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Gtx 980 SLI

nescha89

Ok guys , I plan to buy two 980s . What I wanted to ask is if I should go with reference cards or aftermarket? I m willing to consider every option. And please include links for either reference or aftermarket cards. There are so many of them, I can't decide. Help :)

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What case are you using?

CPU: R5 5800X3D Motherboard - MSI X570 Gaming Plus RAM - 32GB Corsair DDR4 GPU - XFX 7900 XTX 4GB Case - NZXT H5 Flow (White) Storage - 2X 4TB Samsung 990 Pro PSU - Corsair RM100E Cooling - Corsair H100i Elite Capellix Keyboard Corsair K70 (Brown Switches)  Mouse - Corsair Nightsword RGB

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Case with good airflow: non reference cards.

Case with not so good airflow: reference cards.

.

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Cases like the R4 or H440 would benefit from blower style cards due to their relatively limited airflow. 

Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow; Motherboard: MSI ZZ490 Gaming Edge; CPU: i7 10700K @ 5.1GHz; Cooler: Noctua NHD15S Chromax; RAM: Corsair LPX DDR4 32GB 3200MHz; Graphics Card: Asus RTX 3080 TUF; Power: EVGA SuperNova 750G2; Storage: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB; Crucial M500 240GB & MX100 512GB; Keyboard: Logitech G710+; Mouse: Logitech G502; Headphones / Amp: HiFiMan Sundara Mayflower Objective 2; Monitor: Asus VG27AQ

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What case are you using?

Define r4, two front 140 mm intake , one rear 140mm exhaust and two 120mm on top rad exhaust
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With SLi it's always recommended to go reference, due to the fact the card's aren't dumping all the heat into the case.

Also it's much easier to buy water blocks for reference cards, if you want to go down that track.

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Define r4, two front 140 mm intake , one rear 140mm exhaust and two 120mm on top rad exhaust

Go reference.

CPU: R5 5800X3D Motherboard - MSI X570 Gaming Plus RAM - 32GB Corsair DDR4 GPU - XFX 7900 XTX 4GB Case - NZXT H5 Flow (White) Storage - 2X 4TB Samsung 990 Pro PSU - Corsair RM100E Cooling - Corsair H100i Elite Capellix Keyboard Corsair K70 (Brown Switches)  Mouse - Corsair Nightsword RGB

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If money isn't a huge issue for you, buy a couple of reference cards and throw some Kraken G10 brackets on them so you can attach an AIO water cooler.

To be honest, it's actually not a huge investment for the bracket and a cooler. A cheap(er) reference card plus G10 and cooler could potentially be only a little bit more expensive than a high-end after market card.

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Problem with the Kraken G10 is VRM cooling, and with the GTX980 no one officially knows what the VRM's run at because we can't monitor them with software.

Yes you can stick 3rd part heat sinks on them, but then you risk damaging the chips if you need to remove them for RMA.

 

I'm sitting here waiting for a solution myself, got a G10 and a Kraken x60 itching to go onto my GTX980...lol

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I have an NZXT switch 810 case which has great air flow. 2 Galaxy 780 HOFs in SLI made the whole case hot. The Galaxy HOFs were 2 slot cards but took up the space of 3 which made them difficult to space out, even in the Switch 810. It really depends on which custom card you're looking at. I went with 2 980 reference cards this time around. I think it's a huge improvement over the frankenstein HOFs.

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What motherboard? It is important to know where the cards will be in relation to each other.

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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What motherboard? It is important to know where the cards will be in relation to each other.

GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK
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I have an NZXT switch 810 case which has great air flow. 2 Galaxy 780 HOFs in SLI made the whole case hot. The Galaxy HOFs were 2 slot cards but took up the space of 3 which made them difficult to space out, even in the Switch 810. It really depends on which custom card you're looking at. I went with 2 980 reference cards this time around. I think it's a huge improvement over the frankenstein HOFs.

Im going with reference too. Curious just how noisy is the fan on reference ones?
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GA-Z97X-UD5H-BK

That board will have an empty slot between the two GPU's. So I would say that you can use an aftermarket cooler with how your case is set up. 

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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That board will have an empty slot between the two GPU's. So I would say that you can use an aftermarket cooler with how your case is set up.

Well, now I don't know what to do. I didn't order them yet. I planned to get two reference cards and overclock them myself but now I'm thinking about gigabyte g1 too. I'm really stuck here.
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Well, now I don't know what to do. I didn't order them yet. I planned to get two reference cards and overclock them myself but now I'm thinking about gigabyte g1 too. I'm really stuck here.

Both are great options. Personally I would go with the Gigabyte option, but it will result in higher case temps. If that concerns you too much, get a pair of reference cards :)

CPU: i9-13900k MOBO: Asus Strix Z790-E RAM: 64GB GSkill  CPU Cooler: Corsair H170i

GPU: Asus Strix RTX-4090 Case: Fractal Torrent PSU: Corsair HX-1000i Storage: 2TB Samsung 990 Pro

 

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