Can't freaking decide... (GPU Cooler Choice)

[Butterfish]

Hey everyone.. This is not really a question that needs an actual answer, but more of a state of opinion.

I want to get a 780 and maybe one more later for SLI. The choice i have to make is what card to pick. What i mean by this is reference or non-reference. I love the idea and looks of watercooling and i want to do it a lot, but its so expensive, that i could buy an other 780 for the same price as the watercooling.

Idk if im going to watercool, but im definately thinking about it.

 

Oh, and also i got a window in my case, and i think the 780 stock looks sooo good! I bet im not the only one

 

So it all come down to:

 

Reference:

+ watercooling

+ visual appeal

- Heat

- Noise

 

Non-reference:

+ Better cooling

+ Silent

- looks (compared to the 780, not saying aftermarket coolers are bad looking)

- watercooling

 

What are your opinions of this? What did/would you choose?

 

cheers,

[Lord Pantaloons]

Watercooling is pretty much silent and a non-reference cooler will not perform better than watercooling, you can also get universal blocks for non reference PCB's.

[Bluejay0]

Some non-reference have waterblocks and they also have better components. Just see which one has waterblocks and go for it.

[CoolBeans]

Get a 290 with a non reference cooler but a reference board

[Reuben]

I have the EVGA 780 ACX, and it has a great-looking aftermarket cooler with decent cooling performance. It also uses the stock PCB, so you can still watercool it.

[TheSLSAMG]

Just get a stock GTX 780 if you plan on watercooling.

[Butterfish]

Some non-reference have waterblocks and they also have better components. Just see which one has waterblocks and go for it.

Yup, i found out that the Asus 780 directcu ii has a waterblock from ek. That might be a good choice then

[Ribozyme]

Went though the same thing as you deciding on gtx 780 reference or not. I really liked the look on the reference cooler and it would fit my build so much better than any fo the other non reference one. Only card I would have considered as non reference was the asus dc2 because of its backplate and amazing overkill cooler and thus quiet operation.

 

I went with a second hand palit reference 780, got it for 369 euro shipped so I'm happy. Waiting for the card to arrive and checing it out.

[GIJew]

Get the MSI Lightning, looks amazing works amazing, win win.