Jackson

Very true. I use Pihole in combination with browser extensions for total ad blocking.

The primary reason I have an android phone is for the removable battery, sd card slot, headphone jack, and ease of repair (LG V20). Secondary reason is a dislike of Apple's ecosystem. I personally could care less about water proof and IPxx ratings. I've had a cell phone before android and iphone existed and have yet to damage my phone with water. I've had my fair share of exposure to rain as well, no issues.
 
There's obviously a market for IP rated devices as that seems to have completely taken over, but I think the trade off of sealed devices without easily replaceable batteries is higher than most people realize. The #1 complaint I hear from people with a high end phone after a year or so is that the battery just doesn't last like it used to. This in turn can lead to issues like the phone not performing as great a year or so down the line. Case in point with the Apple battery throttling "scandal". The best thing that then happens is the user gets the urge to "upgrade" their device considerably earlier than they might have with a non-degraded battery. I am not saying this happens to all new devices, but it does seem fairly commonly reported. The counter to this might be that you can actually still replace batteries in newer phones; however, this often voids the IP seal and eliminates the whole point of buying a phone with that rating in the first place. It's also a much more involved process that typically requires a heat gun or hair dryer with non-user-friendly adhesives. Also, phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5 were IP67 rated and had removable batteries. With new flagships coming out annually, I think from a business perspective, it didn't make much sense anymore for manufacturers like LG and Samsung to promote long term usage of their own products. Just encourage customers to buy another.
 
Another aspect for me is local storage. With a phone like the LG V20, listening to high quality audio files is a fairly good experience especially paired with something like PowerAmp. I'd rather store my music, and anything else locally than have to depend on cloud storage. High quality photos and video can also eat up storage quickly. The option for SD card expansion makes this a non-issue.
 
It's fairly well known that bluetooth audio devices have yet to catch up to their wired counterparts as far as audio quality is concerned. I don't consider myself an audio snob by any means, but I can definitely tell the difference between a "high end" bluetooth headphone, and a wired headphone at the same price point. I'm all for choice, keep the headphone jack, and bluetooth. Let the user decide. Don't force them to use some adapter or dongle when there's no substantial evidence that's been provided to support the removal of the headphone jack.
 
Lastly, ease of repair goes a long way to a lasting device, but as I pointed out with the battery, this also could translate to less sales of new devices. Why make a phone easily repairable by the customer when you might encourage another sale of your latest device? The LG V20 and G5 for that matter are great examples of an easily user-repairable phone. Just a few screws and you can access every main component of the device. I think the LMG experience with the iMac Pro and Louis Rossman's ongoing relationship with Apple highlight Apple's lack of repair options quite well.
 
 
 
 

I just replayed Dead Space 1 and despite its slightly aged graphics the game still holds up very well. It has an atmosphere and story to it that just keeps pulling you back in despite the fear of when you're about to get jumped around the corner. It's too bad that the direction of the series went more action/mainstream vs the original solo horror. There's a cool video featuring one of the Dead Space creators, Glen Schofield that really shows the passion they put into making the first game. If that original team had been able to pursue what they wanted without interference we might have a Dead Space 4 by now, or have had a better Dead Space 3.
 
 

I'd really like to see Dead Space 4

If you check "The bandwidth Issue" of this guide it's stated that there are in fact issues with x8/x8 vs x16/x16 and even x16/x8 in some games. 
There's also this video here that's linked in the same guide:
I think too few people actually own an SLI setup and perpetuate that x8 pcie 3.0 won't be saturated when outside tests seem to show otherwise.

I'm seeing price drops for all 3:
DTW1 $999.00 (From $1199) DTW2 $1499.00 (From $1899) DTW3 $1699.00 (From $2099)

This can't be true, everyone's been telling me the GTX 2080 Ti is the Titan replacement ?

I still have my LG V20. Works like a champ and I use multiple batteries often with no intention of upgrading anytime soon. I know people like me are in the minority now, but I could care less about waterproofing and "seamless" designs. Almost everyone puts their slick expensive phone in a decent case anyway so the design of phones is just pure marketing. The V20 is a great example (from a design standpoint) of a phone that can look nice and have a removable battery.

Like most people are saying I would try to wait for the 2000 series launch, however if you can't then I'd take a look at some benchmarks. 1440p gives the 1080 Ti a decent boost over the 1080, but it depends on what settings you like to play with. If you're all about max settings, anti-aliasing, and other fancy bells and whistles then perhaps the 1080 Ti would be a better choice. If you can settle with lower or no anti aliasing (for newer games) and playing a good amount of games mostly maxed out with some that might have to have some tweaks, then the 1080 should do just fine at 1440p.
 
Really your best bet is to take a look at the specific games you're looking to play. Plenty of gameplay videos on youtube, and you can checkout reviews of the 1080 Ti since the 1080 is most likely going to be shown as well.
 
