PC build thread

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Cronozilla
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Re: PC build thread

Post by Cronozilla »

Ghudda wrote:Is the only difference between the various EVGA 970 cards just the cooling upgrade between cards (extra fans, etc.)? Or do some of them run at actually higher clock speeds?
There's two fan types, ACX which exhausts into the case (but cools the card better) and Blower, which exhausts out the back of the case. (They usually have a variant that's liquid cooled, as well.)

Then there's also Normal, SC, SSC, and FTW SKUs. The clocks on these for the core GPU and memory are overclocked, Normal is usually stock Nvidia speed.

Even though it costs bit more, it's nice because you can get a significantly overclocked GPU that's still covered by their warranty, if you pay under $400, I think an extra 7 years (making it ten years) is like $40 from EVGA.

Not a horrible deal.

If you actually don't care, you can obviously overclock them yourself, but that isn't covered under warranty at all.

Personally, I feel that GPUs are rather fickle devices that perform under extreme conditions and are exceedingly expensive ... I want them covered for the lifetime of ownership.
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flex wood
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Re: PC build thread

Post by flex wood »

To add to that, the evga acx is the worst cooler of all the cards out, running about 10c hotter than the gigabyte and I think it was 5c hotter than the msi. One of the heat pipes doesn't even make contact with the gpu and it's also an open pipe.

They did release a statement about it saying that isn't a design flaw and it lowers the temps by 2c to 3c.

I know they used to be regarded as the best when it came to nvidia but I would personally stay away from anything they do that isn't a reference model.

That's not even touching on their politics of refusing to pay Riviera royalties then stealing code and claiming that they changed it when they clearly didn't.
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noiseredux
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Re: PC build thread

Post by noiseredux »

I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte I think.
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flex wood
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Re: PC build thread

Post by flex wood »

noiseredux wrote:I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte I think.
If I had to choose I'd either go that or asus even though I like the looks of msi's card the best. I'm a sucker for a back plate dude.
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Re: PC build thread

Post by noiseredux »

flex wood wrote:
noiseredux wrote:I'm leaning towards the Gigabyte I think.
If I had to choose I'd either go that or asus even though I like the looks of msi's card the best. I'm a sucker for a back plate dude.
I am too which is why I was thinking of the PNY vs. the Gigabyte, haha.
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Re: PC build thread

Post by flex wood »

Pony has a backplate? Whoa that might be what I get for the itx build I'm planning for my dad's house. Their card is the smallest by far, it's ridiculous, like 22cm I think.

Edit: I was confusing the pny with zotac. The zotac card is tiny weighing in at 20cm in length.
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Re: PC build thread

Post by noiseredux »

Yeah pny is pretty long.

How is zotac as a brand?
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Re: PC build thread

Post by TSTR »

my pny is pretty long

8========>
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flex wood
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Re: PC build thread

Post by flex wood »

I don't know I haven't really read much about them, I would assume they are a solid brand though. I dunno I'm sure there's horror stories about them but I don't think there is a company that doesn't have terrible stories about it.

I really wish palit would sell their cards in the US. They had the best chilled 780 or ti, the jet stream.
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Re: PC build thread

Post by noiseredux »

so last year Nvidia announced their holiday bundles on 10/17... I'm wondering if I should wait a week and see if they do that again so I can get a free game w/ a 970.
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