Question about reference cards

[L8cairo]

Why are people so against reference cards? Most of the time the reason is just the cooler. But are they just making a big deal out of nothing

or does this hold some weight?

 

I just bought the 980 reference, which is why I'm asking 

 

I mean, was it a terrible choice? is it going to blow up in my PC or something? should I return it?

[lutewan]

what are u talking about? a reference is fine it wont blow up

[RevoltTrain]

It's because it's a blower style cooler. That's why everyone freaks out.

[Shroomster]

It is a bit loud.

[Lavachyste]

People like to be different, so they buy a non reference card so they can look like a jackie

[L8cairo]

Just wondering. I mean a few sites that I frequent, a lot of people are just super against reference cards. I was kind of curious on what your guys' take was on them.

[Cookie Monster]

It is a bit loud.

The reference nvidia cards for their high end cards since titan have looked good, performed well and were quiet.

[Bogica]

It doesn't overclock well, it's a bit noisy and might run at higher temps than some non reference cards but that's it.
It has a major PRO however- It blows all the hot air from the GPU outside the case, which is a huge deal for poorly ventilated cases, which means it won't spread heat on to other components.

I ran with a reference card for 3 and a half years, it was completely fine and it was a GF100 chip that heats up like crazy so I was happy that it blew air outside the case.

[Shroomster]

The reference nvidia cards for their high end cards since titan have looked good, performed well and were quiet.

You can not argue the reference is more silent as custom designs. I do not find them loud, but I know some people do.

[Popadookie]

Just wondering. I mean a few sites that I frequent, a lot of people are just super against reference cards. I was kind of curious on what your guys' take was on them.

Reference coolers are better in my opinion because they have better compatibility with aftermarket waterblocks if you ever decide to watercool in the future.

[Shroomster]

I had a reference 290 for a while. It was loud as shit. My Titan was quiet though.

[Archangel1994]

Reference coolers are less capable air coolers in single card setups than open-air coolrs, that is why people tend to dislike them. They are perfect for SLI configs or watercooling though (Cards with reference coolers ALWAYS have the reference PCB)

[Popadookie]

You can not argue the reference is more silent as custom designs. I do not find them loud, but I know some people do.

He said nothing about the reference being quieter than custom designs.

[zapsyou]

The main issue is with the cooling performance but that isn't as big of an issue with maxwell cause it runs heaps cooler.

 

Personally I think the Nvidia reference cards are by far the best looking.

[Shroomster]

He said nothing about the reference being quieter than custom designs.

I said it wrong. I like the ref coolers.

[L8cairo]

So, Am I weird for really liking the design of the reference over the (well I would assume they would stick with the same design for the 980's) 970 from Asus and Zotec?

 

I mean I think the only thing I'll really be kicking myself about from getting a non reference is the 0 decibel mode that Asus has (that is really cool.....no pun intended) 

[Pomfinator]

I've owned a reference 5870, 570 and a 680, only the 570 was a bit loud.  Nvidia has really been stepping it up with their reference design, the Titan blower is just gorgeous, performs quite well and is quiet.  I don't regret buying an ACX 780Ti but there is no harm in buying reference.

[Altecice]

They are a blower type fan design on them (mostly). This produces more sound than non-ref coolers and sometimes they run hotter. But generally speaking Ref designs are better for SLI/Xfire configs as they blow the heat out the back of the case and not spread it within the case unlike non-ref

[GoodBytes]

Blower design is the direction that we should go with GPU cooling. Keeping the air in the case, just means you need not only more fans on the GPU, but also you case, and possibly increase their speed to try and get the hot air out.

It also complicates things if you have no opening on the PCI bracket area.

If you have other components, such a dedicated sound card, after extensive usage of the GPU under load, it could potentially cause a problem, if you can't properly get the air out.

The advantage of the design from manufactures is that, if your case is open, or you don't do a long benchmarks, or is in a case with lots of opening and have fans be able to push the air out, the GPU gets great overclock score.

So the GPU with the non-reference design looks good.

BUT, not all reference design is all oh so great.

-> Single slot reference sign tend to include a crappy fan that will break soon after a few years, and is noisy.

-> Old reference design coolers didn't include good blower fans, and the GPU were hot.

The upside of non-reference design is that they tend to put some components of higher grade, and offer a bit more overckability.

A big problem with reference design is that too many uses cheap quality fans that are quiet at first, but after multiple years, the fan breaks, and turn noisy. If if you plan to keep your GPU for many years, this could e a problem. At work, we have a great collection of GPUs. The reference designs, at the least the model we have, tend to get noisy or break after they are old. But the reference design, are still holding up just fine.

So yes, it could be a coincidence, but that is the correlation that we are seeing. And of course, we haven't tested ALL reference card form ALL manufactures.

[LemonSpice]

Why are people so against reference cards? Most of the time the reason is just the cooler. But are they just making a big deal out of nothing

or does this hold some weight?

 

I just bought the 980 reference, which is why I'm asking 

 

I mean, was it a terrible choice? is it going to blow up in my PC or something? should I return it?

no it is 100% fine the only difference is that a lot of non reference cards have higher quality power delivery and features