Reference 980ti downsides

[dentedcapacitor]

Need some advice. For some reason where I live, all the aftermarket factory overclocked 980tis carry a $200 premium. Need some opinions about the reference card such as heat and noise. I am looking at an MSI one but does MSI manufacture the card or is it like the Fury X where they just stamp their name on them?

[o0Martin]

Damnn $200 extra... 

 

What about the Zotac Amp! (Non extreme) that is actually cheaper than most reference 980Ti's in the UK, or on the same price level and it cools well and is really quite.

 

The reference ones get rather hot, that's the main downside, so you can't overclock them as well because you'll run into thermal throttling. 

Noise wise they aren't that bad, although the fans will always be maxed out at load trying to cool it. And at idle they wont have a 0db mode or anything 

 

And yeah the reference designs are all the same, doesn't matter if it's msi or evga or w.e

[Deli]

Reference cards are made by Nvidia, and all the same. 

[Ryoku]

Need some advice. For some reason where I live, all the aftermarket factory overclocked 980tis carry a $200 premium. Need some opinions about the reference card such as heat and noise. I am looking at an MSI one but does MSI manufacture the card or is it like the Fury X where they just stamp their name on them?

 

My understanding is it's just their name stamped on the reference ones.  Only time you see a difference is when its got a custom Cooler and/or PCB.

[SeanAngelo]

Need some advice. For some reason where I live, all the aftermarket factory overclocked 980tis carry a $200 premium. Need some opinions about the reference card such as heat and noise. I am looking at an MSI one but does MSI manufacture the card or is it like the Fury X where they just stamp their name on them?

Reference ones are made by Nvidia, they just put the brand name on it...

 

the downsides however, they typically run hotter which means its louder due to the fan spinning up and trying to cool the card and don't overclock as much as non-reference ones.

[dentedcapacitor]

Thanks guys for the helpful advice. Unfortunately even the Zotac AMP! carries a $100 price premium. Might just settle for a reference card then.

[Praesi]

Thanks guys for the helpful advice. Unfortunately even the Zotac AMP! carries a $100 price premium. Might just settle for a reference card then.

Dont do it.

 

Safe extra Money a buy a custom Card. Trust me on that, you want a custom design.