Custom cooled GTX 1080 spotted

[Lethal Seraph]

WTH GALAX? Where's my Hall of Fame design?

[M4st4M1nd]

This is actually a great option if you want to paint your own design.

[ApolloFury]

It looks better than ASUS' owl design Strix atleast.

[Castdeath97]

Well......meh.

[Prysin]

8 hours ago, Bensemus said:

I don't think it looks that bad. Back plate would be really nice but it's not glossy or tacky, just plain. That would work for people with no window or who just want performance. 

honestly, it has the appeal of matte black painted trucks. Most people find them silly, one in a few thinks it is the most badass thing ever

[Prysin]

1 hour ago, ApolloFury said:

It looks better than ASUS' owl design Strix atleast.

everything looks better then STRIX cards. They are just overpriced and fat. Not to mention the colorscheme doesnt match a single case found on the market due to their "orange" being too far towards red then orange.

[GoodBytes]

As I expected, THIS is the reference design. Basically the plastic cheapo blower fan.

Founder Edition is the nice one.

I expect custom cooler to be in between or the price of the founder edition, depending on the cooler option you pick.

[ApolloFury]

1 hour ago, Prysin said:

everything looks better then STRIX cards. They are just overpriced and fat. Not to mention the colorscheme doesnt match a single case found on the market due to their "orange" being too far towards red then orange.

I am also talking about the small one which looks so cheap, tacky and gamer-esque.

Like seriously what is with those irregular lines and holes.

[papeles]

From my own experience, blower coolers, when well implemented, work pretty well when you have a small case with like, huge air intake straight to the GPU area.

 

Still, I kinda think that it is a little bit ugly, but not a big deal when you have a closed case without a window.

[Prysin]

1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

As I expected, THIS is the reference design. Basically the plastic cheapo blower fan.

Founder Edition is the nice one.

I expect custom cooler to be in between or the price of the founder edition, depending on the cooler option you pick.

no, this is the founders edition before Nvidia painted it

[i_build_nanosuits]

2 hours ago, Prysin said:

everything looks better then STRIX cards.

hey! watch your mouth!!

My 980ti strix looks amazing with the sexy backplate and the lighting and stuff...i think it's certainly one of the good looking graphics cards out there..you should see it in my system with case lighting and stuff it looks really good.

 

i hope Asus won't go back to ugly looking cards for the next gen...cause i have to agree the 970 strix and stuff...i doesn't look very good IMHO.

[unsubscribed]

10 hours ago, GreezyJeezy said:

if you show off at events dont get it, if you have your pc on your desk or floor and never look at it, cheaper is better

I completely disagree with anyone thinking this card looks ok. It looks cheap and design is simply outdated. They really could do better with a piece of plastic (and preferably better quality one by the looks of it).

Just because it might end up in a closed case it does not mean the design is allowed to be sloppy. No matter where you stick your PC case it does not hurt to have it all nice and tidy inside. And when you are paying that kind of money for the product it better feel like you spent it right.

[unsubscribed]

1 hour ago, ApolloFury said:

I am also talking about the small one which looks so cheap, tacky and gamer-esque.

Like seriously what is with those irregular lines and holes.

I agree Strix looks horrible. Their color scheme is strange and design is out there. Mind you I rather have Strix on display than this ugly beast (it is a beast but man it is ugly) in a closed case.

[i_build_nanosuits]

16 minutes ago, edsdrafts said:

I agree Strix looks horrible. Their color scheme is strange and design is out there. Mind you I rather have Strix on display than this ugly beast (it is a beast but man it is ugly) in a closed case.

I think the Strix card looks alright

i would like to see them improve on this design and deliver a dual fan card like this with even better lighting and stuff.

 

 

 

 

[unsubscribed]

1 minute ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

I think the Strix card looks alright

 

 

In this particular case - yes. Red is red but orange just looks wrong. I had red Strix myself and loved it but can't understand the thinking behind designing orange on and the whole owl thing.

[GreezyJeezy]

59 minutes ago, edsdrafts said:

I completely disagree with anyone thinking this card looks ok. It looks cheap and design is simply outdated. They really could do better with a piece of plastic (and preferably better quality one by the looks of it).

Just because it might end up in a closed case it does not mean the design is allowed to be sloppy. No matter where you stick your PC case it does not hurt to have it all nice and tidy inside. And when you are paying that kind of money for the product it better feel like you spent it right.

Lol it's cheaper probably going to be the cheapest 1080 

[-BirdiE-]

10 hours ago, DocSwag said:

Oh, well I guess it works for you  

I'm with you. I see a cheap plastic shroud on a $600 card, and it makes me wonder where else they cheaped out.

[MageTank]

2 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

As I expected, THIS is the reference design. Basically the plastic cheapo blower fan.

Founder Edition is the nice one.

I expect custom cooler to be in between or the price of the founder edition, depending on the cooler option you pick.

