New to building...difference between all the Geforce GTX 980 ti's???

[Arlonz]

I'm looking at graphics cards but am having difficulty judging them. It seems EVGA, ASUS, GIGABYTE, MSI, etc all have Geforce GTX 980 ti listed...is each company using the same "card" but just with a little twist to make theirs different? I just finished reading one article about the MSI version on a pc building page and clicked on a link that offered a more in depth look at it...which showed a completely different looking card. I'm definitely missing something important here. Help please?

 

[TheloniousBreskin]

Here's the way Nvidia cards work. Nvidia makes the GPU, or the Graphics Processing Unit. They sell the GPU, (which really is only a chip of silicon) to a company like gigabyte, MSI, Asus or whoever else you've seen. Those companies put the GPU onto a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) with the ram and all the other componentry needed. Lastly, they'll but some kind of cooling solution onto the card as well. This, to me, is where most of the choice comes in. I want a cooler that looks sexy but also does the job. I've found that MSI's twin Frozr works really well and looks great. Another thing you should consider is what the factory clock is on the card. MSI's cards ship with a program called the gaming app. That allows you to make an OSD (on screen display) with all sorts of information but also has three different settings for the clock rate: OC, Gaming, and Silent. OC makes the card run faster but the fans spin faster and make more sound. MSI has OC series cards which feature a yellow trim, and those come with a higher factory overclock. However, to avoid breaking the bank, I'd strongly recommend an MSI gaming series 980 ti. The last great thing about this card is that the fans only spin up when needed.

 

[Arlonz]

Thanks, I'm replacing a seven year old computer and haven't kept up on the advancements so trying to digest all of the info in short order is proving rather...interesting. I've read more on the MSI you're talking about and it does seem like a really good card so that's what I might go with. Thanks again!

 

[TheloniousBreskin]

Thanks, I'm replacing a seven year old computer and haven't kept up on the advancements so trying to digest all of the info in short order is proving rather...interesting. I've read more on the MSI you're talking about and it does seem like a really good card so that's what I might go with. Thanks again!

No worries.