sk3tch

2[H]4U
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The dust has long settled - which 980 Ti is best? Possibly looking to pick one up for a secondary box...

- Galax HOF 980 Ti
- ASUS Strix 980 Ti
- EVGA Kingpin 980 Ti
- Gigabyte 980 Ti Extreme
- MSI Lightning 980 Ti

Any that I missed?
 
Out of the ones you listed the Lightning and Gigabyte are probably the best, but you really couldn't go wrong with any of them. The STRIX probably wouldn't be able to hang with the others, but It would be a small difference.

Are 1070s still going for insane prices?
 
Yes - just sold mine. :) Just wanting to get a 980 Ti for fun - but it looks like they are affected by the mining craze too (due to 1070s being unavailable at a decent price) and they're going for nearly $400 used on the regular. Saw a HOF 980 Ti go for $250 via auction that I missed so I am pissed at myself.
 
The dust has long settled - which 980 Ti is best? Possibly looking to pick one up for a secondary box...

- Galax HOF 980 Ti
- ASUS Strix 980 Ti
- EVGA Kingpin 980 Ti
- Gigabyte 980 Ti Extreme
- MSI Lightning 980 Ti

Any that I missed?

Yes -- Zotac GTX 980 Ti AMP Extreme! (2nd highest base overclock out of all the custom GTX 980 Ti cards) -- I had one for a number of months.
 
I'd recommend you to stay away from the Evga, my personal preference would be a Palit Super JetStream, but the Gigabyte is great too.
 
Why would you stay away from EVGA?
I have a SuperClocked+ ACX 2.0+ and the cooler is sub-par to say the least in this generation, even tough it has an asic of 82% and it boosts to 1300+ natively, the cooler just can't cope without being noisy as fk. I wanted to get the Palit but i couldn't, i knew this one was worse from the start and my time with it just confirmed it.
 
I'd add the EVGA Classified 980 Ti to the list. The Kingpin was targeted a bit more towards the crazy LNO2 benching crowd.
 
I have a SuperClocked+ ACX 2.0+ and the cooler is sub-par to say the least in this generation, even tough it has an asic of 82% and it boosts to 1300+ natively, the cooler just can't cope without being noisy as fk. I wanted to get the Palit but i couldn't, i knew this one was worse from the start and my time with it just confirmed it.
I had the same card and agree it was too loud when pushed hard.
I fitted an Accelero Xtreme IV cooler which let it clock a bit higher and made it silent.
 
I just sold my 980ti for 300. Thier out there.

I'm getting an Asus 1080ti Poseidon or however you spell it. I'll run water on it once I get threadripper built. Until then air.
 
I had the Gigabyte and it was really damn noisy. Send it back, got a MSI card, mounted an AIO cooler on it and have been happy with it ever since. The stock cooler was fine though, reasonably quiet and performed well. Will upgrade when Volta gets released.

Overall you are unlikely to find that much difference in performance between any of the AIB cards but bigger differences in noise.
 
yes, and cooling.

I owned a G1 gigabyte, wouldnt clock much past 1450.

From what Ive heard, Zotac amp extreme is the way to go ! highest clocks IIRC on any 980ti save maybe kingpin/classy
 
the Lightning is the best, period. that model has consistently been the best every generation since it was introduced. best fan noise, best temperatures. unfortunately it has also consistently been the most expensive.

all cards are subject to silicon lottery and the vast majority max out around 1500 MHz on the core so buying based on anecdotal evidence for certain cards being able to clock more is a foolish effort.

AIO cooled cards are interesting (i own one) but my experience so far with these coolers has been less than stellar; both my 980 Ti Hybrid and H100i suffer(ed) from pump noise. the air coolers available are so good that it makes these liquid ones pointless for the majority of applications in my opinion.
 
I have a 980 Ti Hybrid, from EVGA but got the luck of the draw and it does 1600+.

If I were to do it again I'd buy a lightning.

FYI - if you ever want to water cool outside of an AIO I'd highly recommend getting a card with a reference design.
 
AIO cooled cards are interesting (i own one) but my experience so far with these coolers has been less than stellar; both my 980 Ti Hybrid and H100i suffer(ed) from pump noise. the air coolers available are so good that it makes these liquid ones pointless for the majority of applications in my opinion.

My MSI 980 Ti with a Corsair H55 installed has had no issues with pump noise. I believe on some pump models it can be solved by simply lowering the speed of the pump a tiny bit. It's pretty nice to have a near-silent GPU but it doesn't overclock much more than air cooled ones, mine tops around 1500 MHz despite no temperature issues.
 
I have a 980 Ti Hybrid, from EVGA but got the luck of the draw and it does 1600+.

What kind of base and memory clock settings do you use? What temps do you have on load and how noisy is it (as in do you run fans at high RPM for performance over noise)?
 
What kind of base and memory clock settings do you use? What temps do you have on load and how noisy is it (as in do you run fans at high RPM for performance over noise)?

I don't remember the base. It's +150, but I keep it under 70c to hit turbo boost. I keep my intake fans between 30-70% (2k RPM noctua ippc fans) trend based, and the fan on the radiator higher. I also modded to a 140 AIO which was tricky but doable. Had to swap cold plates and whatnot.
 
My MSI 980 Ti with a Corsair H55 installed has had no issues with pump noise. I believe on some pump models it can be solved by simply lowering the speed of the pump a tiny bit. It's pretty nice to have a near-silent GPU but it doesn't overclock much more than air cooled ones, mine tops around 1500 MHz despite no temperature issues.
anecdotes... the point is that pump noise is a potential issue that you cannot guarantee you'll avoid unless you buy an air cooled card.
 
I found that OC 980ti didnt make a lick of a difference. But theb1080ti OC makes big gains.
 
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