With the release of the next generation NVIDIA video card series just around the corner it may seem like a very odd time to do a series of reviews on the (soon to be) last generation. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the very near future there is going to be a veritable glut of used cards hitting the market and many a good deal can be found. The toughest part for bargain hunters will be separating the sheep from the goats. Most reviews on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10-series are months or more outdated and do not really go over the value they will have when they are being sold at rock bottom prices. This is how this – short – series of reviews came about as we will be going over three examples of what will soon be excellent value cards that may be ‘outdated’ but still incredibly potent and will be diamonds in the rough that the less knowledgeable buyers will be overlooking. Put simply all three will be custom, fine-tuned versions of their perspective class and all three should be on you the value hunter’s short list. The first in the series is the EVGA GeForce GTX 1080Ti SC Black Edition.
The SuperClocked Black Edition is not your typical GTX 1080Ti in that while yes it does come with a factory overclock it is not as high as some. For example, the SC Black Edition or “SC BE” – as we are going to call it for brevity’s sake – ‘only’ has a base clock of 1556MHz and a max boost setting of 1670MHz… whereas the EVGA 1080Ti FTW3 comes with 1569 and 1683 respectively. Also, unlike some, this is ‘only’ a dual fan and not triple fan based custom cooling solution. It is however an ICX and not ACX custom cooling solution and as such has some incredible cooling potential lurking under its (relatively) small demeanor. Equally important as it is an ICX there is no worries over getting a less than optimal ‘early gen’ ACX which did have some teething issues to say the least.
For these reasons this little gem is going to be even cheaper than some of the (more) sexier (on paper) models. In this review we will go over precisely what this difference actually means and why if you find one at the right price will make for an incredible value. So without further ado, lets go over the ins and outs of this card and why it should be high on your list of cards to be on the hunt for when the bleeding edger’s decide to upgrade their cards to the newest shiny.
