Hi all, I've been crunching with a GTX 980 for about a year and was thinking of upgrading to a GTX 1080. I've read that the manufacturer really doesn't matter (EVGA vs. ASUS, etc.), but within each manufacturer I see a ton of different options (e.g., EVGA has an FTW, FTW HC, FTW Hybrid, CLASSIFIED, etc.). The price differences are pretty large, close to $200. So I'm wondering if these differences really matter when it comes to seti@home crunching, and if the most expensive models (or which) have the lowest $/crunch. Thanks

PS I don't speak Russian (previously I've gotten Russian responses to my posts).

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i would personally go with the one closest to the reference design. try to avoid overclocked cards as they are more expensive and won't matter much in crunching. the cards are mostly for gaming and not made to run 24/7 for a very long time, and probably not tested for it.

stick to reputable brands, go with liquid cooled ones if you have a cooling problem... i really didn't see much different between 1/2/3 fans on the cards... i had 2 MSI 780's that both burned out after almost a year so i won't be buying MSI any time soon... others would swear by MSI durability...

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Or wait for the GTX 1080Ti to come out & see what price it is, or if it has an effect on the GTX 1080 pricing.
An announcement is expected on the 28th Feb, actual release dates ar rumoured to be anywhere from early to late March.

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Grant
Darwin NT

i would personally go with the one closest to the reference design. try to avoid overclocked cards as they are more expensive and won't matter much in crunching. the cards are mostly for gaming and not made to run 24/7 for a very long time, and probably not tested for it.

Pretty much all non-reference design cards are overclocked, some more than others. And they will be more reliable than the reference design as they all come with much more effective cooling than the reference cooler, along with better fan profiles.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I personally recommend EVGA always.
Not a fart in the carload.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

i would personally go with the one closest to the reference design. try to avoid overclocked cards as they are more expensive and won't matter much in crunching. the cards are mostly for gaming and not made to run 24/7 for a very long time, and probably not tested for it.

Pretty much all non-reference design cards are overclocked, some more than others. And they will be more reliable than the reference design as they all come with much more effective cooling than the reference cooler, along with better fan profiles.

i doubt the reliability part... is it really worth having them overclocked? they were overclocked to handle higher FPS in games, and for a short duration, a spike here and there in the load during a game. we're using them on almost 100% load 24/7... my MSI 780's both blew out, a small capacitor or resistor rendered my 1400$ useless... they came overclocked and with 3 fans and all the "military grade" material they are marketing on their website.

i've went with asus this time, the simplest design they have with 1 fan, and marketed with 4x durability due to whatever. we'll see how long they last.

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I personally recommend EVGA always.
Not a fart in the carload.

+1 on that one. I myself have well over a dozen of these running, with only one failure (knock on wood, and it was just a DOA fan port on one of my 980Ti's, which they replaced immediately), and other than one lord knows what brand 7 series Chineese made card I bought on a lark (which not suprisingly didn't work out all that well, cuz you generally get what you pay for), that is all I buy. I usually go with the higher clocked ones, as they seem to have better cooling solutions attached to them, plus a little better RAC. As was mentioned, liquid is great if you can afford it, and I also agree, you may want to hold off on your decision until the 1080Ti is officially announced in a couple days, that may have an effect on pricing of the current 1080.

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I've got a "good" pile of dead multi-fan factory overclocked GPUs, from most manufacturers.
The last single fan GPU that failed (apart from the two GTX690 that got seriously drowned by a burst domestic water pipe) was a GTS250, which I tried overclocking and "got wrong". So for me it's single fan and stock clocking all the way.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

I mostly gave up on radical OCing.
With 8 rigs on the run, I do not have the time to babysit every one of them.
Most I give a 10-20 Mhz boost, but me trying to get every ounce out them is past history.
These days, cool, calm, and stable is what I get along with.
I just enjoy waking up in the morning, doing a rig check, and see that nothing has crashed.

It was fun, doing the frozen penny bit and I shall never forget it. Minus 30c....LOL.
The chiller is still in my basement. It was working when I took that rig apart.
I shall never forget going back and forth with that kid out east who did all the work and experiments required to get the refrigerant mix just right. And it is forever sealed in that compressor. Long since forgotten formula. Never to be duplicated.

If and when I have the time, I could still do that again.
The frozen one may return as an experiment at some time........................................
Maybe if I retire and have more time on my hands.
Ya never know.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster