The Master Key series of mechanical keyboards from Cooler Master features genuine Cherry MX switches and the flexibility of choice. Whether you want small medium or large, you can pick your size and pick your color with RGB and clear white LED backlighting options. Click the sponsor link in the description for more information. So there are two steps to choosing a GPU. You gotta choose the GPU and then you gotta choose the GPU. What I mean to say is first you must choose which GPU you want, like the actual graphics processing unit, like an RX 580 from radion or the Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti, like what I'm using in the cards I have here today. And then you must choose which actual graphics card based on that GPU you want to get since there are usually quite a few versions from adding card manufacturers like ASUS or Gigabyte among others. Today's video is going to be about that second choice. How to choose a specific graphics card based on the GPU that you've already selected since I'm actually asked that question quite a bit. Today my matchup is between two GTX 1080 Ti based cards, the ASUS Strix 1080 Ti and the Gigabyte Aorus 1080 Ti, and I'll be pinning these two cards against each other while also pointing out the areas of distinction that you can use when choosing any graphics card. So first off obviously the GPU is going to be exactly the same between these two different cards. The code name of the GPU is GP 102 and that means they'll both have 3584 kk cores, 224 texture units, 88 ROPs, 12 billion transistors, etc. All the specs that apply to that GPU. Now that means that the performance of these cards when it comes to straight pixel pushing in a 3D rendered application should also be the same, although this would depend on the GPU's clock speed. Now the ASUS Strix actually runs at the exact same speed as the Aorus when it comes to base and boost clocks. Although under load the Strix was running a little bit faster at 1911 megahertz on average thanks to GPU boost versus the Aorus which was only hitting 1847. I think this was actually due to the Strix running at a bit higher voltage, 1.049 volts versus the Aorus which was at 0.962, a bit more conservative. These are those little details that can change from card to card based on the V BIOS that's loaded, but the main point though is that how much you can overclock will be much more dependent on your specific GPU than the card and the cooler that's built around it. It is the Silicon Lottery and some people just get lucky with getting a better overclocking GPU than others. Unless you're specifically buying a card that says the GPU is been for performance, which EVGA and a few others have done in the past but to my knowledge has not been done with the 1080 Ti in any versions, your overclocking performance will be somewhat random and it won't really matter which graphics card you actually choose. One final mention before we get into what actually makes a difference between two cards like this is how much memory you get. Now the 1080 Ti's are all going to ship with 11 gigs of GDDR5X but some cards have versions that might have more or less memory. The GTX 1060 for example might have 3 gigs or 6 gigs depending on what version you get. If you're in this situation, I usually recommend opting for the version with more memory if you can afford it as that will help you run games at higher resolutions. So I'm not focusing on benchmarking performance for this video but here are some fire strike ultra results just to show how clock speed affects performance. Out of the box, the Asus Strix pulls ahead just slightly due to that higher average sustained boost clock, but when I overclocked both cards manually, the Orrest 1080 Ti was actually stable with a plus 75 core clock whereas the Strix had to be dialed back to about plus 50. This allowed the Orrest to leapfrog the Strix when I rerun the tests and edge it out with a slightly higher sustained core clock. All this is to say though that raw performance is not the primary deciding factor that you should be looking at when it comes to choosing your graphics card if the GPU is a constant. What you should be focusing on is the card's build quality, aesthetics, noise levels, cooling, extras which is a catch all category and pricing. So let's talk build quality and this will overlap with cooling and noise levels just a little bit of course, but don't overlook details like how well the card is put together and what materials are used. Personally, I like that Orrest went with an all metal shroud to protect the thin stacks and fans underneath whereas the Strix shroud here is made of plastic. These are both high end cards though with multiple copper heat pipes for cooling, they're very heavy both of them which means that there's lots of mass in there, thermal mass that can absorb heat and they both have very nice high quality back plates. I would give Orrest a hard time for their copper GPU back plate panel that they put on there which gamers Nexus did a video on and has shown to be pretty much pointless when it comes to actual cooling but they do have a massive GPU and memory cooling plate on this card on the front side of it where it matters a little bit more so hopefully that makes up for it. Both cards though are very well built. I would give the edge to the Orrest though here for that all metal shroud. Now aesthetics might mean nothing to you if your case doesn't have a side panel window and that's okay. You can just ignore this category but for many PC builders out there it does make a difference especially if you want RGB LEDs. The design work we have is a bit subjective of course some people might like