EVGA Gtx 980 Superclocked ACX 2.0

[Justin Meyer]

Ok so i was looking around for non-reference 980's because i would like to find the best one for me. I was looking at 2 cards; the Asus Strix 980 and the EVGA Superclocked ACX 2.0. Now i was looking at these cards and found that the Evga card has a faster core clock rate and a lot faster boost clock rate. Now obviously it says superclocked in the title of the Evga card but i was wondering if someone could tell me exactly how evga got the card to get the clock rates that high? Because all i want to know is did they just overclock the card a little bit and say that their fans make it cool enough for it to be that high or are the fans actually keeping it that cool. Because i will be overclocking my card i want to be able to overclock it a lot and i would like the core clock rate to be as high as possible but if they just overclocked it a bit, saved the settings, and put it in a box than ship it to you than i dont want this card because i know how to overclock it myself. I am looking for a card that is untouched but has the highest clock rate. If you could please explain what they did to the card than that would be great, and also tell me what you think about the Asus card and the Evga card. Also tell me what you think is the best one/has the coolest temp./has the highest clock rate/highest overclocked rate. Thank you

[Prastupok]

Ok so i was looking around for non-reference 980's because i would like to find the best one for me. I was looking at 2 cards; the Asus Strix 980 and the EVGA Superclocked ACX 2.0. Now i was looking at these cards and found that the Evga card has a faster core clock rate and a lot faster boost clock rate. Now obviously it says superclocked in the title of the Evga card but i was wondering if someone could tell me exactly how evga got the card to get the clock rates that high? Because all i want to know is did they just overclock the card a little bit and say that their fans make it cool enough for it to be that high or are the fans actually keeping it that cool. Because i will be overclocking my card i want to be able to overclock it a lot and i would like the core clock rate to be as high as possible but if they just overclocked it a bit, saved the settings, and put it in a box than ship it to you than i dont want this card because i know how to overclock it myself. I am looking for a card that is untouched but has the highest clock rate. If you could please explain what they did to the card than that would be great, and also tell me what you think about the Asus card and the Evga card. Also tell me what you think is the best one/has the coolest temp./has the highest clock rate/highest overclocked rate. Thank you

 

The EVGA has a higher clock out of the box. I've heard the Asus card can push higher though.

 

Don't quote me, but I'm pretty sure on that.

[Najuno]

Ok so i was looking around for non-reference 980's because i would like to find the best one for me. I was looking at 2 cards; the Asus Strix 980 and the EVGA Superclocked ACX 2.0. Now i was looking at these cards and found that the Evga card has a faster core clock rate and a lot faster boost clock rate. Now obviously it says superclocked in the title of the Evga card but i was wondering if someone could tell me exactly how evga got the card to get the clock rates that high? Because all i want to know is did they just overclock the card a little bit and say that their fans make it cool enough for it to be that high or are the fans actually keeping it that cool. Because i will be overclocking my card i want to be able to overclock it a lot and i would like the core clock rate to be as high as possible but if they just overclocked it a bit, saved the settings, and put it in a box than ship it to you than i dont want this card because i know how to overclock it myself. I am looking for a card that is untouched but has the highest clock rate. If you could please explain what they did to the card than that would be great, and also tell me what you think about the Asus card and the Evga card. Also tell me what you think is the best one/has the coolest temp./has the highest clock rate/highest overclocked rate. Thank you

EVGA is by far the best choice for GPUs. The best customer service in branch and they´ve got the StepUp program and their warranty terms are superior to all other board partners.

 

I bought a STRIX GTX980 for my HTPC and the card is fine, works perfectly (bought it because of the silent fan profile), but it doesn´t have the feel and quality of an EVGA. Now the clocks aren´t that high with both cards. What all the board partners do is develop an aftermarket cooler that works better than then stock heatsink and improve the VRM on the boards. Then they change nothing but the base and boost rate in the GPU´s BIOS and sell it as overclocked versions out of the box.

[DildorTheDecent]

The Superclocked card has a reference PCB. 

 

most 980s will sit at 1550MHZ~ comfortably.

 

If you're overclocking then the 980 K|NGP|N, Classified or the HOF are the best cards you can buy. 

[Justin Meyer]

EVGA is by far the best choice for GPUs. The best customer service in branch and they´ve got the StepUp program and their warranty terms are superior to all other board partners.

