The card I went with should be mid-high performance and definitely above the Founders while being less expensive. The Ti's will be a while yet before they hit and the market will have settled a bit by then but if history is any guide, there will be the same tiers as we are seeing now.

EVGA has been making the ACX coolers for some time so I strongly doubt they will be kicking out lemons. I've been running EVGA with ACX coolers for quite some time. They work well.

I don't need the absolute leader. Mid to upper range is fine by me. It's not my life savings so if it's as bad as you guys are afraid they might be, which I really doubt, and I can't return it, I'll buy a different card or an aftermarket cooling block. But I just don't see that happening. EVGA has been and continues to be a quality-leading card company. It's a pretty safe bet.

And anyone with a Vive is already an early adopter. You either get on the horse or you watch from the sidelines. I prefer to ride. If you guys don't, that's your choice. I know what I'm doing and I can afford these cards.

The 1080s are all using the same 104 chips and GDDR5X memory. They have the same number of graphics units. Where things will get cut down is in the 1070 line. The risk is in buying the 1070 because that is the chip with the reduced feature set just as the 970 was. Right now there is nothing above the 1080. You simply can't go wrong with the 1080 while maybe you can with the 1070 - but it's only "wrong" in some people's eyes since there is a 1080 alternative. You argue the wrong point.

I don't feel like waiting. You do and good for you. In my opinion it's not worth waiting as I'm pretty sure I know how performance will stack up since it just scales by clock speeds. That's all we are talking here. Clock speeds, cooling, and a few minor features. That's it.