Support NeoGAF

[LiLSnorpSnorp]

Do you feel it's different tho for getting the instant rebate they offered in pre ordered? Because thats the main perk for my pre order was not paying full price.

I'm in the same boat as you, the review makes a point to the extra $30 not providing anything. I also got the pre order price and no sales tax from them in my state...so I'm sticking with it. You should too, hopefully they go out today.

 

[The Dude]

That nexus review said basically that it cools the best but is a bit louder, and others are quieter and get a little warmer.

I think I asked before, but why do so many seem to want a Strix given Asus poor customer support?

 

[The Dude]

I'm in the same boat as you, the review makes a point to the extra $30 not providing anything. I also got the pre order price and no sales tax from them in my state...so I'm sticking with it. You should too, hopefully they go out today.

Oh I am, I just wish these cock nozzles would ship it already lol but yea I'm staying the course. I've had great gaming experiences over the last number of years thanks to evga so I'm banking the same here.

 

[paskowitz]

The reason the FTW3 is warmer is because the heatsink is touching more components (although the reduced temps of those components doesn't impact performance).

Honestly, the entire GPU overclocking market is effectively dead. Buy the cheapest card with the aesthetics that suit your fancy.

 

[Xyber]

Honestly, the entire GPU overclocking market is effectively dead. Buy the cheapest card with the aesthetics that suit your fancy.

While it's a great thing for most people, it somewhat bums me out that manual overclocking barely adds anything to the performance.

I enjoy spending time trying to get the most out of my new cards.

 

[PFD]

Any difference between SC and SC2? Or is it just color

 

[Weevilone]

The reason the FTW3 is warmer is because the heatsink is touching more components (although the reduced temps of those components doesn't impact performance).

Honestly, the entire GPU overclocking market is effectively dead. Buy the cheapest card with the aesthetics that suit your fancy.

The whole fan curve thing seems lost on people. The noise and cooling balance is adjustable. People seem to want to overclock and tweak, but then complain about a card's default fan profile. If you are tweaking, you aren't even using the default fan profile.

Most of the AIO solutions are so close in noise that they are all essentially inaudible anyways. Who cares if one tests out slightly higher with a meter?

 

[Hellshingu]

That nexus review said basically that it cools the best but is a bit louder, and others are quieter and get a little warmer.

I think I asked before, but why do so many seem to want a Strix given Asus poor customer support?

Out of all the cards I've tested so far I'd rate them: Zotac>Aorus(when it worked)>Gaming X>STRIX.

This is taking into account noise, temps, coil whine, OC, etc.

The 1080ti aftermarkets are really all about the silicon lottery honestly. The STRIX would be higher but the coil whine was noticeably worse than all the other cards and the fans were louder than everyone else's when pushed.

My Zotac is getting similar/cooler temps than the FTW3 reviews on the default fan curve which is pretty much silent. With a custom curve that isn't very aggressive it sticks around 60-61.

 

[CreepingFear]

Just chiming in now that my suspension is over. Got my FTW3 on Wednesday. I've had the 670 FTW, 780 Ti Classified, 980 Ti Classified, and now 1080 Ti FTW3. The FTW3 easily feels like the highest quality out of all the cards I've owned. It's a pretty nice piece of engineering. At the pre-order instant rebate price I received from EVGA, I have no regrets. I kind of found the Gamer Nexus review silly. If you want to mark the price as a con, sure go ahead. But over engineered? That's a silly complaint. I will choose to run it at the default profile for the lower temps since I have the Define R5 quiet case, but I can easily create a fan profile curve to make it less noisy.

It was so nice to run GTA 5 last night and not worry about VRAM limitations. Doom 2016 at 4k DSR was pretty sweet as well.

Edit: I'll post my Uniengine results when I get home. I don't overclock my graphics card, although I OC my CPU. I had a bad experience back around 2005 when my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro card's fan melted to dust.

 

[Aeana]

I had to RMA my founder's edition. It was relatively painless, at least, and they gave me a label to overnight it to them. Hopefully the turnaround will be fast.

 

[The Dude]

Just chiming in now that my suspension is over. Got my FTW3 on Wednesday. I've had the 670 FTW, 780 Ti Classified, 980 Ti Classified, and now 1080 Ti FTW3. The FTW3 easily feels like the highest quality out of all the cards I've owned. It's a pretty nice piece of engineering. At the pre-order instant rebate price I received from EVGA, I have no regrets. I kind of found the Gamer Nexus review silly. If you want to mark the price as a con, sure go ahead. But over engineered? That's a silly complaint. I will choose to run it at the default profile for the lower temps since I have the Define R5 quiet case, but I can easily create a fan profile curve to make it less noisy.

