MSI 1080ti Sea Hawk vs aftermarket cards

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Umeed

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Hi there,

I was interested in buying an msi 1080ti sea hawk because its liquid cooled and cheaper than a lot of other 1080 ti cards, I found out today that the reason it's cheaper is because its using the Founders Edition board (or something like that). So I was wondering, which card would be ideal for my situation, the seahawk or another aftermarket card? From what I've looked up there aren't any other liquid cooled 1080ti cards.

My usage would be for Blender 3D, and 4k gaming (more gaming than Blender, at least until i get better at Blender, shoutouts to Andrew Price lol). I'll be using a 4k TV that has pretty good low input lag for a tv and performs quite well with a PC for gaming (Samsung KS8000 for pure quality, or Sony x850E if for some reason I want to play 1080p at 120hz). I'll also have 2 other monitors at 1080p (eventually upgrade to 1440p) attached for other stuff like blender and whatever else.

I believe I have plenty of space in my case for the seahawk, I'm using an corsair carbide 540 ( http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=110&item_id=061584 )

Thank you for your help in advance!
 
Solution
Chugalug_
But, I mean, in regards to models.
An SC2 will be perfect, and only costs $719.
The reference cards are garbage that's why.
Any decent aftermarket card (Especially EVGA's) with a good air cooler will be fine.
OCing is perfectly safe, even more so when you have a beefy cooler. ;)
Water cooling is a waste of money, stay away.
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feelinfroggy777

feelinfroggy777

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Dec 13, 2016
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I dont have the Sea Hawk, but I have 2 1080 ti Founder Edition and I put EVGA hybrid coolers on them and I am using the PCB from the Founders Edition. Some people think that the FE boards do not cool the memory or the VRM as well as it is needed. But I have never had any issue with mine.

I can say this though, my cards never get over 50C with the liquid cooling. I run SLI, so before I had the coolers the top one ran around 80C. So adding the hybrid cooler dropped my temps almost in half. I would go for the hybrid and not think twice.
 
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K

krells

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Performance and overclocking wise the only card that is at a disadvantage is the FE card, and the blower style cooler is the issue, not the reference PCB. Reference PCB vs. Aftermarket design doesn't make as much difference in overclocking, it is more due to silicon lottery and a decent cooler. If the seahawk is cheaper it would be a good choice since it will perform the same as other aftermarket air cooled cars but with lower temperatures due to the AIO cooler. EVGA also makes the SC2 Hybrid and FTW3 hybrid which use AIO coolers.
 
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Umeed

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Hi! Thanks for the response, and very interesting, I didn't think about adding EVGA's hybrid kit, was it difficult to do? I've never done something like that (I dont even know how to OC lol).

Do you use your cards for any heavy rendering by chance? Or just gaming? Glad to finally hear someone having positive experience with the FE
 
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Umeed

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ohhh so in terms of performance the sea hawk is up to par with other aftermarket cards that's great to know, thanks! i guess that settles my concerns haha thank you
 
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Its about 50-60$ cheaper than the seahawk for me, and if I got the hybrid cooling kit for the ftw3 that adds 120-140$ so I might be better off with the sea hawk? What do you think? I've never had problems with MSI tho, currently running a 970 twin frozr, previous build had MSI mobo.

I also don't overclock since it trips me out thinking I'll burn the card like I did with my 6970 way back in the day lol
 
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I need the high end cards for 3D rendering (character models, level designs, etc) as that's the field i'll be in fairly soon. Also i want to be able to game in 4k as well, 1080ti is my best option for both of those without having to drop a lot on a workstation card. My buddy's card which was i think the standard 1080ti reference card heats up like crazy when rendering, he was gona get the msi seahawk as well but after reading this thread he's opting for the ftw3 with the hybrid kit.

It's not that I'll never OC, it's just im worried about OCing with my previous card burning out. But back then there weren't any profiles where you could just click and bam the card would OC into "gaming" mode. So this time around I'll be fine i think lol.
 
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Chugalug_

Chugalug_

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But, I mean, in regards to models.
An SC2 will be perfect, and only costs $719.
The reference cards are garbage that's why.
Any decent aftermarket card (Especially EVGA's) with a good air cooler will be fine.
OCing is perfectly safe, even more so when you have a beefy cooler. ;)
Water cooling is a waste of money, stay away.
 
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Solution
U

Umeed

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ohh i honestly just didn't know what models to get. I just keep hearing the 1080ti's run hot, and rendering stuff makes gpus run even hotter. I live in my basement, so it's usually pretty cool down here so I'm not to worried about room temps getting high. I just wanted a model of the 1080ti where it will manage to stay cool under pressure which is why I thought water cooling on a gpu would be better. I'm glad I asked. I'll cop a 1080ti FTW3! save that extra 60 for gas lol

Thanks Chugalug!
 
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