Any physical difference between eVGA SC/SCC/FTW editions

[Magusigne]

Hey guys,

do you know if there is a physical difference between these cards or are they just all factory levels of overclocking that I could just do myself anyways with a regular version. Specifically talking about the GTX 280.

 

[Cutthroat]

They are all the same card with different factory overclocks. These cards have been tested at the advertised speeds so you know they should work at that speed where as the regular clocked model has no guarantees to run with any overclock, but they will usually overclock just as well anyway.

I just bought a BFG OC version of the GTX 280, not because it was faster, but was cheaper than the regular version.

 

[sticks435]

Yea, and with evga, you can pretty much do anything you want to the card and they will take it back, so there's really no point in buying the factory overlocked cards.

 

[chizow]

Physically they are the same unless you specifically get one of their special cooled editions like HC18, AKIMBO, ACS3 etc.

They have in the past used different BIOS to slightly up voltages to reach higher clocks, which is also how you get the stock differences in clock speeds. Just something to keep in mind.

Also, EVGA definitely tests and bins their cards, there was some pics of an EVGA tour and their lab was pretty impressive. Overall I think a small premium, maybe 5-10% is worth it for a guaranteed and warrantied 10-15% increase in clockspeed (and usually overall performance), especially when you're spending a lot to begin with.

 

[Piuc2020]

The cards most likely use reference models with reference designs and reference materials and the chip which is produced by NVIDIA so there is a big difference in cards, the only manufacturer I've seen really stray from reference designs is Gigabyte but the only thing that separates EVGA from any other manufacturer are the bundle, price and warranties.

As for your question, the cards are the same but the only difference is that EVGA tests the card at that overclock and so you are guaranteed to have a faster card at stock, with the relatively conservative overclocks however, I don't see why a vanilla version couldn't easily reach the FTW clocks.