Dr.Death
they made like 5 classy's   kinda discussed here ??  
http://forums.evga.com/Cant-Overclock-980-Ti-Classified-4998KR-m2526032.aspx
 
I just don't get why its a classy if not clocked any better then reference  cards ?   sales gimmick  ?  they see classified  on the sticker and buy  when in fact is not close to classy clocks or anything  ??? 

Zuhl3156

arestavo

The reference clocks and different part number denote that it failed to pass EVGA's QA testing for the full OC Classified speed.

So, they changed the part number and added REF to the name, set the clock speed to reference levels, and sold it.

Yeah, that's another way of saying what I stated above about these boards failing the qualifications to earn the Classified title yet still being sold as a Classified. I'm a little steamed about it. I got an email announcing all of the great awesome deals available for their 17th Anniversary Event at the EVGA store. I saw a Classified video board with backplate and I thought I was really getting a good deal until someone pointed out the 'REF' designation and the low clock speeds. A week later I could have got a 'real' Classified from NewEgg for the same price I paid for this crippled video board. EVGA agreed to issue me a refund but refused to pay the return shipping. To ship it back and insuring it for $500 would have been expensive plus I would lose the $50 MIR plus the free shipping suddenly increased to $26. Yes, I am more than a little miffed about it. I don't have any switches to increase my voltage on the back of my board either so I am voltage locked at 1.212 whether I like it or not. It does have a decent ASIC of 78.9 so it may or may not perform better than advertised. I call it deceptive advertising but EVGA will call it business. None of my previous video boards manufactured by EVGA have ever performed as advertised by the many, many reviewers. EVGA claims that none of these chips are 'binned'? Baloney! Every single board is binned so they know which category to place it in. Sometimes you are paying extra for just a few more MHz but it's a SSC and not a SC model you tell yourself. As far as I am concerned this 3997-KR board I bought is nothing more than decoration.
 
"Scheherazade" - http://www.modsrigs.com/detail.aspx?BuildID=35795
 

Zuhl3156

arestavo
 
Can't you just step up to a 1070? It will basically have the same performance (or better if your REF model can't OC well), and the price should be about the same so you'll probably only have to pay for shipping. Or a 1080 if you want.
 
As to the voltage? I've got a 980 Ti Classified - more voltage does jack all to help in OCing it. Keeping the temps LOW (as in, below 45 to 50C) is the only thing that gets me more MHz with it. 1454 MHz stable with the air cooler, 1505MHz under water and if ambient temps are in the low 60F range I can run benchmarks at 1525.

I haven't had a lot of time to test its limits or find out if or how far it will OC. I am using the PC now and have been busy downloading BF4 for the past few hours. That should give it a decent workout and I know what kind of FPS my main PC gets with its 980 SLI so I have something to compare it too. I'm not sure that I want to step up to another EVGA video board. If things go the same as before I will only walk away disappointed anyway. I am convinced that MSI has a superior product after seeing how far I could take my GTX-980 Gaming 4G boards. I can't think of any reason not to stick with MSI for my video boards. Their customer service isn't as bad as many would have you believe. I pitched a fit because my RMA replacement video board had smashed heat pipes and their reply was that I should expect a few scratches or scuff marks because these are refurbished products. Scratches and scuffs are one thing but it looked like someone took a sledge to my heat pipes which are the most visible part. In the end they made me happy with a replacement that had an almost identical ASIC. I don't have a pic of those smashed pipes on this PC. I'll upload it later when I am back on my main PC.

Zuhl3156

arestavo

It's all the silicon lottery (it is even more obvious now with the 10 series), and if you think otherwise...well, I feel sorry for ya man.

Whatever board partner you choose, I hope you have better luck. I know I've had pretty bad luck in the past with expensive boards with all the bells and whistles. But recently I got lucky with an RMA on my Gigabyte 980 Ti G1 gaming that hits 1580 under water without any vrm heatsinks. Got some thermal tape on the way as my heatsinks with their really bad 3M tape won't stick at all. Hopefully I'll hit 1600 or more with those heatsinks, but we'll see.

I can't even view the step-up options available to me because the EVGA world class customer support team still hasn't cancelled my RMA. I just submitted another support ticket asking again to have the RMA for refund cancelled. The last time I asked was on the 8th and then I asked again when it wasn't removed. When I try to look at my step-up options I am told that this product is not available for step-up because it has an RMA associated with it. I figure I am going to be using it for a while so I even bought the extended warranty but I don't qualify for a step-up.

Zuhl3156
My 14 day window closes Monday and it won't be because I forgot about it. This video board is officially a failure. It starts its thermal throttling at 58° then drops by 13 MHz again and again until it bottoms out at 1345 MHz at 70°C. That ain't right. These boards aren't supposed to throttle at all until 80°.

Zuhl3156
I was using Afterburner and the Voltage Limit wasn't triggered. I think this board is a lemon. My 980 boards never got hot enough on air to throttle at all and I was doing some Folding at Home on both boards all night long for days at a time. It must be some kind of design flaw in the 'ti' GPU chip or its thermal circuitry that was too expensive to fix so they swept it under the rug hoping nobody would notice. I started BF4 at 1383 MHz and finished at 1345 MHz and that's a lot of 13 MHz steps as it throttled down.

Zuhl3156
It's called PerfCap in GPU-Z. Nope, it ain't a Classified and should not be sold as one.

Dr.Death