@Gawg
 
Hey, so I'm using the slave BIOS and notice that the fans can't be set to 0% manually here, the minimum looks to be 18%, same for you? Any idea why that might be? 
 
So can the BIOS be screwed by taking an overclock to far? In that case would the slave BIOS be the one to attempt your over clocks on and keep the master as the fall back? 

The_Ninjak
Tom's hardware FTW3 review is up as of today.
The most interesting comments in the review were as follows:
 
"We stumbled upon one rather puzzling behavior that we managed to reproduce only a few times and consider a bug. During the card's cool-down, the middle fan stops first. Now, if the card catches just the right (or actually, the wrong) moment to go back to full load, this fan remains inactive. Consequently, during gaming the card heats up to just above 80°C. At that point, only a reboot is able to get the middle fan working correctly again."

@Ninjak Thanks very much for that, also good to point out what you did.
 
Follows is my opinion (@Ninjak) This is 100% about the review, not you at all, just want to be sure not cause offence by mistake. Thanks again for posting.
 
My OPINION (it may be wrong)
 
Firstly, I should say I have a long term Bias against Tom's. IMO they lack the professional explanations that other sites have.
The review started well, easy enough as they were stating facts. There overall evaluation while good was not good enough. IMO.
 
The heat, and MHz measurements they mentioned (too many to list, basically ALL) sound like a different card to what I have.
I'm on the second BIOS no OC, medium size pretty well ventilated 500R case. After now over 100 hours of use. (About 12 full out stress testing to the max, 3DMExtreme 20x, Also repeated 3DM extreme and Ultra Bench runs./ Superposition at max, (all VR Performance etc.)/ GPU Caps viewer implementation of Furmark (dodgy that one)/ and the DX12 Time Spy, Bench, and custom stress testing recommended for new cards./ Plus other minor stuff.
A good 50 hours of long Civ 6 DX11 and DX12 totally maxed out (Including Very high quality in NVCP as well as every in game setting as far as it could go) and other modern games all maxed of course. Everything fully monitored and recorded, no heat sensor has ever gone above 72c! The initial boost starts at 1974MHz, stays there quite a bit and has NEVER not ONCE gone below 1912MHz! Amazing, but it's true. Oh, 2560x1440p 144Hz refresh. In games NOT benches, fps were consistently 143/144fps. (Fraps recorded).
 
I could go on and on, but I really can't be bothered and won't mention about that particular review again. Either they "lost," the silicon lottery, and I won it (I quite possibly did for once!!) They mistakenly reviewed a different sku <Satire alert> or their methods and knowledge lack depth. But probably a bit of all (not sku...ahem) Their results are in all regards worse than mine. They simply don't match.
What I have come away with in very general terms are results similar or a bit better than other reviews (Except Toms). Bjorn the first ftw3 review - a swedish company, matches my impressions and findings best overall, but most others are not so far off, and seem well researched.
Toms on the other hand seem to have managed to get GPU MHz reading which in some cases are literally over 100MHz worse than mine. Their temperature measurements are consistenty 5c- 15c worse than mine. Sound - Subjective, so no comment. Except to say my card is silent to my ears (I admit to a wax problem).
 
So I don't trust much of that review at all. I do trust most others, and I know my own findings.
 
So for me, I'll disregard that review as mostly rubbish. I won't post or answer about THIS, TOMS review topic anymore. It just annoys me that they get it so wrong. Not worth further discussion IMO, but worth pointing out for those who may take their review as resembling accuracy. It's not.
 
EDIT: DAM I forgot one important thing. They used AFTERBURNER for  at least some tests. It is well know that after Burner is not properly compatable with any ICX system.
Incredible.

Graphite8five
@Gawg
 
Are you sure about the 1 fan operation at 18% in the slave BIOS? I checked today and all three were spinning after I manually set all three to 18%. I'll check again...
 
Yeah the 127% power target is huge! It's gonna be fun come OC time... 

Yes, I am 100% sure. Also checked visually. You said you set manually. That's why. I have set nothing and uninstalled precision so am running 100% default setting of
the second (slave) BIOS. I really like it. 
 
Cheers!

That's a good point, Graphite. I've been doing this stuff for almost a decade now, and with older gen cards, still fans would be unthinkable! A lot never went below 40%!!
So I suppose speaking personally having a bit of air, silently running through the cooler is pleasing. 
Speaking logically, with todays best cards there is no real reason at all to have fans on the go below 45 or 50c.
Another reason probably (for continuous spinning) is that if someone goes for the most taxing OC GPU boost 3 will allow, and they "lost," the silicon lottery an aggressive fan profile in that case would be necessary. If it's already spinning at idle the curve will not ramp up quite so quickly. Imagine a dust poor ventilated 1080ti with max voltage applied, max power too. If the fan was 0 rpm, then started at say 50c, it would probably need to run around 80% or more when the temp was 70c for instance. That's a darn steep curve - 0 rpm to over 80% of max rpm within a 20c band, and it would get worse as such a card would likely need to be at or near 100% fan at 85c, perhaps 90c.
That's a pretty ridiculous scenario taken to the extreme, but I bet it's been done a very few!! Anyway, just wanted to illustrate the point.
 
Personally, I prefer, for no solid logical reason the fans or at least one of them to be running at all times. At a very low speed of course.
Pure logic?  With well made cards like the EVGA 1080ti range - have to admit, there is no reason at all, without an OC. This is the only card out of many many high end cards I've owned over the years that I have really felt no need to OC it at all. But still, I like a fan turning over slowly always - as the second BIOS does. Perhaps the second BIOS was made, not only for a tad more aggressive setting, but to keep old duffers who have been overclocking for a decade or more happy. Heh Heh. If so, it worked. Well done EVGA.
 
