XC is slightly lower tier, and FTW is slightly higher.  Emphasis on "slightly" because performance-wise we're just talking a few percentage points.  FTW might also add more RGB bling and so forth.
 
If you are going for a 3080ti, the lesson learned is to add yourself to the queue for every model you might find acceptable, and not just the one you think is best for you.  Many people signed up just for the lowest-priced "Black" models and then found they hardly make them.  The FTW/Ultra models seem the ones that EVGA produces the most.  Anyway, if they make 6 models, sign up for all 6 to increase your chances of getting one more quickly.

Thx for info!

One upside to the XC cards is they're often dual slot, which is handy for those of us running small form factor PCs. But indeed that tends to come with the trade-offs of heat/noise/lower-clocks due to the smaller cooling solution

The differences are too many to list, and depend very much on the model.
In general, the FTW card is a higher tier than the XC card, and thus will have a better-built board with extra power delivery components (leading to a higher power limit), better cooling, better lighting, a more aggressive design (although which one is better-looking is subjective).
What is the real-world impact on performance? In this generation in particular, it's generally not worth it in terms of perf/$ in my opinion. You might gain a few percent, for about 100W extra power dissipation. Rarely worth it outside of benchmarks. The more premium card will generally have lower temperatures and noise levels when operated at the same power level though, which might be worth it for you.

What a shocker... another person that posts in every single thread they can find til they get to 100 posts then disappears & we'll probably never see them again.
 
If I'm wrong about that I apologize, but we've been seeing this so much lately that I doubt I am wrong - and if I am this is one of the few times... it's ridiculous how many of these there are every day it seems like.
 
Edit: Edited this to point out, this post is directed at the person that posted right before me, not the original poster of this thread, I should have quoted who I was addressing in my post ^_^ me was sleepy so me was mean without specifying direction.

Dabadger84
What a shocker... another person that posts in every single thread they can find til they get to 100 posts then disappears & we'll probably never see them again.
 
If I'm wrong about that I apologize, but we've been seeing this so much lately that I doubt I am wrong - and if I am this is one of the few times... it's ridiculous how many of these there are every day it seems like.

trying to get their post count to 100

Is there already any idea of what the EVGA line-up of the 3080Ti will be? Will there be a XC3 Ultra Gaming, a FTW3 Gaming and a FTW3 Ultra Gaming?

Thanks for the info! Hopefully they make them in the smaller sizes, else it won't fit my case.

Realistically nothing as far as the performance is concerned in the real world.

SleepyEs
ftw series has the rgb acorrs the thing right

True, the RGB is pretty simple on the XC3 (I think just the EVGA logo?) for those who care

Just an FYI, reference PCBs & Founders Editions are quite different for this generation - The Founders Editions are "better" than reference/base model PCBs, NVidia did this to compete with AIBs & attempt to push them out of the low end prices market (which is really messed up because NVidia REQUIRES each AIB to offer at least ONE SKU per GPU line at or very near MSRP).
 
Reference PCBs & thereby reference level models like the XC-line of cards typically have very little "fancy" about them except a slightly upgraded cooler - they will tend to run hotter than their higher tier counterparts.  They're also cheaper. 
 
 
As I posted before, it's worth keeping in mind, with the 30-series cards, a lot of AIBs made even their higher tier cards 'not that much better' than the base models.  eVGA's FTW3 PCB is not THAT upgraded compared to the XC3.  If you want a truly high end PCB, you'd have to look at a Kingpin, which is only available for the 3090 of course.
 
Not saying the 3080 FTW3 Ultra isn't a good card - I had one, they're quite good - but the FTW3 'name' doesn't carry the weight it used to in terms of it being heavily customized by eVGA & all that jazz.

Dabadger84
What a shocker... another person that posts in every single thread they can find til they get to 100 posts then disappears & we'll probably never see them again.
 
If I'm wrong about that I apologize, but we've been seeing this so much lately that I doubt I am wrong - and if I am this is one of the few times... it's ridiculous how many of these there are every day it seems like.

Well, that is what I thought when I read the ELITE membership requirement. When I started posting, I started to really enjoy contributing to the forum, they are really informative for me about graphic cards and other news about it. If not I can post 100 posts on the many game threads.
 

Dabadger84
Just an FYI, reference PCBs & Founders Editions are quite different for this generation - The Founders Editions are "better" than reference/base model PCBs, NVidia did this to compete with AIBs & attempt to push them out of the low end prices market (which is really messed up because NVidia REQUIRES each AIB to offer at least ONE SKU per GPU line at or very near MSRP).
 