It was so nice to run GTA 5 last night and not worry about VRAM limitations. Doom 2016 at 4k DSR was pretty sweet as well.

Edit: I'll post my Uniengine results when I get home. I don't overclock my graphics card, although I OC my CPU. I had a bad experience back around 2005 when my ATI Radeon 9800 Pro card's fan melted to dust.

Great to hear. I'm sure I'll be happy with it as I have all other evga gpus I've owned.

 

[DouglasteR]

you guys really should have gone founders + aio wc

My thoughts, exactly.

 

[The Dude]

https://youtu.be/YF7D4Q0HtQU

Jay seems to like it

 

[Hellshingu]

https://youtu.be/YF7D4Q0HtQU

Jay seems to like it

Just watched it. Might switch out the Zotac in my home PC if my testing results are good. Wonder what the temps are going to be in my case.

 

[Dave_6]

I really love the look of that card. I entered the giveaway but won't expect anything

 

[CreepingFear]

I really love the look of that card. I entered the giveaway but won't expect anything

Feels/Looks better in person. In some of the pics, it looks very *plasticy*.
Edit: Jayztwocents said it best about "over engineering" "I don't know if there is such a thing".

 

[BolognaOni]

I haven't scoured the internet for every scrap of FTW3 info, but I don't see where the cooling solution is worse than the other cards. In fact what I read described it as over engineered.

EVGA specifically points out that they cooler is lower profile than competitors, so it stands to reason that it would not be quite as good noise/performance. I suspect the difference is basically negligible in practice.

The over-engineered comments were specifically in regards to the VRMs I believe. On that note, as an EE I have to say that it's great that people are now looking at parts/datasheets on PCBs in teardown videos. I am not a VRM designer so it's interesting to see what parts are getting used. That said, the over-engineered label still seemed a bit presumptuous to me.

you guys really should have gone founders + aio wc

This does seem like the best option right now for me. The ease of getting the exhaust heat out of the case is pretty appealing. Other than the EVGA kit, what are some good AIO options at this point? Just chopping the shroud to put whatever on the GPU itself?

 

[rtcn63]

"Over-engineered" in this context is more like "More than you need for the premium over something that'll work fine in real-world use".

$50 more for a good air cooler (Gaming X, SC2) should be enough unless you're doing hard mods/fucking with the bios for OC purposes. Should be.

As PC builders, we all know that the extra $30 above those for the FTW3 or $50 for a hybrid kit can be put towards other upgrades or even games. But for some, $30-50 is chump change so if you really want it, why not.

 

[The Dude]

"Over-engineered" in this context is more like "More than you need for the premium over something that'll work fine in real-world use".

$50 more for a good air cooler (Gaming X, SC2) should be enough unless you're doing hard mods/fucking with the bios for OC purposes. Should be.

As PC builders, we all know that the extra $30 above those for the FTW3 or $50 for a hybrid kit can be put towards other upgrades or even games. But for some, $30-50 is chump change so if you really want it, why not.

Well for me personally when dropping 700+ I'm not concerned about 30 bucks. I've found for the most part that I'll pay the extra bit for EVGA's brand and support, but that's just me. I don't ever really look at it as that's 30 to go elsewhere or anything like that.

Long as it's a great working card that's all I care about.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I think I asked before, but why do so many seem to want a Strix given Asus poor customer support?

If the product never breaks, you don't ever need to interact with customer support.

 

[Hellshingu]

If the product never breaks, you don't ever need to interact with customer support.

Too bad I've had problems with almost every Asus product I've purchased.

 

[CreepingFear]

"Over-engineered" in this context is more like "More than you need for the premium over something that'll work fine in real-world use".

$50 more for a good air cooler (Gaming X, SC2) should be enough unless you're doing hard mods/fucking with the bios for OC purposes. Should be.

As PC builders, we all know that the extra $30 above those for the FTW3 or $50 for a hybrid kit can be put towards other upgrades or even games. But for some, $30-50 is chump change so if you really want it, why not.

With the instant rebate for the pre-order from EVGA, I paid $750 not including taxes for the FTW3, $808 with taxes.

