Evga GTX 1080 Classified. Is the performance boost worth losing the looks of the Founders Edition?

Armenius said:
the better power delivery in AIB cards results in a more stable Boost clock, if not a better overclock. A sustainable Boost is reason enough to skip the reference card, in my opinion.
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I haven't seen any testing to substantiate that. In fact to the contrary, I've seen multiple tests with the reference blower at 100% to negate temperature being an issue with rock-solid 2Ghz performance. It is very loud at that level though.

Until we start seeing people sustaining >2.1Ghz, there is no real reason to get anything other than the reference PCB with a nice AIB cooler to keep the noise down. Again, I pre-purchased an EVGA FTW myself, so I hope that's wrong-- there just isn't enough data yet.
 
I am not disagreeing with the benefits of "beefed up" cards versus reference - but we are in a unique position this generation. If NVIDIA had not priced the reference "Founders Edition" card at +$100 over MSRP we would be in a much stronger position to say this card is the best. Because, really - all that extra money for "beefed up" cards results in very little gain. The money is always better spent on a upgrade (i.e. 980 to 980 Ti) or a 2nd card versus a singular, better version of a card (i.e. 980 reference to 980 Classified).

schizo said:
I haven't seen any testing to substantiate that. In fact to the contrary, I've seen multiple tests with the reference blower at 100% to negate temperature being an issue with rock-solid 2Ghz performance. It is very loud at that level though.

Until we start seeing people sustaining >2.1Ghz, there is no real reason to get anything other than the reference PCB with a nice AIB cooler to keep the noise down.
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This is another good point. People are making assumptions based on the past and based on photos. Although we all know they are pretty likely to come to fruition - we have not seen reviews or used the cards, yet.
 
I'd opt for an EVGA hybrid 1080 if I was going to get one simply for the fact that it will keep the core cool and that will be enough to reach 2050-2100 stable w/the thing. The other AIB cards w/extra phases, fancy RGB lights, 3 fan coolers aren't doing shit. To drive the point home even further, my Titan X's are reference PCB and they both reach 1520 MHz+ stable which is just as good or better than most AIB 980 Ti.
 
sk3tch said:
I am not disagreeing with the benefits of "beefed up" cards versus reference - but we are in a unique position this generation. If NVIDIA had not priced the reference "Founders Edition" card at +$100 over MSRP we would be in a much stronger position to say this card is the best. Because, really - all that extra money for "beefed up" cards results in very little gain. The money is always better spent on a upgrade (i.e. 980 to 980 Ti) or a 2nd card versus a singular, better version of a card (i.e. 980 reference to 980 Classified).



This is another good point. People are making assumptions based on the past and based on photos. Although we all know they are pretty likely to come to fruition - we have not seen reviews or used the cards, yet.
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This is really the best stance to take at this point: wait for reviews to come in and benchmarks to be posted. Anything else is speculation and rumormongering. I'll probably grab a EVGA FTW myself, but that's only because I'm betting on it being better, in some way, than the FE/Reference
 
5150Joker said:
I'd opt for an EVGA hybrid 1080 if I was going to get one simply for the fact that it will keep the core cool and that will be enough to reach 2050-2100 stable w/the thing. The other AIB cards w/extra phases, fancy RGB lights, 3 fan coolers aren't doing shit. To drive the point home even further, my Titan X's are reference PCB and they both reach 1520 MHz+ stable which is just as good or better than most AIB 980 Ti.
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Exactly. People are in here talking about NVIDIA hardware like it is eMachines or something. This is not cheap stuff.
 
sk3tch said:
Exactly. People are in here talking about NVIDIA hardware like it is eMachines or something. This is not cheap stuff.
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The FE is as understated as any nVidia reference GPU has ever been - including the cooler - and that has, in fact, been it's biggest criticism.

Some folks like bling and fancy feature stats; I get that, too.

Me? I remember "street sleepers" and unassuming GPUs and graphics cards in the pre-GPU era that looked dull as dishwater yet took few (or no) prisoners - as well as overly-fancy reference cards that were the butt of jokes.

Rather amusingly, it was years prior to ATI Technologies being acquired by AMD - or nVidia acquiring what was left of STB - or did we forget about the "dustbuster" nVidia FX 5200 reference design vs. ATI's R1xx - and the R2xx and R3xx that were the followups?

ATI's reference designs were dull as dishwater - and this was especially true of the AIWs; thing is, those dull-as-dishwater reference designs held up. Out of the seven AIWs I owned throughout that run, I passed down (as in gave away) six - the seventh (and last) I still have - and it still works. (In fact, like the seventh - the other six lasted longer than the rest of the PCs they went into - not one failed.) Segue to today, and the darn-near-as-dull Fermi reference-design GTX550Ti; in fact, other than the PCB underneath, it could not be told from any other Fermi GPU with the same reference cooler. I didn't buy it new - it was a factory-refurb. (That means it made review rounds, trade-show rounds, etc., before going back to nVidia or Flextronics for a a complete overhaul back to the factory specs it had when it was first uncrated - then sold to the reseller - MicroCenter in this particular case - who then shipped it via UPS to the Rockville, MD location where I would buy it.) However, like all those factory-reference ATI cards, it has held up. (And held up.) Difficulty or hardware issues are NOT why I'm looking to give it a gold box and shelve it - it will be a backup in case the replacement fails - the fact that it has held up as well as it has is why I'm not looking that hard @ AMD GPUs; I have to have a sane reason - or option - to do that, and until RX 480 proves otherwise, it isn't there.
 
5150Joker said:
Based on AIB cards not crossing 2100 MHz despite all the extra phases and cooling, I'd say no, you're just fine with the Founders Edition. There seems to be a physical barrier to crossing 1.25v for Pascal and no amount of modding (bios or hardware) it seems will overcome it.
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Which AIB cards? The only one I have seen tested is the Asus Strix.
 
rinaldo00 said:
Which AIB cards? The only one I have seen tested is the Asus Strix.
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Guru3d did a review of the MSI Gaming GTX 1080 a day or two ago and were able to get ~80Mhz overclock out of it to bring it up to 1789Mhz, and a boost clock to 1955 - but keep in mind that the MSI is already clocked above the FE by ~100Mhz. Still not quite the 2100 we all hoped for.
 
Krixon said:
Guru3d did a review of the MSI Gaming GTX 1080 a day or two ago and were able to get ~80Mhz overclock out of it to bring it up to 1789Mhz, and a boost clock to 1955 - but keep in mind that the MSI is already clocked above the FE by ~100Mhz. Still not quite the 2100 we all hoped for.
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So people are getting the vapors over 2 reviews.
 
rinaldo00 said:
So people are getting the vapors over 2 reviews.
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Some are, but the best course is still to wait until there are more reviews. Still, I would be surprised if we see an AIB card released in the next 4 weeks that remains stable at 2100Mhz. There are too many limiting factors that AIB partners will need to work out. Maybe a Kingpin later this summer, or even the Classified depending on how long it is delayed for.
 
sk3tch said:
Exactly. People are in here talking about NVIDIA hardware like it is eMachines or something. This is not cheap stuff.
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NVIDIA could definitely improve power delivery + cooling on their reference designs but for what they design, it's usually more than enough to get a good overclock out of them
rinaldo00 said:
So people are getting the vapors over 2 reviews.
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Read the posts from der8aur or whatever. AIB won't fix anything.
 
{NG}Fidel said:
The photos of the bare PCB that show the components on the cards...
OP here you go.
Comparison of custom GeForce GTX 1080 PCBs | VideoCardz.com
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Jesus, that ZOTAC GTX 1080 PGF (16+3 phases)........... When it comes to power phases, more is only better if the quality isn't equal. Having said that I think it's fair to say that for the most part, those AIB cards are better built than the reference design. In some cases, by a long shot. At least from what I could tell by the pictures.
 
sk3tch said:
It's just bad advice. Don't worry about it.

There is no proof that the FE card is inferior. The Classifed/Lightning/etc. cards are not even out yet. So even that is merely speculation. Well it is likely they will be better in some ways (cooling, power phases, etc.) - there is absolutely no truth to reliability issues. In fact, if anything, reference NVIDIA boards are less likely to be affected by minor things like coil whine, etc. that can affect the third-party aftermarket boards.

They all have warranties - so if you should have issues you are covered.
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You were saying?
 
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Dan_D said:
You were saying?
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This is with stock fan profiles. If you jump up the profile so the fan is running between 60-70% it's fine. I run my all day long without any throttling to note, maybe 30mhz from max boost. The FE is loud because it is a blower yes, but it is much quieter in my experience than past blowers. If you are buying the AIB cards to achieve high overclocks, higher than FE cards, you are wasting your time. The only reason to buy an AIB card is lower temps on stock fan profile and quieter cooling. FE cards are for people who run SLI like myself. To many sources saying this early that there isn't anything you can do to improve overclocks. Seems to be an issue with FinFET transistors and how delicate they are to voltage increases.
 
Dan_D said:
You were saying?
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I was saying. I stand by that statement. It was made in the past, now there is some proof showing the MSI card is better in some cases.

EDIT: i will add - pretty click bait-y title. I have no idea what is up with their FE card, but mine does not suffer from spikes like that nor does it ever run that low in speed.

Here's me playing Ark with NO OC (just 100% core voltage in MSI Afterburner plus a fan curve) - nearly 1900 Mhz - and check out the temps: 63C.


[click to enlarge]

Here are my Afterburner settings:

afterburner_ark.png
 
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Every AIB cooler I've seen reviewed so far (EVGA, Asus, and now MSI) is sufficient to maintain 2Ghz without throttling at totally acceptable noise levels. The reference blower can do it too, but it'll be a bit noisy.

So far that's the only advantage of AIB cards-- quieter cooling. They don't hit higher clocks. We thought that was due to lacking a second power connector, but it looks like it may be a hard-locked voltage at fault. Still too early to come to a conclusion, but it ain't looking great.
 
