MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X vs Asus ROG Strix GTX 1080

[CordisDia]

I was thinking about this last 2,3 months,and there are these 2 candidates left. If you own one of those 2,or if you're expert when it comes to gpu knowledge,feel free to share your experience with me.

Atm,I'm 80% sure i'll take MSI,but unless i'm 100% sure,i might change my decision and take Asus.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Pick a brand you trust.

It's a "1080", it should be a good choice either way.

And which model exactly though? There are multiples.

For example:
http://pcpartpicker.com/search/?cc=us&q=asus+gtx+1080

I would read the reviews and get a sense of performance and such from those.

[Kaihekoa]

You will be fine either way. From reviews, the STRIX cooler is a tad better, which is why I bought a STRIX 1070. The overclock you will get from either is highly variable, so if you want to maximize your chances for a high OC, buy one of the top tier binned 1080s from either vendor, either the MSI 1080 Gaming Z or the STRIX 1080 OC. Other than the cooler and factory OC, noise levels are about the same, and aesthetics are subjective. Personally, I recommend you buy the one you can find for the lowest price.

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X Review: http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-x-8g-review,1.htm

MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Z Review: lhttp://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-1080-gaming-z-8g-review,1.html

STRIX GTX 1080 OC Review: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_rog_strix_geforce_gtx_1080_review,1.html

Edit: I am waiting for the GTX 1080 Ti, which is supposed to be announced next month. It will also lower the prices of the 1080.

[Azza ☠]

I personally perfer Asus ROG Strix... but both are good.

Asus has the better warranty coverage. Cooler and quieter too. Get the OC version (not AC).

There's only 1-3 FPS difference between the two. Asus STRIX doing better under boost/overclock.

[Revelene]

Both are good with great customer service and warranty.

Both have exceptional cooling and low noise. The Asus 3 fan design can get louder, but only by a few decibels, which is almost negligible if you consider that you'll never need to run the fans at full speed.

I've had hands on testing with both of these and had no issues overclocking both of them over 2Ghz and keeping temps around 60c or less.

Escrito originalmente por Azza ☠:

I personally perfer Asus ROG Strix... but both are good.

Asus has the better warranty coverage. Cooler and quieter too. Get the OC version (not AC).

There's only 1-3 FPS difference between the two. Asus STRIX doing better under boost/overclock.

Both have similar warranty in the states. Perhaps different in your country? As far as I know, their warranties are global.

Cooler and more quiet? Not really. The smaller 3 fan design can get louder at full speed... Though, like I said above, this is negligible. Both are fantastic at cooling.

Where are you getting these frame differences? Both will perform the same, within margin of error, at relative clocks.

[Azza ☠]

Escrito originalmente por Bill S. Preston, Esquire:

Both are good with great customer service and warranty.

Both have exceptional cooling and low noise. The Asus 3 fan design can get louder, but only by a few decibels, which is almost negligible if you consider that you'll never need to run the fans at full speed.

I've had hands on testing with both of these and had no issues overclocking both of them over 2Ghz and keeping temps around 60c or less.

Escrito originalmente por Azza ☠:

I personally perfer Asus ROG Strix... but both are good.

Asus has the better warranty coverage. Cooler and quieter too. Get the OC version (not AC).

There's only 1-3 FPS difference between the two. Asus STRIX doing better under boost/overclock.

Both have similar warranty in the states. Perhaps different in your country? As far as I know, their warranties are global.

Cooler and more quiet? Not really. The smaller 3 fan design can get louder at full speed... Though, like I said above, this is negligible. Both are fantastic at cooling.

Where are you getting these frame differences? Both will perform the same, within margin of error, at relative clocks.

When I said doing better, 1-3 FPS is barely worth mentioning. I was suggesting both is good and very close in performance levels.

Asus STRIX has a good large heatsink, so depending on your PC case design, the fans might be off and it's 0 dBI (no noise). Maximum fan sound is loud, but you should never reach that, unless overheating and there's airflow issues with the case itself.

I would suggest seeing what is the cheaper option or flip a coin. Can't really go wrong with either of them.

[Arya]

Asus. I recently bought one for myself after comparing the two, there isn't enough mechanical difference to pick a knockout winner but the Asus was fractionally cheaper and slightly quieter than the MSI.

