Best 980TI card to custom watercool in a loop?

[Sven56]

I am thinking about creating a full custom watercooled loop including motherboard, cpu, gpu, etc. However I have enough money to buy a 980TI, so I was thinking which card will be the fastest to watercool. I don't think I will get the more expensive zotac arctic, because it also has a air cooling and is very heavy. Thank you all a lot!
Kind regards,
Sven.

 

[zcarm]

Honestly, once you take off the stock cooler the graphics cards are just about the same. I would just get one with a super cheap air cooler that you wouldn't mind pitching. Here is the cheapest 980 ti I found on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500376&cm_re=980_ti-_-14-500-376-_-Product

But honestly you could look at other websites. Since most of the time when you pay extra you pay for either A. factory Overclocking (that you can probably do yourself if you are watercooling) and B. The cooler. Other than that, there isn't much difference. So my recommendation would be to go as cheaply as possible.

 

[spagalicious]

Honestly, once you take off the stock cooler the graphics cards are just about the same. I would just get one with a super cheap air cooler that you wouldn't mind pitching. Here is the cheapest 980 ti I found on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500376&cm_re=980_ti-_-14-500-376-_-Product

But honestly you could look at other websites. Since most of the time when you pay extra you pay for either A. factory Overclocking (that you can probably do yourself if you are watercooling) and B. The cooler. Other than that, there isn't much difference. So my recommendation would be to go as cheaply as possible.

Honestly this. While higher priced custom cards may claim to have higher quality ASICS (i.e. better silicon, better overclocking), there is no guarantee on quality from the manufacturer. I haven't heard of any 980 Ti that wasn't a great OC preformer, so I'd go cheapest reference and put a block on it.

BTW, my EVGA 980 Ti has an ASIC quality of 84.6% if that means anything to you.

 

[zcarm]

Honestly, once you take off the stock cooler the graphics cards are just about the same. I would just get one with a super cheap air cooler that you wouldn't mind pitching. Here is the cheapest 980 ti I found on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500376&cm_re=980_ti-_-14-500-376-_-Product

But honestly you could look at other websites. Since most of the time when you pay extra you pay for either A. factory Overclocking (that you can probably do yourself if you are watercooling) and B. The cooler. Other than that, there isn't much difference. So my recommendation would be to go as cheaply as possible.

Honestly this. While higher priced custom cards may claim to have higher quality ASICS (i.e. better silicon, better overclocking), there is no guarantee on quality from the manufacturer. I haven't heard of any 980 Ti that wasn't a great OC preformer, so I'd go cheapest reference and put a block on it.

BTW, my EVGA 980 Ti has an ASIC quality of 84.6% if that means anything to you.

While the mockery is amusing, that is essentially what I just said. As far as the guarantee on quality from the manufacturer, you still get guarantees from whoever is selling the card who bought it from the manufacturer.

 

[spagalicious]

While the mockery is amusing, that is essentially what I just said. As far as the guarantee on quality from the manufacturer, you still get guarantees from whoever is selling the card who bought it from the manufacturer.

No mockery friend, was simply agreeing with you was all. Just thought I'd add the bit about no guarantee in ASIC quality because, as far as I know, no manufacturer guarantees a numerical ASIC quality.

 

[Derza10]

While the mockery is amusing, that is essentially what I just said. As far as the guarantee on quality from the manufacturer, you still get guarantees from whoever is selling the card who bought it from the manufacturer.

No mockery friend, was simply agreeing with you was all. Just thought I'd add the bit about no guarantee in ASIC quality because, as far as I know, no manufacturer guarantees a numerical ASIC quality.

EVGA does with its KINGPIN cards... but you pay extra for higher ASIC quality... for 80%+ its like $1050.

http://www.evga.com/articles/00944/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-980-Ti-KINGPIN/#BuyNow

 

[spagalicious]

EVGA does with its KINGPIN cards... but you pay extra for higher ASIC quality... for 80%+ its like $1050.

http://www.evga.com/articles/00944/EVGA-GeForce-GTX-980-Ti-KINGPIN/#BuyNow

I stand corrected. That's a heck of a premium to pay for something you could potentially get for free. Thanks for the link.

 

[zcarm]

While the mockery is amusing, that is essentially what I just said. As far as the guarantee on quality from the manufacturer, you still get guarantees from whoever is selling the card who bought it from the manufacturer.

No mockery friend, was simply agreeing with you was all. Just thought I'd add the bit about no guarantee in ASIC quality because, as far as I know, no manufacturer guarantees a numerical ASIC quality.

Sorry, must have misread it. Tones are hard to get a read on over forum. My apologies

 

[zcarm]

Overall, it seems your best option would just be to go with what's cheapest as most frequently the cards don't differ that much once you take off their coolers (aside from KINGPIN). A reference card would probably be your cheapest shot (and you would get the manufacturer guarantee spagalicious was referring to). However, you might find a cheaper card elsewhere.

 

[Derza10]

Another thing you might want to consider is that cards like the EVGA classified (14+3)/Asus Strix(12+2)/MSI Gaming(8+2) and so on have more power phases than the reference cards (6+2).

 

[sanwokie]

Honestly, once you take off the stock cooler the graphics cards are just about the same. I would just get one with a super cheap air cooler that you wouldn't mind pitching. Here is the cheapest 980 ti I found on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

But honestly you could look at other websites. Since most of the time when you pay extra you pay for either A. factory Overclocking (that you can probably do yourself if you are watercooling) and B. The cooler. Other than that, there isn't much difference. So my recommendation would be to go as cheaply as possible.

Personally, I would go with a model like the EVGA GTX 980Ti Classified http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Graphics-Backpl... because the components used on the card are much higher quality than the reference design which will allow for much higher clocks and the GPU's are binned as well. The only problem is finding a water block for a custom card but the Classified models usually have options out there for water blocks since they are typically put under water.

If you want something simple then the reference design is a good choice to go with due to the compatibility with so many water cooling options.

 

[Sven56]

Thank you all very much for all the responses. I guess I will go for the EVGA one, as it has higher quality components and only costs $10 more. Didn't intend that you guys would start I fight 😀