Which 2080 Ti?

[Dennis Miller]

Planning my next build (see below) and trying to decide which gpu to purchase...

 

Looking at a single 2080 Ti solution and my question is this...is it worth it to get an upgraded custom pcb (i.e. EVGA FTW3) or stick with the reference (i.e. EVGA XC)?  I plan to overclock it and will have 3 unobstructed 120mm intake fans pointed right at the card.  If I can get an extra 100 MHz or so out of an upgraded card then I would consider that worth it.

 

Thanks

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel - Core i9-9900X 3.5 GHz 10-Core Processor	$949.99 @ SuperBiiz
CPU Cooler	Corsair - H150i PRO 47.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$146.90 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	EVGA - X299 DARK EATX LGA2066 Motherboard	$475.47 @ OutletPC
Memory	Corsair - Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory	$428.39 @ Newegg
Storage	Samsung - 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$247.99 @ Newegg
Case	Lian-Li - PC-O11 Dynamic (Black) ATX Full Tower Case	$144.15 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - 1200 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply	$249.89 @ OutletPC
Operating System	Microsoft - Windows 10 Pro Full 32/64-bit	$189.00 @ B&H
Case Fan	Corsair - ML120 PRO RGB (3 pack w/Lighting Node PRO) 47.3 CFM 120mm Fans	$99.70 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$2981.48
	Mail-in rebates	-$50.00
	Total	$2931.48
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-10 11:14 EDT-0400

 

[Princess Luna]

considering you seem to be going all in on expenses here I'd say you only have 3 alternatives to consider:

 

EVGA KingPin (Hybrid Air cooling + AiO):

Spoiler

Gigabyte Aorus Waterforce Extreme (WaterBlocked):

Spoiler

Hall of Fame (Air Cooling):

Spoiler

 

[xg32]

3 minutes ago, Dennis Miller said:

.

 

if u care about an extra 100mhz, there's only 1 way to do it, get a founders edition, put an AIO on it, you can get real unlucky with silicon lottery even with a ftw3.

[LukeSavenije]

2 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Hall of Fame (Air Cooling):

there's also a waterblock version (waterblock, not hybrid)

 

FTW3 HYBRID GAMING is also a great option

 

LIGHTNING Z is a good option if you can even find one

 

and the last, the Gaming X Trio

[BuckGup]

Nvidia has locked down voltages pretty hard but cards like the KingPin have it unlocked so that gets my choice. After watching Gamers Nexus tear it down it's really the best option for OCing

[Dissitesuxba11s]

If you are considering the Kingpin, I would wait for a review of it to see if the performance gain over other 2080Tis substantiates the $1900 price tag. Note that this card is mainly geared for extreme overclocking especially if you are going sub-ambient. If you are not interested in that type of overclocking, then I would look at other ones.

[Dennis Miller]

Thank you all for the replies

3 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

...you seem to be going all in on expenses...

Yes, but value is still a concern so...

2 minutes ago, Dissitesuxba11s said:

If you are considering the Kingpin...

no...I won't be going to LN2 or anything crazy (I may not even water cool it) so I don't think, even if I was an Associate, that I would buy that card.  The Hall of Fame and Lightning Z cards are never in stock and .  Those three cards seem a little too far down the scale of diminishing returns for me. 

 

I think I'm leaning towards the EVGA FTW3 or MSI Gaming X Trio for the higher power limits.  I've had good experience, personally at least, with EVGA (motherboards, power supplies, and more than a few gpus), but never had anything from MSI...but it looks like MSI has a higher power limit?

[Ankerson]

2 minutes ago, Dennis Miller said:

 

 

I think I'm leaning towards the EVGA FTW3 or MSI Gaming X Trio for the higher power limits.  I've had good experience, personally at least, with EVGA (motherboards, power supplies, and more than a few gpus), but never had anything from MSI...but it looks like MSI has a higher power limit?

 

The FTW3 Ultra Gaming is excellent, stays cool and isn't loud.

[Princess Luna]

29 minutes ago, Dennis Miller said:

Yes, but value is still a concern so...

Then why not build an i9 9900K on a Aorus Ultra if performance with great value is a thing? the i9 9900X makes really poor sense being honest, it's extremely expensive and rather slower than the i9 9900K at gaming and workloads that focus entirely on single thread performance or can be accelerated with the iGPU.

[ch3w2oy]

I had the FTW3 2080 and it really is a beast! The cooling is probably near the best out of all the air cooled cards.. It stayed quiet and even though it's massive, it didn't sag at all..I don't think you can go wrong with any of the top tier cards (FTW3, Strix, Trio, Aorus Extreme, etc..). If you use afterburner a lot like I do, then MSI is probably the way to go, afterburner doesn't work with ICX2 and so you need EVGAs software running too, which is kind of lame, or leave the fans stock, I didn't test it too much..

[Dennis Miller]

15 hours ago, Princess Cadence said:

Then why not build an i9 9900K on a Aorus Ultra if performance with great value is a thing? the i9 9900X makes really poor sense being honest, it's extremely expensive and rather slower than the i9 9900K at gaming and workloads that focus entirely on single thread performance or can be accelerated with the iGPU.

I get that argument, truly, you're not wrong.

 

Gaming is actually my secondary use case, productivity being the first.  For me, that includes databases and virtualization, so more cores are better than higher clock speeds.  Plus, in the day and age of pci-e storage, I'd like to have more than 16 lanes. 

 

I get that the X is literally twice as much, and that does appear to shoot a hole in my value/performance argument.  But, I've always believed that if you're going to overspend, do so on your CPU and motherboard.  In 15 years of building PCs, I've never been disappointed in that mantra. I gave my i7-990x/Asus Rampage III Extreme to my teenagers a few years back and it still runs like a champ.  So, I guess my viewpoint on spending regarding a GPU is quite different from a CPU...and I probably should have made that clear in my OP.

[Dennis Miller]

 

16 hours ago, Ankerson said:

 

The FTW3 Ultra Gaming is excellent, stays cool and isn't loud.

 

13 hours ago, ch3w2oy said:

I had the FTW3 2080 and it really is a beast! The cooling is probably near the best out of all the air cooled cards.. It stayed quiet and even though it's massive, it didn't sag at all..I don't think you can go wrong with any of the top tier cards (FTW3, Strix, Trio, Aorus Extreme, etc..). If you use afterburner a lot like I do, then MSI is probably the way to go, afterburner doesn't work with ICX2 and so you need EVGAs software running too, which is kind of lame, or leave the fans stock, I didn't test it too much..

 

Both JayzTwoCents and Buildzoid had good things to say about that card, and I like that both of you bring up how quiet it is...a valid concern since my machine sits on top of my desk, where it belongs.  Probably going with that card at this point.

 

I guess I was hoping that someone would come along and tell me I wouldn't notice a difference with a reference card in a properly cooled case lol.

[Sychic]

Just gonna mention that your E-ATX mobo will hang over the cable management grommets in that case. It might block some cables or make them really tight.

[ch3w2oy]

2 hours ago, Dennis Miller said:

 

 

 

Both JayzTwoCents and Buildzoid had good things to say about that card, and I like that both of you bring up how quiet it is...a valid concern since my machine sits on top of my desk, where it belongs.  Probably going with that card at this point.

 

I guess I was hoping that someone would come along and tell me I wouldn't notice a difference with a reference card in a properly cooled case lol.

Yup, the only time I heard my fans were when I manually turned them up while benchmarking.. My case also sits on my desk, right next to my monitor.. I don't know anything about the reference cards but with proper airflow and a custom fan curve, they really shouldn't be that bad.. I would still get an AIB model if it's on your desk and you value silence..