Which 3080 model should I get?

[ayrefo]

I know it's quite hard to have a 'choice' right now but are there any particular models that are quite good and others that I should avoid, for example a palit gamerock came in stock today, are those any good. I'm just also wondering the main thing which is if it's worth it to buy an aib card over a founders edition, help appreciated, thank you!

[Jmurr]

Personally, I don't think there is that much difference between the different AIBs

I'd maybe stay clear of Zotac as theirs tend to be cheaper quality, my preference would perhaps be for the TUF gaming as this has good reviews

There are other things to consider like EVGA seems to have very good customer service etc

I think the Palit gamerock is a good card in terms of overclock and thermals etc, but it looks too gastly for me to ever consider it lol!

However, for me it comes down to price really - unless nvidia discontinue the FE (which may happen one day), while there is a chance to get a FE for £649, I don't think I'd pay any more than £750 for an AIB card, as the performance difference is neglibable across them all, just perhaps better cooling solutions

[Diabo593]

Just buy any that fits your budget. The variance between each variant of the same model is not going to be big.

[Pob255]

are you thinking of water cooling? if so that plays a massive role, in the past nvidia would produce a reference card pcb design, these were the first cards that came out so brand wasn't that important as they were all same gpu, on the same board, with the same cooler and the only difference was the branding stickers.
Then later on the cards with custom pcb's and coolers would come out.
Water blocks would be made to fit the reference boards only, as there would be way too many pcb designs to make a block for each.

this changed with FE cards, nvidia don't let others make these cards but they do share a lot of the technical blueprints to help their partners make pcb's, this means you don't get a common water block and blocks have become specific to individual cards.

so if you want to water cool you need to plan for this too

[T1Cybernetic]

The FE this time around looks great in my opinion and so do the Asus TUF card's.

If the price was the same I would get the TUF card But right now I'm just hoping and praying one of them will come in stock and then it's a case of whichever one comes first I will buy!