Why is the founders edition more popular than the aftermarket cards?

[moshpit]

For those of you in Europe, has anybody actually just tried CALLING Palit direct sales line and see if they have an interest list? PNY has one in North America and gamers are getting cards pretty fast from the list. I've had 4 friends in the last week secure cards or at least get an order in, including one today getting her order of a 3060 Ti in with PNY literally on launch day. The same way I managed to get my 3090 ordered on launch day. Call the company, you know, that old fashioned thing called using your phone and TALKING to somebody

I do not know if Palit/Gainward has the same program that PNY does, but it would stand to reason as they are partner companies. I'm honestly surprised so few people are using their heads on this issue. Pick up a phone for once, you might be surprised how much a live voice can accomplish...

[Froger007]

Yes, FE is cheaper in general and the new FE cards is very impressive all round compared to previous ones. If you can find one go for it!

[ddr4000]

3080 FE - £649
3080 AIB - They're going for £800+ from official retailers.

You're essentially being scalped for a potential couple percentage performance increase (or none).

[virtuo]

The FE boards are unlikely to be beaten on price by an AIB, and they look excellent instead of some flashing gamery hunk of plastic. Performance wise there is so little headroom for improvement in terms of frequency or voltage, you aren't really going to notice much difference from a partner card. They only have a 3 year warranty though, and I know some AIB manufacturers offer more.

Depending on your build, a different style of cooler may be better for the overall system

[[GSV]Trig]

I've got a case that my PC components sit in, with no window, and it's under the desk, I don't give a rats what the card looks like, as long as it fits and performs, I'm good..

[ik9000]

I've got a case that my PC components sit in, with no window, and it's under the desk, I don't give a rats what the card looks like, as long as it fits and performs, I'm good..

ditto, but I add to that list QUIET. And I mean quiet, not just quieter than others, actually quiet such that you don't notice it, ever.

[Baffed]

I believe the main reason is just due to the price they come in at. There's no price hike on them and they're always at MSRP

[treacle1]

For the record, Nvidia does not own any factories, fabs, or plants to make PCBs. ALL board production for Nvidia is contracted out to PNY in America, Palit in Europe, and possibly Foxconn or Flextronic in Asia. That is where Founders Editions are made, as well as all reference designs made. Other partners can make their own reference cards, or purchase them directly from Nvidia, in which case they are shipped from PNY, Palit, or whoever is the Asian partner.

It should also be noted that PNY is also the Nvidia partner for Quadro, Tesla, and Titan cards as well as the new RTX A6000 and A40 pro cards. ALL professional Nvidia video cards that ship in America were made in a PNY factory.

Good to know

[xbloke]

I would be surprised if faulty units sold via eBay scalpers have their warranty fulfilled.

As far as I know, as long as you have the original receipt or an electronic copy, then the warranty will be fine - I mean, all the gifts people give at Christmas still have valid warranties even though they have new owners. I expect any eBay purchasers that don't have access to the original receipts are out of luck though.

[ik9000]

As far as I know, as long as you have the original receipt or an electronic copy, then the warranty will be fine - I mean, all the gifts people give at Christmas still have valid warranties even though they have new owners. I expect any eBay purchasers that don't have access to the original receipts are out of luck though.

I think that's incorrect. A store may choose to honour the warranty if they can provide the receipt but if they are not the original purchaser then the store can refuse and only deal with the OP SFAIK. In the case of gifts usually you have a relationship with said person and can get their assistance so the net impact is minimal, however the store can refuse to help 3rd parties just as they are not obliged to refund/exchange unwanted gifts (though many do out of goodwill).

[Jmurr]

It seems to me like the only advantage of the AIB cards is perhaps a slightly better cooler and thus quieter. Performance difference in most cases seems to be neglibable, so when you look at the prices, FE seems like a no brainer in most circumstances!

[Jmurr]

It seems to me like the only advantage of the AIB cards is perhaps a slightly better cooler and thus quieter. Performance difference in most cases seems to be neglibable, so when you look at the prices, FE seems like a no brainer in most circumstances!

[Falkentyne]

AIB cards have an advantage in that they may have multiple BIOS chips, and the BIOS is a standard SOP8 bios chip, which is inline flashable with a Pomona 5250 clip and a 1.8v adapter + programmer.

The FE has one big disadvantage in that its bios chip is a nonstandard package, which seems to be UDFN8, which means it may not be inline flashable at all without desoldering the chip and finding a rare socket adapter for this package. Those pins seem too small to even get jumper cables attached to them (inline) with hot glue or something... Also the FE cannot be crossflashed due to NVflash protection, while all AIB cards can be crossflashed.

Disassembling the 3080 and 3090 FE isn't difficult once you figure out the proper way to delatch the RGB connector and get the cable out. After the first time you remove it, subsequent removals become easier.

[jwhitbread]

Without writing an essay...:

1. A nice design for aesthetics
2. A good size and will fit in a lot of Mini-ITX builds and look sleek in bigger builds
3. Their cooling solution is pretty decent given it's a FE model
4. Retailers can't sell them for more than MSRP so if you can get one (especially given current market prices) it's the best price for performance!

[Laxet]

On the "cooling" argument, I'd argue that the FE is perfectly adequate for most builds. I'm running a mini-iTX NR200 and my undervolted 3080 GPU temps never exceed 65c on max load (4k max settings). Despite the undervolt it performs at stock levels.

You will get lower temps on an AIB card but with an undervolt the 3080 FE performs absolutely fine, I'd question how much the better cooling you really need.

[NonLinearLines]

Undervolting seems to be the right choice for 3000 series cards. The FE cards run quiet and cool when undervolted, well enough for almost any build. Combined with the price, not surprising that so many people want one.

They also look great. Clean aesthetic compared to AIB cards.