Upgrading from 980ti to 1080 ti ?

[techgeeknyc]

I currently have a EVGA 980 TI inside the Fractal Node 304 Mini ITX case with 600W PS. I am looking to upgrade to the quietest / coolest (temps wise) 1080 TI that I can fit within my current build.

My most important concern is noise. I sit about 2 ft away from my case and loud fans are definitely a major turnoff. My biggest complaint currently is my 980 TI can get quite hot (83C) and loud even on a modest fan profile in MSI Afterburner (75% max fans).

Few questions:

1. Would the EVGA 1080 TI SC2 be better or the Asus 1080 TI ROG ? More importantly, would the Asus actually fit my case as I understand its a bit longer and taller than the EVGA one ? I do have a small SFX 600W PS.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814487337

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814126186

2. Is 1080 TI the right time to upgrade or should I hold out for the next gen cards ? I mostly game at 4k with medium to high settings, if game permits.

 

[Elixer]

With Vega coming so soon, it would make more sense to wait for that.

As for fan noise, some people don't like a certain pitch the fans make, not necessarily how loud it is.
So, it is rather difficult to say which you would be most happy with, without you sitting down with them installed, and seeing which one sounds better to you.

 

[techgeeknyc]

Thanks Elixer. I've generally had a strong incinlation towards Nvidia due to their general stability and relability of their drivers. Most things just work. But I guess with vega releasing your expecting price drops on the 1080ti lineup ?

For the noise, your correct that I'm not sure if im sensitive to the fan pitch. But i would guess in general the lower the db of the fan, the better it is.

 

[Elixer]

Yeah, expecting things to shake up with Vega, much like the shakeup with Ryzen.
I am expecting nvidia to either lower price, or throw in some games, either way, wise to wait.

For what it is worth, about the drivers, I own all 3 camp's cards/ chipset, and overall, I would say that AMD & nvdia are pretty much a tie (some months, AMD is better, other times, nvidia is), with intel bringing up the rear.

 

[tg2708]

its a worthwhile upgrade, we can always wait for the next best thing so my advice to you would be to just get 1080ti as I don't think vega will truly match the 1080ti performance wise but on the other hand the 1080 and 1070 their is a strong chance it will. So if you want the second strongest card know to satisfy your 4k60 needs just go with the 1080 ti as its very powerful.

 

[ddogg]

The 1080 TI is still not a true 4k/60 card. I have to turn down settings to get close to 60fps, however it will be a massive upgrade from a 980 TI. I even recently got a 1440p ultrawide as the Ti is a beast at that resolution. At this point, it's worth just waiting for Vega just to see if Nvidia drops prices

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[amenx]

Normally I would say no point in waiting for vega. What are best expectations for it, on par with 1080ti and $50 less? But since you are on 4k, it may indeed be worth a wait. Have a feeling 4k performance may turn out to be its core strength.

 

[sm625]

While harping on AMD's poor performance is almost a national pastime, you cannot completely discount the possibility that it is competitive. What if it was only 5% slower than a 1080ti @ 4K, while being the same price, and including a decent water cooler and easily fitting into a much smaller case? It isnt out of the realm of possibility.

 

[OatisCampbell]

Normally I would say no point in waiting for vega. What are best expectations for it, on par with 1080ti and $50 less? But since you are on 4k, it may indeed be worth a wait. Have a feeling 4k performance may turn out to be its core strength.

Personally I don't have any feeling for Vega because I haven't seen benchmarks on a final GPU. Could be great, maybe not.

Prices are "good" now on 1080Ti's though and if the OP wants to upgrade I'd say, "do it". Kind of the only game in town now and if Vegas are better, a person can always switch.

I don't see the value on a1080Ti plummeting even if Vega beats it. Vega might cost more. In the world outside of tech forums (most of world) NVIDIA is carrying the name recognition as the premium product these days for most people. If Vega is the stuff, I'm betting I'll be able to sell my 1080Ti for most of what I paid for it anyway and get a Vega because it will take months for the world to realize AMD is the thing to have again.

It would take Vega launching a good deal faster and much cheaper to devalue 1080tis.

 

[ZGR]

Go for it. Aftermarket 1080 ti's are very quiet.

The 1080 TI is still not a true 4k/60 card. I have to turn down settings to get close to 60fps, however it will be a massive upgrade from a 980 TI. I even recently got a 1440p ultrawide as the Ti is a beast at that resolution. At this point, it's worth just waiting for Vega just to see if Nvidia drops prices

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

What games do you play? I get 60 fps in all my games at 4k60 on my weak 1070!

