What is better than an evga 980ti FTW?

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axlrose

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So I'm putting a new build together and including a 980ti to give myself 4k capabilities moving forward. My case is very shallow so that I have 10.5 inches available so that I think I may have enough room for the EVGA FTW and maybe enough room to connect power. Even if it fits, that prevents me from using a 360 rad to watercool.

I'm thinking of finding a way to connect a riser ribbon so that I can mount the card vertically somehow, but I'm not sure how to do that just yet. What cards out there would you say are better that I should consider if I'm going to go through the work to fit a card without any size restrictions?
 
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified. Both MSI and Zotac make cards with some of the most extreme factory overclocks, but I don't personally like them because they use three PCI slots, and eliminate the possibility of adding a second card in the future. EVGA also make the 980 Ti Hybrid card, if you're interested in a AIO water cooling solution, but you would need a place to mount the radiator. Personally I would go for the classified, but be aware that it requires two 8 pin PCIe power connectors.

EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified
$619.99 after $20.00 rebate card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=evga+980+ti+classified&N=100007709&isNodeId=1

Addendum: this card is 11", while the FTW GPU is 10.5". I didn't realize this until after my post above. But the Classified is a better card, and currently is also about $40 cheaper.
 
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rcald2000

rcald2000

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Refurbished: No, it's not a refurbished price. That price is for a brand new EVGA GTX 980 Ti Classified. I think it's a great deal.

Asus: I haven't bought an Asus card since I owned an Asus x1950 Pro, which I believe released in 2006. I have no direct experience with their graphics cards for the past ten years. However, I do own the Asus X99 Sabertooth motherboard, which I like a lot.

MSI gold: I've never heard of the MSI gold. Perhaps you're speaking of the MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning, which has a yellow & black shroud, which could appear to be gold & black? If so, be aware that the Lightning card is one of the cards that occupies three PCI slots. I do notice that there are nine NewEgg customer ratings, and they all have perfect scores; that's extremely impressive. But for me, a card taking up three slots is a deal killer, because I like having two 980 Ti's in my rig. The Zotac AMP! is the other 3 slot 980 Ti GPU on the market.

MSI GTX 980 Ti Lightning
$699.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127910&cm_re=msi_gtx_980_ti_lightning-_-14-127-910-_-Product

Zotac GTX 980 Ti AMP!
$679.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500379&ignorebbr=1
 
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axlrose

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Gamer1985

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The classified and FTW are nearly identical except the power phase on the classy is 14+3 and 8+2 on the FTW. They both have a step up from the references 6+2. If your looking for the top out of the box factory OC card it is the Matrix. The next contenders are the Amp! Extreme, Lightning, K|ngp|n and Gaming 6G. I personally am a EVGA fan and I like the sleek design of it better, plus EVGAs customer service is excellent from my experiences. I had the FTW before my K|ngp|n and felt it was a great card. It came with the factory overclock and I was still able to get an additional 30Mhz on the coreclock and 400Mhz on the memory. If you are choosing between the FTW and the classy, get the classy.
 
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Gamer1985

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From a very basic standpoint the power phases are like the firing order of the cyclinders in your car.
For instance, if the board (or graphics card) has eight phase power, then the incoming voltage from the PSU is made available to eight buck converters* (each being a transistor to take the voltage load from the PSU, and 2 switches that alternately charge and discharge the load from an inductor) - so these eight converters fire through one cycle (i.e. at 45° if one cycle equals 360°) through their seperate switches, and are rejoined into a single board input. Technically, dividing the incoming current through seperate switches/phases reduces heat and voltage drops... So, the more converters (or phases) then, theoretically, the cleaner the input power since you have incoming power more times per cycle -less opportunity for current drop between discharges.

Using the car spark plug analogy, it would be akin to an 8-phase board being a V-8 engine, while a 4-phase board would be an in-line/V-4 .

The +2 part of the equation (8+2, 12+2 etc.) refers to the same principle, but in this instance the current is going to the memory controller (either chipset, or in the CPU if the controller is part of the CPU package).

* this converts the load from the PSU into a load that the CPU and board can utilise (a DC-to-DC converter).
 
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