Nvidia GeForce GTX 1000 Series (Pascal) MegaThread: FAQ and Resources

[mr91]

the blower style has a purpose for sure and that would be the main one there.

i'd still wait as there are a few brands putting out blower style custom cards which will still be better than founder's edition. and cheaper as they will be bottom of the line-up.

I'm probably going to get the The Asus Founders/Reference edition. I would still get a reference card if I had a huge case with very good air flow.

I've tested and owned many non reference models over the years...

I might give EVGA or MSI a chance however I've had the best experiences with Asus Reference cards.
I think the Nvidia reference cards are very high quality and sometimes they overclock quite well. The main benefit with the non reference cards are that they are usually quieter and run cooler however they recycle the hot air in the case...

The non reference cards usually have a higher ceiling at the higher end however there is not guarantee that a non reference will be better for overclocking than a reference card.

 

[17seconds]

the blower style has a purpose for sure and that would be the main one there.

i'd still wait as there are a few brands putting out blower style custom cards which will still be better than founder's edition. and cheaper as they will be bottom of the line-up.

I'm probably going to get the The Asus Founders/Reference edition. I would still get a reference card if I had a huge case with very good air flow.

I've tested and owned many non reference models over the years...

I might give EVGA or MSI a chance however I've had the best experiences with Asus Reference cards.
I think the Nvidia reference cards are very high quality and sometimes they overclock quite well. The main benefit with the non reference cards are that they are usually quieter and run cooler however they recycle the hot air in the case...

The non reference cards usually have a higher ceiling at the higher end however there is not guarantee that a non reference will be better for overclocking than a reference card.

If you're going with the Founder's Edition, give the PNY version a look. Their lifetime warranty is literally unbeatable and gives some nice peace of mind that you will never have to worry if anything goes wrong with it.

 

[mr91]

the blower style has a purpose for sure and that would be the main one there.

i'd still wait as there are a few brands putting out blower style custom cards which will still be better than founder's edition. and cheaper as they will be bottom of the line-up.

I'm probably going to get the The Asus Founders/Reference edition. I would still get a reference card if I had a huge case with very good air flow.

I've tested and owned many non reference models over the years...

I might give EVGA or MSI a chance however I've had the best experiences with Asus Reference cards.
I think the Nvidia reference cards are very high quality and sometimes they overclock quite well. The main benefit with the non reference cards are that they are usually quieter and run cooler however they recycle the hot air in the case...

The non reference cards usually have a higher ceiling at the higher end however there is not guarantee that a non reference will be better for overclocking than a reference card.

If you're going with the Founder's Edition, give the PNY version a look. Their lifetime warranty is literally unbeatable and gives some nice peace of mind that you will never have to worry if anything goes wrong with it.

I prefer Asus, I switch my graphics cards frequently. I've had the Titan x for 14 months and this is the longest I've ever kept a graphics card...

I heard pny partially retracted their life time warranty - did they reinstate it?

 

[17seconds]

Never heard of that being retracted. I have owned several PNY cards and have had successful and pleasant returns at least two times.

 

[mr91]

I just glanced at the terms and it seems like if you register the card within 90 days and you are the original purchaser they will honour the warranty.

Why did you need to return the cards ?

 

[17seconds]

I had a GTX 580 that blew some sort of circuit while overclocking. Returned it with no problems. Actually now that I think about it, that may be the only one that went through the actual RMA process. I had opened it up and changed the thermal paste and did extensive overclocking, and yet the return was hassle free. I currently have a PNY GTX 780 Ti that I'm actually hoping will crap out soon so I can see what kind of card they replace it with.

 

[mr91]

Never heard of that being retracted. I have owned several PNY cards and have had successful and pleasant returns at least two times.

Sounds good ー did they replace the 580 with the 780 ti?

 

[17seconds]

Never heard of that being retracted. I have owned several PNY cards and have had successful and pleasant returns at least two times.

Sounds good ー did they replace the 580 with the 780 ti?

No, I wish, but I was very pleased to find that it was replaced with a very high ASIC GPU. I noticed it instantly as the card was defaulting to lower voltages and running cooler and quieter. I still have the card packed away, very lightly used.

Due to a series of events, I was forced to buy from Best Buy for both the 580 and 780 Ti, and PNY is one of their main brands. I got confused because I had a previous PNY GTX 780 Ti that I returned directly to Best Buy not long after I bought it. That was also a really simple in-store exchange.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pny-geforce-gtx-1080-founders-edition-8gb-gddr5x-pci-express-3-0-graphics-card/5324601.p?id=bb5324601&skuId=5324601

Point is, with reference/Founder's cards warranty and customer service are the key points since all the cards themselves are identical.

 

[detroitwillfall]

feeeeeed me more !! 😀

 

[RobCrezz]

Someone on tomshardware in another thread said that a GTX 1080 is overkill for 1440p. I think a GTX 1080 is perfect for a 21:9 1440p 144hz monitor. What y'all think? He said he plays skyrim with his 980ti at a steady 60fps in 4k

I would say its a great 1440p card if you like maxing games out and want some longevity.

