so is it best to buy FE and plain vanilla AIB cards vs... OC $$$ AIB offerings? Myself too be honest I'm not planning on overclocking it, so maybe something cheap and quiet would be a way to go... I might even undervolt it if possible. Just like I did with 1070.
This time the FE cards look the best value, if you can get your hands on one. New cooler is supposed to be much better than the last FE cooler which wasn't that bad itself.
If I wanted an 3080, I would definitely be trying for an FE card, but that might be difficult for quite some time, this release has more buzz than anything since Pascal, and with the FE cards being the cheapest as well, is going to make them the most desirable for a lot of people.