Founder Edition is just normal reference. The Nvidia brand reference cooler has always looked better than these normal black ones from MSI or PNY. They used to use very nice magnesium shrouds, but they switched out to aluminum. Some might prefer the aluminum look more, but I personally preferred the magnesium shrouds. 

 

The big question is, will this cooler opt for the vapor chamber that the reference Nvidia cards use? Or is this going to be the standard block that PNY/MSI used on their plastic blowers? I don't expect it to be that big of a difference, since these cards are only 180w instead of the usual 250w seen on the older high end cards, but depending on ones environment, the extra $100 spent on the founders edition might be a worthy investment if they absolutely need a blower card that runs cool. As an ITX user, I personally need the best blower card possible, so this leaves me torn on making a decision.

 

Still waiting to see if EVGA will have their own blower style cards, and if they will use the old 700/900 series design or match the new founders design. If we get a 1080 that looks like the old 780's or 980's, I'll be happy. If the holes line up perfectly, could always buy a Titan X shroud off ebay for $20-$30 and slap it on one of these cheap plastic cards.

[-BirdiE-]

I'm starting to feel like I'm going to be pretty limited in my options for the GTX 1080.

 

I don't trust Galax (stupidest name, BTW) or Zotac to make a decent quality card, and ASUS makes good cards but you void your warranty if you ever take off the heatsink.

 

That leaves me with MSI, Gigabyte, and EVGA. Think I'm leaning towards EVGA.

[i_build_nanosuits]

1 hour ago, MageTank said:

 If the holes line up perfectly, could always buy a Titan X shroud off ebay for $20-$30 and slap it on one of these cheap plastic cards.

i think the goal with that very cheap cooling solution is to bring the cost of production as low as possible so that people with the intention of taking the cooler off and use something else can do so at the best price possible...so it's all good. At 180W this should be ''good enough'' but there will be better options that will be worth an extra 50$ or so for a better cooler.

[Daiyus]

1 minute ago, i_build_nanosuits said:

i think the goal with that very cheap cooling solution is to bring the cost of production as low as possible so that people with the intention of taking the cooler off and use something else can do so at the best price possible...so it's all good. At 180W this should be ''good enough'' but there will be better options that will be worth an extra 50$ or so for a better cooler.

Being honest I don't know why EVGA don't just offer a reference PCB with no cooler at all. Stupidly cheap to make, sell it cheap as possible. They'd sell them in droves.

[MageTank]

7 minutes ago, Daiyus said:

Being honest I don't know why EVGA don't just offer a reference PCB with no cooler at all. Stupidly cheap to make, sell it cheap as possible. They'd sell them in droves.

Probably has something to do with how fragile PCB's are without their cooler. It's bad enough getting hardware to arrive intact here in the states with shipping employees kicking and throwing around boxes full of computer hardware. Remove that extra protection, and it can result in a potential RMA nightmare. Still, It wouldn't be a bad idea if it is possible. Kinda similar to what Intel did with the Skylake K SKU's. Though, I have yet to see those savings passed on to the consumers, lol. 

[ApolloFury]

3 hours ago, edsdrafts said:

I agree Strix looks horrible. Their color scheme is strange and design is out there. Mind you I rather have Strix on display than this ugly beast (it is a beast but man it is ugly) in a closed case.

 

3 hours ago, edsdrafts said:

I completely disagree with anyone thinking this card looks ok. It looks cheap and design is simply outdated. They really could do better with a piece of plastic (and preferably better quality one by the looks of it).

Just because it might end up in a closed case it does not mean the design is allowed to be sloppy. No matter where you stick your PC case it does not hurt to have it all nice and tidy inside. And when you are paying that kind of money for the product it better feel like you spent it right.

I actually prefer the Galax here over most offerings from ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI,  I tend to go with EVGA, Sapphire or XFX since they look elegant with the right amount of bling (or no bling at all)

 

Too much going on...

Not too bad but again too many unnecessary details...

Ugh, is this a children toy?

This does look like a professional graphics card, if we ignore the "drawings" on the surface it looks really plain which is pleasant to see compare to gamer-esque cards that oversaturate the market. I didn't opt for a window panel on my Define R5 since I want to keep it simple and minimalist, doesn't a solid side panel make your PC appear more 'mysterious'?

 

Sapphire always make good looking coolers. Just plain lines, subtle curves, perfectly round fan cutouts (compared to the Strix above, ugh) and solid build without random holes all over the place of the Gigabyte or ASUS Strix.

EVGA and XFX are also good. Though I wish XFX would use sweeping fan blades instead of a tornado/typhoon like fans.

I miss the reference design of the GTX 5xx, the Galax here reminds me of that.

 

[crystal6tak]

This could also be aimed at people who'll be taking the cooler of for a custom water block or G10 + AIO solution. In any case, I look forward to seeing the price of this.

[Glanir]

I don't mind it, In my future build green and silver would RUNE my theme, like the "Founder Edition". this card is black and wouldn't reck my theme. Hoping for a white version hopefully from EVGA or Giga.