Skyrim isnt a good title to compare with because its so easy to run. I used to run it maxed out in 1080p on a 560 ti. I doubt you need a 980 ti to get 60fps in 4k, lower cards could do it I bet.

Yes I think I was running Skyrim at 1440p DSR on a 1080p monitor on a GTX 650 Ti Boost, at a solid 60fps. If not it was 1080p solid 60fps.(Still in my drawer and used sometimes as a Phys X card.)

However even with my GTX 980 there is a place in Markarth that pushes the frame rate down to 40fps. I never did work out what that was. The CPU is minimal, and RAM usage was at about 25%.

(NB Always nice to see you again Rob.)

Have we spoke before? sorry dont recognize your name.

I had a thread wondering why my GTX 650 Ti Boost was not doing so good in performance. People said it was my Intel Core 2 Duo E6700. Then in the thread I explained that I bought an i5 4690, and the 650 To Boost was working as it should. Mostly nukemaster but Q6600 Inside, and yourself were really patient and chatty with me. I kind of regarded you as friends. http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1816764/gtx-650-boost-pci-x16-problem/page-2.html

Anyway back to the thread. What Eximo just said is worrying. A 1060 if it performs the same as a 980, kind of makes the 980 hard to sell. Not going to be easy to shift Maxwell in an attempt to upgrade to Pascal.

I think we'd do better keeping our 980 as a PhysX card, or just keep them until we need to upgrade.

Oh yeah, I remember now. Hope its all still going well.

 

[mr91]

A valid point however my understanding is that Nvidia's partners assemble the cards based on Nvidia's design.
My experience with Asus is that they have top notch quality control in most of their products...

Asus and EVGA also have better resale value...

Never heard of that being retracted. I have owned several PNY cards and have had successful and pleasant returns at least two times.

Sounds good ー did they replace the 580 with the 780 ti?

No, I wish, but I was very pleased to find that it was replaced with a very high ASIC GPU. I noticed it instantly as the card was defaulting to lower voltages and running cooler and quieter. I still have the card packed away, very lightly used.

Due to a series of events, I was forced to buy from Best Buy for both the 580 and 780 Ti, and PNY is one of their main brands. I got confused because I had a previous PNY GTX 780 Ti that I returned directly to Best Buy not long after I bought it. That was also a really simple in-store exchange.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/pny-geforce-gtx-1080-founders-edition-8gb-gddr5x-pci-express-3-0-graphics-card/5324601.p?id=bb5324601&skuId=5324601

Point is, with reference/Founder's cards warranty and customer service are the key points since all the cards themselves are identical.

 

[U6b36ef]

I am kind of lost with all the many versions. This is what I mean.

Firstly Nvidia make the original chip and cards. Then we have the term custom cards, or after-market cards, or other board manufacturers. However custom means home customised. After market sort of means add-on.

Secondly. The Founders Edition cards. What the hell is going on when Nvidia releases its card? Then all the other manufacturers like Asus sell the exact same Nvidia looking card but in like an Asus box.

Am I making sense or having a bad day.

 

[opio]

But yes I agree with you U6b36ef, there is no such thing as overkill.

Overkill is someone recommending a $1,800 laptop, when a $350 one will do just fine.
I had that today.

Good point

 

[opio]

I am kind of lost with all the many versions. This is what I mean.

Firstly Nvidia make the original chip and cards. Then we have the term custom cards, or after-market cards, or other board manufacturers. However custom means home customised. After market sort of means add-on.

Secondly. The Founders Edition cards. What the hell is going on when Nvidia releases its card? Then all the other manufacturers like Asus sell the exact same Nvidia looking card but in like an Asus box.

Am I making sense or having a bad day.

No man you're making perfect sense. I was totally confused as well, I mean I watched nvidia unveil the GTX 1080 and 1070 live on twitch and then started reading how the Founder's edition and the other one are the same and such. Blah. I still don't understand how them coming out with their "reference design" and the founder's edition that is 100 bucks more helps other manufacturers like Asus and EVGA keep costs down.

And here I sit, extremely patient. Waiting so I can buy an msi GTX 1080 Seahawk (I'm a bit of an msi fanboy) so I can make a few other mods to my system and be done with upgrades for a couple years.

 

[RobCrezz]

I am kind of lost with all the many versions. This is what I mean.

Firstly Nvidia make the original chip and cards. Then we have the term custom cards, or after-market cards, or other board manufacturers. However custom means home customised. After market sort of means add-on.

Secondly. The Founders Edition cards. What the hell is going on when Nvidia releases its card? Then all the other manufacturers like Asus sell the exact same Nvidia looking card but in like an Asus box.

Am I making sense or having a bad day.

Nvidia doesnt make any cards them selves. They just create the reference (or founder edition) design, and the manufacturers like Asus/EVGA/MSI etc make it to that spec.

 

[James Mason]

It's really not complicated.

Nvidia makes the Chips (and probably the sockets), and also designs a REFERENCE board that the Board Partners (asus,evga,ect) use to make their own design.

Some people want to buy GPUs directly from Nvidia, but Nvidia primarily makes it's money selling to the Board Partners. To address this, they released a "Founder's Edition" so anyone who wants one bad enough can get one, but at a premium price.