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As others have pointed out, we are in a unique situation. Normally I can crank up the fan profile and achieve the same results as you can with any other factory overclocked card that doesn't deviate too much from the reference design. In the past I have never felt that non-reference coolers or factory overclocks were worth the price of admission. I also tend to buy very close to the earlier part of the product life cycle. I hate waiting months for non-reference cards that I might have to pay more for. I feel the gains are too little and the price too high to bother. In this case the Founder's Edition cards are $100 more expensive than the base MSRP of AIB partner cards. That's ludicrous considering that it's a reference design. If the FE cards were priced at MSRP or below it, I'd be all over a pair of them more than likely. However, it doesn't make sense to go that route when I'm essentially paying more money or the same money for clearly inferior VRMs and cooling. No thanks. I'll wait.
 
Since it looks like AIB cards won't overclock better than the reference, knowing what I do now if the reference had been priced at $599 buying one would have been the right thing to do.

But they're charging an extra $100 for the reference, and historically AIB cards always clocked much better at much lower temperatures. There was no way to predict it. The whole thing is unprecedented.
 
lDreaml said:
08G-P4-6180-KR_XL_4.jpg


Honestly? Because that thing looks like the lamborghini of gpus. But I'll think it over now at the very least. Since I won't be overclocking and since I'm running on air cooled the classified seems like the smarter choice all around. It's just the FE is so damn sexy.
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Cutestory but once you mount the card in most cases...you never see that visually pleasing image...
 
TheMadHatterXxX said:
Cutestory but once you mount the card in most cases...you never see that visually pleasing image...
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Depends on the case. XD

I used to have my motherboards upside down, so the GPUs would be seen. (and it allowed for a cleaner looking watercooling loop)
 
My Evga F.E.s in sli will sit at 2120 on the core and dip occasionally, they are generally only in the 65c range with the Fan profile setup in Evga precision. I still need to push them and figure out the max overclock on the ram and the core. Mind is blown how great these are running g on a 2600k @ 3440x1440. I can't wait to complete my 6850k build next week to give them a much needed upgrade.
 
Not to necro this but my if anyone can estimate what the difference in terms of fps on say a game like Ark or Rainbow Six would be with the supposed 2.1ghz over what the FE card would offer. Just a guess. Anyone have any idea?
 
Everything I've read to date says the reference card can oc just as good as any of the other iterations with the loss of a little cooling. This just made my choice a headache. damn it.
 
So now that we know everything there is to know about the classified card... Can you guys weigh in on this.
 
Everything overclocks the same. the only differences are warranty, and cooling performance along side of noise. nothing else really matters. if the fan can keep it under 70C when and quiet it wont throttle too much.

I seen the highest price tag not go over 2050mhz and the non OC, no special phases, 1 8 pin go to 2170mhz. anything else but the cooler really does not matter.
 
lDreaml said:
So now that we know everything there is to know about the classified card... Can you guys weigh in on this.
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The STRIX OC has a higher advertised Boost clock than the Classy for $50 USD less. You could get the standard STRIX for $100 less than the Classy and flash the OC BIOS on it to get the same clock speeds. The FTW is the same OOBE as the Classy going by the numbers, and is $70 less.

The Classy still has to deal with the strict power restrictions, so I wouldn't expect it to do any better than any other card on the market. That $50 price premium over other cards in the segment isn't justified. I'd wait for the reviews to know for sure, though.
 
I didn't bother reading the posts in this thread. Don't buy a 1080 classified. In fact, don't buy any 1080 that carries a big premium. They all perform the same, go for evga if you want the good customer support, otherwise get the cheapest 1080 with a decent cooler you can find. Zotac amp are cheap here, don't even bother spending more for the factory OC version
 
If you can keep these cards at or under 50c then maybe you can hold 2150 ~ 2200 with no or minimal throttling... which means watercooling. Not sure the extra power delivery will help as it seems like people with water cooled FE cards can hold 2150 with a full cover block - dep on the lottery. Seems like any air cooled solution is going to run between 2100 and 2000 on average. My FE runs between 2000 and 2068 running TW3 @ 4k which is one of those torture test games on the gpu. So I am pretty happy with that.

All that said I am interested to see how custom bioses might change the game with the AIB cards and that coupled with watercooling too. It could be interesting.
 
Krixon said:
Guru3d did a review of the MSI Gaming GTX 1080 a day or two ago and were able to get ~80Mhz overclock out of it to bring it up to 1789Mhz, and a boost clock to 1955 - but keep in mind that the MSI is already clocked above the FE by ~100Mhz. Still not quite the 2100 we all hoped for.
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I've got a friend who just received his FTW. His boost was 2113Mhz. Not too shabby. Wonder if the Classified will be faster still. I'm getting 2063Mhz in oc mode during heaven with my Strix 1080.
 
Overclock is about the same. The classified will be a lot cooler/quieter than the FE. Your choice.
 
Ieldra said:
...don't buy any 1080 that carries a big premium. They all perform the same, go for evga if you want the good customer support, otherwise get the cheapest 1080 with a decent cooler you can find.
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/thread
 
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