EVGA GeForce GTX 980 or OcUK GeForce GTX 980 "Reference Design"

Neil79 · 17 Feb 2015 at 19:58

Hi guys, not sure which one to go for, I'm hopefully going to get about £429 back from my 980 GTX, but that still leaves another £40 to find for the EVGA or OCUK Ref. Which one is the more likely clocker and better cooler? As in my previous card did 1565!

Will need to make a decision this week as I'm without a comp

wellibob · 17 Feb 2015 at 20:10

Silicone lottery. I'd pick a ocuk ref by choice. What was wrong with the KFA²?

Neil79 · 17 Feb 2015 at 20:13

wellibob said:
Silicone lottery. I'd pick a ocuk ref by choice. What was wrong with the KFA²?

Coil Whine
Unbalanced Fan Bearing, far left
It also needed 90% fan speeds to keep it under 76C OC

ciggybumly · 17 Feb 2015 at 20:24

Just a quick note,EVGA allow removing of the stock cooler to replace with a water block or aftermarket cooler without voiding warranty. The OCUK version you will void your warranty if you remove it.

Also, EVGA offer a free 5 year warranty if you register the card before 21st March

Neil79 · 17 Feb 2015 at 20:33

ciggybumly said:
Just a quick note,EVGA allow removing of the stock cooler to replace with a water block or aftermarket cooler without voiding warranty. The OCUK version you will void your warranty if you remove it.

Also, EVGA offer a free 5 year warranty if you register the card before 21st March

Cheers

Apart from "Default Overclocked" are there any other differences between the normal and SC version of the EVGA?

ciggybumly · 17 Feb 2015 at 21:00

I've got an sc one, I don't think there any any difference apart from the slightly higher default clocks. It may be, the SC version as a slightly higher ASIC value, but there no guarantee I don't think. I've got an EVGA sc 980 at 79% and an Msi reference 980 at 64%.
I've put a custom bios on both though which clocks the gpu to 1500/3700 and the msi is only a degree or 2 higher in temps.

ICEx21 · 17 Feb 2015 at 21:30

After using the reference 970 I'd go for the Overclockers card.
Great build quality, mine overclocked like a beast, it was extremely cool even in sli and made next to no noise.
Warranty wise it's 3 years I believe and that would be enough for me as I very much doubt I'd keep a graphics card for 5 years especially considering the next generation cards are to come quite soon.

Neil79 · 17 Feb 2015 at 21:33

ICEx21 said:
After using the reference 970 I'd go for the Overclockers card.
Great build quality, mine overclocked like a beast, it was extremely cool even in sli and made next to no noise.
Warranty wise it's 3 years I believe and that would be enough for me as I very much doubt I'd keep a graphics card for 5 years especially considering the next generation cards are to come quite soon.

What clocks bud?

ICEx21 · 17 Feb 2015 at 21:37

+100 and +200 is what I had it on for day to day use but I also tested it at +150 and +300 and that seemed to work as well. I think I could have went higher but there was no need and the card still stayed at 29c idle and max I saw it go up to was 74c I believe.

That was the top card in a sli setup. I'm hoping I get a similar 980 just waiting for the price to drop a little.

Neil79 · 17 Feb 2015 at 21:55

Tough choice with this lol

Kelt · 17 Feb 2015 at 22:22

Neil79 said:
Tough choice with this lol

Yep. Do I get a crappy, plastic shrouded card with no backplate that will dump all the heat into my case, or do I get a superbly engineered card with a full metal jacket, backplate, configurable LED logo (deal breaker) that expels the hot air out of my case.

Tough one.

Neil79 · 17 Feb 2015 at 22:23

I suppose it is also an OCUK card, what's the situation like regarding RMA's are they sent europe bound lol

EDIT : Just read some site reviews over ref and people don't like the cooling on it and I've got enough fans to expell heat from a GPU

Kelt · 17 Feb 2015 at 22:31

Neil79 said:
I suppose it is also an OCUK card, what's the situation like regarding RMA's are they sent europe bound lol

EDIT : Just read some site reviews over ref and people don't like the cooling on it and I've got enough fans to expell heat from a GPU

Yep, awful cooling. It's quiet, efficient, and doesn't heat up your case like an ozzy barbeque. Can see why people don't like it.

I think you've already made your mind up. I'm out!

Awahwah · 17 Feb 2015 at 23:11

Neil,

Let me know which way you go. My KFA2 will be sent back Thursday and I'm looking at replacements.

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 00:04

Awahwah said:
Neil,

Let me know which way you go. My KFA2 will be sent back Thursday and I'm looking at replacements.

GTX 780 Non-reference Comparison on Youtube was a good watch, check it out

RanxZy · 18 Feb 2015 at 01:00

It's a shame that your Kfa2 had problems yet it clocked so well. I guess it's the silicone lottery as usual. A lot of people's 970s were hitting 1500mhz, even the cheaper MSI ones but my RMA'd Gigabyte G1 didn't like anything over 1450Mhz, even with the price premium.

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 01:06

RanxZy said:
It's a shame that your Kfa2 had problems yet it clocked so well. I guess it's the silicone lottery as usual. A lot of people's 970s were hitting 1500mhz, even the cheaper MSI ones but my RMA'd Gigabyte G1 didn't like anything over 1450Mhz, even with the price premium.

I could've dealt with the coil whine but not the fan as at any point it could fail, I noticed it with 6 fans on the go. But then I did this...

and thought that's got to go back, both right and middle fan you could push up with a little bit of force and it wouldn't move at all, just keep spinning. Far left fan and a light touch of my finger nail, instant upward movement and scrape. Yet there was nothing underneath scraping it that I could see. Most likely the bearing it self.

Gutted really as it clocked to about 1560/3900, but this is the worry with cards that have three cheap fans on a good card. Same flaw with the 280x's

Gibbo · 18 Feb 2015 at 07:34

Reference design are far less likely to suffer whine.

ICEx21 · 18 Feb 2015 at 08:04

Gibbo said:
Reference design are far less likely to suffer whine.

Hi Gibbo,

Is there any chance the OcUK reference 980s cards are gonna be on sale any time soon? Looking to purchase 2 if it is but if not may have to settle for one at the moment.

Don't make me be one of those 1 card guys again please

Awahwah · 18 Feb 2015 at 08:14

Neil79 said:
I could've dealt with the coil whine but not the fan as at any point it could fail, I noticed it with 6 fans on the go. But then I did this...

and thought that's got to go back, both right and middle fan you could push up with a little bit of force and it wouldn't move at all, just keep spinning. Far left fan and a light touch of my finger nail, instant upward movement and scrape. Yet there was nothing underneath scraping it that I could see. Most likely the bearing it self.

Gutted really as it clocked to about 1560/3900, but this is the worry with cards that have three cheap fans on a good card. Same flaw with the 280x's

Mine was dropped during transit to me (DPD dropped it). I raised the fact that it had been dropped right away to Bailey (with pictures). Bailey asked that I test the Card, which I did but I was always struggling with Temps. So, I can only assume that the drop dislodged the cooler in some way.

i just don't know what Card to go for either and like you I'm without a PC due to the P67 chipset limitations. Bit pants really.

Some Pics:

Let me know how you get on but I may well go with EVGA.