50-100$ and get the reference cards. Granted, my top card has an ASIC quality of 83% but my 2nd card is only at 68.2%. I can still overclock both cards to a comfortable 1450 on the core and they don't break a sweat. Such a tremendous upgrade over my Titans. Witcher 3 all maxed with hairworks on at 2560x1600 and it stays pegged at 60fps with v-sync on. If you want the gigabyte/msi or EVGA classified versions and don't care about spending the extra cash...go for it..you will be happy...

But, why not just overclock the cards yourself for the same performance? I didn't even touch the voltage on my cards. I just bumped the core up to 250 and set the power limit to max. I even left adaptive power management set to on under the Nvidia control Panel. I don't want to start a flame war...I just want to help my [H] brethren save some $$ and purchase kick ass cards in the process. Also, check out Kingpin's response to voltage scaling with the 900 series cards and why reference really is a better option.Take care fellas!!

http://forums.evga.com/STATEMENT-BY...LE-WITH-VOLTAGE-NO-MATTER-BRAND-m2362059.aspx


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Duh!

The reason people buy custom is because they like to be able to hear themselves think :D

I can't imagine the racket you have with two of those dustbusters running!
 
defaultluser said:
Duh!

The reason people buy custom is because they like to be able to hear themselves think :D

I can't imagine the racket you have with two of those dustbusters running!
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Uhh..These cards have the ACX coolers dude...Even with my custom fan settings, I can barely hear the fans. My case fans are louder then the 2 video cards running maxed. and that's with a water cooled CPU setup... But I digress....
 
Isn't the ACX cooler 20 dollars more than the refernece card? That's the same price I paid for my MSI gaming.
 
Reference card means nvidia blower cooler. That ACX is not a reference card. Maybe reference pcb.
 
defaultluser said:
The reason people buy custom is because they like to be able to hear themselves think :D
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Lol, some people. Lots of newbies are like "should i get reference or SC card?" I always say get reference and OC it, but they dont want to overclock themselves running a risk of damaging the card. And it goes on and on, with explaining how easy it is to slide the little bar on the application, precisionX or AB, to overclock the card.

Anyway, good post.. Hopefully some newbies will come across this and learn a bit and eventually research more on how easy it is to lightly OC GPUs.
 
Nope. You can get the Reference cooler or a reference board with ACX 2.0+ for the same price from EVGA. The Ref SC, SC and SC+(?) differ slightly. Ref SC has the reference blower fan and a small OC. The SC is the same as the Ref SC but has the ACX2.0+ fan. The SC+ (well I am calling it the SC+) is the same as the SC w/ ACX 2.0+ but comes with the backplate. They respectively go for $650, $670, $670, $680. The backplate would cost you another $20 + Shipping if you wanted it.

That's why I went for the Hybrid. It has the AIO which is $100 + Backplate so it saved me money rather than buying a reference then buying the AIO and backplate then putting it on myself. Now if I have an issue with the card, I can send back the entire thing to EVGA rather than taking it apart and putting it back to stock condition then sending it back.
 
Cyph said:
Isn't the ACX cooler 20 dollars more than the refernece card? That's the same price I paid for my MSI gaming.
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AriciU said:
Reference card means nvidia blower cooler. That ACX is not a reference card. Maybe reference pcb.
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^^read the thread title....This is the ACX 2.0 EVGA cooler on the 980 ti reference PCB. I paid $649 for each card....The 980ti with the reference pcb/Nvidia cooler is also $649. This is why I made the post...specifically for the EVGA ACX 2.0 980 ti card with the reference pcb....
 
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BroHamBone said:
Lol, some people. Lots of newbies are like "should i get reference or SC card?" I always say get reference and OC it, but they dont want to overclock themselves running a risk of damaging the card. And it goes on and on, with explaining how easy it is to slide the little bar on the application, precisionX or AB, to overclock the card.

Anyway, good post.. Hopefully some newbies will come across this and learn a bit and eventually research more on how easy it is to lightly OC GPUs.
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Thanks dude!
 
Well, for 20 bucks more, I have a backplate, better cooling as my temperature hovers around 70 degrees, plus I have dual 100m which is quieter. It also looks sick inside my case with the heatpipes. So yeah, I don't mind custom for 20 bucks more.
 
Island said:
Uhh..These cards have the ACX coolers dude...Even with my custom fan settings, I can barely hear the fans. My case fans are louder then the 2 video cards running maxed. and that's with a water cooled CPU setup... But I digress....
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Are you saying your case fans are louder than the ACX coolers running at 100%?
 
A post about dropping $1300 on video cards then bragging about how u saved $80... interesting. Especially after coming from Titans that were probably bought at full price. I love my 980ti MSI Gaming. Smooth sailing @ 1556mhz so far without fine tuning it.
 
