Was just able to snag an EVGA 2080 XC (non-ti) off amazon about 30 mins ago, very excited as I was worried I'd be waiting a while to find one.  I'd prefer a TI but there's always step up right? 
 
Few questions kinda to that end:
1) Just being standard XC does that necessarily mean a weak bin?  Would I be better served waiting for a FTW?  I plan to put under water in the next month or two once I build my 9900k rig (hopeful for that oct release).
2) Step up available to a 2080 HydroCopper ever available?  Or only typically other air cooled variants?  I cant remember historically any step-up's available to hybrids...
3) If I buy the water blocks from EVGA for the 2080 and then step up to the 2080 TI, is there any chance EVGA would swap the blocks out with the step-up?
 
Excited for the benchmarks in ~8 hours!

Thanks in advance for the help!
 

Advice for everyone... If you have nice option for GPU buy immediately, test, play and than decide do you want to stay on same model, and than choose waterblock.
EVGA will offer and Hydro Copper blocks alone I think.
 
I'm not sure who make this year but they are cool.

Thank you both!

Lord Odin
I’m also looking to throw under water but have had bad luck many years ago (think 570 era) with overclocking and the card falling apart. I got a 780 Classified and water cooled that but that wasn’t FE. I’m not a hardcore overclocker but do want stability if I do. Would FTW be the way to go or would FE be fine? XC doesn’t improve PCB or phase design, correct?

Okay, a few pointers for you:
 
1) If you buy EVGA GPU you get 3 years worldwide warranty. My experience of claiming warranty with EVGA is that they will be fair to you and not give you the run around.
2) You can extend the warranty by 2 extra years for $25, or for 7 extra years for $50. Even if you water-cool and the card goes caput then EVGA should cover you. This should give you some comfort that sinking $800 or $1200+ on a GPU will last a good few years. EVGA allow you to water-cool, but you need to return the card in the stock configuration (whatever it was when you bought it) to action the RMA.
3) FE or any reference cards like the EVGA XC-series should all have good overclocking headroom. The reference design has a 13 phase VRM which gives loads of headroom. The main constraints to overclock will be a) the power headroom in the card bios which Nvidia allows and b) the cooling capacity of whatever cooler. (If you water-cool this should give you headroom for an overclock). I personally think that the 19 phase of the FTW3 is overkill. The Kingpin might be worth it if you can overrule Nvidia's power limits.
4) XC does not improve the Founders Edition PCB in any way. It is simply the EVGA air cooling solution, a baked in overclock (XC Gaming same as Nvidia Founders Edition, XC Ultra 1-2% better stock overclock). But the FE PCB is already very good. The other difference is warranty. Nvidia 3 years standard, like EVGA. But qualitatively EVGA has a good reputation for honouring warranty and unlike Nvidia you can extend it beyond 3 years for the fee.
 
Good luck, have fun!

bcavnaugh
I can say the Hydro Copper Water Block is the Easiest of the EVGA ones I have installed.
Removing the Original Cooler was easy and simple, also the Back Plate Stays in place and you do not remove it.
I am not an RGB users but I do like the Cyan Color I can set on my card.
I have two kits it will just take a while to get a second card. Not an FTW3 but still a nice card.
My Max Temperature of 83C Dropped to a Max of 48C

what card did you install the block on? Evga, nvidia fe?