What's the estimate price of the 980 Hydro Copper?

[eBiz]

I was hoping people with experience in previous generations of hydro coppers could somewhat accurately guestimate the price.

 

What do you think the new GTX 980 Hydro Copper Editons will sell for?

 

Is it cheaper to buy a reference gtx 980 with aftermarket waterblock or wait and buy the hydro copper edition cards?  I just bought two reference gtx 980s and before my refund is up would like to know what the smarter buy is.

[Tagiau]

It is always cheaper to buy a reference card and get a waterblock for it. Yet the premium you are paying for is the guarantee of not voiding a warranty, yet most manufacturers are okay with you removing the cooler. And all hydro copper cards are on the classy pcb instead of the reference pcb. But my guess is, the hydro copper cards will retail for ~700$usd. 

[PoloGG]

[Joshua Ondangan]

should be around like 700-800 bucks 

 

not really happy with it since it lessens the fun on removing the cooler.

[eBiz]

Screenshot_2014-10-27-10-31-46.png

 

So the GPUs are cherry picked and it has a better PCB, How much better in terms of real world performance would I see from a Hydro Copper card vs a reference card with an aftermarket waterblock?

[PoloGG]

So the GPUs are cherry picked and it has a better PCB, How much better in terms of real world performance would I see from a Hydro Copper card vs a reference card with an aftermarket waterblock?

 

As far as I know, the Hydro Copper waterblock is designed for reference PCB (or at least that what the stand-alone HC description before), so it should be reference. OC is always a silicon lotto, you could get a HC 980 that overclocks from the factory 1304MHz base clock to only 1400MHz base, and another non-HC 980 overclocking to 1500+MHz base clock with an aftermarket waterblock. Buying the HC 980 from EVGA only ensures you get at least the 1304 base / 1418 boost clocks.

 

As of now, there is no actual need for putting a waterblock on Maxwell, since the card is voltage limited straight from Nvidia and the temps are quite manageable without waterblock, but once Nvidia unlocks the voltage (or someone writes a hacked BIOS) then you will really see the advantage of having a waterblock on a Maxwell chip.

 

Buuuuut, you could always want a waterblock for looks and having a custom loop from the start, and whenever you can overvoltage the card you'll be ready. Up to you!  B)