thebski

Lord Odin

Andrew_K

In regards to blocks, it's more the internals you should be concerned about comparing 3rd party blocks to the Hydrocoppers. (I would link the comparison photo, but I'm at work) That being said, unless there will be 3rd parties making blocks for the classy this time around, I'm going to be passing on the pure hassle that classies present.

What kind of hassles?

Availability of the cards themselves, availability and choice of water blocks, huge PCB that can be hard to install/uninstall (especially in multi GPU water setups) and/or interfere with case side fans, EVBot fixing voltage and requiring a restart to be dynamic again, etc.

Classy's are awesome, but there are some drawbacks.

 
Yup, thebski and I where hand in hand with issues when we had GTX 680 Classifieds trying to get HC blocks.
 
That's the only major issue with the EVGA Classified line as NO one else but Swiftech makes WBs for them, since its a partnership with Swiftech EVGA.  And sorry to say it, when looking at internal shots everyone else is ahead of Swiftech.  Have you seen the improvements that EK has made?  The water channels on the Titan blocks where great, but look at how fast they even improved on that with the internals of the Titan/780 SE blocks? 
 
And don't even try to compare the Komodo blocks to probably the best in internal and external design, Aquacomputer and Watercool.
 

Lord Odin

Ok, I'm confused.  So you guys are saying now that the extra power phases may or may not allow for a higher/more stable overclock with higher voltages?

 
Its supposed too.  More power phases like I posted early means more cleaner/stable power = should return higher clocks.  Not only that these flagship cards usually don't skimp on parts, meaning they get better grade hardware compared to reference. 
 
However we all need to also remember that while almost 99% of Classified/Lightning buyers are going to be Air/Watercooled, these cards where designed for extreme OCers that are going to put this under LN2.  Its a no ifs and or buts about the Lightning series as that's the sole reason why that line of cards exist.  And I'm sure the same could be said about the Classified line. 
 
However as part of the majority that buys this for air/watercooling, it just would be nice to see more options for the Classified when it comes to putting them under water.

Another issue I have regarding all of this is that EVGA refuses to come out and give specifics about the "benefits" they flaunt for their lines of cards. "14+3 power phases = more, cleaner power!", which really amounts to what? A guaranteed factory overclock gain of 30mhz. That's a pretty minute benefit. If it was that much better they would OC the cards higher out of the box. "EVBot for increasing voltages!", "++ Power Target for a higher power target?!", some of these are all things we've heard before, but even after releasing the product they would not simply tell potential customers (or current customers, for that matter) what any of it exactly meant. IE with the 680's, we had to buy the cards and the EVbot, and do quite extensive testing to find out we were limited to 1.35v due to card limitations (though certain stress testing apps would allow the card to pull much more, which was never really answered either). Very rarely will they actually explain their marketed benefits in full detail, factual concrete terms. 
 
I like science, not the "thought" that what I'm getting is better.

Ugh, you guys are killing me!    Since I'll be putting whatever 780 I buy with water, are you guys saying I would be no better off with a 780 Classy HC than I would be a regular 780 and put my own water block on it?   What kind of differences would one expect from a better waterblock provide?  Would they be substantial?

I just want a card that isn't gonna degrade like my 570 did from overclocking and I want to watercool it.

classy and lightning should overclock well air or water imo and if not then the base clock should be significantly higher then an SC model.  I love what msi/evga did with gtx580, both my cards were able to clock 200mhz above ref base, though lower base clock, the lightning clocked just as high as the ultra could.  Msi has shown, they are better cards imo and was hoping evga would give us an ultra like card this time to compete with MSI.

This thread is turning into another flamefest like the other one where someone wanted to return their cards because they couldn't match the overclocking results of review sites... 
 
It's what $40-50 over stock? Some people will pay that just for the small minute factory overcloak. Others just want a fancy classified badge. Jeez look at how some people paid much more for a Signature SC Titan for what, a small OC, t-shirt and mousepad with a fancy box? To each their own. Not sure what you're expecting to be honest.

I found this page comparing GTX Titan waterblocks (incomplete review), which should be similar or the same as 780 waterblocks:
 
[link=http://www.xtremerigs.net/reviews/water-cooling/nvidia-titan-water-block-roundup-coming-soon/]http://www.xtremerigs.net...k-roundup-coming-soon/[/link] 


thebski

gtxjackbauer

Rei, I've seen you very negative when it comes to Swiftech.  Maybe you had a bad RMA with them idk but it shows.  I think their blocks are topnotch but not as blinky as the others.  EVGA partnership with Swiftech is a great one.  Instead of bashing Swiftech post some pics on your Mods Rigs and show me youre in H20 otherwise you're irrelevant.

