Morphevz
As a disappointed owner of 2x FTW where:
- the only FTW thing about them was the price
- the ASIC is weak sauce - 68.1% and 68.8%
- they don't even run at same voltage while SLI'ing
- the core can barely touch the 1500 Mhz barrier and the power limitations even at 110% power, prevents them from staying there
- the memory can't be clocked anywhere near the 8000 Mhz that most users are comfortably getting on air
- the coil whine is not a lie
I too would like to confirm that my pitchfork is raised high after reading the news that a real FTW is now being released and on top of that, cheaper than what I paid for my beta testing FTW versions...
My stet up possibilities are due by the end of January, and I would love if, at least, one of the following things could happen:
- the vanilla GTX 980s drop to the price point that I spent on my FTWs, and I step up to two 980s
- the fabled extra VRAM versions enter the market, and I step up to them
- none of the above materializing, at least, that I'm given the change to step up from these pretend FTWs to the real deal labeled as FTW+
One thing is certain: lesson learned; it was the first and the last time I trusted a manufacturer to come forth with an optimized product at launch. No doubt the sweet spot for "new hardware" purchases is 3 months after it's on the market and the pitchfork mob QAed the product for the final performance adjustments.
It's really saddening to see EVGA's market approach nowadays. There must have been quite a few internal changes for all these constant odd decisions happening nowadays.
I hereby confirm, that this situations leaves a very fowl taste in this sad panda's face.
I understand where this is coming from -completely -
Because I also was very, very....wait....EXTREMELY disappointed with EVGA.
I first bought 2x GTX 970 SC's, performance was meh... ASIC's quality was double meh... Cooling was a triple meh...
After that I bought 2x GTX 970 FTW's expecting them to be the "very best" in the 970-department which money could buy. Especially considering I owned also 2x GTX 780 FTW's before.
But still, another let down. Cooling was quite a big better, which was a no-brainer given the crap cooling on the plain / SC versions. The cooling on those were really lacking, to say the least. Performance was a little better, but still hardly overclockable and constant throttling, so again, at least for me, a single meh. And the ASIC's quality... well... it was even WORSE than with the 970 SC's!! Well to be honest; one FTW was a little, just a little (less than 1%) better than than my best 970 SC, the other one was around 14% worse than my lower SC. So that was a really quadruple meh for that and for EVGA in general. Also support was a big let down during this time period.
//start-added line
To be honest; the only thing I never experienced was coil whine, on any cards. So dunno about that.
//end-added line
Since I was fedup with EVGA completely at this point, I just sold all my EVGA cards (even the ones in other systems I have) and went for a different brand. For my main gaming PC I went with two Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 cards. One of those cards was defective (sorta DOA), so had to return that one (guess I am really not lucky). After getting a replacement and installing both of them, I was quite surprised. Cooling good, overclocking good and ASIC's quality also (very) good: 82.6% and 87.3% (as mentioned in my previous post). They are rock stable at ~1541 mhz, however I don't like Gigabyte as a company. Good stuff, when it works. Was a pain to get the defective card replaced.
Anyways, cutting things short; I am kinda semi-excited on the new FTW+ cards. Might give EVGA a new go, as in a fresh start, but will first wait on user input and reviews on this card, before I jump the bandwagon again. I am now a bit more cautious when it comes to EVGA, given my past (bad) experiences...
Oh well.... Just my 2 Eurocents. :)
//small edit in regard to coil whine