ive placed an order for the Zotac arctic storm variant , does that mean the the water cooling is mandatory or is it optional, can i run the card without any liquid in my machine
It's optional. It's like the Asus Poseidon series.
What display are you running? I just bought a BenQ BL3200. It's not old at all and runs at DL-DVI 2560x1440 60hz.
Mini-DP is great because it has a small footprint, allows for a lot of connections in a small space (perfect for single-slot cards) and adapters for HDMI are easy to come by.
One of my Sapphire cards came with a free Active minDP to Dual-Link DVI adapter.
Today, we can buy a $15 Active DisplayPort 1.2A to Dual Link DVI output adapter, supports 2560x1600 @ 60Hz:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042801&p_id=12783&seq=1&format=2
Because it's Active, it will allow Eyefinity and NV Surround too. It's also 6" which is long enough. It's not like in the past where this cost $100.
Why are people freaking out so much over DVI getting killed off? Also, removing DL-DVI from a reference card is GOOD because it allows people who want a single slot WC card to have that option, while it also allows AIBs to differentiate by offering DL-DVI as a 'feature.' This way both groups of PC gamers are satisfied since they have either/or options and AMD/NV and their AIBs are happy since they have differentiating feature set. Today, DL-DVI is hurting the gamers who don't want it and it hardly allows AIBs to differentiate themselves from the reference cards that already have them.
Ahem... some of us still use DVI!
Frankly, I can't stand how DisplayPort doesn't hold the connection when the monitor is turned off. Because it "disappears" from Windows, it messes up your window positions. I've had to "fix" this problem by actually using the "turn off display after..." feature; however, I'd still rather manually turn them on and off.
Not to mention Windows Media Center DOES NOT support DisplayPort connections for any protected content, which means that anything that I record off HBO must be played over a HDMI or DVI connection.
That's what AIB cards are for. To provide specific needs such as yours. If NV/AMD stop putting DVI on reference cards, doesn't mean MSI/EVGA or Gigabyte will. Sooner or later DVI is going to die like VGA because it's an inferior connector.
Sooner or later it's Game Over for DL-DVI, the clock has already started ticking:
Intel’s incredibly fast Thunderbolt 3 switches to USB-C connector
Sooner or later most of us will upgrade to FreeSync/GSync monitors, whether in 5 or 10 years, it's going to happen. That will finish off DL-DVI completely for gaming.