Which RTX 2080 for liquid cooling build?

[macdeez]

Hello everyone, 

 

I'm planning a new custom loop liquid cooled build and I'm currently at the stage of deciding which rtx 2080 card to buy. I live in a place where the local computer part vendors have insanely inflated prices. However, newegg offers very low cost shipping to my country along with extremely competitive prices. I am completing most of my order on newegg because that's the best option for me now and I will be limited to newegg's catalogue. 

 

I'm planning a compact mini ITX build and I have a little more money to spend on aesthetics, performance and acoustics; that's why I'm going with a liquid cooled build in an ITX form factor as I believe it would look really cool. I'm also trying to squeeze my money to go as far as possible in terms of what I'm getting.

Anyway, I currently have in my cart the ZOTAC RTX 2080 Blower style card as it's the cheapest one ($699), I figured I'd go for this card since I'm going to be replacing the cooler anyway. 

 

Now my question is, would the ZOTAC RTX 2080 Blower card (given that it is being liquid cooled) perform any worse than other "custom" cards that will also be liquid cooled? So essentially I'm trying to figure out which card is best to buy to get the most bang for my buck with a liquid cooling solution.

[LIGISTX]

Personally, I tend to buy EVGA FTW style cards. They typically have over engineered power delivery which can be very helpful for the auto overclocking features the new nvidia cards have.

 

For example, GPU Boost on my gtx 1080 ftw gets me up to 1999 core without me even tweaking settings at all; that’s totally stock settings. The card will boost itself if it has temperature and power delivery headroom. Being on water, there is temp headroom (my card runs in the low 60’s with the 1999 core clock, with my  radiator fans all 900 rpm or less, so basically 100% inaudible with headphones on) and since the ftw or higher versions of the cards typically have very robust power delivery, the card has plenty of power to play with.

 

How much it will auto OC is a crapshoot, it’s silicon lottery, but I have a gtx 1070 FTW as well, and it gets to about 1950 core clock on stock air cooling.... Also, I have had to deal with EVGA customer support in the past and they are wonderful which is a plus. 

[macdeez]

An EVGA XC Gaming is also on my list possibilities, however the current price difference between the ZOTAC RTX 2080 blower and the EVGA XC gaming is about $90 on newegg, so I'm wondering whether the increase in price is worth it in terms of performance, and if there is a performance difference, how much that difference will be given that I will be liquid cooling my cards.

[Mick Naughty]

As price seems to be a problem, the cheapest one that gets block support by your favored manufacture. 

 

I’d get reference first, nvidia or evga. If not, Asus strix then evga ftw. Only options for me.