 

I bought a STRIX GTX980 for my HTPC and the card is fine, works perfectly (bought it because of the silent fan profile), but it doesn´t have the feel and quality of an EVGA. Now the clocks aren´t that high with both cards. What all the board partners do is develop an aftermarket cooler that works better than then stock heatsink and improve the VRM on the boards. Then they change nothing but the base and boost rate in the GPU´s BIOS and sell it as overclocked versions out of the box.

So basically they overclock the core clock rate and than overclock the boost clock rate and sell it like that? And so would you recommend the EVGA card over the Asus card? And also does the Evga card not have the 0db fan thing? Also can i still overclock the card as much as i can with any other card or is it a small amount cause they already overclocked it?

[Prastupok]

So basically they overclock the core clock rate and than overclock the boost clock rate and sell it like that? And so would you recommend the EVGA card over the Asus card? And also does the Evga card not have the 0db fan thing? Also can i still overclock the card as much as i can with any other card or is it a small amount cause they already overclocked it?

 

The total amount of overclock will be close.

The EVGA card doesn't spin it's fans until 60 degrees celcius.

[Justin Meyer]

The total amount of overclock will be close.

The EVGA card doesn't spin it's fans until 60 degrees celcius.

Ok, than i think im going to go with the EVGA card. Thank you everyone

[Najuno]

So basically they overclock the core clock rate and than overclock the boost clock rate and sell it like that? And so would you recommend the EVGA card over the Asus card? And also does the Evga card not have the 0db fan thing? Also can i still overclock the card as much as i can with any other card or is it a small amount cause they already overclocked it?

The Asus GTX980 STRIX had the silent profile first and when I bought them EVGA didn´t offer that yet. Otherwise I would have bought EVGA, but I wanted this in my HTPC as silent as possible when I´m not gaming.

 

Well the OCs out of the box are good for one thing. The manufacturer has always just to guarantee the speeds that are written down as specs on the box. If you buy a reference design and it won´t OC for 5MHz... well bad luck and you have a poor ASIC quality chip or poor VRM. With a card like the SC or STRIX they have to guarantee you out of the box much higher clocks which equals to more FPS and better performance therefore in 3D based applications such as games.

Now overall these aftermarket cards don´t usually OC way much better than the reference design. I am an OCer and mod my own BIOS for GPUs and I found that my nVidia reference design can go higher (up to 1700MHz in boost) than my STRIX (1580MHz in boost). But these numbers are more for synthetic benchmarks than every day usage.

Most people can OC their GTX980s boost stable to 1480-1500MHz. And that it perfectly fine.

 

EDIT: The only aftermarket cards that are better for pure highend OCing are the Galax HoF, EVGA´s Classified and EVGA´s Kingpin. But you pay premium for them because they are made for extreme watercooling or LN2 cooling.

[Justin Meyer]

The Asus GTX980 STRIX had the silent profile first and when I bought them EVGA didn´t offer that yet. Otherwise I would have bought EVGA, but I wanted this in my HTPC as silent as possible when I´m not gaming.

 

Well the OCs out of the box are good for one thing. The manufacturer has always just to guarantee the speeds that are written down as specs on the box. If you buy a reference design and it won´t OC for 5MHz... well bad luck and you have a poor ASIC quality chip or poor VRM. With a card like the SC or STRIX they have to guarantee you out of the box much higher clocks which equals to more FPS and better performance therefore in 3D based applications such as games.

Now overall these aftermarket cards don´t usually OC way much better than the reference design. I am an OCer and mod my own BIOS for GPUs and I found that my nVidia reference design can go higher (up to 1700MHz in boost) than my STRIX (1580MHz in boost). But these numbers are more for synthetic benchmarks than every day usage.

Most people can OC their GTX980s boost stable to 1480-1500MHz. And that it perfectly fine.

 

EDIT: The only aftermarket cards that are better for pure highend OCing are the Galax HoF, EVGA´s Classified and EVGA´s Kingpin. But you pay premium for them because they are made for extreme watercooling or LN2 cooling.

Ok i get it now. Well i think im gonna get the EVGA as i like the design of it and it matches my color scheme better and it also has the 0db fan until about 65 degrees celcius, also the better clock rates so thank you for your help.

[Najuno]

Ok i get it now. Well i think im gonna get the EVGA as i like the design of it and it matches my color scheme better and it also has the 0db fan until about 65 degrees celcius, also the better clock rates so thank you for your help.

You´re welcome.