Reference PCBs & thereby reference level models like the XC-line of cards typically have very little "fancy" about them except a slightly upgraded cooler - they will tend to run hotter than their higher tier counterparts.  They're also cheaper. 
 
 
As I posted before, it's worth keeping in mind, with the 30-series cards, a lot of AIBs made even their higher tier cards 'not that much better' than the base models.  eVGA's FTW3 PCB is not THAT upgraded compared to the XC3.  If you want a truly high end PCB, you'd have to look at a Kingpin, which is only available for the 3090 of course.
 
Not saying the 3080 FTW3 Ultra isn't a good card - I had one, they're quite good - but the FTW3 'name' doesn't carry the weight it used to in terms of it being heavily customized by eVGA & all that jazz.

Thanks for the info, do you have any recommendation on what sku buy a 3080/3080ti, at first ftw is kinda my goto card but, according to you, FTW series is not much better than the xc series so I kinda don't know what should I after.

yuitachibana

Dabadger84
What a shocker... another person that posts in every single thread they can find til they get to 100 posts then disappears & we'll probably never see them again.
 
If I'm wrong about that I apologize, but we've been seeing this so much lately that I doubt I am wrong - and if I am this is one of the few times... it's ridiculous how many of these there are every day it seems like.

Well, that is what I thought when I read the ELITE membership requirement. When I started posting, I started to really enjoy contributing to the forum, they are really informative for me about graphic cards and other news about it. If not I can post 100 posts on the many game threads.
 

Dabadger84
Just an FYI, reference PCBs & Founders Editions are quite different for this generation - The Founders Editions are "better" than reference/base model PCBs, NVidia did this to compete with AIBs & attempt to push them out of the low end prices market (which is really messed up because NVidia REQUIRES each AIB to offer at least ONE SKU per GPU line at or very near MSRP).
 
Reference PCBs & thereby reference level models like the XC-line of cards typically have very little "fancy" about them except a slightly upgraded cooler - they will tend to run hotter than their higher tier counterparts.  They're also cheaper. 
 
 
As I posted before, it's worth keeping in mind, with the 30-series cards, a lot of AIBs made even their higher tier cards 'not that much better' than the base models.  eVGA's FTW3 PCB is not THAT upgraded compared to the XC3.  If you want a truly high end PCB, you'd have to look at a Kingpin, which is only available for the 3090 of course.
 
Not saying the 3080 FTW3 Ultra isn't a good card - I had one, they're quite good - but the FTW3 'name' doesn't carry the weight it used to in terms of it being heavily customized by eVGA & all that jazz.

Thanks for the info, do you have any recommendation on what sku buy a 3080/3080ti, at first ftw is kinda my goto card but, according to you, FTW series is not much better than the xc series so I kinda don't know what should I after.

I wasn't directing that first bit at you, BTW, I was directing at the guy that posted right before me... and now, coincidentally, has 100 posts... and has not been online since hitting 100 posts.  Sorry if that was misunderstood as me directing at you, I should have quoted the person I was directing it at ^_^
 
Overall, I'd say it's down to the price difference.  At launch, the FTW3 Ultra 3080 was not that much more expensive than the XC3 Ultra 3080, and the cooler on the FTW3 Ultra was a good bit beefier looking and had lower temps it testing done by reviewers that actually tested both.  The FTW3 Ultra cooler, specifically on the 3080, is one of the better performing coolers across the 3080 spectrum if I remember correctly.  Asus has better, but the eVGA one is better than most others.
 
I would say for the 3080 Ti, if it's more than around 50-75 more for the FTW3 compared to the XC3 - especially if you plan to just plug & play your card, and not to push it to the limit and constantly be fiddling with overclocking, I would definitely go with an XC3.  It'll be cheaper and the differences between the two in actual performance out of the box is miniscule.

XC3 is a little slower than the FTW3 but is quieter. FTW3 also has better temps and overclocking capabilities.

rgbfx1
XC is slightly lower tier, and FTW is slightly higher.  Emphasis on "slightly" because performance-wise we're just talking a few percentage points.  FTW might also add more RGB bling and so forth.
 
If you are going for a 3080ti, the lesson learned is to add yourself to the queue for every model you might find acceptable, and not just the one you think is best for you.  Many people signed up just for the lowest-priced "Black" models and then found they hardly make them.  The FTW/Ultra models seem the ones that EVGA produces the most.  Anyway, if they make 6 models, sign up for all 6 to increase your chances of getting one more quickly.

Good info. Thank you. I'm going to keep this in mind when the queue opens up, try to strategize a bit.