By the beard of Zeus! Just upgraded to 1080 Ti.

[nathanddrews]

My patience has paid off! Last night I picked up two (2) Gigabyte AORUS GTX 1080 Ti Xtreme Edition cards off Craigslist for $800 total ($400 each). One for me, one for my wife. They are absolutely mint, not a speck of dust to be seen, complete with packaging, port covers, 8-pin adapters, content and was just purchased new in Feb with over 3yrs of warranty still in effect. The guy I bought from said he was upgrading to two 2080 Ti cards. If I could rate sellers on CL, I would give him 6/5.

So far, it looks feels like a significant upgrade from my GTX 970. Some scenarios - busy MMO hubs - make it obvious that I'm still using a 3570K. Even at 4.2GHz OC, it drops me under my target 100fps. Good to know that when I upgrade to a new CPU/platform next year, I'll have some untapped potential left in this GPU. However, I do 4X DSR on CRT 1600x1200@85Hz (3200x2400) or 1920x1080@100Hz(3480x2160) and everything looks glorious and stable so far. Still more tweaking to do, but so far, so epic.

So yeah, consider this post a PSA or sorts if you need to upgrade. Keep your eyes peeled for 1080 Ti users looking to upgrade. There's effectively a firesale in the used market right now.

 

[JoeRambo]

1080 ti is golden. With some undervolting that is basically 2Ghz card with 225W power usage. Silent and uber powerful for 1440P gaming. With current price structure NV would rather sell a bridge to 1080 ti owners.

 

[Headfoot]

Yeah its a beastly card. Mine runs 24/7 at 2025 on the core and with the aftermarket cooler its very quiet too

 

[Tweak155]

I just went from a GTX 970 to an Asus Strix 1080ti OC myself... quite the jump for sure. Also got them for a good deal almost exactly a month ago now, but off another forum.

 

[DooKey]

Nice deal on those cards. Enjoy!

 

[Elfear]

Just did the same! I was running a 1070 for quite a while and then decided to pick up a used Gigabyte 1080Ti a few weeks ago. Just need to throw a waterblock on it now.

 

[JoeRambo]

New Just did the same! I was running a 1070 for quite a while and then decided to pick up a used Gigabyte 1080Ti a few weeks ago. Just need to throw a waterblock on it now.

Is it really needed? I can run my card with i think 120% power, ~2120mhz, 330W TDP or so, fan has to work HARD and is not silent doing so, and 330W need to be removed, i'd consider watercooling (when chip heats up, it uses more power, soon it hits TDP and starts lowering clocks etc) if i was inclined to run it this way..

Or You can do it as i do - undervolt it to ~1 - 1.025V and target 2025Mhz. Boom, 225W TDP, dead silent card and one that has rock solid 2025 clock no matter what you throw at it, no clock jitters, just great experience.

 

[aigomorla]

Idle temps on my 1080ti with waterblock is 29C @ 25.9C ambients.
Full Load Temps with Overboost is 42C @ same ambients.

Do i need watercooling? YES.
Why? because i run a Zotac card, and that sucker runs HOT.
A full covered waterblock will also have waterways over the VRM's and Ram.

It will easily double the life of your card unless u run a leak and kill it.
Also the 1080ti's are known to overclock a little bit better when they are kept cool, so there's also that.

Elfear, if your running the AORUS get an eK.
If your running a FE, get whatever you think looks good, as they all perform pretty close to each other.
Just dont get thermaltake or anything that has ALU in it.

 

[JoeRambo]

Do i need watercooling? YES.
Why? because i run a Zotac card, and that sucker runs HOT.
A full covered waterblock will also have waterways over the VRM's and Ram.

It will easily double the life of your card unless u run a leak and kill it.
Also the 1080ti's are known to overclock a little bit better when they are kept cool, so there's also that.

No doubt about it. Water is always better. But undervolted 1080TI is still damn good and something i recommend trying out before going water route.

 

[Elfear]

Is it really needed? I can run my card with i think 120% power, ~2120mhz, 330W TDP or so, fan has to work HARD and is not silent doing so, and 330W need to be removed, i'd consider watercooling (when chip heats up, it uses more power, soon it hits TDP and starts lowering clocks etc) if i was inclined to run it this way..

Or You can do it as i do - undervolt it to ~1 - 1.025V and target 2025Mhz. Boom, 225W TDP, dead silent card and one that has rock solid 2025 clock no matter what you throw at it, no clock jitters, just great experience.

I've already got a waterblock for it and figured I'd see a measurable difference in clocks with the better temps but I'll have to experiment with undervolting as your clocks are impressive with such low volts.

Idle temps on my 1080ti with waterblock is 29C @ 25.9C ambients.
Full Load Temps with Overboost is 42C @ same ambients.

Do i need watercooling? YES.
Why? because i run a Zotac card, and that sucker runs HOT.
A full covered waterblock will also have waterways over the VRM's and Ram.

It will easily double the life of your card unless u run a leak and kill it.
Also the 1080ti's are known to overclock a little bit better when they are kept cool, so there's also that.

Elfear, if your running the AORUS get an eK.
If your running a FE, get whatever you think looks good, as they all perform pretty close to each other.
Just dont get thermaltake or anything that has ALU in it.

Hey Aigo. I already have a Watercool Heatkiller GPU-X waterblock. It worked great on my 980Ti and I'm hoping the VRM layout is similar on the Gigabyte 1080Ti since I already cut that plate.

Have you noticed a sizable difference in your clocks on water?

 

[Headfoot]

2120 mhz is a really solid overclock you got there. Mine can't get past 2050 stable on max power limit even with the aftermarket fan

 

[Kenmitch]

Nice deal you got. The other guy....Well not really sure what he's thinking, but too each his own I guess.

 

[aigomorla]

Hey Aigo. I already have a Watercool Heatkiller GPU-X waterblock. It worked great on my 980Ti and I'm hoping the VRM layout is similar on the Gigabyte 1080Ti since I already cut that plate.

Have you noticed a sizable difference in your clocks on water?

The thing is i run a zotac amp extreme, so it already boasts having the highest factory overclock.
I havent really felt the need to push it harder and im sort of lazy these days when it comes to stress testing after overclocking so i never tired.

I mostly watercooled mine because zotac has the poorest heat sink next MSI, and my card was really getting toasty.
The back plate on the card would get so hot, you could probably smoke bacon on it..
(being a bit sarcastic here, but it did get obnoxiously hot)

As for the HK waterblock, that is an excellent block.
If it does fit, then by all means, i would definitely drop it on, and watch your temps get cut in half across the board.