Reference cooler (NV's New Founder!) Yay or Nay poll!!!

[railven]

EDIT: Dat horrible thread title! Could a Mod change it to simply to match the title of my poll? I'm new to making polls. Haha.

I'm curious to see how this place splits. With NV charging a premium for their reference cards (ie that exotic cooler that sort of sucks it seems), where do you stand?

Do you need a reference blower? Or are you okay with paying less for a custom card? Now, this poll assumes no one is gouge (ideal world and all) and while I agree some may gouge, let's just assume they don't.

What's your vote? Give a reason for your vote if you'd like.

 

[railven]

For me, after learning a little more about reference PCB vs reference cards, I'd opt for a reference PCB + any cooler since chances are I'd drop the cooler and use my own configuration. But the configuration I'd most likely use requires a reference PCB.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Reference everything.

 

[railven]

Reference everything.

Found the first cow! NV gonna milk you dry!

I say that in jest. But I'm sure you can take a joke.

 

[NTMBK]

I voted for reference cooler, but really I need a blower cooler, and reference is the most reliable way to get one. Sick of these "open" coolers which look great when reviewed on an open air testbed, and then dump a ton of heat into your case.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

I just want a big silent cooler. Custom pcb is appreciated, but not required.

 

[Arachnotronic]

But I'm sure you can take a joke.

Definitely

 

[MrTeal]

I just need a PCB with good waterblock support, but that likely means a reference PCB. Hopefully one of the AIB partners uses the ref. PCB for an OC'd model but populates the missing phase and all the extra mosfet slots on the board.

 

[Headfoot]

Custom cooler. Custom PCB is a plus but not required

 

[thesmokingman]

Historically, it's always been best practice to avoid Nv reference designs.

 

[xthetenth]

Custom cooler strongly preferred unless and only unless the Reference cooler is the Fury X style CLC (one of the ones with the bugs worked out of course). Board is less important with the only caveat that it not starve the board for power if I overclock.

With the 1080 it's not a question if I'd be willing to pay less for an aftermarket model than a Founder's it's how much more I'd be willing to pay. And for me, while I generally like the strongest reasonably priced model I'd much sooner buy a kingpin than a founder's.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I just want a big silent cooler. Custom pcb is appreciated, but not required.

Same here, I paid $650 last year for the MSI Lightning LE to run at stock speed, but wabbit hunting qwiet. heh-heh-heh-heh.

https://youtu.be/bb11Tz3xVKY

 

[railven]

Custom cooler strongly preferred unless and only unless the Reference cooler is the Fury X style CLC (one of the ones with the bugs worked out of course). Board is less important with the only caveat that it not starve the board for power if I overclock.

With the 1080 it's not a question if I'd be willing to pay less for an aftermarket model than a Founder's it's how much more I'd be willing to pay. And for me, while I generally like the strongest reasonably priced model I'd much sooner buy a kingpin than a founder's.

Ah that's something I didn't factor in, an exotic water CLC style cooler. I'm sure if that were the situation, some people wouldn't be as up an arms. I'd probably pay a little extra over MSRP for a reference CLC option.

(And if AMD is reading this and jacks up their price based on the cooler, my apologies).

Same here, I paid $650 last year for the MSI Lightning LE to run at stock speed, but wabbit hunting qwiet. heh-heh-heh-heh.

https://youtu.be/bb11Tz3xVKY

I have a 780 Lightning and I love that cooler. If I don't go water for my next card this, a lightning is definitely in the running.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Love my ASUS GTX 980TI Strix, custom designs rule in my book

It also depends on the application, such as having a smaller case and the need of SLI'ng them, then blower + reference should be the choice

 

[zlejedi]

Prefer reference blower but no way I'm paying 100$ more for it.

 

[railven]

Results seem to fall where I believed they would. Someone over at NV HQ is most definitely smarter than me and more market savvy than me.

They probably saw something similar in that their super nice super exotic pricey cooler was either sitting on shelves or being removed with only a select few actually using them as intended.

So for that subset of user they will squeeze em. If the AIB's can offer cheaper alternatives (as I just learned was exactly what happened with the GTX 970) buyers will flock to it.

 

[thesmokingman]

Love my ASUS GTX 980TI Strix, custom designs rule in my book

Definitely true on Nvidia card.

 

[Snarf Snarf]

Huge fan of MSI custom coolers (Gaming and Lightning) and on team red always Sapphire Nitro.

*edit* gg spelling

 

[weevilone]

I prefer reference as I often use SLI, but I'm not keen on paying a premium for reference. As long as it is a solid, quiet board with no coil whine I'm generally fine. And I'm definitely not doing SLI with a $200 marketing penalty.

 

[maddie]

Is the cooler on this card [1080] worse than the reference 980Ti one? A lot less watts to dissipate and yet so hot.

 

[crisium]

As long as I'm on AMD I will seek the latest Sapphire Tri-X or Nitro. These guys work magic with the quietness. I cannot imagine getting a reference blower for either brand due to noise.

 

[96Firebird]

Is the cooler on this card [1080] worse than the reference 980Ti one? A lot less watts to dissipate and yet so hot.

Smaller chips are also harder to cool...

 

[MrTeal]

Results seem to fall where I believed they would. Someone over at NV HQ is most definitely smarter than me and more market savvy than me.

They probably saw something similar in that their super nice super exotic pricey cooler was either sitting on shelves or being removed with only a select few actually using them as intended.

So for that subset of user they will squeeze em. If the AIB's can offer cheaper alternatives (as I just learned was exactly what happened with the GTX 970) buyers will flock to it.

Well, we'll see. EK usually makes special blocks for the more popular custom cards, so if a Strix or Lightening ends up being the same price as a FE card, it's a no brainer if you're taking the cooler off anyway.

 

[xthetenth]

(And if AMD is reading this and jacks up their price based on the cooler, my apologies).

Don't blame you, blame me forking over the cash for the thing. I want that thing in my case, and the second the chip it's over isn't a mess it's happening. Although modern triple fan coolers on short PCB Furies are crazy tempting too.

 

[thilanliyan]

I prefer reference on my cards as I watercool but I likely won't be buying a 1080 unless it's a monster for crypto mining.