• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Were the nvidia FE cards worth it?

BS Dave

BS Dave

BS Dave

Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2004
Posts
4,687
Location
London
i’m thinking ahead to when the new nvidia cards are released. I didn’t Pay too much attention this time round because I had my 980ti but were the FE cards the first to be released and only available from nvidia?

Were there other reference cards (ASUS/whatever) available or were the AIB cards all slightly different?

I’m thinking that if you get in really quick they’ll be a few cards going at a launch price before the miners get on board.

I’m hoping to watercool as well hence the question about reference designs. I seem to remember the FE cards being more expensive to start off with, were they worth the extra cost?? Thanks
 
To NVidia, yes they were. No manufacturer cut so they got more money for them. For anyone else? Well, that's debatable! If you were planning on watercooling them then it wasn't a bad deal at all, but if you were waiting on AIO or custom coolers then yes, it wasn't worth it.
 
Yeah, the FE cards were first to be released.

Are they worth the extra cost? Well, that's completely subjective. They tend to be slower and nosier than custom cards, that won't apply if you are water cooling of course.

And then again, Nvidia might do something completely different with their next generation of cards. It's hard to advise on this just yet.
 
Just a general question... If you are going down the watercooling route, would it be best buying directly from Nvidia, or wait for AIB, like EVGA, for a Founders Edition card?
 
TeraVirus said:
Just a general question... If you are going down the watercooling route, would it be best buying directly from Nvidia, or wait for AIB, like EVGA, for a Founders Edition card?
Click to expand...

Personally I will still usually pick up FE cards from the likes of EVGA for their warranty. Usually they are slightly more expensive then other FE cards even though they are identical, in part thanks to the warranty I expect. However I do not believe FE cards are produced any longer or at least they are extremely hard to find. Nvidia do sell them direct, but similarly, been out of stick for months.

Also as another note, some aftermarket models will also tend to use the reference PCB in some case's. So you can get those models and get the benefit of a solid air cooler for most situations, but also be able to use a founders edition waterblock.
 
The problem I can see with waiting is the prices will just sky rocket once the ‘reasonable price’ at launch cards are sold out (probably within minutes). If AIBs arrive later will they come in at already at miner’s prices?
 
This year preorder whatever you can get early. You'll be sorry. Goodluck buying a 1080ti for less than a grand now.
 
Radox-0 said:
Personally I will still usually pick up FE cards from the likes of EVGA for their warranty. Usually they are slightly more expensive then other FE cards even though they are identical, in part thanks to the warranty I expect. However I do not believe FE cards are produced any longer or at least they are extremely hard to find. Nvidia do sell them direct, but similarly, been out of stick for months.

Also as another note, some aftermarket models will also tend to use the reference PCB in some case's. So you can get those models and get the benefit of a solid air cooler for most situations, but also be able to use a founders edition waterblock.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input! I think I will hold out for a Volta 1180 FE from EVGA, fingers crossed I can pre-order before they sell out.

Yeah I can't find any FE cards from the 10 series anymore, so I will wait it out.
 
MissChief said:
To NVidia, yes they were. No manufacturer cut so they got more money for them. For anyone else? Well, that's debatable! If you were planning on watercooling them then it wasn't a bad deal at all, but if you were waiting on AIO or custom coolers then yes, it wasn't worth it.
Click to expand...

NVIDIA don't produce the cards themselves, it's all outsourced to Flextronics. From a technical standpoint, the FE cards are fairly limited in terms of power delivery, and obviously cooling. To say to someone they'll be worthwhile next time round is a guess at best. Depends entirely on the GPU, and what the architecture is like.

That said, if NV put any harsher amperage limits in, it won't matter what you get anymore.
 
The EVGA 980 AIO cooler fit the 1080 with a bit of modification and tamed it. FE ones are usually aimed at the early adopters who cant wait or not bothered about the cooler as they just watercool them.
Its been the same for a few versions and I can not see it getting any better, probably worse. Just look how long the EVGA custom coolers took to come out on the 1080 !
 
This^^

Had mine since day after release and still holds 2Ghz after hours of gaming at 69 degrees - yes it is noisy but under a decent set of cans I cant hear it. To have had mine on release and with gaming performance between all cards measurable in only single figure FPS especially at 4k, then my purchase was definitely worth it.

An after market cooling solution is only any good if you have decent case airflow as they eject most heat into the case.

Some of the cards with the AIO coolers are not badly priced seeing as purchasing a standalone AIO for 1080ti is £150+. Now if SLI wasn't so poor I'd get a 2nd 1080ti if the mining craze took a drop.

Just crazy that it burns so much energy to basically produce.......nothing.
 
1080Ti FE owner here since launch. Great card and is relatively quiet at 1950MHz core. I raise to boost over 2000MHz for benchmarking but have the fan at 100% for that.
 
Launch day ti here too, purchased with the sole intention of watercooling it so the noise of the stock cooler was never an issue for me.
Holds 2080mhz regardless of what I throw at it all at around 40c.

Yes it was expensive, but I looked at it as an investment. If I get 2 years out of it before the upgrade itch strikes, I'll be happy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom