GTX 980 Gigabyte G1 Gaming VS MSI Gaming ?

[Ransome]

Technically I wish I could buy the Asus Strix GTX 980 DC2T, however it probably won't arrive to Israel, my country.

So... MSI VS GIGABYTE Gaming cards:
Cooling, stability, factory oc, oc potential, noise levels, design, looks, performance?..

 

[Ransome]

I went with the Gigabyte GTX 980 G1 Gaming.
Gosh ! Hope I made the right call! What do you guys think?
Order is on the way and will be there in a few days (stupid slow shipping in Israel - freaking small country, I swear it takes less time to order and ship from the USA).

 

[icraft]

You will not regret it. Unless it's broken when you get it. 😛 Don't worry though, it's the best choice.

 

[Bighairyman]

I might have considered the Gigabyte also but I don't understand why it has such a high price tag. I purchased the The Evga 980 SC ACX 2.0 and the Asus Strix 980. The is the Evga was dead silent and ran cooler. The Asus ran the hotter and the fans were noticeably loud under heavy gaming. Was very disappointed in the Asus. I highly recommend the Evga, they have always had great quality video cards and great customer service.

 

[Ransome]

Ok my GB GTX 980 G1 already arrived and I have installed it yesterday (haven't re-installed drivers since already had the latest with my 670).

I have listed the 3dmark demo results here on the thread, what do you think of the performance (considering my PC rig) does it make sense? Is it above/below average compared to systems of my level:
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2358916/gtx980-3dmark-results.html

Basically - these are the 3dmark results:
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/4591929?
Fire Strike was 11328
I don't know if its OK or not, was hoping to reach at least 12-13K. What do you guys think?

 

[Ransome]

I might have considered the Gigabyte also but I don't understand why it has such a high price tag. I purchased the The Evga 980 SC ACX 2.0 and the Asus Strix 980. The is the Evga was dead silent and ran cooler. The Asus ran the hotter and the fans were noticeably loud under heavy gaming. Was very disappointed in the Asus. I highly recommend the Evga, they have always had great quality video cards and great customer service.

Hey just wanted to let you know: in Israel the price of the GB G1 was nearly identical to the EVGA SC ACX 2.0 thus the price tag was not a factor for me.
Also EVGA grand and famous customer support and RMA service don't apply here, since you work with the official importer if you have issuses - and they don't work by EVGA (or any big brands in the US) awesome high standards. Being a gamer in Israel is tough, expensive and unsupported lol. So I can't expect the awesome RMA and cusomter service from any of these brands.

That being said, a bit of a "noob" question here:
If I buy another GTX 980 in the future - but decide to buy a different brand - for instance EVGA:
Do I need to alter core and memory clocks - so the two cards will match each other - overclock or downclock the cards?
Or is it ok to have two cards connected, running at their different factory shipped clocks as is?

In short, can I just plug an EVGA with Gigabyte 980 with SLI and play?
(I rather not mess with the clocks unless I overclock both cards on sync)