I bought this for a specific need on a specific machine. It is the last of nVidia cards that could do SLI - connect two cards for a huge performance boost. However, these cards don't blow air out of the case: cool air comes in through the fans, blows down over the cooling fins, and then out the top and bottom, blowing hot air on the motherboard and side panel and relying on you to put enough airflow in the case to exhaust it all before the heat builds up. This very special nVidia reference model runs HOT, maxing out at 85C before it starts to throttle back, so two of them generate a lot of heat.I'll share a picture of my water-cooled build, which worked well. Today I have a specific Alienware Area-51M laptop and an Alienware Graphics Amplifier (AGA), that need a ... MoreI bought this for a specific need on a specific machine. It is the last of nVidia cards that could do SLI - connect two cards for a huge performance boost. However, these cards don't blow air out of the case: cool air comes in through the fans, blows down over the cooling fins, and then out the top and bottom, blowing hot air on the motherboard and side panel and relying on you to put enough airflow in the case to exhaust it all before the heat builds up. This very special nVidia reference model runs HOT, maxing out at 85C before it starts to throttle back, so two of them generate a lot of heat.I'll share a picture of my water-cooled build, which worked well. Today I have a specific Alienware Area-51M laptop and an Alienware Graphics Amplifier (AGA), that need a top-end 2000 series card for animation and video editing because of compatibility reasons.These will become harder to find. The 3000 series and up can be more powerful, run cooler, and cost the same or less though, so unless you need exactly this, consider one of those.Keep in mind also that used cards are a higher gamble--many were used during the pandemic to mine crypto, a process that usually involves overclocking the card, burning it out, and then dumping it on the Used Graphics Card market.

Introduction:The RTX 2080ti is currently the only GPU available that can provide a 4K 60fps experience in most of the latest games with little to no compromises, Palit's take on this GPU is no exception.Cooling solution:The cooler includes a massive heatsink (2.5 slot), 4 relatively large heat pipes and many visible thermal pads placed between the PCB and the aforementioned heatsink, this is paired with two 90mm fans which although having a distinct and audible sound at full load aren't intrusive although in the case tested (Thermaltake view 37, with GPU horizontally mounted and 6 Corsair ML case fans) the percentage fan speed must be increased massively to maintain sub 80c temperatures and in gaming stay in the region of 70% - 100% with a custom fan curve in ... MoreIntroduction:The RTX 2080ti is currently the only GPU available that can provide a 4K 60fps experience in most of the latest games with little to no compromises, Palit's take on this GPU is no exception.Cooling solution:The cooler includes a massive heatsink (2.5 slot), 4 relatively large heat pipes and many visible thermal pads placed between the PCB and the aforementioned heatsink, this is paired with two 90mm fans which although having a distinct and audible sound at full load aren't intrusive although in the case tested (Thermaltake view 37, with GPU horizontally mounted and 6 Corsair ML case fans) the percentage fan speed must be increased massively to maintain sub 80c temperatures and in gaming stay in the region of 70% - 100% with a custom fan curve in place with the temperature and power limit set to maximum (Not out of the box experience). Two other drawbacks of this cooler are the lack of a 0 rpm fan mode at idle and the need to use Palit's Thundermaster overclocking utility to set a fan profile with my particular version of MSI afterburner having no ability to control or monitor fan speed on the GPU (although this may or may not be a problem if the latest version of afterburner is installed). Overall I'd rate the cooler as adequate although unimpressive.Software:This graphics card comes with Palit's Thundermaster overclocking utility which appears somewhat basic but functional. It lacks the auto overclocking features of other overclocking utilities such as EVGA's precision X and MSI Afterburner, but does include RGB LED control (note that the RGB on the card is a single horizontal line placed under the RTX logo on the side) as well as fan speed control, hardware monitoring, BIOS backup tool, saved presets and of course overclocking tools. As of the 5th November 2018 there is an easy bios update on Palit's website which allows the power limit of the card to be pushed to 126% at the expense of extra heat and noise although the card may ship with the new BIOS out of the box (note that the original power limit of this card was 115% when purchased before 5/11/2018).Performance:Performance is as to be expected with any RTX 2080ti and should be the main selling point of this card, it can run current games such as Assassins Creed Odyssey at 4k 60fps at near maximum settings with no issue although this GPU should only be paired with a high end CPU such as an i7/i9 or ryzen 7 to get the most out of it, note that older CPUs (Intel 4th gen or lower / AMD pre-ryzen) even high end ones have the potential to limit this GPU's performance in CPU demanding