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Skillz said:
Are you saying your case fans are louder than the ACX coolers running at 100%?
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The ACX coolers never run at a 100%...Granted I've only had the cards for 3 days, but with my case/rig set up, the hottest my top card got was 76c. That's with my fan profile set to 80% at 80c

I have water cooling on my CPU and my Antec fans only run about 50-75% but are more then enough to dissipate the heat from my case. Room temp is around 76-80f depending on time of day. I live in Cali
 
babochee said:
A post about dropping $1300 on video cards then bragging about how u saved $80... interesting.
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So many haters alive and well. He is posting to mention there is no actual gain from buying high end aftermarket cards versus reference w/ ACX 2.0+ cooler. So that 80 bucks can go and buy you something nice rather than a fancy dual/triple fan aftermarket PCB that will not blow a reference card out of the water.



EDIT: "Also, check out Kingpin's response to voltage scaling with the 900 series cards and why reference really is a better option".
 
babochee said:
A post about dropping $1300 on video cards then bragging about how u saved $80... interesting.
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Man..I'm not bragging...I'm just trying to put it out there and help...Sometimes I don't know why I even bother posting because people like you who make these types of posts/comments....Whatever...
 
BroHamBone said:
So many haters alive and well. He is posting to mention there is no actual gain from buying high end aftermarket cards versus reference w/ ACX 2.0+ cooler. So that 80 bucks can go and buy you something nice rather than a fancy dual/triple fan aftermarket PCB that will not blow a reference card out of the water.
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+ a million-Again...thanks bro!
 
Island said:
The ACX coolers never run at a 100%...Granted I've only had the cards for 3 days, but with my case/rig set up, the hottest my top card got was 76c. That's with my fan profile set to 80% at 80c

I have water cooling on my CPU and my Antec fans only run about 50-76% but are more then enough to dissipate the heat from my case. Room temp is around 76-80f depending on time of day. I live in Cali
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You have an extremely loud case then dude. Even at 70% these coolers are loud as hell!
 
babochee said:
A post about dropping $1300 on video cards then bragging about how u saved $80... interesting. Especially after coming from Titans that were probably bought at full price. I love my 980ti MSI Gaming. Smooth sailing @ 1556mhz so far without fine tuning it.
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Hey dude...That's great that you got a nice running card from the GPU lottery. Awesome clocks on your MSI card...Congrats!

See how easy that was.....
 
Cyph said:
Well, for 20 bucks more, I have a backplate, better cooling as my temperature hovers around 70 degrees, plus I have dual 100m which is quieter. It also looks sick inside my case with the heatpipes. So yeah, I don't mind custom for 20 bucks more.
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I was thinking the same. A $20 saving on a $650 purchase is pretty much inconsequential. :confused:
 
Looks like the ACX coolers are only running at 30%. They're definitely not loud at that level. For the record I don't let my 970s get above 50C before I have the fans cranked up to 80%. Currently they're idling at 28C and 29C respectively. By the time the cards reach 70C they're rocking at 100% fan speed.

I assumed if you had it set to 80% @ 80C that the curve would mean they'd be at ~70% around the 75C mark, but it looks like you pretty much keep the fans off until they hit 80C.
 
Skillz said:
Looks like the ACX coolers are only running at 30%. They're definitely not loud at that level. For the record I don't let my 970s get above 50C before I have the fans cranked up to 80%. Currently they're idling at 28C and 29C respectively. By the time the cards reach 70C they're rocking at 100% fan speed.

I assumed if you had it set to 80% @ 80C that the curve would mean they'd be at ~70% around the 75C mark, but it looks like you pretty much keep the fans off until they hit 80C.
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What are you talking about? That 30% you see is the GPU FB usage in the osd. I told you my fan profile settings in my earlier post.
 
Then do another video including the fan %. The fans I think I am hearing in the video are your case fans which are rather loud.
 
Skillz said:
Then do another video including the fan %. The fans I think I am hearing in the video are your case fans which are rather loud.
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Here u go dude....I zoomed in on the OSD temp on both cards running fire strike in windowed mode...I then zoomed in on afterburner's hardware monitor to show fan speed/rpm...THEN in one continuous motion I pan the camera to my front case fans, video cards and finally back to the fans. Can we now put this to bed and move on?



https://youtu.be/HxbJ6MNSTaA
 
Island said:
Sup fellas. I didn't want to start a new thread but I think there is some valuable info here that I think will help a lot of you guys who might be planning on upgrading but are concerned about price versus performance... snip
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Just wanted to chime in to agree with this post. The type of cooler mouted to the GPU aside, there's usually very little potential performance difference between reference and non-reference cards.

Outside of the more heavily modified versions of some cards (like the Kingpin or Galax HOF LN edition) the biggest case to make for going non-reference is the asthetics or cooler.
 
