Is the MSI Sea Hawk X 1080 Worth it?

[Admiral Meowmix]

I'm curious if it's worth it to go with the watercooled sea hawk X or if it would be better to just get an air cooled card.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Air cooled, since it's the same thing but cheaper.

 

[Admiral Meowmix]

Air cooled, since it's the same thing but cheaper.

alright so what manufacturer/model would you recommend if you don't mind me askin?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

They're all pretty good but the Gigabyte G1 and EVGA cards are my recommendations.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Define "worth it". If you are expecting a huge performance increase because of water cooling, you'll be disappointed. Water hasn't significantly helped the better nVidia AIB cards significantly since the 700 series. However if you want to reduce noise, pairing it with something like the Swiftech 240 X2 or 320 X2 is a very inexpensive way to get a very quiet and cool running system. Just make sure it's the X version with the full cover water block from EK, not the cheap CLC from Corsair w/ the aluminum radiator, that leaves the VRM and VRAM air cooled.

The air cooled MSI Gaming X does quite well and never gets near it's throttling point.

http://videocardz.com/60838/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-is-much-better-than-founders-edition

Hardware.Info throttling test is quite simple, 30 minute loop of F1 2015. We are looking at clock stability and temperatures here. NVIDIA’s own reference design suffers from severe throttling just after few minutes. It probably wouldn’t be that bad if not the frequency spikes. While average clock is somewhere around officially stated boost clock, those spikes cause micro-stuttering, which negatively affects gaming experience.

Meanwhile, MSI GTX 1080 GAMING X generates almost a straight line for GPU frequency (~1910 MHz), with no spikes and rather constant sub-70 C temperature. This should mean that the gaming experience will be much better, and card should theoretically generate better results in most tests. Also according to H.I. this is also the best custom design they so far tested.

Idle temperatures are excellent even with the fans turning off in idle. During gaming, the card also runs much cooler than the reference design, which avoids clock throttling above 82°C.

If temps never hit 82C, no throttling, hence water has little to offer from a GPU performance standpoint. The MSI, as you might expect is again the quietest but the Asus and Gigabyte are also quality cards.

MSI Gaming X = 31 dbA
Asus Strix = 33 dbA
Gigabyte G1 = 34 dBA

 

[Admiral Meowmix]

Define "worth it". If you are expecting a huge performance increase because of water cooling, you'll be disappointed. Water hasn't significantly helped the better nVidia AIB cards significantly since the 700 series. However if you want to reduce noise, pairing it with something like the Swiftech 240 X2 or 320 X2 is a very inexpensive way to get a very quiet and cool running system. Just make sure it's the X version with the full cover water block from EK, not the cheap CLC from Corsair w/ the aluminum radiator, that leaves the VRM and VRAM air cooled.

The air cooled MSI Gaming X does quite well and never gets near it's throttling point.

http://videocardz.com/60838/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-is-much-better-than-founders-edition

Hardware.Info throttling test is quite simple, 30 minute loop of F1 2015. We are looking at clock stability and temperatures here. NVIDIA’s own reference design suffers from severe throttling just after few minutes. It probably wouldn’t be that bad if not the frequency spikes. While average clock is somewhere around officially stated boost clock, those spikes cause micro-stuttering, which negatively affects gaming experience.

Meanwhile, MSI GTX 1080 GAMING X generates almost a straight line for GPU frequency (~1910 MHz), with no spikes and rather constant sub-70 C temperature. This should mean that the gaming experience will be much better, and card should theoretically generate better results in most tests. Also according to H.I. this is also the best custom design they so far tested.

Idle temperatures are excellent even with the fans turning off in idle. During gaming, the card also runs much cooler than the reference design, which avoids clock throttling above 82°C.

If temps never hit 82C, no throttling, hence water has little to offer from a GPU performance standpoint.

I see thanks for answering!