You could also check for used 1080 Ti's that are still under warranty and might find a significant discount. Not sure about your area, but in the US used 1080 Ti's are selling for as low as $520 USD.

Again. Best Buy is not going to charge $200. They would be the fools. They are merchant members with the credit card companies, and as part of their contracts with said companies, if a buyer disputes the charge due to proven false advertising, Best Buy will have to issue a refund. It's that simple. This does NOT mean that people will be able to get away with $200 gift cards for $15. It simply means Best Buy can't charge $200 for something advertised as $15.

Again. Best Buy is not going to charge $200. They would be the fools. They are merchant members with the credit card companies, and as part of their contracts with said companies, if a buyer disputes the charge due to proven false advertising, Best Buy will have to issue a refund. It's that simple. This does NOT mean that people will be able to get away with $200 gift cards for $15. It simply means Best Buy can't charge $200 for something advertised as $15.

It looks like you're right, I found a few articles stating that the display is 75Hz. I did notice an interesting development today concerning mobile G-Sync. Asus just released a new BIOS for the G751JT with the following information:
 
Description BIOS 207 Support G-sync function.
 
Unfortunately, it looks like people on the Asus forums are reporting that no G-Sync option has become available since updating, but it sure looks like it should. You can check it out yourself at the Asus support page: 
http://support.asus.com/Download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=G751JT&p=3&s=719 

Does the G751 have a 75Hz refresh rate by default? I couldn't find an official spec sheet listing it. Also, there's quite a stir going on at the Asus forums for current G751 owners. If you want, you can have a look at this 13 page petition thread to bring G-Sync to current G751 laptops.
 
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?61983-PETITION-ASUS-please-allow-G-SYNC-support-on-existing-G751-s! 

Mass Effect 1 at 6k bi-cubic downsamle with M.E.U.I.T.M mod and Gedosato. Plays like butter. Mod is seamless. Changed minimum texture settings in the bioengine.ini and shadow settings (can be done with notepad on first game). Located in x:\Users\xxx\Documents\BioWare\Mass Effect\Config (You have to run the game for it to appear). Ini changes further down.
 
Used large address aware on the masseffect.exe before installation.
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/attachment.php?s=c8cee3b4b64c5e6db630775da1b15062&attachmentid=34392&d=1269231650
 
Downloaded the mod all in one package. Here.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/mass-effect-1-new-texture-updatesimprovements-mod/downloads/meuitm-torrent-link
 
After patching the masseffect.exe with the memory address program, and changing the ini, Installed it, with his installer (which is idiot proof, after you have used large address aware and edited the ini). Works like a charm. Playing through the series again, and I love whoever made this mod. It is like a new game. The ini changes in make every NPC in game use cutscene texture quality. Highly suggest people use this mod, even if they aren't downsampling. Game looks SOO much better and may be the most quality, seamless mod I have ever seen in a game. No long boot time, install was fairly easy. 
 
Ini changes. Us F3 (search) in notepad to find them. You are just going to be changing min, max or value, not entering new lines so this looks harder than it is.
 
TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Diff=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=0) TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Norm=(MinLODSize=512,MaxLODSize=512,LODBias=0) TEXTUREGROUP_Character_Spec=(MinLODSize=256,MaxLODSize=256,LODBias=0)   [TextureLODSettings] //TEXTUREGROUP_Character=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize =4096,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_CharacterNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1024,M axLODSize=4096,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_Effects=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=4 096,LODBias=0) TEXTUREGROUP_LightAndShadowMap=(MinLODSize=1024,Ma xLODSize=4096,LODBias=0) TEXTUREGROUP_RenderTarget=(MinLODSize=8,MaxLODSize =4096,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_Skybox=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_UI=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=4096,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_Vehicle=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=4 096,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_VehicleNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1024,Max LODSize=4096,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_Weapon=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxLODSize=40 96,LODBias=0) //TEXTUREGROUP_WeaponNormalMap=(MinLODSize=1024,MaxL ODSize=4096,LODBias=0)   ShadowFilterRadius=5.000000
DepthBias=0.006000
MinShadowResolution=32
MaxShadowResolution=4096   save in notepad.  
 

That card right now actually has a $20 off promo code and a $30 rebate making it $269.99 and $5.01 under your budget for a well reviewed non-reference 290x. If I was looking for a 290x I would jump all over this. I glanced through some reviews for this card on other tech sites and it seems to be highly recommended, so you wouldn't go wrong with it. Since you're debating whether or not to wait, that all depends on how badly you want an upgrade right now. I've seen rumors of new cards being announced anywhere from March to May, and take that with a grain of salt because those are just rumors. I do think AMD's cards will be out "soon" as I think they'd be foolish to not release something with all the negative attention Nvidia has been dealing with lately, but of course, that's just my opinion. Good luck!