 

[isamu]

I am interested in getting a FTW3. Are they still sold out everywhere? When do you anticipate they'll get them back in stock?

 

[The Dude]

Well they gave me free 2 day shipping, so my total is still only 749.99.

Im happy with the outcome, how the card is sweet

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

Tomorrow morning my EVGA FE will be leaving its current home for the last time, getting the EK block and backplate and going into a custom loop. Looking forward to re-doing the TIM job (love that process for some reason) and getting it up and running.

Actually, if I started now I could get remaining work done in 2-3 hours, leak test for 3-4 and, with luck, be able to power up and run a few benchmarks before I go to bed...

*looks at empty beer bottles*

...on second thought, that's a terrible idea. I'll do it tomorrow.

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

My FTW3 is running great so far. Having a few minor issues but I'm pretty sure it's more of a software problem than a hardware issue.

Trying out Precision X OC and have to say, finding it rather lacking when compared to Afterburner and RTSS.

 

[The Dude]

My FTW3 is running great so far. Having a few minor issues but I'm pretty sure it's more of a software problem than a hardware issue.

Trying out Precision X OC and have to say, finding it rather lacking when compared to Afterburner and RTSS.

What Temps you getting?

 

[LiLSnorpSnorp]

Well they gave me free 2 day shipping, so my total is still only 749.99.

Im happy with the outcome, how the card is sweet

They didn't give me 2-day shipping :|
...but it shipped

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

What Temps you getting?

Since I don't care about noise (wear headphones all the time and I run a fan basically 24/7 in this room) I have it on the "aggressive" fan profile.

I haven't had much of a chance to do a lot of gaming/benchmarking on it but in my rather warm room it was staying in the 60's.

 

[CreepingFear]

This is what I got with stock gpu settings on my FTW3.

 

[isamu]

where can I buy a FTW3?

 

[Pagusas]

where can I buy a FTW3?

No where at the moment. If you wanted one you should have preordered over a month ago.

 

[DrForester]

Price on the Gigabyte extreme on Amazon came down to $750. Noise levels is something I care a lot about and that seems the best bet. Have a few amazon trade in's processing, but I think that's the one I'm going to go for.

 

[rtcn63]

Price on the Gigabyte extreme on Amazon came down to $750. Noise levels is something I care a lot about and that seems the best bet. Have a few amazon trade in's processing, but I think that's the one I'm going to go for.

From what I've read, the Gaming X and SC2 are better cards for thermals/noise, but not hugely different in the end. Although people seem to be having more issues with the Aorus 1080ti in particular, I'd peruse reddit and the like before pulling the trigger.

 

[DrForester]

From what I've read, the Gaming X and SC2 are better cards for thermals/noise, but not hugely different in the end. Although people seem to be having more issues with the Aorus 1080ti in particular, I'd peruse reddit and the like before pulling the trigger.

I'll do more research. Trade ins need to be processed, and it won't be in stock on Amazon until the 10th. But I like the reviews I've read, and Ive had good experiences with Gigabyte cards before.

 

[PFD]

In Canada, the FTW, Strix, Aorus Xtreme and Sea Hawk are pretty much all around the same price (1100 CAD).

The Sea Hawk is clearly the better option, right?

 

[rtcn63]

The Sea Hawk is clearly the better option, right?

You might get a few FPS more than the others due to the slightly better liquid cooling, but even then, that could just be due to silicon lottery. Still, if it's not more expensive and you don't plan on keeping the card for more than 5 or so years (AIO liquid coolers have a definite lifespan IIRC).

Here's a review of the Corsair Hydro (MSI Seahawk) 1080 non-TI if that helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjiTUeqXNhE

 

[Sky Chief]

From what I've read, the Gaming X and SC2 are better cards for thermals/noise, but not hugely different in the end. Although people seem to be having more issues with the Aorus 1080ti in particular, I'd peruse reddit and the like before pulling the trigger.

Aorus is definitely better than those two for thermals and noise if you get a non defective unit

 

[Crimsonsky]

Anyone have an opinion on Zotac cards? Was thinking of pulling the trigger on the Zotac Amp Extreme 1080ti. The tweaktown review is glowing but I wonder if it isn't too glowing. Haven't owned one of their cards before and just looking for some options. It's on Newegg at the moment and seems to be in stock.

