GTX 1080 Phoenix GLH/GameRock owners, experiences?

[Vayra86]

Hey everyone

I am looking to (finally!, really!) upgrade my ancient 780ti... and looking at the Gainward or Palit top dog 1080's that have finally fallen into my comfort zone price/perf wise.

Any owners of either of these two cards on the forum? What are your experiences thus far with the cards? Temps, how does it hold up today, your max OC and ingame steady clocks etc. I'm curious!

@qubit didn't you have a GameRock?

 

[londiste]

gainward 1080 phoenix.
72-75c at max load in fractal nano s with case side panel off, being very-very quiet.
keep in mind that the cards are wider than usual and cooler on these is huge (2.5-3 slots).
oc goes to the pascals' usual 2000-2100 mhz range.

 

[Liviu Cojocaru]

I have the 1080 Game Rock, it is really good. It is silent, cool and a really oc-able. The only downsize would be that it takes up 3 slots, also the color scheme is not appealing to everybody.

 

[Vayra86]

Thanks for the input Except the Phoenix and GameRocks weren't in stock so I had to jump on an MSI Gaming X

 

[qubit]

I still have one - my third GTX 1080 GameRock.

The card has phenomenal noise performance for fan and coil whine. What's in question is reliability, with quite a few users on forums criticising Palit for this.

So, why have I had three identical models? Well, the first one died after three months, so I asked for a replacement. That was dead on arrival, so I got a refund. Weirdly, the serial numbers of these two cards were just one away from each other, so perhaps a bad batch was made.

A little while later, I bought a third one for a good price at Amazon (£500) after the 1080 Ti was released as the price dropped and I could decide if the premium was worth it. I decided it wasn't for me.

Now this last one seems to work ok, but I've only had it for a couple of weeks now. A couple of times I've woken the PC up from sleep (this is how I normally shut it down) where it was locked up solid, requiring the reset switch to be pressed. This is the kind of thing that was happening with my first Palit more and more often before it failed completely, so I wonder a little bit.

Basically this card is now on trial. If it also has an early failure, then I'm returning it for a refund and never touching this brand again regardless of the performance. Palit tend to be somewhat cheaper than the other brands, so it looks like they might have skimped on quality control to bring the price down. A third failure will pretty much confirm it.

 

[Vayra86]

I still have one - my third GTX 1080 GameRock.

The card has phenomenal noise performance for fan and coil whine. What's in question is reliability, with quite a few users on forums criticising Palit off for this.

So, why have I had three identical models? Well, the first one died after three months, so I asked for a replacement. That was dead on arrival, so I got a refund. Weirdly, the serial numbers of these two cards were just one away from each other, so perhaps a bad batch was made.

A little while later, I bought a third one for a good price at Amazon (£500) after the 1080 Ti was released as the price dropped and I could decide if the premium was worth it. I decided it wasn't for me.

Now this last one seems to work ok, but I've only had it for a couple of weeks now. A couple of times I've woken the PC up from sleep (this is how I normally shut it down) where it was locked up solid, requiring the reset switch to be pressed. This is the kind of thing that was happening with my first Palit more and more often before it failed completely, so I wonder a little bit.

Basically this card is now on trial. If it also has an early failure, then I'm returning it for a refund and never touching this brand again regardless of the performance. Palit tend to be somewhat cheaper than the other brands, so it looks like they might have skimped on quality control to bring the price down. A third failure will pretty much confirm it.

Holy crap you've been unlucky! But in this case, I am one happy camper for ordering an MSI Gaming X Those reliability issues were exactly the kind of info I was hoping for. Thanks

Now watch me, I'll get a DOA when I open the box tonight

 

[qubit]

Holy crap you've been unlucky! But in this case, I am one happy camper for ordering an MSI Gaming X Those reliability issues were exactly the kind of info I was hoping for. Thanks

Now watch me, I'll get a DOA when I open the box tonight

Oh I'll laugh if it's DOA - the irony will be too much lol. But seriously, I wanted the Gaming X, but it cost around £700. It's now dropped to £520 since the Ti came out, so I would have tried it if I was buying a GTX 1080 now.
I've actually got my eye on that Zotac Extreme Edition GTX 1080 or maybe even the 1080 Ti for a reassuringly expensive £800, so I might just return this Palit and get that instead, we'll see.

 

[Vayra86]

Oh I'll laugh if it's DOA - the irony will be too much lol. But seriously, I wanted the Gaming X, but it cost around £700. It's now dropped to £520 since the Ti came out, so I would have tried it if I was buying a GTX 1080 now.
I've actually got my eye on that Zotac Extreme Edition GTX 1080 or maybe even the 1080 Ti for a reassuringly expensive £800, so I might just return this Palit and get that instead, we'll see.

Sorry to disappoint but no DOA's here Once again impressed by the TwinFrozR... I actually got to hear my CPU fan (which is low rpm already) again during gaming... but only if I put my ear directly on the case. After that super noisy Windforce 780ti this is... stunning