Using an ITX Case, go for reference blower or wait for partner card? (re: 1080 Ti)

[Business Corgi]

So I'm contemplating selling my GTX 1080 and going with a 1080 Ti. Ordinarily I wouldn't do this but I'm SO CLOSE to being able to hit 4K/60 at settings I'm happy with that I know the Ti will push me over the edge. I have a TV that's 4K/60Hz and FHD/120hz (Vizio P55). Some games I like to play at 1080P due to the higher refresh rate and I know the 1080 TI will not have a problem maintaining 120Hz in said games. I digress...

 

My question is, should I wait for a partner board with a better cooler or just go for the reference design card? For most people I think the answer is obvious, the partner coolers are superior in every way shape and form IF you're going to SLI or have an ATX or mATX case. My use case is a bit different though. I'm gaming using a Phanteks Evolv ITX and I have maybe 3/4" to 1" of clearance between the bottom of my GPU and the PSU basement of the case. The card I have right now (EVGA GTX 1080 FTW) already runs hot in this case even with the fans running very high. 80°C easy at fan speeds well over 80%.

 

So do you think that in my case, the blower cooler would actually be better? I have adequate case cooling. As adequate as is possible at least, w/ two Noctua NF-A14 PWM fans in the front as intakes and a low profile fan in back as exhaust. This is what my config looks like right now:

 

 

So yeah, what do you think? Am I still better off going with a non-reference card? The good thing about a reference card is that I'm sure there will be aftermarket AIO coolers that will fit. Not so if I go with a custom PCB from ASUS or MSI. I think I'm done with EVGA after this card.

[MR.awesome1]

My personal opinion for any Mini Itx system is go with a blower style card (ie. reference design). There is a lot of heat being pushed around in such a small area that there really isn't any point to an open air cooler like the one in your picture.

[Guest]

Wait for blower AIB. 

[VagabondWraith]

Blower. You need something that blows the heat out of your case, not circulating its own heat in said case like your ITX.

[DocSwag]

You might want to consider a water cooled card like the MSI sea hawk cards and put the rad in the front, but if you don't want to do that then just go for the reference.

[Business Corgi]

6 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Wait for blower AIB. 

Are AIB blowers generally superior to the reference designed blowers? This is something I've never seen someone recommend. I thought the partner blower cards existed more or less as a slightly cheaper but similarly performing alternative to the reference cards.

[phongle123]

17 minutes ago, MR.awesome1 said:

My personal opinion for any Mini Itx system is go with a blower style card (ie. reference design). There is a lot of heat being pushed around in such a small area that there really isn't any point to an open air cooler like the one in your picture.

Yes. Blowers push air out of the case through the vent holes where the HDMI/DP plugs are. But that also means that it traps air in the GPU longer so it get just a little hotter than custom cards. But the trade off is that all your other components stay cooler.

[Business Corgi]

6 minutes ago, phongle123 said:

Yes. Blowers push air out of the case through the vent holes where the HDMI/DP plugs are. But that also means that it traps air in the GPU longer so it get just a little hotter than custom cards. But the trade off is that all your other components stay cooler.

I generally don't have an issue with the cooling of other components. My biggest concerns are w/ the performance of the GPU and noise.

[Flavio hc 16]

IMHO  you could go:

1) buy an Aio partner card and put it where you intake fan is

2) buy a blower style card, one form partners : the difference is that the FE has a 62mm fan, while 3rd parties  use 80mm fan

3) buy a 700w sfx-l power supply  ( silverstone) it comes with an adapter for full size atx case, so you will earn  another 1cm of room so you can buy a normal multi  fan card ( more complicated  and expensive route)

 

[Business Corgi]

It's not the PSU that's getting in the way. It's the shroud on the case. An SFX PSU wouldn't really make much of, if any difference.

 

I'm trying to find a partner blower card that uses an 80MM fan. It's hard to tell from pics and none of them seem to list that in the spec sheet.

[RyeIII]

Consider getting a hybrid card (EVGA hybrid or MSI SeaHawk) or else get the founders edition.

[ivan134]

The main problem here is that particular case. The evolv mini has a very restrictive intake. I would swap to a define nano s (I actually have one I'm selling ?). Pascal cards don't usually run hot and I've seen people run then in a define nano s with no heat issues, even the AIB cards. If you swap to a nano s, you should be able to use any 1080 ti of your choice. The reason I swapped to a mini c is because AMD cards run hotter and need that airflow. My stock temps were great, averaging 67c. I only ran into problems when i tried to overclock.