I'm definitely not trying to rain on the parade of the Classifieds as I do think they're great cards and especially when used like they're meant to be (coooooold and overvolted), but I don't think he's alone in his opinions of the quality of Swiftech's blocks.

I personally was quite unimpressed with the two GTX 680 Classy blocks I owned. One didn't exactly appear to be straight which bowed the PCB a little bit when installed on the card. It worked fine, I just never really liked the fact that it did that. Also, one of the standoffs just fell out on the floor as I was going to install just as I pulled it out of the plastic. I was able to get it pressed back in, but it didn't make me real confident in the ability of them to apply a lot of pressure without just coming out.

I personally probably won't buy HC blocks again until Swiftech either redesigns or it's someone else making them, but that is just my opinion based on my past experiences with them. It doesn't mean they're bad blocks and it doesn't mean some people don't prefer them, but many will share the opinion that they'd rather buy something else.

It won't necessarily stop me from buying Classy's and I wasn't really planning on putting the 780's under water anyways, but for some it definitely will. For me, at only $50 above reference, I'll pay that just for basically cutting the chances that I get a dud card that barely OC's at all.

 
Well put thebski. 

to all saying it is a marketing gimmick, i say meh.... the extra time put into R&D and extra actual things like extra power phases... is def worth the price tag in this area... had they priced it $100+ yes then i would say bleh if you were trying to be frugal but for a world full of ref. cards with diff badges i say this is a welcomed change with a welcomed price increase (in this case almost negligible when looking at overall price tag)

thebski

touki

Let's hope the EVBot lets you up the voltage past 1.2. The fact that they are being tight lipped about this feature doesn't fill me with confidence.

What sucks is they aren't going to say anything about it either. Just like last year I expect we will have to wait for user reviews to get the full scoop.

 
you two are a few pages behind
 
 
So to bring us up to date about this issue here that I quoted, Jacob answered elsewhere.
 

sticks435

Here is the thread and post where Jacob said Classifieds will not get higher voltage, it was in an older thread about the 780 Hydro/Classified Hydro.

Dwensel2001


Million dollar question for Jacob:

From my understanding the board partners have some control how much over-voltage they allow on the 700 series cards. Will the hydro coppers or HC Classifieds be allowed higher voltage settings from the vanilla versions? Or are all EVGA cards set to allow the highest available voltage allowed per Nvidia? Could you provide any details in this area?

I bought a 680 Hydro Copper classified, and it is a beast! But was a little disappointed that many air cooled cards could match the performance in clock rates.

Thank you!

Voltage no, power target, yes to an extent. Depending on VRM/cooling solution.

http://forums.evga.com/fb.ashx?m=1944538

 
http://www.overclock.net/...e-twin-frozr-v/100_100

EVGA-JacobF

Rei86
But if the rumors are true about the EVGA 780 Classified, the EVBot only allowing for upping the power target is true...than forget it.

 
Not true.

 
 

sticks435

Rei86, I think what they meant were that last year with the 680, Evga never outright said what the voltage limit with EVbot was before release. Customers got them and found out that a $100 piece of equipment only let you raise the voltage .1 to 1.3 and it seems they are doing it again this time.

 
No, the question that a lot of these people had issue was a comment about only power target being allowed to be raised with the EVBot and not the voltage after your post.  But Jacob answered that by stating that was false.
 
We all know the 780 Classified will probably be limited to 1.35v at most.

MvdL79

The Classified is a gimmick.

And take whatever Afterburner says with a pinch of salt. He is on the payroll of EVGA, so he will of course say otherwise. ;)

And by payroll, I mean;

a) he gets financial benefits from EVGA
b) he gets free EVGA stuff
c) he gets serious discounts

 
You do know mods are not on EVGA's payroll right in any shape or form

Can anyone tell me when the Classy will be released in Australia?

MvdL79

luke1426
Can anyone tell me when the Classy will be released in Australia?

Release date is probably next week or the week after.
Availability, which is a completely different story, will be probably (and hopefully) 2 months later (give or take a week or two).

I have ordered two Classifieds, however I will cancel it if MSI's Lightning is earlier available and specifications are similiar or better. Both brands support their products, unlike Palit and Gainward (= very, very bad support and warranty).

 
How did you already order them? I am confused by your post. Please clarify, thanks!

Are the ACX coolers the same on the Classified? Like I mean are the fans larger or is it just the shroud size that has been increased?

Yes, heatsink and shroud are larger.