But seriously, without overclocking and in normal circumstances GPU fans have no reason to run at all until, say 45c. That's the simple logical take away. But for semi irrelevant issues like this (I mean it's only ticking over at about 580rpm or 18% when below approx 50c) talking only that I "feel," much more happy with it running, even though it doesn't need to be. Cripes, even 10% would make me smile at idle. 0% would leave me a nervous wreck for no reason what so ever.
 
What do think of my answer? Please, be gentle! 

Graphite8five
@Gawg
Hmm so the GPU fan that remains spinning in the second BIOS is kind of unusual, it wouldn't surprise me though if it is like you say has something to do with being the more aggressive BIOS aimed for big overclocks, maybe I was just curious I suppose, maybe someone from EVGA can clarify? I'm not overly worried about it either and a bit of cool breeze at idle probably doesn't hurt!

Yeah, my post wasn't really totally serious in just a few bits, a very little bit on the sarcastic side. Absolutely, it's nothing to worry about as it makes no practical difference if one of the three fans spins at such a low rate. EVGA have nothing to clarify IMO, it just makes good sense, and good marketing.
 
Two things to consider: Not until recently has there been passive cooling (no fans at all) on the top end cards. It's a kind of new thing. Veterans are used to fans spinning.
I just don't like totally passive fans, that's just a preference, there is no firm logic to it at idle. But never the less, it makes me feel better about the card even if it makes zero difference. And feeling counts for something that costs nearly $US 800. (I'm in Japan and use yen of course, that figure is a conversion.)
 
Second. Due to constraints by GPU boost the second BIOS can't make much difference, and it doesn't change core speed at all. Averages are better however.  It allows a little bit more power draw. (I usually see 103.5% of TDP max, sometimes 104%) after extended gaming periods. No clocks change at all. TDP shows as 100% in software with the second BIOS, but it seems not to strictly enforce that, allowing small increases over the 100% with no user input at stock 2nd BIOS defaults.  But the main thing by far as I can tell is the fan profile, as it has direct impact on boost.  It's more aggressive, we know that. So leaving one fan just ticking over all the time matches or ties in with the whole increased fan curve "theme."  It also shows the user, instantly in software, that in fact something has changed by switching BIOS, that's useful even if it makes no difference in a decent case with normal temps, but it's instantly apparent defaults have changed. (The fan, and less strict power enforcement. - not base clocks.) Pleasing!
 
Also the faster fan will keep the card that bit cooler therefore allowing boost to stay higher. I have fully verified this as after heavy gaming (Civ 6 maxed) the AVERAGE clock speed is indeed notably higher at BIOS 2 stock. I used the first master BIOS for a while before switching to the second so have good comparisons. I love logging stuff!!
 
In summary I can say the 2nd BIOS suits me great, a wee bit better average performance without any tweaking - logical. And a pleasant feeling knowing a bit of air is being passed through the card when idle - not logical really, but EVGA have succeeded in making me happy with the second BIOS, which is now my permanent BIOS.
 
And that's about it. No point reading in to it any deeper. Thanks EVGA for the second BIOS which I like very much indeed! 

Hey buddy, one slight mis understanding there. I didn't mean to say there is no firm logic to it (passive fans introduction) there is, and you answered perfectly anyhow,
" Was it because idle temperatures could be kept so low passively?" Answer, yes, you knew it.
Sometimes I think far too fast for my moderate typing skills to keep up, which, at times, makes my comments not entirely clear. Sorry about that.
 
Anyhow, I like your post. Seems we agree. Everything you said, I concur. For me the second BIOS with no precision or other tweaks just works perfectly. Seem it works good for you too! Nice one. 
 
Different topic, but I kind of sense quite a few people either don't know about BIOS 2, or if they do, they don't realize what it does. And that it is 100% safe - made by EVGA.
What do you reckon? It's a great feature and a shame if people don't know about it. Dual BIOS is going out of fashion with the majority of Pascal sub vendors sticking to just one.
I think the dual bios is worth the extra $30 by itself!
 
Glad you are happy with the card. 
Me too as is obvious. Only card I've ever not felt the need for a few adjustments, except for moving that tiny switch to the right. BIOS 2 fits my system, and my personal preferences like a comfortable glove. All very good stuff indeed. More gaming, less, or rather zero tweaking time required.
 
Edit: Forgot. you mentioned leds. For me it's mute as the case is the wrong side, can't see them, and to be honest don't want to either.

My case can fit both, Will I get a performance increase that is worth it with the ftw3 over the sc2.

Thanks

ftw3 card is hands down the nicest 1080ti I've seen. I first got a zotac amp extreme but I returned it because the software was garbage, and I heard terrible things about their customer service. My friend recently got an asus strix, which is cool, but the rgb is a little plan for my taste. ftw3 is hands down the best looking 1080ti on the market (until kingpin comes out lol) Love the look of the plastic front, even though its plastic it looks metallic, really looks good in a case. RGB and lighting effect are tasteful and pleasant, nice addition to any case. 

Hopefully this will help me decide wether I should go with the SC2 or FTW3 card :p

surfseattle
If you're strictly looking or performance the SC2 is a better buy.
 
If you're looking for looks and "the best" the FTW3 is the way to go...... if you don't mind paying more $$$.
 
But, the FTW3 is not going to perform any better than the SC2, both are limited by the pascal chip.
 
Overclocking will be the same (within the normal variance of the chip).

I see, and SC2 is quieter too right?

I see, well i wouldnt mind spending more for the FTW3 if its more quiet, i gotta research that sometime

All about the white edition when this RGB craze is happening :p

thanks

Cruzix
Hopefully this will help me decide wether I should go with the SC2 or FTW3 card :p

im having a hard time deciding ftw3 hybrid or kingpin