Hard time finding a decently priced 1080 ti to water cool

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Jamalgq

Jamalgq

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Hi everyone.

Kind of like the title says. I am upgrading and looking to buy a 1080 ti that I can put an ek block on. From reading all 1080 ti's tend to run about the same whether it is a reference or even the ftw3 (within a slight margin). I am assuming i could get over 2000mhz having a reference on water.

My problem is that all the reference cards seem to be ridiculously marked up being higher than cards with aftermarket blowers and OC'd from the vendor..

Can I buy a card with a different non-reference blower and still use a water block , like ekwb, or must it be a reference.

**While typing this I was notified by email that evga has bstock reference for 700 shipped, thoughts on a bstock?

thank you for your time folks
 
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n0ns3ns3
now, when you put all the numbers in a clear way, i couldn't agree more.
there is also a small but important thing about EVGA and why it would be best choice - EVGA is the only company that does not care about removing the cooler. With all other brands, it will void the warranty :)
As for the phase count, it's a bit complicated, in a nutshell the number of real phases is actually smaller. there is no voltage controller beyond 8 phases. so in best case, companies will use doublers. EVGA implementation is very good and so much overkill that it's ridiculous. Even reference VRM on 1080Ti is overkill and can handle way more than the chip even with LN2 overclocking. Check Actually Hardware Overclocking channel if you want to know more about...
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krells

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Some of the blower cards use the reference PCB but you would need to verify on the EK website that the specific card you are looking at does. Not sure if I wold want to spend $680 for a b stock card with a one year warranty when you should be able to get a brand new FE card for $700. This card might be a good option for you since it already has a block on it for $850 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125988&cm_re=gtx_1080_ti-_-14-125-988-_-Product.
 
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Jamalgq

Jamalgq

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Thanks for chiming in. I have to agree paying that for a b stock is rough indeed. I am cruising the compatibility lists now searching for a good combo now.. thanks for the link as well. I like the card and its now on the list of possibilities
 
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n0ns3ns3

n0ns3ns3

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1. you don't have to go with reference card, just check that there is a block for that card. usually EK have the widest range of blocks.
2. there are quite a few cards that come with reference PCB and "aftermarket" cooler. EVGA SC cards for example.
 
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Jamalgq

Jamalgq

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I thought about the sc card, but on the ek site it says they do not offer a product for that card?!?! Which I thought was strange but it must be somewhat different than pcb card
 
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n0ns3ns3

n0ns3ns3

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exactly what krells says - the SC2 is a custom PCB with all additional sensors (which is fun, but not must), SC is a reference PCB.
here is the list of all cards that are based on reference PCB from all manufacturers: https://www.ekwb.com/configurator/waterblock/3831109831977
just search for the 1080Ti since the list contains 1060, 1070, 1080 and even titan cards :)
if you want to check the block availability for specific card, use configurator here : https://www.ekwb.com/configurator/
 
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Jamalgq

Jamalgq

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So I awoke in the middle of the night and for some reason grabbed my phone and went to amazon. I got semi lucky I think. I found the msi 1080ti seahawk x for $809 shipped. It was sold out in ten minutes and back to over $900 last time I checked. Its basically the reference card (with dvi, which is good since i realized this morning that my overlord tempest 1440p only has dvi!) and I ordered it.
-It will be in stock on the 21st and is expected to arrive to me by the 28th.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071XRBGVW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I currently cool the 4790k with an h110i gtx.. I was planning on doing a custom water loop in the upcoming months and figured "heck I could just sell the 1080 ti corsair AIO kit to somone and recoup a few bucks to put towards buying a dedicated water block and use the card for the next month or two as is while I figure out my loop design (I have a 6 month old, pregnant wife, and work so my schedule is limited to say the least lol)

But then the 'buyer's remorse"... I see both good and bad and wanted to see if someone could bounce there two cents my way about the above plan. OR Canceling it and ordering the evga ftw3 which they have in stock and would be great to get here earlier (who likes to wait , right?). Would it truly be a better card? I have been reading and watching videos and from what I can see is that evga really overbuilt the card and that pascal is actually the limiting factor in going higher/further with it and not the design - so water would help. (I know kingpin would go the highest but its not worth the wait or the extra $200 for a gpu that is from the best bin, second - or close to second binning, is fine for me.. And the ftw 3 from evga is not overpriced, they have it for $799 (only a ten dollar difference then

And EK makes waterblocks for the ftw 3 :)

ok that was long winded and if you have made it this far then thank you
 
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n0ns3ns3

n0ns3ns3

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performance wise, there will be no perceivable difference. even with silicon lottery you are looking at may be 200Mhz between the worst card and the best card. more realistically it's about 100MHz for the common cards. that's about 5% difference. can you tell the difference between 60 FPS and 63? or 95 and 100 without FPS counter ?
the difference will be the noise. those "hybrid" cards are anything, but quiet. they are actually quite loud.
so buying FTW3 is better idea as even on air it will be quieter. and yes, EK makes blocks for them https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-fc1080-gtx-ti-ftw3-nickel
If you plan to build a custom loop for all your components, it will be cheaper and smarter to go with the FTW3.

