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

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

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?

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?

Neil79 · 17 Feb 2015 at 21:55

Tough choice with this lol

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

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

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

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 10:33

Awahwah said:
That's a shame.

What's the difference between the SC and the FTW

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 10:49

Gibbo said:
They will be going up end of today, wont be down in price again for a long time or maybe never if we cant source more.

They went up this morning?

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 11:04

Freddie1980 said:
Are you saying the KFA GTX980's are actually Trotskyite Communists?

Anyhoo credit arrived, time to order

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 11:22

Vimes said:
You could try a 290x...?

What are you ordering....?

Thankfully my KAF2 980 seems great and at just under £400 that I paid there seems nothing close to that now, price wise.

EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Superclock ACX 2.0 4096MB

1) They allow you to remove the cooler add a different cooler, and even send out replacement coolers if fans are faulty, the Galax company doesn't

2) Free 5 year warranty if you register the card before 21st March

3) I've seen reports of people overclocking and not getting above 67C, the KFA2 got into the mid 70's nearly 80's at 90% fan speed!

4) A more known brand, in other words more people will have the card than say a Zotac, better custom bios support

5) High quality fans, not cheap branded like most cards

etc

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 11:24

ICEx21 said:
How long did it take for your credit to arrive?

Bailey pushed it through, so card arrived at about 10.20, credit came in about 11am. As for when it appears in your bank/cc usually about three days

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 11:50

Vimes said:
Hope that it works out for you

I take it that the lure of the red team wasn't enough...?!

I reckon that your KFA2 has just appeared for sale...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...ktdetailseite&emcs2=BG-459-GI&emcs3=BG-005-GX

I went red once, it gave me a disease

Yeh might be

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 11:55

Awahwah said:
Neil,

Which EVGA did you go for?

EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Superclock ACX 2.0 4096MB

I was going for the FTW but Gibbo's at the end of the day turned out to be by 11am in the morning

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 12:08

Awahwah said:
I was going too aswell but had to arrange some funds to cover it while my SOC goes back. I'm a little disappointed to be honest.

I was going to go for the Gigabyte Windforce, but everyone keeps talking about the G1 version and it had no reviews so

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 13:23

Gibbo said:
The OcUK has not changed in price, the last time it went up on 9th of February (£455.99 upto £469.99 which is current price), since then no further increases, it shall increase to £499 end of today.

EVGA GeForce GTX 980 FTW ACX 2.0 - 7 in stock for immediate despatch £499.99 inc VAT

It was about 469/479 this morning and I was going to buy it, but within 1hr of my credit arriving, it shot up to 499.99 and I couldn't order it as that's the one I wanted

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 13:26

Awahwah said:
Gibbo,

Not the OcUK Ref Card. The EVGA FTW Card that was on this week only. I asked this morning if it would be on next week, you said no but will remain at that price till this afternoon. I check at lunch, to order, and it had gone back up.
.

Yep same, that price was due to last till the end of today, I got my credit in, went in to order the FTW and boom it's at 499.99 :mad:

. Now I've got the SC but I did want the FTW at the cheaper price

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 13:29

Gibbo said:
However I am a nice person and have lobbed £12 of the FTW, you have 3 hours to get your order in!

Too late for me, I've ordered the SC at 12pm ish today, gutted

n/m I'm sure the SC is still overclockable

Neil79 · 18 Feb 2015 at 13:31

Awahwah said:
@Gibbo,

Will these be on next weeks 'This Week only'?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-266-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1812

I need the funds to clear from my returned Galax SOC if I'm going to go with that one.

Gibbo said:
They will be going up end of today, wont be down in price again for a long time or maybe never if we cant source more.

Gibbo said:
No it was not.

This week only refreshes every Wednesday and is always typically in the morning, a this week only has NEVER being refreshed at end of the day.

Miscommunication I think