one more than the other but overall I like the Strix card just a little bit better when it comes to looks. I've said for quite a while that when RGB LEDs exist on a card as they do on both of these there should be no other fixed colors. For some reason Gigabyte keeps using orange accents which makes everyone sad except people who are building gonna be quite a case I guess. I also like the Asus went with nickel plating on wherever they had potentially exposed copper which I think also leads to a cleaner overall look. There's also that RGB LED experience and both Asus and Gigabyte have software solutions that can control and sync lighting with your motherboard as long as it's an Asus or Gigabyte motherboard with Asus or the Gigabyte RGB Fusion software support. The RGB ROG backplate logo on the Strix card looks pretty nice too of course when it's lit up and synced and to be fair there is an Aorus Extreme 1080 Ti that also has that backplate lights up feature. The gains here by the Strix card in the aesthetics category will be countered when we get to the price category for the non-extreme version of the Aorus card. Also just to point out the Strix card does have an RGB LED header on the end of the card itself which means that you could expand your lighting without necessarily needing an Asus or a compatible motherboard and that's a nice feature. Now noise level is next and noise levels and cooling are actually probably the most important factors practically speaking if you want my whole hearted opinion. Starting with noise and using my new sound level meter here is each card running at 25, 50 and 75% fan speed. This might make it seem like the Strix is the louder card but remember I'm using percentages of the maximum fan speed and the Strix fans max at about 3900 RPM whereas the Aorus goes up to 2900 so in that 75% test the Strix was at 2750 RPM the Aorus was only at 2175. While actually under a normal gaming load though the Asus Strix fan speed topped out at about 44% 1592 RPM and the Aorus fan speed hit 55% but also about 1585 RPM and at that speed the noise level was down to about 41 DBA and very quiet for both cards. That takes us into our cooling comparison which was again a bit of a wash with both cards performing within about a degree of each other. Not bad both are good coolers but again it makes that decision making process just a bit tougher. Now it comes to extras with graphics cards that actually covers a lot of ground so this is my catch all category whether it's accessories or bonus features but honestly accessories weren't much to speak up for either of these cards they had some documentation and a non-sleeved peg power splitter that was pretty much all you got. Some other bonuses though include peg power LEDs on both cards which is kind of a nice feature. Asus originally introduced this but it will let you know via an LED light when you plug in the power if the power is plugged in or not so if it's not plugged in it's very obvious. Now the Aorus card here also has expanded video outs it's got an additional HDMI out on the back and an internal VR HDMI port to pass through to front panel port on your case. This could be a very key selling point for someone doing a VR focus build since having the amount of internal HDMI connectors isn't always there. The Asus Strix card on the other hand includes internal fan headers two of them on the card them itself four pin PWM so you can have more case fans connected to the card that will run on a speed based on the GPU temperature. Also next to that Asus put an RGB header as already mentioned and they've also included voltage read points on the board for people who are doing high end overclocking and actually want to get direct voltage readings off the card itself. You might also want to consider in this extras category the warranty you get for the card the company's reputation for the card that you're buying and then also return policies and step up programs in here I just like to point out EVGA's they have a long standing step up program that's very nice but stuff like that you definitely want to take a look at when you're comparing cards between different manufacturers. Finally of course there is the price because going back to my original statement that the GPU is really the main factor when it comes to the actual performance you get it would sound like most people should just get a $699 Founders edition card and call it a day the OS 1080 Ti cost $720 right now at new egg and for that $20 you get better cooling, a quieter card and some additional features versus the Founders edition. The Asus RG Strix 1080 Ti cost $780 right now and for that extra $80 you get better cooling, a quieter card and some additional features versus the Founders edition. So to conclude this video I would say that Asus probably wins this match up if price is no object which it might not be if you're in the market for 1080 Ti. Lots of people's full gaming computers don't cost $700 plus like one of these 1080 Ti's costs. If you just want 1080 Ti performance though and aesthetics are less of a concern and you don't think $60 worth paying for some additional RGB features and voltage read points then the OS 1080 Ti is probably right up your alley and I would recommend it over at the Founders edition. But guys that is all for this video today links to these parts that I've used and equipment and everything is down in the description also down there you can find links to my store we can help support my channel by grabbing a shirt or maybe a mug or a couple pint glasses. Also remember to like the video if you enjoyed it subscribe for more videos coming very soon and as always thank you for watching.