BUT the smartest and cheapest thing you can do is getting this card:
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GTX-1080-ARMOR-11G/dp/B06XX3S2MF/ref=sr_1_19?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1505843835&sr=1-19&keywords=1080ti
and this block:
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-fc1080-gtx-ti-tf6-acetal-nickel

in addition to cheapest, here is why it's a best buy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNQtfNFCWa8
 
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Jamalgq

Jamalgq

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Thanks for taking the time to really help me sort this out. I think that you were/are totally onto something there as that is really a great idea.

But when I crunch numbers (let me play devil's advocate here) the ftw3 was/is $799 and no tax where I live :). The armor will be $794 delivered with the tax because its just not available to me tax exempt from amazon. The seahawk I have on order (which ,again, I can cancel at anytime the next few days as it hasn't even arrived at amazon yet) was $809 shipped to me.

So for tax purposes it is really only a few dollars to go with ftw3 over armor simply because of uncle sam. So it comes down to boards. the ftw3 has dual bios (incase I ever had a bad flash or whatnot), more sensors, etc etc. And from the benches I have seen is actually crazy good for stock cooling by staying within 10c of the hybrids out there.

The last part is that it has a higher power phase which, if I am understanding correctly, would be better for the day it actually gets put into a loop.

Again , just playing devils advocate, thanks for reading this and helping me work through this as I have no one in my area that is into this stuff like us :)
 
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n0ns3ns3

n0ns3ns3

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now, when you put all the numbers in a clear way, i couldn't agree more.
there is also a small but important thing about EVGA and why it would be best choice - EVGA is the only company that does not care about removing the cooler. With all other brands, it will void the warranty :)
As for the phase count, it's a bit complicated, in a nutshell the number of real phases is actually smaller. there is no voltage controller beyond 8 phases. so in best case, companies will use doublers. EVGA implementation is very good and so much overkill that it's ridiculous. Even reference VRM on 1080Ti is overkill and can handle way more than the chip even with LN2 overclocking. Check Actually Hardware Overclocking channel if you want to know more about PCBs in general and VRM specifically.
On a positive note about VRM on FTW3, EVGA is officially accepts RMA on coil whine (which again stands out of the crowd) :)
So IMO if there is no card that you can get for at least 40-50$ cheaper (that has a water block) definitely go for it.
 
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Jamalgq

Jamalgq

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And with your help it is done :)

Thank you very much for your time and working through the steps to get to the best option. When you brought back up the fan removal and the warranty points.. I knew for sure EVGA ( esp looking at the numbers). So I have ordered it, got bit by the bug and even paid the few extra bucks last minute to have it here by the weekend ::shrug:: lol

Now Ill go ahead and cancel the amazon order!

Feel like playing devils advocate for another topic ? I have a 4790k, z97a gaming 7, and 32gb ddr 3 2200mhz.. Debating on going ryzen 1700x as I am looking to content create and edit family videos.. plus I have the itch lol.. with AMD promising to keep the am4 platform for at least two years I could always swap the chip out next year if they were leaps ahead of the current 1700x.

I would be selling the gaming 7 board, 16gb of the ram, (putting the 4790k in my wifes system to upgrade her and the other 16gb of ram I am keeping) and her 4690k chip. All of which would help offset the price of upgrading. I priced it out at about 750 ish for the 1700x,board and 16 gb ddr4 32oomhz. I think I could get $300-350 selling the older parts locally.. thoughts on this ? :) feel free to pm or write here (even though its off topic, I feel we solved the original post lol) Or, if you do not wish to comment then no worries.

Either way I thank you very very much!!
 
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n0ns3ns3

n0ns3ns3

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well, I'd wait for the availability of coffee lake. meanwhile you can check if the performance of you current CPU is enough. with liquid cooling and deliding, you can probably get something like 4.7-5.0GHz out of it. Ryzen IMHO has only reached "beta" level (on release it was alpha at best). So while it's great, to make the most of it requires considerable effort and luck.
Personally, current ryzen CPUs are not meeting my requirement of iGPU + 6-8 cores at 4.5-5GHz for under 400$ with mITX MB that supports 64GB. first company to release such platform will get my money
 
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Jamalgq

Jamalgq

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Glad I asked because I was thinking somewhat along the same line as you. I will pop the new gpu in this weekend , and since i am holding off to see what next month will bring with Intel, or even hold out to hear about ryzen 2. I have played with overclocking the 4790k with the h110i thats on there and it stays nice and chilly at 4.7ghz at 1.26v... but I have to play around with that a bit more- plus a full custom waterloop will really let me see what it can do.

thanks again for your time spent helping me out with this!!
People like you are what makes this site!
 
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