Should I get a 2080 Seahawk or something else?

[Pavel Pokidaylo]

Hello. I'm doing a new build and I want to get a 2080 for it. The variants I'm looking at are the MSI Seahawk, MSI Gaming Trio, Asus Strix and EVGA FTW3. I believe all 4 of these cards boost clocks are set to 1860. I want to know if the Seahawk would provide much lower temps as it is liquid cooled? I've checked out the reviews of the Gaming Trio and Asus Strix on techpowerup and it looks like the Strix cooling is actually much better than the Trios. The Strix with the stock fan curve runs at 61 degrees where as the Trio runs at 72. The Strix also has a quiet bios.

What card do you think I should get?

Here's what my build will consist of.

Case- CM H500M
Mobo- Maximus Code Z370
CPU- i7 8700k
RAM - 16GB Corsair Vengeance 3200
CPU Cooler- Corsair H115i Platinum
SSD- I will use my 840 Pro 256GB for Windows and a few games. I ordered an 860 Evo 1TB M.2 for my games.
PSU- I'll use my Seasonic X 1050W Gold

If the temps on the Seahawk are much lower than the other variants and I decide to go with it will I need to add an exhaust fan in the case? Guy at the computer store also told me that the best thing to do would be to add a second fan to the Seahawks cooler for a push/pull setup.

I'd greatly appreciate your thoughts and input. Thanks!

 

[Phaaze88]

Stock fan curve... made moot by the fact that you can customize your own fan curve. The Trio's fan curve is likely not as aggressive as the Strix's by default.
Get the cheaper one if you're not going to overclock - turing cards appear to be even worse overclockers than pascal. The liquid cooled cards generally cool better than the air cooled models, but you won't really notice it unless you're pushing an extreme OC.

Are you planning to SLI later? If not, a 750w model will be plenty.

 

[Pavel Pokidaylo]

not sure about the fan curve I can look for it on the reviews but according to this the DBA of both cards is 36 yet the Strix is sitting at 61 degrees while the Trio is at 70. https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_RTX_2080_Strix_OC/37.html

I don't plan on doing a heavy overclock or might not overclock at all but I would like to get the card with the best temps. I'd rather it not sound like a turbine to achieve those temps but I also play my games with a headset on so it isn't as important. My current GPU is a 980 Ti Classified in a Fractal R4 case and the card sits around 80 degrees at load on the stock curve which is fine I guess considering I have not had any issues with it and also it isn't loud at all. If the Liquid cooled Seahawk has much better temps and lower noise I figure I may as well go for it but I have not been able to find a single review for it yet. The prices of these 4 cards are all within $50 so it isn't a big difference.

I don't plan to SLI but I'm just going to bring over my current PSU which is the Seasonic 1050W Gold.

 

[Dragos Manea]

A water cooled gpu can turbo boost without any overclock to 1900-2000 mhz while an air cooled card it is hovering 1700-1800 mhz, now it is your choice if it is worth it.
Also much much better temps, 40-55 degrees celsius compared to 65-80.

 

[Pavel Pokidaylo]

A water cooled gpu can turbo boost without any overclock to 1900-2000 mhz while an air cooled card it is hovering 1700-1800 mhz, now it is your choice if it is worth it.
Also much much better temps, 40-55 degrees celsius compared to 65-80.

Thanks

 

[drivinfast247]

I just picked up the MSI 2080 Gaming Trio. At all bone stock settings it averages 1900mhz at sub 70*c temps

 

[Pavel Pokidaylo]

I just picked up the MSI 2080 Gaming Trio. At all bone stock settings it averages 1900mhz at sub 70*c temps

Hey man thanks for the reply and congrats on the Trio! It's definitely a good looking card and one that I had in mind.
I actually ended up ordering a Strix though. The performance difference is likely marginal at best but the Strix will just match the rest of my stuff a little better I think.

I was interested in the SeaHawk as well but decided against it. The card itself looks alright I guess(better than Pascal Seahawk) but I don't want the radiator and those ugly tubes. I also couldn't find a single review of Seahawk save for one (Danish I think) youtuber and I couldn't get any info out of that. I also called up MSI and asked them what kind of temps I could expect to see from the Seahawk and the guy told me 60-70 and not lower don't know how accurate that is but that's what the MSI guy told me. I'm sure the Strix will do a fine job of keeping the card cool enough. Apparently anything under 90 degrees is "childs play" for current video cards.

I'm actually debating not opening the 2080 because I'd rather have a 2080 Ti lol there are just none to be had. Not one I would want anyway. There's a deal on BnH for $1600 for an EVGA card + PSU but I don't need the PSU and there's also a Zotac card on Newegg for $1300 but I don't want that.