Help me choose between these GTX 980 Ti cards

tnn

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Dec 26, 2009
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So far, I've ruled out all the really expensive models such as the water-cooled ones, MSI's Lightning, or Asus' Matrix Platinum. That leaves me with a few cards that are priced very close to each other, making it difficulty to decide which is the best.

My definition of best would be a good combination of noise, temperature, and overclocking potential, in that order.

I'm currently looking at:

  • ■MSI Gaming 6G (doesn't seem to be the best in any one category, but also doesn't have any weaknesses)
    ■Zotac Amp Extreme (5 years warranty, but really big; quiet compared to reference design, otherwise fairly noisy)
    ■Gigabyte Gaming G1 (also fairly noisy?)
    ■Palit Super Jetstream (6+8-pin PCI-e rather than 8+8; seems to punch above its price-range - cherry picked review samples?)
    ■KFA2 HoF (excellent temps+quiet, but only two years warranty; very few reviews available due to unavailability outside Europe, so difficult to make comparisons)

Anyone help would be much appreciated, especially from people who have tried several of them for various reasons.
 

JenBell

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Nov 1, 2015
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T...I am also trying to select a 980 Ti. Here are my thoughts that might help your thinking, not too interested in OCing.

Palit. Very quite. Resale value would not be as good as other brands.
Zotac. Hear issues about coil whine alot. Might be small sample of people but even seen youtube reviews commenting on it.
Gigabyte/KFA/MSI 6G. Myself and Gigabyte dont get long so will not comment. KFA...something seems off about there cards to me. MSI 6G - heard good reports on this with people only complaining of coil whine on menu screens, OCs very well on the whole.
I've spent my time looking into the Asus Strix/Matrix cards and MSI Lightning cards.
- Strix > good noise levels on idle moderate use but the sound level jumps up under gaming. Watts climbs to quickly for me.
- Matrix > very similar to lightning. Finding this to be cheaper than MSI Lightning. Power use is not as good as it should be in my opinion.
- MSI Lightning > good noise levels under load, manual fan profile needed for best performance/noise levels.

EVGA - not considered. Several of my friends have the 980 Ti SC and after seeing the card first hand and testing it out, not for me. Not engineered as well as Asus & MSI.

You mentioned cost be a deciding factor in your thinking. Draw up a list of 4 cards. 2 within your budget now and 2 outside the budget. Wait until Black Friday/Cyber Monday and see the items drop in price.
 

tnn

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I ended up not using any of the listed cards. Instead, I got the Gigabyte 980 Ti Xtreme. For those who are interested, I've written a review of it here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/494889-gigabyte-gtx-980-ti-xtreme-gaming/