Whats the difference between a founders card and KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 "Reference Blower" (except the £100 price difference) Is it the quality of the components i assume?

It could use lower quality components, or it could be an identical PCB to the founder's edition cards. We will know when the card is pictured and tested.

I'm 99% sure it's the same PCB as the reference/founders card with a cheaper cooler on top.

I was under the impression these cards are for those who dont overclock....

Meaning you dont need a custom cooler as you wont be pushing the card beyond factory settings.

Could be wrong tho

No backplate either, and it will throttle, won't be quiet (relatively speaking) or OC particularly well. It's a low budget card, but still a 1080.

If you don't want to overclock and dont mind noise then get this card, download MSI afterburner. Set fans to auto and enjoy! (The cheaper one obv)

robbw77 said:

I was under the impression these cards are for those who dont overclock....

Meaning you dont need a custom cooler as you wont be pushing the card beyond factory settings.

Could be wrong tho

Click to expand...

The cooler will likely still be pretty noisy even at stock clocks. These plastic blowers are always the cheapest cards on the market for a reason. But yes, if you're not planning to overclock and noise isn't really a concern, it'll do the job.

My KFA2 reference cooler came today. Very quiet even under full load. Bought this as its the cheapest and I plan on changing to a waterblock at some point when the next chips from Intel appear.

Im interested in this card too, and I wont be overclocking it. I assume there is no bells and whistles and just does the job?

I dont mind a little bit of noise, as long as it doesn't sound like a hoover...

They look perfect if you're just going to strip it and slap a block on there.

Got one on order myself, should have it Tuesday. I'll give it a go with the stock cooler but I am going to put a water block on eventually. That's why I wasn't too bothered about paying £100 more for a better cooler.

Will post back some opinions on the noise if anyone is interested.

Is it a complicated process adding a waterblock?

roysters said:

Is it a complicated process adding a waterblock?

Click to expand...

Fitting the block is easy. Sorting out the rest of the loop can be complicated (and expensive)

Thought id have a play with a basic overclock. This card seems really stable and is running at a boost of 1898mhz and 5100mhz on memory with 0 issues. Fan only gets to 60% under full load as well. Can go higher no doubt so ill try when I get the time.

Cant wait to get a water block and see what it can handle.

Nice.

Does it come with the clownface sticker on the front?

I will be waiting for the MSI version for the extra year of warranty and the time will allow reviews of aftermarket cards to be made. Curious to see whether the extra power connector helps.

Manook said:

Thought id have a play with a basic overclock. This card seems really stable and is running at a boost of 1898mhz and 5100mhz on memory with 0 issues. Fan only gets to 60% under full load as well. Can go higher no doubt so ill try when I get the time.

Cant wait to get a water block and see what it can handle.

Click to expand...

So do you recommend it if i don't even play to overclock it or watercool it?

roysters said:

So do you recommend it if i don't even play to overclock it or watercool it?

Click to expand...

Most definitely. Also doesn't appear to suffer with the random fan spiking that the founders edition is reportedly having. Very quiet as well.

Only got it as I was going to water cool it but given how quiet it is I might not bother.

robbw77 said:

I was under the impression these cards are for those who dont overclock....

Meaning you dont need a custom cooler as you wont be pushing the card beyond factory settings.

Could be wrong tho

Click to expand...

I thought that they were more for water coolers who remove the cooler and add a waterblock. Plus blowers are good for small builds, But if I was making an ITX with a blower card I'd want the better version.

snip

Just what I did with the 980 Ti bought the cheapest reference card and added an AIO water cooler. I've got a spare AIO cooler If I go for a 1080 now or it'll be a spare for the 980 Ti. Buying a base card didn't harm the OC that it achieved but of course that may vary between cards.

Doesn't the 1080 have a phase change based cooler and the 1070 a plain heat pipe cooler. So the cheaper 1080s may not have a phase change based cooler? Might limit the best OC if that was important over the cheapest card.