 

[ddogg]

Go for it. Aftermarket 1080 ti's are very quiet.


What games do you play? I get 60 fps in all my games at 4k60 on my weak 1070!

At what settings? I can also achieve it by lowering settings. Games that I've played since I got the Ti have been Wildlands, Mass effect and now Warhammer.
Maxing out everything in Wildlands for example results in low to mid 40s fps and this is the same with Mass effect.

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[ZGR]

At what settings? I can also achieve it by lowering settings. Games that I've played since I got the Ti have been Wildlands, Mass effect and now Warhammer.
Maxing out everything in Wildlands for example results in low to mid 40s fps and this is the same with Mass effect.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Thats it. I don't max out wildlands or any new game. But to be fair, I can barely see the IQ difference.

In Wildlands I run shadows on high and no ambient occlusion for an easy 60 fps. I have yet to pick up Mass Effect. I am still addicted to R6 Siege which is very easy to hit 60fps on with high settings.

 

[ddogg]

Thats it. I don't max out wildlands or any new game. But to be fair, I can barely see the IQ difference.

In Wildlands I run shadows on high and no ambient occlusion for an easy 60 fps. I have yet to pick up Mass Effect. I am still addicted to R6 Siege which is very easy to hit 60fps on with high settings.

I agree and I'm fine with lowering settings. Anyway, I picked up a 1440p ultrawide GSync monitor and this allows me to max out everything including AA and still achieve 60-80fps. 4k still seems like we are a generation or so away from truly mastering it.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[DaveSimmons]

It's too bad that you're set on the tiny case since you care about noise.

I have an MSI Lightning LE 980ti which is very long but also very quiet. It's in an Antec P280 tower so the airflow is good and the card stays cooler under gaming loads.

 

[Headfoot]

Since the fractal node lets you put a graphic card right up against a cold air intake slot, I'd run with an aftermarket cooler that is quiet and take a small hit to CPU temps to get a quiet and cool GPU, given the relatively large difference in TDP between the two pieces. It's got a couple of back exhuasts too, right? I think you'll be fine and aftermarket is going to get you the lowest noise

 

[Jackie60]

I have a 1080TI and would recommend it as a good card BUT you'd be silly not to wait a maximum 60 days to see what Vega brings, this is the end of a two year wait and there will definitely be some sort of price adjustment ( I can't imagine even Nvidia would jack up their prices if Vega flops) which means you'll almost certainly pay less and/or have a better choice very soon. Wait if you possibly can. 1080ti is good but not amazing at 4k, I went from 2xTitan XP SLI to one 1080ti as I almost only play Arma 3 but games like GTA 5 really need 1080ti SLI to shine at 4k as does the Witcher 3. They're playable with 1080TI but there is no 'wow factor', GTA 5 looks like a console game at 4K on 1080ti when you've experienced it 1080ti SLI (well Titan XP SLI but identical performance at 4k pretty much).

 

[Headfoot]

I got a 1080 Ti recently too, I figured if Vega ends up better I'll just sell the 1080 Ti again. I wont lose much on it since they're still very hot in the market

 

[ImpulsE69]

So there's not a shortage and artificial price gouging with the 1080ti cards like there was with 980/1080?

 

[kawi6rr]

If you have your heart set on buying a 1080ti I would wait until Vega comes out. Even if Vega isn't faster then the 1080ti Nvidia will drop the price to compete.

 

[tg2708]

If you have your heart set on buying a 1080ti I would wait until Vega comes out. Even if Vega isn't faster then the 1080ti Nvidia will drop the price to compete.

keep in mind it has to beat the 1080 before nvidia considers dropping the price of the ti. I hope it does since vega is long overdue.

 

[2is]

While harping on AMD's poor performance is almost a national pastime, you cannot completely discount the possibility that it is competitive. What if it was only 5% slower than a 1080ti @ 4K, while being the same price, and including a decent water cooler and easily fitting into a much smaller case? It isnt out of the realm of possibility.

What if it isn't? If it's on water that means it needs to be on water which means it sucks way too much power and runs way too hot. Why would you want to pay the same price for 5% less performance and higher power draw?

 

[sm625]

What if it isn't? If it's on water that means it needs to be on water which means it sucks way too much power and runs way too hot. Why would you want to pay the same price for 5% less performance and higher power draw?

It might need to be on water simply by virtue of being such a dense configuration. It is more difficult to air cool a smaller card, or it might not make sense to put such a huge cooler on such a small card, or to force the card to be larger just for the sake of cooling.