The additional cost is not a major factor as, in my experience, I recoup most of this when I sale back my card just before the new technology is launched. The demand for non-reference from top tier 1 company like Asus, Evga and Gigabyte is stronger than the reference alternative.
 
Artificiary said:
Just wanted to chime in to agree with this post. The type of cooler mouted to the GPU aside, there's usually very little potential performance difference between reference and non-reference cards.

Outside of the more heavily modified versions of some cards (like the Kingpin or Galax HOF LN edition) the biggest case to make for going non-reference is the asthetics or cooler.
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RadXge said:
The additional cost is not a major factor as, in my experience, I recoup most of this when I sale back my card just before the new technology is launched. The demand for non-reference from top tier 1 company like Asus, Evga and Gigabyte is stronger than the reference alternative.
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I agree with both of your comments. Like I said in my initial post, I just wanted to put info out there that points to the fact that the stock cards with a little GPU lottery luck and knowledge on overclocking, you can get great performance. Let's be honest, the card makers #1 priority is making $$ profit. So, they add a nice back plate, set a higher factory overclock, add a nicer cooler and then charge more money.

The bottom line is that for the added cost, I'm just saying why spend the money if you don't have to? At the end of the day, I don't care if you guys buy a G1, strix, lightning, etc. If you are happy then I am happy for you too.

I was just trying to help people out who maybe did not know the subtle differences. I look at it like this....For me, I will keep these cards until Pascal...I paid the base price. I also sold both Batman games on EBay and made $50 bucks after fees. If I sell my Titans, I get the best of both worlds and its a win/win for me.....
 
Island said:
Here u go dude....I zoomed in on the OSD temp on both cards running fire strike in windowed mode...I then zoomed in on afterburner's hardware monitor to show fan speed/rpm...THEN in one continuous motion I pan the camera to my front case fans, video cards and finally back to the fans. Can we now put this to bed and move on?



https://youtu.be/HxbJ6MNSTaA
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Wasn't trying to argue with you man. :( Just wanted to know the noise level. I have 970s in SLI and when they get up to 70%+ fan speed they're noisy.

One last request? Can I get a video of the system at idle?

edit
I'm uploading a video that shows my 970s at idle (25% fan speed) and then I slowly bump it up to 40, 50, 70, 80 then 100% and back down to 25% (idle).

Do note I have a HTPC with a 980 sitting above the case as well. Should have turned it off.

https://youtu.be/erQisXqD9oU
 
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Skillz said:
Wasn't trying to argue with you man. :( Just wanted to know the noise level. I have 970s in SLI and when they get up to 70%+ fan speed they're noisy.

One last request? Can I get a video of the system at idle?

edit
I'm uploading a video that shows my 970s at idle (25% fan speed) and then I slowly bump it up to 40, 50, 70, 80 then 100% and back down to 25% (idle).

Do note I have a HTPC with a 980 sitting above the case as well. Should have turned it off.
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Seriously?? :p My case at idle is pretty much the same minus the video card fans. I keep my front case fans at 50-75% and my 4 rear case fans for my radiator are always at max. The 200 MM fan even at max is whisper quiet. And I know you weren't arguing bro, but it did seem like I had to go the extra mile to validate and prove to you that I was telling the truth.

Edit...And watching your vid, it's not really the fan decibel that is loud(annoying) it's more that spooling sound that goes along with it. I thought at first it was coil whine, but it sounds like something else. Did you check to make sure your fans are spinning freely in the shroud?
 
You said you can barely hear the GPU's because your case fans are louder. I want to make sure what I was hearing was the case fans and not the GPUs since you just said it sounds the same minus the video cards. If they are quiet then it should sound the same. Which I don't think it does unless you have a loud case.
 
What is loud to you and I is purely subjective. My case fans to me are not that loud, but I would assume for you they are. I will do another quick vid with my system at idle for you. then I will crank the 980 ti's with a benchmark.

Edit. I was only able to get the fans to spool to around 65-70% but I hope you can at least get some validation and it will help you in some way. Take care skillz

https://youtu.be/CkmYMvJ4dPs
 
Video is private and just a FYI you can control the fan speed with Afterburner. I didn't have to load my system at all to increase or decrease the fan speed.
 
Sorry. Fixed now, and yeah your right. I had a brain fart. If you still want ill crank to cards to 100% so you can hear.

I just cranked the cards to 100% and they are definitely louder and audible when spooled at full power. But I haven't had them go that high was my initial point when we first started going back and fourth with this topic
 
I don't wanna bother ya about it anymore. You seem to be getting pissed about it. Thanks for your time though.
 
Since you already have watercooling setup going, why not used the money saved and put that towards some GPU waterblocks? You can even see if there are any deals on used waterblocks and save even more.
 
I spent the money on a Classified. This and this are what the extra $50 got me.
 
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