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Worth the wait for AIB 1080 ti? Card will be under water, not going cold.

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Tír na nÓg

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2015
Hi all,

A question, as I can't get a clue on when the AIB's will be available.

Plan on getting a 1080 ti ASAP, and put it under water.

Except for the cooler, does the beefier VRM section on AIB cards make a difference in terms of OC margin when using water? I know it has an impact when going cold, but what about ambient?

My new 4K TV is screaming for a new GPU...

Thanks lads!
 
No way I would buy a reference

While it is still luck of the draw how strong your chip will be it is safe to assume if given an equal chip the improved PCB, power and cooling will take you a little further.

Also these improvements over reference will also aid in holding boost clocks higher

Personally I would not buy a reference card, every time I have in the past I have had to sell it off to get a better engineered card

Big thing in this is having to wait to see who is supporting what cards for blocks unless you are using a universal

Historically EK has supported Matrix, Lightning and KPE level cards , but we will have to wait and see
 
I don't think reference cards in this case are much worse then any "special" series as at least this generation is overclocking almost the same regardless of design. Most non-reference cards will be still close regarding power section but will have ( or not ) better cooler. However it's not a cheap card so I would wait and get at least something like EVGA FTW and actually I'm waiting for something good ... and maybe will buy one of the 1080Ti. What I'm waiting for is something like mentioned EVGA FTW, maybe Classified or ASUS Matrix. I don't really want any popular gaming series as these cards are like reference in better package. Also I don't want anything with warranty stickers so almost only EVGA left as other brands put stickers on all their series. I can understand that in lower graphics cards but I wouldn't touch MSI Lightning with a warranty sticker.
 
Tir na nOg, I figured you would have already had one of these babies ordered and on the way! :)

I submitted my upgrade request through the EVGA program. Just waiting for them to get stock back.
 
The reference cards have one thing working against them. They almost always have a lower power limit than the custom boards do. It will limit their overclocking ability, by hitting the power limit sooner than the custom cards.

If you're not going to try to push the overclocks a whole lot, OR, are going to push the overclocks, but don't mind doing a shunt mod, then.....the reference boards are about equal to the customs.

Just depends on what you want / are willing to do.
 
From what I was just reading, the guys over on kingpin cooling claim even with the reference card, they really wont benefit much from a shunt or voltage mod unless under extreme cooling. They claim with water or air, its really no benefit. Thoughts on that @Vellinious?
 
From what I was just reading, the guys over on kingpin cooling claim even with the reference card, they really wont benefit much from a shunt or voltage mod unless under extreme cooling. They claim with water or air, its really no benefit. Thoughts on that @Vellinious?

They're full of it. The power limits on the TitanXP are very restrictive, even on air. The 1080ti FE will be no different.
 
Tir na nOg, I figured you would have already had one of these babies ordered and on the way! :)

I submitted my upgrade request through the EVGA program. Just waiting for them to get stock back.

I did pre-order a Gigabyte Aorus, but cancelled it: it is quite a lot of money, and I don't want to rush it! Thinking about the MSI SeaHawk EK, with integrated full WB. It has a custom PCB, with beefier VRM's. overclockers.co.uk just doesn't have a clue on when it will be in stock, and I don't want to pre-order something that can be out in a month, lol!

I have the possibility to buy it from France or ITaly as well, but there, only FE in stock, not a single AIB, even for pre-order.
 
No way I would buy a reference

While it is still luck of the draw how strong your chip will be it is safe to assume if given an equal chip the improved PCB, power and cooling will take you a little further.

Also these improvements over reference will also aid in holding boost clocks higher

Personally I would not buy a reference card, every time I have in the past I have had to sell it off to get a better engineered card

Big thing in this is having to wait to see who is supporting what cards for blocks unless you are using a universal

Historically EK has supported Matrix, Lightning and KPE level cards , but we will have to wait and see

And see I've always had the opposite luck. Normally the reference cards are overbuilt and people begin to use cheaper parts later down the line to squeeze profit from it.
 
I am sure everyone has his or her opinion

I have bench way to many cards to argue the point

The reality is bigger PCB, better power and better cooling = better card.

it does not mean a better chip , however the KPE 980 Ti were binned and sold at different qualities at different prices

These types of cards typically have really good BIOS's flying around from the benching community that take advantage of the superior engineering found on these types of card

I personally would not put coin down on a reference model
 
And see I've always had the opposite luck. Normally the reference cards are overbuilt and people begin to use cheaper parts later down the line to squeeze profit from it.
Reference cards OVERBUILT? No..just no.

Anyhoo.. Seahawks was solid in the past... should be ok now. Was it a reference pcb/setup?
 
I'm starting to wonder if it's really worth to wait for non-reference 1080Ti. Friend just sent me photo of EVGA GTX1080 with warranty stickers ... since when they use it on higher cards ? I asked EVGA about it as if I decide on GTX1080Ti then I wish to put water cooling one day without losing warranty.
Other thing is that in some reviews like on TPU reference cards are overclocking even better than some non-reference like ASUS Strix. The same was with GTX1070/80 on ambient cooling or cold water. If it was GTX980/Ti then something like ASUS Matrix or EVGA FTW/Classified was clear choice but since GTX1000 release it doesn't really matter for most users.

I just wish to know what GTX1080Ti has no warranty stickers so if you have any info then please let me know.
( I could start new thread but in big part it's related to this one ).

Edit:
I got reply from EVGA support:
"The only warranty sticker on EVGA graphics cards is the serial number sticker. There is a sticker now installed over one of the screws to tell our RMA team if the cooler has been replaced on the card, removing this sticker does not affect your warranty it is strictly for our RMA testing teams information."
Took them 20 mins to reply to my mail :)
 
Last edited:
I'm starting to wonder if it's really worth to wait for non-reference 1080Ti. Friend just sent me photo of EVGA GTX1080 with warranty stickers ... since when they use it on higher cards ? I asked EVGA about it as if I decide on GTX1080Ti then I wish to put water cooling one day without losing warranty.


Edit:
I got reply from EVGA support:
"The only warranty sticker on EVGA graphics cards is the serial number sticker. There is a sticker now installed over one of the screws to tell our RMA team if the cooler has been replaced on the card, removing this sticker does not affect your warranty it is strictly for our RMA testing teams information."
Took them 20 mins to reply to my mail :)

Kinda fishy if you ask me. Me thinks it's a ploy if you remove the sticker over the screw will void said warranty. I would save that reply and print it out just to be on the safe side ;)
 
I see that all manufacturers are using stickers now but there are differences when you actually make RMA. In my experience it looks like this ( can be different depends on country ):
ASUS - more often I hear there are problems when stickers are removed, in the past they didn't care
MSI - no sticker = no warranty and even Lightnings have stickers
Palit/Gainward - no sticker = no warranty
Inno3D - I have no idea as there is no official distribution in my area
Galax - I have no idea as barely anyone is selling them in local stores
Gigabyte - last generation had no stickers at all but they are starting to use them, RMA in Poland ( and in EU in general ) is available through distribution only and then no sticker = no warranty
EVGA - they were not using stickers in the past but they started to use them so I just wanted confirmation and really it looks like when you remove sticker then you are not losing warranty but card will have to pass additional check for mechanical damages like missing resistors/caps, scratches or anything like that ... this was confirmed by my friend later today ( not like the best proove but he said that EVGA said him straight about additional card check when there is no sticker ).

I guess that stickers are required by Nvidia in their partner support agreement ( it was mentioned some time ago but not all brands were using them ). The same was with AMD. All partners had to agree to use stickers to have full support.
 
Yeah, I can understand that. Alot of people do, from time to time, fry cards, then send them in for RMA which is unethical and illegal. I figure they have to protect themselves somehow.
 
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