 

[rtcn63]

Aorus is definitely better than those two for thermals and noise if you get a non defective unit

You sure? The MSI seems very slightly cooler (2-4C GPU temp at most) and very slightly quieter (2db at 50-60% auto fan speed, although the Aorus edges out the MSI at 100% fan speed). But we're pretty much talking irrelevant differences when it comes to actual real-world use. http://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/2881-gigabyte-gtx-1080-ti-aorus-xtreme-review-benchmarks/page-3

 

[PFD]

You might get a few FPS more than the others due to the slightly better liquid cooling, but even then, that could just be due to silicon lottery. Still, if it's not more expensive and you don't plan on keeping the card for more than 5 or so years (AIO liquid coolers have a definite lifespan IIRC).

Here's a review of the Corsair Hydro (MSI Seahawk) 1080 non-TI if that helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjiTUeqXNhE

Interesting. I wasn't planning to keep it for more than 5 years anyway (I would sell it), but out of curiosity what happens to the cooler afterwards?

 

[Blues1990]

Is it worth to upgrade to this video card, or would I be fine with getting the 1060 (upgrading from the GTX 950)? I mostly play Overwatch & Diablo III, so I want to beef up my computer without breaking the bank.

 

[DouglasteR]

Is it worth to upgrade to this video card, or would I be fine with getting the 1060 (upgrading from the GTX 950)? I mostly play Overwatch & Diablo III, so I want to beef up my computer without breaking the bank.

OW at full full everthying at 144 fps Gsync 1080p it barelys make a sweat

When sh*t breaks loose it goes up to 83%

 

[rtcn63]

Interesting. I wasn't planning to keep it for more than 5 years anyway (I would sell it), but out of curiosity what happens to the cooler afterwards?

You lose significant cooling ability/it stops working. I think. I believe it's related to the lifespan of the pump as well as (water?) permeation, probably best to google (which I am right now to learn more, I've only watched a few videos).

 

[causan]

So what is the best cooling option for a EVGA FE?

 

[Laiza]

So I got my tax return and I'm in the market for an upgrade to my two 970s (in SLI). Tired of dealing with the intricacies of getting stuff to work with them.

I just looked up the available 1080 Ti stock and was surprised to find that they're all running for $700+. Weren't they supposed to be releasing $600-ish models at some point? I've been out of the loop for awhile so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

The 1080 Ti is the absolute lowest I can go to get an actual upgrade over my two 970s. Anything less (including a regular 1080) would just be a sidegrade. Should I just wait for the next line of cards, or will there be a price drop in the future, or what?

 

[rtcn63]

So what is the best cooling option for a EVGA FE?

Probably EVGA Hybrid kit unless you plan on doing semi/custom loop cooling. (Maybe EK Predator?)

So I got my tax return and I'm in the market for an upgrade to my two 970s (in SLI). Tired of dealing with the intricacies of getting stuff to work with them.

I just looked up the available 1080 Ti stock and was surprised to find that they're all running for $700+. Weren't they supposed to be releasing $600-ish models at some point? I've been out of the loop for awhile so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

The 1080 Ti is the absolute lowest I can go to get an actual upgrade over my two 970s. Anything less (including a regular 1080) would just be a sidegrade. Should I just wait for the next line of cards, or will there be a price drop in the future, or what?

1080ti MSRP is ~$700, with the decent AIB cards being ~$750. The 1080ti's only dropped a few months back, so I wouldn't expect a price drop soon unless AMD's upcoming Vega somehow turns out to be boss as fuck.

 

[Laiza]

I see. I must have been confusing it with the launch of the 1080 (with the higher FE price and all that).

With the going price of used 970s only cutting off about $300 off the price if I sell them... I'm gonna have to think about this. Might just end up waiting after all.

It's a shame, because the lack of SLI functionality in a lot of games I play is really getting on my nerves lately. Just not a great place to be.

 

[Shrike Alvaron]

Is anyone who has the Zotac Amp Extreme able to measure the length of the card? Zotac claims it's 325mm long, but just from looking at it it doesn't really seem to be significantly longer than the FTW3 which EVGA says is only 300mm. My Define C only has 315mm clearance for GPUs so if the Zotac is really that long it's out of the question, but I'm really thinking they're giving the wrong length here. Then there's the picture on this review that seems to put it at around 310mm...

 

[Blues1990]

OW at full full everthying at 144 fps Gsync 1080p it barelys make a sweat

When sh*t breaks loose it goes up to 83%

Are you talking about the 1060, or the 1080 Ti?