scenarios especially on high refresh rate monitors.Value:A touchy subject when it comes to RTX 2080tis, whether the cost of the performance being delivered can be justified is up to the consumer. This is the most powerful single GPU solution for gaming and delivers an experience that no other graphics card can, in this respect it takes the place of the gaming Titan series along with the high price. The price of this particular graphics card currently is good... for a 2080ti by this I mean it comes in overclocked at a similar price to other manufacturers' non-overclocked cards, the advantaged of a pre-overclocked card in this series is that the GPU is binned by Nvidia (specially chosen for quality and overclocking potential) and is marked with an A in the model name written on the chip which makes this card especially noteworthy for individuals hoping to use the card for custom watercooling in the future as in this case you would get a binned chip at a lower price with the original cooler being replaced anyway.Quality:The card feels heavy, includes a sturdy and attractive backplate, seems to use Dr.Mos Mosfets which ideally should be of a good quality and there is a good use of thermal pads on vital components. The is no coil whine that can be heard over case fans as of yet, so far quality seems to be very good.Conclusion:Cooler - 3/5Software - 3/5Performance - 5/5Value (for an RTX 2080ti) - 5/5Quality - 5/5(Test system configuration:CPU - i7-4960x @ 4.3GhzRAM - 64GB 1866mhzGPU - Palit RTX 2080ti Gaming Pro OCMotherboard - GA-X79-UP4PSU - Coolermaster 750WCase - Thermaltake view 37)

If you are asking yourself this question, then the answer is probably no. That is my answer to the question "Is it worth it" but I bought one anyways. Why? Because I could actually use the performance in the games and resolution I play at (4K), I love new technology, and I can afford to buy the card without too much concern other than grief from the wife.That said, who should seriously consider buying this card, worth it or not:1) Anyone gaming at 4K and wants 60 FPS average or 3440x1440p and wants 100+ FPS on a G-Sync panel. This card is NOT going to wow you at lower resolutions like 1080p or 2560x1440p, but at 4K the difference is 40% over 1080Ti which is a pretty big boost and often enough to put you over that elusive 4K/60 barrier where the 1080Ti was close ... MoreIf you are asking yourself this question, then the answer is probably no. That is my answer to the question "Is it worth it" but I bought one anyways. Why? Because I could actually use the performance in the games and resolution I play at (4K), I love new technology, and I can afford to buy the card without too much concern other than grief from the wife.That said, who should seriously consider buying this card, worth it or not:1) Anyone gaming at 4K and wants 60 FPS average or 3440x1440p and wants 100+ FPS on a G-Sync panel. This card is NOT going to wow you at lower resolutions like 1080p or 2560x1440p, but at 4K the difference is 40% over 1080Ti which is a pretty big boost and often enough to put you over that elusive 4K/60 barrier where the 1080Ti was close but not quite there.2) Anyone who doesn't mind dropping $1K on a video card, previous Titan buyers, benchmark enthusiasts, that kind of thing.3) Anyone who already owned a 1080Ti and understands there's nothing else faster for the foreseeable future.So why isn't it worth it? Most people will correctly point out RTX 2000 series is the smallest performance jump and one of the biggest price increases from one generation of Nvidia cards to another.That said, the price increase also contains a lot of forward looking and speculative features like Ray Tracing and Tensor cores for a new method of anti-aliasing that boasts of improved image quality at a fraction of the previous performance. If you buy this card, you are basically funding the R&D and adoption rate for these features as an investment for the future.Not everyone is going to go for it, and that's certainly understandable, but that's why this card is so expensive. Its massive, its forward looking and its expensive to make.As for the performance, I ran a few benchmarks and they are in-line with published benches, Farcry5, FFXV, AC: Odyssey, all within 2-3 FPS of online benches. Overclocking is good, about the same as Pascal 2080Ti. The new FE cooler is outstanding in terms of build quality, but temps will touch into high 70s when overclocked so you need to turn the speed up. Overall its much quieter than the old blower fans but make sure you have good case airflow.I took one star off which had nothing to do with the performance of the card which is definitely impressive. 1/2 star off for the price hike from Nvidia to $1200 for a non-Titan card. Another 1/2 star off for a poorly executed launch where this card was announced on 8/20 and supposed to ship on 9/20 but was delayed 2x. BestBuy was also late, but that wasn't their fault, it was an Nvidia supply issue and they still managed to only be 2 days late for me, which was great. Also, no RTX case badge from Nvidia this time, they've had this with their GTX founders cards since the 900 series.Overall VERY pleased with this card despite the price, and not being worth it, but hey, I'm going to keep it anyways. I would not recommend it to a friend though, because what kind of friend would recommend a $1200 graphics card to their friend???