Reference Card (1080 series) vs Partner (ASUS, MSI, etc) and Overclocking

Graphics card vendors bin their chips and use the better ones in factory overclocked versions
that they can sell for more. You may be able to OC more, but then again, perhaps not.
They try to differentiate by adding cosmetics and fancy coolers which also sell for more.
I do think you get fair value from a modest factory overclocked card.
If you need more performance, they buy a higher tier card in the first place.

GTX1080ti represents a big jump over anything else available today.
If you can buy a reference card early at a decent price, go ahead.
You may or may not be a winner in the binning lottery, but the base card will do very well.

If you can wait, the factory overclocked cards will give you fair value for your money.

I think it more likely that the first cards will command a price premium regardless.

The aftermarket overclocked versions are guaranteed at least the clock sold at.

The FE cards or any reference cards have a very simple cooling solution but it isn't as good as aftermarket.

Aftermarket cards (not directly manufactured by Nvidia) are better off most times in cooling and therefore performance.

aftermarket cards are almost always better. they are quieter, cooler and tend to handle an oc better due to generally better design. as a result, the aftermarket cards are preferred in almost all cases. only time a reference blower ype card is suggested is for a small build where blowing the heat out the back is preferred over inside the case like the custom cards tend to do.

as for actual performance of an oc, that is VERY debatable. all the pascal cards so far have performed nearly identical. the custom cards tended to see a decent gain over the FE card but after that, they all did the same. no matter what speed it is set at out of the box, the custom cards all oc'ed to the same speeds and attained the same in game fps more or less. so the lowest priced 1080, performed the same as the highest price super cooled, over-engineered ones.

i don't expect anything different with a 1080ti. no reason to think it will based on all the other cards. but it is worth waiting for custom cards and choosing one of those. which will be the best?? doubtful anyone will separate itself form the others. but we won't know until we start seeing some reviews of the cards. give it a few weeks to see what the reviews say or take your chances on the first thing that comes by. personally i'd wait it out for a while then jump in with knowledge on your side.

as for worrying about buying and then something better coming along. that ALWAYS happens. no reason to let that stop you. the 1080 is not too old and was beaten by the titan x. now the titan x is beaten by the 1080 ti. Vega is coming out next month and who knows what that will bring. i am personally waiting out Vega and this card and letting the dust settle before making any decision. then i will buy knowing what i am getting and will have no regrets. 6 months from now i fully expect something new and better to come out, but that's just how electronics work. you'll never avoid that.

this thread has a list of all the various models available and links to many reviews if you wish to do some reading. as soon as the 1080ti models come out and reviews start to show i will be updating the thread with that info http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3047729/nvidia-geforce-gtx-1000-series-megathread-faq-resources.html

but for now all we got is what nvidia said yesterday.

finally pricing has changed this time around. the FE cards tend to be more expensive than most custom cards. so if they say $700 for a reference 1080ti i expect custom cards to be less like they are for all the other pascal cards. rigth away they will be more costly but that is the early adopters tax you can't avoid the first few weeks.

give it a month or more and prices will level, the new Vega cards will be out and when the dust settles, you will have a better idea what covers your needs and at what price

i am saying that all the custom cards get the same fps oc'ed or not!!. the EVGA SC which is a reference design gets the same fps as a FTW card which costs a lot more.

other thing to remember or learn if you don't already know is that Boost 3.0 will overclock EVERY card to it's max. and that max is the same for every card. been around 2.0-2.1 ghz for every single card put out from FE to top of the line custom models. difference with custom over FE is the cooler and quieter operation and a few extra fps due to that fact. so you speak of overclocking and i am telling you that it makes literally no in game fps difference on any of the pascal cards.

i don't expect a 1080ti to be any different as it is still a pascal card. you'll get a more stable max boost out of custom cards allowing for it to stay maxed out cooler, quieter and for longer periods. but don't expect any miracles from custom cards. i fully expect boost 3.0 to do the same for the 1080ti as it does for all the other cards. that is to get it to a top speed by itself and hit a max speed that they all will share.

so a 1080 set at reference 1600 mhz still boosts to 2.0+ ghz the same as one set at 1900 mhz out of the box. still boosts to 2.0-2.1 ghz. no real reason to drop extra money on top of the line card to get the same as much cheaper model. but in all cases the FE has been the worst performer every time and that should stay the same this time as well.

Waiting until the strix goes up for sale. It's been announced. Fanboy all day here.

So what I'd do is just hang tight. They're saying the TI actually uses vapor heat pipes like top of the line cpu air coolers. If so this might actually keep the temps a lot lower than previous generations.

I am in the same boat as you and am a bit of a noob myself, but think that many others go through this, or have, at some point in their shopping adventures.

I am mostly worried that since I will want to overclock a Founder's card that it will not do as well overclocking as some of the custom models. The cooler on the Founder's does not bother me that much, because if you want to cool your chip can always add an AIO watercolor from Corsair or NZXT to cool it later for maybe a hundred bucks or so (assuming you have room for that it in your case)--but from what I have read, the limiting factor for overclocking has been the power delivery of the Founder's editions, as well as perhaps VRM temps, which AIO coolers might not handle?

A water cooled Founder's edition that can OC just as well as any of the custom models, plus have all the benefit of quiet operation, is a real big win in theory for me. Anybody successfully cool and overclock FE cards this way?

On the 10th huh? Something you know?

not specific times but was very early morning. don't recall it being midnight but very close to it for online stores to go live selling. they only have a date they can't sell before. i'd be on at midnight refreshing away if you have to have one first day.