Thanks for this piece of advice. How does a standard radiator GPU perform? After doing hours of research everyone seems to have their own opinion. Most of those are that blower style GPUs could potentially be a better fit. On the other hand, you are right about the prices and custom GPUs do perform a better value. I`m gonna watch out for a Gtx 1080ti custom with a blower style fan... this may be the conclusion.
You're welcome to do as you decide is best, but I'll just throw a couple points out there:
1) When nvidia first released the Founders' Edition 1070 and 1080, they were $100 (USD) more expensive than the aftermarket options, and in most cases, the custom, open-air coolers performed much better.
The Founders' Edition 1070s and 1080s are now cheap as heck. In fact, a FE 1070 is the fourth cheapest 1070 you can possibly buy, and is only $20 more than the dirt cheapest (which is a 'mini' board with poor cooling.)
2) The 1080ti Founders' Edition is exactly the same price as all the aftermarket cards.
3) While open-air coolers usually perform better than blower coolers, that's if they're in a large case with a lot of airflow.
In a small-form-factor case that doesn't pack additional fans, all they will do is recirculate hot air, leading to higher CPU temps but very, very little decrease in GPU temps.
4) I'm sorry, but waiting for another company to slap a blower-style cooler on a 1080ti is a terrible idea. First, the FE card is already one of the most affordable.
Second, Nvidia put a TON of time and engineering into the FE coolers; they run far quieter and perform WAY better than reference cards ever did in the past.
By waiting for another company to put a blower style cooler on a 1080ti (which is probably unlikely anyways), all you'd be doing is saving about $20 (on a $700 card) to get a way noisier cooler that doesn't perform as well.
So, to wrap it up... Good for you for doing your own research. That's the kind of drive you need to work with small-form-factor computers. Unfortunately, a lot of that research comes from either before Nvidia reworked their reference design to be what it is now, or from when Pascal was first released, when FE cards really were poor value.
Last edited: