Do you prefer factory overclocked GPUs?

[W1zzard]

With all the ongoing supply issues, graphics cards launching at inflated or misleading MSRPs, and vendors prioritizing the release of expensive, factory-overclocked custom models first, we’re curious—do you actually prefer more affordable GPUs at lower pricing, even if they don't come with a factory overclock?

 

[tpa-pr]

It's less about the card being factory OCed for me and more about the quality of the card itself? But both of my PowerColor cards have been the Red Devil OC model and will continue to be so in the future.

I really like PowerColor cards and yes, the overengineered cooler coupled with a tweaked fan curve lets them run incredibly cool. My 7900 XTX will not go over 85C at the hotspot no matter how hard it's pushed.

 

[stickleback123]

The overclock is always absolutely miniscule, I'm convinced they do it only as a justification for adding 15%-20% over RRP. If you think that's reasonable value for 1-2% higher clocks (that you could probably get anyway) then I've got some magic bean futures for you to invest in.

 

[Rover4444]

More affordable GPUs at lower pricing. OCs have much more diminishing returns nowadays, but a factory OC is very welcome regardless. Would prefer 2.5 slot or less coolers being the norm again though, putting massive honkers on these things is just too much.

 

[AVATARAT]

Users want to turn on the card and it shows the performance in the appropriate class, and whether it is factory clocked, they hardly care much, as long as the cooling is adequate.
Overclockers are interested in being able to make records with their cards and having tunes to do it with.

I don't see manufacturers wanting to do either.

 

[pattesatan]

I will never buy anything than Sapphire or XFX, and I dont really care if those brands are factory overclocked or not.

I dont use my gfx cards to show off with big numbers in tests, I just want them to work for the games and other things I do.

 

[Caring1]

"do you actually prefer more affordable GPUs at lower pricing, even if they don't come with a factory overclock?"
The Poll doesn't actually ask this question, as power consumption is a huge factor for me, as is overall price.

 

[Macro Device]

Overpaying for factory OC that only gives like 3 FPS boost when it's already in hundreds on top of overpaying for corporate greed and artificial deficite? I'm not smart but I'm not a Korean Boeing.

I will buy the cheapest model (unless it has deal breaking flaws such as very poor VRM or other major quality issues, or it's too large). Manual OC is virtually dead and factory OC is a sad joke. Just no way.

 

[DaemonForce]

I prefer a different route that goes along the lines of an extremely unfair advantage for overclocking experience.
I want a card with an extremely high silicon potential rating and shipped with stock settings so I can explore for myself.

 

[Outback Bronze]

Voted no. It generally just causes more power, heat, loses efficiency and costs more. I just manually oc if I need to.

 

[Yraggul666]

I was just about to write almost exactly what @tpa-pr wrote.
I love a good overengineered and overbuilt(both in a good sense) implementation and PowerColor is one of the best if not THE BEST when it comes to AMD GPUs.
Also Red Devil is my passion when it comes to AMD GPUs as you will see, and yes, that is my hand.

 

[Leiesoldat]

I water cool my components so a "better air cooler" is irrelevant. I'm eyeing the Sapphire Pulse because I really don't care about factory overclocks and would rather have that extra cash to spend on the quality water block.

 

[Todestrieb]

Voted "only for better cooler". More exactly, "better cooler with no more than 3slots".
Fan noise is a deal breaker, so no Ventus/Prime.
Factory OC is...meh. I will manually adjust voltage and clock speed anyway.

 

[ToxicTaZ]

Was hard to vote for because I went for both Factory Overclocked and Better Cooling comes with.

MSI RTX 4080 Super 16G SUPRIM X

320w TDP with MSI SUPRIM cooling for a whooping 3 FPS performance more than the RTX 4080 Super FE.

Max's out my card with DLSS 4 Enhanced Transformer Model pushing my unlocked AD103 to it's limits so OC with fantastic cooling is definitely needed.

 

[Epaminombas]

Factory overclocked CPUs, such as Intel K-series, and factory overclocked GPUs are exclusive to enthusiasts who want to have a 2% performance advantage and who have an air conditioner at home. If you don't have an air conditioner and don't know how to choose a good thermal paste and air cooler, don't buy anything that comes factory overclocked. Even RAMs above 6000Mhz are useless for most people.

 

[_roman_]

Low noticeable fan noise and relative game performance in my games are the top priority.

200€ surplus for OC card is not worth it

 

[Gigaherz]

I only buy the gpus with best pcb and oc potential and I dont care about waiting several years to be able to afford them.

Factory overclocked CPUs, such as Intel K-series, and factory overclocked GPUs are exclusive to enthusiasts who want to have a 2% performance advantage and who have an air conditioner at home. If you don't have an air conditioner and don't know how to choose a good thermal paste and air cooler, don't buy anything that comes factory overclocked. Even RAMs above 6000Mhz are useless for most people.

Jeez, k series have way over 2% potential. Non K are in the single digit range because you have to use clockgens and boost optimizations. Thermal paste makes almost no difference, hardly any xoc guy uses a specific type, just use whatever is available. Good memory will give you a noticeably better gaming exprience.
You dont need active AC to OC, it helps to have a better delta but is not required.

 

[Epaminombas]

I only buy the gpus with best pcb and oc potential and I dont care about waiting several years to be able to afford them.


Jeez, k series have way over 2% potential. Non K are in the single digit range because you have to use clockgens and boost optimizations. Thermal paste makes almost no difference, hardly any xoc guy uses a specific type, just use whatever is available. Good memory will give you a noticeably better gaming exprience.
You dont need active AC to OC, it helps to have a better delta but is not required.

If I put an i7 265K side by side with another PC with an i7 265 without the K, both with an RTX 5080 and turn off the FPS on the screen, you won't be able to tell me which is which or what.

If I turn on the FPS counter, the difference won't be greater than 10%, which isn't much for 99% of users; it wouldn't make any difference at all.

Are you trying to convince me that generic thermal paste is the same as a Noctua NT-H2? Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme? Arctic MX6? Cooler Master Cryofuze??

Please. No one is going to spend $120 on a cooler and put generic, off-brand thermal paste on it.

 

[Gigaherz]

you won't be able to tell me which is which or what.

Sure would. Also stock and OC are different. Why run a K at Stock?

Are you trying to convince me that generic thermal paste is the same as a Noctua NT-H2? Grizzly Kryonaut Extreme? Arctic MX6? Cooler Master Cryofuze??

Yup.

Please. No one is going to spend $120 on a cooler and put generic, off-brand thermal paste on it.

I have done this hundreds of times on way more expensive setups and I know at least 10 People who regularly do the same. A Delid, Frame, Different Fans and the mood of your Grandmother has a greater influence than the kind of paste as long as you use enough and it doesnt burn or dry up.

 

[Epaminombas]

Just because you use generic thermal paste doesn't mean they are good or recommended.

 

[harm9963]

If the price and card in question , Zotac Amp Extreme Airo 4090, was a 100 dollars off , Right place Right time Right price !

 

[evernessince]

I'd prefer a factory UV.

 

[Yashyyyk]

In my opinion, the coolers aren't necessarily "better"; they are simply larger and so can cool more with more volume - better (i.e. denser, more "space-efficient") coolers should be able to cool more with the same/less volume (and I suppose weight, price lol)

It would be interesting to see some size-TDP-noise-temperature normalized testing:

I wish they used the 30% TDP cut of the 9070 non-XT Reaper to make the card 30% smaller, it's the only dual slot at all to begin with... (and it's not like the 2.5 slot cards are equivalently shorter to compensate for .5 slot increase)

R9 Nano happened almost a decade ago, 2 slot 1 fan short 175W card,

Nvidia (partners) did similarly with GTX 1080, 2070, 3060Ti, and a single rare late 4070 model,

all of these are 180-200W and fit into less than a "liter" of space, so > 200 "Watts per liter"

AMD (partners) did the same with Powercolor 5700 ITX and (higher TDP!) Vega 56 Nano e.g., but nothing for 6650XT or 7600XT

(R9 nano is 15.5x4x11 e.g. which comes to about 0.7 Liter, so 175 divided by 0.7 is 250W/L)

the 9070 / XT isn't 175-180W, but with this metric, at 220W and 300W, then they should be like 20% and 66% larger. The 9070XT Reaper is close enough...but the 9070 has nothing

Another example is 5070 FE design, we had Zotac 1080Ti Mini 8 years ago, same TDP, same volume. Admittedly ignoring thermals / noise, you would think over 8 years later we would get better designs not same/stagnation.

Apparently the 5070 cooler is worse than the 4070 (S?) FE since one of the fans don't even work properly lol

The only other reasonable length dual slot/fan are from Galax and Inno3D, 3 models not bad, idk if it's available in all regions (let alone at MSRP lol)

Another (crazy) example is Galax 1070 Katana, 4x smaller than 5090 FE (great cooler) for about 1/4 TDP, but...8 years ago (both are >300 W/L, maybe the only non-enterprise/server ones to do so)

I don't know why GPU companies can't just reuse 8-10 year old GPU designs, and I don't know why after 8-10 years we are mostly getting less "dense"/"efficient" cooler designs

If Nvidia (FE) and Inno3D can make 2 slot (5080) GPUs, (only dual slot 5070Ti/5090 is from Inno3D/FE respectively) then others don't have much excuse, it's not like they are lower length to compensate for thickness

But even Inno3D (while still compact), used X2 on 4070Ti Super (285W) but not on 5070Ti (300W), despite advertising one; do they really need an extra fan for 15W?

Even if noise or thermals are a concern, nowadays undervolt + PL will cut 25% TDP for <5% perf loss, since cards are pushed for diminishing returns / "overclocked OOTB"

I don't know if AMD/Nvidia partners have to strictly adhere to TDP, or they can go down a small bit (like they can go up on 9070XT, or kinda ignore entirely on laptop)

Ultimately we would need to see testing for if say, a 50% size difference (at same TDP) leads to some mix of 50% noise/temp difference (and need to scale both to linear?)

Sorry for large comment

When ITX GPU?

I want an ITX / low length/single fan RTX 4070 with 16GB VRAM. (Or rather something like the 1080Ti mini for the 4070Ti (Super/16GB VRAM)) It's ~200W just like the numerous ITX 1080/2070(S)/3060Ti, all ~1 "Liter" in size, so ~200 "Watt per Liter" We should be getting better/more...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[AVATARAT]

Trolling is not nice.

Some people here talk about how it would be nice if cards were smaller, cooler, with less TDP... And when Nvidia pushes a card with 5% better FPS and 3 DLSS pixels look better and all these people jump on the Nvidia card, no matter the TDP/cooler...

 

[evernessince]

Trolling is not nice.

Some people here talk about how it would be nice if cards were smaller, cooler, with less TDP... And when Nvidia pushes a card with 5% better FPS and 3 DLSS pixels look better and all these people jump on the Nvidia card, no matter the TDP/cooler...

This is a many to one correlation and an over-generalization. TDP / Cooler are not the only factors being considered when purchasing a GPU so it stands to reason that people who dislike one aspect may still well purchase the card anyways due to other considerations. Not everyone is buying them regardless of TDP either.

This is an enthusiast forum as well, meaning that people can tune their cards to their liking. Not everyone can do that though, and the trends reflected here do not reflect the broader market.