A few things you should consider;

> Make sure you buy the Strix OC/08G model. It's significantly more powerful than the A8G and may live longer as well. You're more likely to win the sillicon lottery with overclocked products.
> Measure your case before you buy. It's gigantic - about the size of a Playstation 2. You'll almost certainly have to remove your drive cages.
> Given the weight of the card, make sure yours has a Backplate. The plate helps distribute the card's weight and support the PCB. Then again, both of these cards have backplates.
> The RGB LEDs are fearsomely bright. Asus Aura is bloatware but it's better to download it than be blinded by your own GPU.

[Nex]

Bought the Strix, very happy with ASUS as always.

[Arya]

Escrito originalmente por Diseasedcrow:

Bought the Strix, very happy with ASUS as always.

I'm almost tempted to survey how many people on Hardware & OS actually have a Strix of some kind. I'm guessing it's a lot.

[Revelene]

Escrito originalmente por Azza ☠:

Escrito originalmente por Bill S. Preston, Esquire:

Both are good with great customer service and warranty.

Both have exceptional cooling and low noise. The Asus 3 fan design can get louder, but only by a few decibels, which is almost negligible if you consider that you'll never need to run the fans at full speed.

I've had hands on testing with both of these and had no issues overclocking both of them over 2Ghz and keeping temps around 60c or less.



Both have similar warranty in the states. Perhaps different in your country? As far as I know, their warranties are global.

Cooler and more quiet? Not really. The smaller 3 fan design can get louder at full speed... Though, like I said above, this is negligible. Both are fantastic at cooling.

Where are you getting these frame differences? Both will perform the same, within margin of error, at relative clocks.

When I said doing better, 1-3 FPS is barely worth mentioning. I was suggesting both is good and very close in performance levels.

Asus STRIX has a good large heatsink, so depending on your PC case design, the fans might be off and it's 0 dBI (no noise). Maximum fan sound is loud, but you should never reach that, unless overheating and there's airflow issues with the case itself.

I would suggest seeing what is the cheaper option or flip a coin. Can't really go wrong with either of them.

Any frame difference at same clocks will be within margin of error. A 1080 is a 1080, no matter how you look at it. 1-3 frames is most certainly within that margin of error and should be of no mention, as it is negligible.

The fan speed not kicking up is not specific to Asus. It is merely a fan curve; the default fan curve. AIB partners are free to set the default fan speeds. Default fan speed is meaningless, as you can easily set your own as you please.

Yes, either one will be great.

-

Let me shed some light on the matter of overclocking.

Overclocking on these cards are all about the same. Having more or less phases is meaningless. More power delivery in any way is meaningless. Why? Because Pascal is unstable with more power (according to Nvidia). By default, they are voltage limited. You can unlock it (sorta) but it is hard limited still, so increase is minimal.

The only thing to keep in mind is quality... And to be honest, this is difficult. Why? Take EVGA for instance. They are known for their quality and have been a close AIB partner with Nvidia. Then they go and use cheap components, which lead to catastrophic failure. *sigh* always a gamble these days, as we all need to remember that these are companies that are here to make money.

[Revelene]

Escrito originalmente por 狼 Wolfey:

Escrito originalmente por Diseasedcrow:

Bought the Strix, very happy with ASUS as always.

I'm almost tempted to survey how many people on Hardware & OS actually have a Strix of some kind. I'm guessing it's a lot.

I sell a lot of Asus products. This is primarily because of advertising strategies, like ROG.

Advertising. It's all about the advertising. It's also why Corsair sells a bunch, too.

Same advertising tactics that get people to buy Alienware.

Nothing new here, to be honest. I also sell a lot of *gulp* beats... Gah. I try to convince people otherwise, but they rarely listen. Yeah, ignore the guy who has hands on experience. Meh.

[Azza ☠]

Escrito originalmente por Bill S. Preston, Esquire:

Escrito originalmente por Azza ☠:

When I said doing better, 1-3 FPS is barely worth mentioning. I was suggesting both is good and very close in performance levels.

Asus STRIX has a good large heatsink, so depending on your PC case design, the fans might be off and it's 0 dBI (no noise). Maximum fan sound is loud, but you should never reach that, unless overheating and there's airflow issues with the case itself.

