Buying a 980 Ti today, but which one?

[12pak]

I'm struggling to decide. The last 3 cards I've bought have all been Gigabyte cards, and I've never had any trouble out of them, so would like to stick with them. BUT, my current PC has a red and black theme, with an Asus ROG Maximus Hero VII and I don't see any good matching Gigabyte 980 Ti's, as far as color goes.

The MSI red and black one looks nice, but I can't tell of it's got any red LED's on it like the Windforce or Strix cards. I'm going for looks here as well as performance. If anyone out there has the MSI red and black card, can you tell me if it has any lights on it? If it does, then this will probably be my card.

ATM, I'm leaning toward the Strix OC'd, based mostly on the red LED theme. I'm concerned about this one though as in reading through online reviews, it appears this card had heat issues early on, and that they were pulled from sale at some point. All the reviews I can find on it predate the sale stop. Now that they are on the market again, have the heat issues been resolved?

I've read good reviews about the EVGA cards, but the only EVGA card I ever owned was an 8800 GT, which I had buku's of problems with. I swore off EVGA at the time and have never bought anymore of their products.

This is a lot of money I'm about to drop and I'm stressing.....

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[RCFProd]

Zotac AMP! Omega or Extreme for sure.

5 Years of warranty.

 

[toddybody]

I'm struggling to decide. The last 3 cards I've bought have all been Gigabyte cards, and I've never had any trouble out of them, so would like to stick with them. BUT, my current PC has a red and black theme, with an Asus ROG Maximus Hero VII and I don't see any good matching Gigabyte 980 Ti's, as far as color goes.

The MSI red and black one looks nice, but I can't tell of it's got any red LED's on it like the Windforce or Strix cards. I'm going for looks here as well as performance. If anyone out there has the MSI red and black card, can you tell me if it has any lights on it? If it does, then this will probably be my card.

ATM, I'm leaning toward the Strix OC'd, based mostly on the red LED theme. I'm concerned about this one though as in reading through online reviews, it appears this card had heat issues early on, and that they were pulled from sale at some point. All the reviews I can find on it predate the sale stop. Now that they are on the market again, have the heat issues been resolved?

I've read good reviews about the EVGA cards, but the only EVGA card I ever owned was an 8800 GT, which I had buku's of problems with. I swore off EVGA at the time and have never bought anymore of their products.

This is a lot of money I'm about to drop and I'm stressing.....

Thanks in advance for any help.

Hey Friend,
Congrats on your plans for a new card..IMO, you wont be disappointed in any ASUS STRIX, Gigabyte G1, or EVGA ACX (what I currently use) cards. IMO, EVGA is the best nVidia card supplier because of their warranties/customer service/general quality...but that's far from saying theyre the only good company of the bunch.

Since aesthetics are important for your build, I'd go with the STRIX; you could also go with the Gigabyte and remove the cooler to paint it...more work, but it will look EXACTLY how you want it to. In either case, great cards...

-Todd

 

[Victorion]

Asus Strix, fast card both @ stock speed and overclocked.
Zotac - reports of whine coil issues. Takes 3 slots.

 

[12pak]

Well, I decided the LED on the Strix was too much of a premium to pay for just the lights. The EVGA's are on sale for a good discount so I went with one of those. Hope I don't end up regretting it in the end. Thanks for the reads and considerations!