How to choose a graphics card (several models of same chipset)?

[3080guy]

Id like a 3080, but am extreemly limited re: knowlege.
I know there are several 3080 cards on the market.
With my limited knowlege, Ive thus far thought:
1) Not sure a 3080 Trio would fit, the physical dimensions of a 3080 Trio card (3 fans) are a few cm longer than the non trio cards, and space in my case may not accomodate a Trio card, but may accommodate the slightly shorter standard cards. Its that tight.
2) Im thinking a card that is not overclocked runs at a lower voltage and cooler temp, and therefore the hardware should have a longer lifespan in theory.
- Im really not sure what to consider. Id rather spend a bit more for a slightly better card. How should I go about choosing which 3080 card I should buy?

 

[meerkat_near]

The factory overclocking on a card is determined by bins so the higher overclocked cards will be more resilient anyway. Temps shouldn't be an issue unless you are manually overclocking the card more than the factory overclock. Only thing to look at would really be dimensions if you are not to concerned by the performance of it.
These are some of the smallest RTX 3080s I could quickly find.
MSI Ventus 3x - 305mm length
Palit Gaming Pro - 294mm length
Asus Tuf - 299.9mm length

If you have a clearance of less than 290mm the only card you can go for is the founders edition but that will be really hard to get a hold of.

 

[chaparral]

1) Not sure a 3080 Trio would fit, the physical dimensions of a 3080 Trio card (3 fans) are a few cm longer than the non trio cards, and space in my case may not accomodate a Trio card, but may accommodate the slightly shorter standard cards. Its that tight.
2) Im thinking a card that is not overclocked runs at a lower voltage and cooler temp, and therefore the hardware should have a longer lifespan in theory.
- Im really not sure what to consider. Id rather spend a bit more for a slightly better card. How should I go about choosing which 3080 card I should buy?

What case do you have ?

 

[3080guy]

I have this case:
https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/Categ...ed-Glass-Mid-Tower-Smart-Case/p/CC-9011173-WW
Ive only just noticed the tech specs tab.
Max GPU Length 300mm

That rules out a few 3080 cards.

 

[3080guy]

The factory overclocking on a card is determined by bins so the higher overclocked cards will be more resilient anyway. Temps shouldn't be an issue unless you are manually overclocking the card

My apologies if this is common knowlege, but is it generally agreed that higher overclocked cards are more resilient?

Ive read a few articles on binning, makes a bit more sense now.

 

[Zeeflyboy]

My apologies if this is common knowlege, but is it generally agreed that higher overclocked cards are more resilient?
I did google bins a few times but didnt understand what that was/how that works (admit I should do more reading, but would love an explanation if you have time to throw one my way).

When chips come off the wafer they are of varying functionality and quality.

The process of sorting this quality is called binning (like being thrown into sorting bins).

It depends what you are binning for, but higher bins are the best quality chips and can usually achieve better clocks or lower voltages for a given clock. Cards that come with better binned chips will be able to attain higher clocks or hold the same clock at lower voltages when compared to a lower bin chip.

 

[adrichardson81]

This time round, it looks like some factory overclocked cards may have been boosting too high. In theory an overclocked chip is a higher grade, but it won't last you any longer in real terms.

Size wise, the cheapest Palit, cheapest EVGA and Founders Edition are the smallest cards in the lineup. EVGA won't be available for a while as they're prioritising USA customers and the Founders Edition may never be available in the UK if the rumours are to be believed.

 

[3080guy]

When chips come off the wafer they are of varying functionality and quality.

The process of sorting this quality is called binning (like being thrown into sorting bins).

It depends what you are binning for, but higher bins are the best quality chips and can usually achieve better clocks or lower voltages for a given clock. Cards that come with better binned chips will be able to attain higher clocks or hold the same clock at lower voltages when compared to a lower bin chip.

Thanks Zee. I did loads of reading on binning, too. It sounds like quality control learning/sorting process.

 

[3080guy]

This time round, it looks like some factory overclocked cards may have been boosting too high. In theory an overclocked chip is a higher grade, but it won't last you any longer in real terms.

Size wise, the cheapest Palit, cheapest EVGA and Founders Edition are the smallest cards in the lineup. EVGA won't be available for a while as they're prioritising USA customers and the Founders Edition may never be available in the UK if the rumours are to be believed.

I couldnt keep up with the 30 new pages per day, on the 3080 thread. Im not reading it
Can you summarise what happened?
As I understand it, from what Ive gathered, overclocking was a problem on cheaper cards, and the Asus cards (which fit my machine being 300mm or less) wasnt one of the affected cards.

Was it the only certain cards and only overclocked 3080s which were affected, with the crash to desktop experiences?

 

[adrichardson81]

The TLDR is cards that hit over 2GHz when boosting crashed, but a driver update seems to have fixed it.

As actual boost clocks are higher than the advertised boost clock, this was affecting factory overclocked models. On top of that, there was a debate about whether different configurations of capacitors on the back of the cards was causing the problem. EVGA strongly implied they were and said they'd changed their design before launch. MSI, Gigabyte and Zotac (whose cards were affected) said this wasn't the cause.

If you're limited to 300mm clearance, none of those cards would fit anyway.

 

[3080guy]

The TLDR is cards that hit over 2GHz when boosting crashed, but a driver update seems to have fixed it.

As actual boost clocks are higher than the advertised boost clock, this was affecting factory overclocked models. On top of that, there was a debate about whether different configurations of capacitors on the back of the cards was causing the problem. EVGA strongly implied they were and said they'd changed their design before launch. MSI, Gigabyte and Zotac (whose cards were affected) said this wasn't the cause.

If you're limited to 300mm clearance, none of those cards would fit anyway.

Cheers for the TLDR knowlege patch
Thats superb news for everyone who received a card and experienced problems!

Im hoping for an Asus TUF which is 299.9mm giving me 1mm of headroom for installation, which in practise I hope works out!

Asus make 2 models (that Im aware of)
1740MHz and 1815MHz OC
Why is there only 75MHz in it?
That translates to less than a frame per second.
Why would they release a card with such a small extra boost OC?

This is my lack of OC knowlege showing. Is this a result of binning, rather than a desire on their part to create a card which was 75MHz faster, meaning the choice between the two cards is more a case of the company branding what is not much more than the silicon lottery I was reading about?

 

[UnderToker]

Id like a 3080, but am extreemly limited re: knowlege.
I know there are several 3080 cards on the market.
With my limited knowlege, Ive thus far thought:
1) Not sure a 3080 Trio would fit, the physical dimensions of a 3080 Trio card (3 fans) are a few cm longer than the non trio cards, and space in my case may not accomodate a Trio card, but may accommodate the slightly shorter standard cards. Its that tight.
2) Im thinking a card that is not overclocked runs at a lower voltage and cooler temp, and therefore the hardware should have a longer lifespan in theory.
- Im really not sure what to consider. Id rather spend a bit more for a slightly better card. How should I go about choosing which 3080 card I should buy?

Go with the Asus tuff OC or stretch to an Asus Strix - unbeatable quality and you get what you pay for like all things in life - you can run it at stock and it’ll outlive you, the quality is that good

 

[3080guy]

Cant fit a strix in my case. Will get a bigger case next time!

Just seen a 3080 pop up for sale on Amazon, Palit, for £1250
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Palit-GamingPro-Ray-Tracing-Graphics-DisplayPort/dp/B08JCVWTQY

Gonna give it a big swerve on account of price, obviously!