This extra premium price gives the Board Partners plenty of room to sell their own cards at better prices and if anyone is stupid enough to still want a reference GPU they'll have to pay for it.

Why the Board Partners are also selling reference GPUs is kinda unknown though, but I don't see Nvidia having any listings at online retailers so I assume the only way to get one from Nvidia is to buy it from their website.

 

[Math Geek]

it's pretty cheap as well for the brands to produce reference cards since they are given everything they need from specs to blueprints and board layout.

the custom cards have to be designed from the ground up adding cost for R&D. this is why we tend to see similar PCB layouts for specific lines from generation to generation. saves time and costs. especially considering some brands like to put out 12 versions of every gpu (looking at you MSI and EVGA).

i know if i was designing a card, i'd like to have a reference design to kind of compare to and help guide me. we all love an outline or template we can follow even if the finished product is far from it. it's nice to have a starting point.

 

[-Fran-]

That MSI+Corsair 1070 is very smexy.

I would love if they could make an AMD card like that as well =B

Cheers!

 

[opio]

it's pretty cheap as well for the brands to produce reference cards since they are given everything they need from specs to blueprints and board layout.

the custom cards have to be designed from the ground up adding cost for R&D. this is why we tend to see similar PCB layouts for specific lines from generation to generation. saves time and costs. especially considering some brands like to put out 12 versions of every gpu (looking at you MSI and EVGA).

i know if i was designing a card, i'd like to have a reference design to kind of compare to and help guide me. we all love an outline or template we can follow even if the finished product is far from it. it's nice to have a starting point.

I suppose that does make sense, thank you for explaining it to me. I just want my GTX 1080 liquid cooled from the factory, it can be an msi Seahawk or EVGA Hybrid I don't care I just want it RIGHT MEOW.

Liquid cooling my current msi 760 ITX editions was one of the best things I've ever done. I can overclock them to pretty insane frequencies and keep the cards under 60c while the cards are at full load (using corsair H55's with an NZXT conversion bracket, I actually had to cut it in half and machine it to fit since the cards are ITX versions, so I also had to buy copper heatsinks for the VRAM chips. I have to give credit to Gelid's thermal paste. Arctic silver is fine but seriously, Gelid makes the best thermal paste. I did the research and it came out on top. When I replaced the arctic silver that was on there with gelid paste the idle and full load temps dropped 4 degrees C. Same with my CPU, but a corsair H55 isn't going to cut it as I continue to overclock my CPU so it can keep up with GPU's for the next couple of years. I'd get a CPU air cooler, specifically a Noctua DH-14, but it's too damn big, I use micro ATX boards, I find them attractive because then my case isn't so huge and it's easier to take to LAN parties. AIO liquid cooling gives me room. Once I get my GTX 1080 and then an NZXT X41 and replace my side panel with a windowed one because I won't need a side panel fan anymore, my rig will be a force to be reckoned with. Oh and I won't be using sli anymore and I'll be getting an Intel pci-e SSD as well.

sli is dead to me.

 

[Math Geek]

I don't care I just want it RIGHT MEOW.

i fully understand that. i want all the 1070/80 models out now and reviewed yesterday so i can make some decisions for the future.... 😀

 

[TehPenguin]

I am actually considering to get a €100 GPU to get me trough Q4 16 so I can then see everything both teams have to offer ^^

 

[detroitwillfall]

can i get an amen! right meow!!!!!!!!!

 

[MPDota]

Any info or prediction when will 1070 non-founder's edition come out? Also for 1080, are there non founder's models in stores? In my country it's still only FE in shops for 1080.

 

[Rectifier]

So it looks that 8-pin connector isn't an issue with overclocking 1080.

According to Mad Tse, the 8-pin power connector design on reference design is not really a limitation for overclocking. The reference board is using different components than custom designs. MAD points out that reference cards are most likely using locked BIOS. He also mentions that his card was using increased voltage up to 1.3V, which is not possible on reference cards.

While the 2.5 GHz clock he achieved using LN2 cooling is already impressive, it’s not really as important as the clock achieved using air-cooling only. GALAX HOF GTX 1080 is supposedly able to overclock up to 2.2 GHz, without any extreme modifications.

However it is uncertain if NVIDIA approved this card design and its unlocked BIOS, so we don’t know if retail cards will be able to achieve similar frequencies.

Question is if there will be available unofficial unlocked BIOS for reference cards

 

[Math Geek]

Any info or prediction when will 1070 non-founder's edition come out? Also for 1080, are there non founder's models in stores? In my country it's still only FE in shops for 1080.

the 1070 will be released on the 10th. so you got a week. as for 1080 custom models, none have shown up yet and i have not seen any info on when/where to expect any. i expected at least 2 weeks before we saw them and it has been one week now so still some time to wait more than likely.

@rectifier, bios and voltage limitations are the one thing i have yet to see anything about anywhere. i expect custom bios from custom cards but the couple custom cards we have seen reviews on so far, seem to be just as limited as the reference card. i guess we won't really know until we start seeing more custom cards in people's hands to test.