I would suggest seeing what is the cheaper option or flip a coin. Can't really go wrong with either of them.

Any frame difference at same clocks will be within margin of error. A 1080 is a 1080, no matter how you look at it. 1-3 frames is most certainly within that margin of error and should be of no mention, as it is negligible.

The fan speed not kicking up is not specific to Asus. It is merely a fan curve; the default fan curve. AIB partners are free to set the default fan speeds. Default fan speed is meaningless, as you can easily set your own as you please.

Yes, either one will be great.

-

Let me shed some light on the matter of overclocking.

Overclocking on these cards are all about the same. Having more or less phases is meaningless. More power delivery in any way is meaningless. Why? Because Pascal is unstable with more power (according to Nvidia). By default, they are voltage limited. You can unlock it (sorta) but it is hard limited still, so increase is minimal.

The only thing to keep in mind is quality... And to be honest, this is difficult. Why? Take EVGA for instance. They are known for their quality and have been a close AIB partner with Nvidia. Then they go and use cheap components, which lead to catastrophic failure. *sigh* always a gamble these days, as we all need to remember that these are companies that are here to make money.

The margin of error in manufactoring is however improved with the Asus STRIX, as they are separated into two versions:

OC and AC version.

Overclocked is fully stable and tested to run, while the others which are just under that high standard is the same card but sold as the AC version which lower clocks.

Pascal chipset doesn't overclock much anyways, like you said. The memory can be overclocked nicely, but the GPU clocks are limited for both.

[hawkeye]

The main difference in 1080 models is the cooling effectiveness. Several articles I have read state that there is no binning. OC tests show all cards within 2 fps of each other.

Cooling is #1 important as the cards throttle at high temps. So if your case air temp is warm go for the best cooler. Some cards are significantly better e.g. cards with counter-rotational fans.

[Revelene]

Escrito originalmente por hawkeye:

The main difference in 1080 models is the cooling effectiveness. Several articles I have read state that there is no binning. OC tests show all cards within 2 fps of each other.

Cooling is #1 important as the cards throttle at high temps. So if your case air temp is warm go for the best cooler. Some cards are significantly better e.g. cards with counter-rotational fans.

There most certainly is binning. Though what is binned is not terribly important to OC factors for the typical consumer this round, as the ultimate limiting factor seems to be power related.

Got an unlocked 1080 pushing 2.2Ghz ~1.1v, with GPU Boost trying to lower me down with temps in the 50s (I hate GPU Boost). Will eventually remove the hard block and see what the extra voltage does... we'll see if it actually damages Pascal, like Nvidia claims.

[CordisDia]

Escrito originalmente por hawkeye:

The main difference in 1080 models is the cooling effectiveness. Several articles I have read state that there is no binning. OC tests show all cards within 2 fps of each other.

Cooling is #1 important as the cards throttle at high temps. So if your case air temp is warm go for the best cooler. Some cards are significantly better e.g. cards with counter-rotational fans.

I have Fractal Design Define R5. I believe that case perfectly suits GTX 1080?

[Azza ☠]

Escrito originalmente por DocGangrena:

Escrito originalmente por hawkeye:

The main difference in 1080 models is the cooling effectiveness. Several articles I have read state that there is no binning. OC tests show all cards within 2 fps of each other.

Cooling is #1 important as the cards throttle at high temps. So if your case air temp is warm go for the best cooler. Some cards are significantly better e.g. cards with counter-rotational fans.

I have Fractal Design Define R5. I believe that case perfectly suits GTX 1080?

Both can fit fine... I believe you got approx 310 length (MSI = 279 | ASUS = 298) - the PCI-e cables can wrap around the front. If all else fails you can remove/reposition the top hard drive bay in the case for a huge 440 max length. It's a good designed case, but just keep an eye on airflow (designed for silent stealth, rather than airflow), since these cards turn off the fans at low temperature, you might wish to adjust their fan curve manually a bit if issues with them kicking in suddenly and loud.

Also, check for CPU Cooler clearance (if huge custom heatsink) - As many current motherboards have the top PCIe x16 slot sitting close to the socket, bigger heatsinks tend to block it. For example: A Noctua NH-D15 could block the Asus STRIX backplate room (Noctua NH-D15s fixes that).