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Should i get a reference card or a non reference?

Tags:
  • Gtx
  • EVGA
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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October 6, 2014 10:46:32 PM

Hello i was looking to buy the GTX 980 EVGA superoverclocked but i heard its a reference card, are they good? they look really sexy though, but i heard its bad.

More about : reference card reference

October 6, 2014 10:50:27 PM

EVGA makes some of the best NVidia cards. And NVidia has had a very well built reference cooler for the past few GPU designs. I think you are safe going for it.
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October 6, 2014 10:51:08 PM

with the GTX 970 and GTX 980 it doesn't really matter what cooler you get. the card puts out so little heat (because it uses so little power) that the gains from "better" cooling wouldn't be noticeable.

i would only get a non reference card if you plan on extreme overclocking. but when it comes to extreme overclocking it's not the cooler that makes the difference, but the design of the PCB. custom card usually use better power delivery components allowing more stable overclocks.

the reference "blower" style cooler is a better option if you plan on going SLI in the future. the reason for that is that the fancy coolers pick up heat from the cards below them and get really hot. i have GTX 970 SLI with custom dual fan coolers. at full blast the lower card runs at 65*C while the top card hits 92*C. the heat from the lower card suffocated the top card.
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October 6, 2014 11:04:38 PM

As has been said the Nvidia reference design is quite good. EVGA have been copping some flack on some of their non-reference 900 series cards, but the rest of their cards are good.
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October 7, 2014 12:52:56 AM

i for one go for non-ref,
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