Time for a GTX970 but which one?

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Copyright

Supreme [H]ardness
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I have been looking at the GTX 970 and I am ready to buy one but not sure which one to get. I am thinking MSI or ASUS at the moment as both seem to have the least issues with coil whine. Which do you guys recommend? I want a QUIET setup. Thx!
 
i really like my Gigabyte G1s, no coil whine on mine and they're relatively quiet at load even in SLI with a good overclock and custom fan profile.
 
FWIW, I've had an ASUS DCII 780 and I thought the MSI 770 Gaming was quieter and my MSI 970 Gaming is as quiet if not quieter than my 770 so... overall I'm satisfied with MSI 970 Gaming fans. I also prefer silence as I have 6 noctuas in my rig atm :D, and they're louder than the card itself.

I have my bios tweaked up to run at 800rpm> on idle but I think both MSI and ASUS have 0dB mode where anything below 50C> or so the fans shut off making it "quiet". I personally didn't want it off so I just tinkered with the bios though most people opt to just use 3rd party apps and control the fans/make fan curves themselves.
 
My MSI Gaming arrives today! :D It seems to consistently overclock well in all the reviews and there was something else that convinced me of it rather than the G1 from all the reviews I read early on but now I can't remember what exactly :p I think it may have been from the bare-board pics showing the heatsink layout and designs.

Excellent hi-res pics here: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/msi-gtx-970-gaming-4g-review/3/
 
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The Gigabyte G1 is hard to beat from a purely performance and overclocking standpoint, but given you want quiet the MSI Gaming 4G would be my recommendation. It's an excellent performer/overclocker and given you're looking for quiet it'd be perfect.
 
MSI would be my recommendation since it performs about the same as the Asus Strix, but with slightly lower noise and cooler temps.

Asus Strix would be my second choice if it's in stock and the MSI isn't (and I wasn't willing to wait).
 
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ANy issues with Asus only using one 8 pin power connector on their card?
 
Pretty much why I didn't even consider the Asus. It's been shown the cards benefit from the extra power to achieve stable high clocks.
 
Copyright said:
Any issues with Asus only using one 8 pin power connector on their card?
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Why would there be? The Asus 970 draws around a mere 170W at full load.


melk said:
Pretty much why I didn't even consider the Asus. It's been shown the cards benefit from the extra power to achieve stable high clocks.
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A 970 will only draws around 15W more power when OC'd above what they are from the factory (Asus Strix, for example).
 
DejaWiz said:
Why would there be? The Asus 970 draws around a mere 170W at full load.
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Yeah, I was just reading that! Wow.. I haven't been keeping up with hardware lately which is not normally like me but life gets busy. Thanks for the input. I will probably just grab whichever one is cheaper in the store or which one happens to be in stock.
 
Copyright said:
ANy issues with Asus only using one 8 pin power connector on their card?
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Only when overclocking. IIRC it taps out at ~215W-220W. It runs perfectly fine at stock with real Boost clocks reaching 1250+ MHz in games. With a single card I've seen my STRIX hit about 1329 MHz in games at stock settings. That falls to around 1280 MHz in SLI. I've been able to get 1473 MHz 24/7 stable in SLI, so you should be able to hit 1500 MHz with a single card easily like in the [H] review
 
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Copyright said:
Yeah, I was just reading that! Wow.. I haven't been keeping up with hardware lately which is not normally like me but life gets busy. Thanks for the input. I will probably just grab whichever one is cheaper in the store or which one happens to be in stock.
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It's all good...I know how that can be. ;)
 
The ASUS STRIX could be more stable with only one additional power input. With that said, for quietness, you can't go wrong with the ASUS or MSI, so get whichever one is in stock! :)
 
convexion said:
i really like my Gigabyte G1s, no coil whine on mine and they're relatively quiet at load even in SLI with a good overclock and custom fan profile.
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I just got a new one yesterday. Bad coil whine while playing any game. :(

Got a new one coming from Amazon, hopefully no whine.
 
I have an MSI GTX 970 Gaming Edition. It is quieter than the MSI GTX 670 PE/OC it replaced. Although it is now winter, so I can not test the temps/noise when it is 85-90F in the room.

There is really minimal coil whine in a few games, the worst being Hitman Absolution. This is only in the menu. Most other games do not have coil whine, even if in the menu. This includes new games and 10+ year old games. Some old games (where I get 250-300 frame rates) there is coil whine if you press your ear against the case wall and really try to listen to it. Although that may be the PSU; I never really checked for it previously. Even then it is very, very faint. I can not actually hear it if I sit in my chair. Even with the volume off while not wearing a headset, the coil whine can not be heard when I am sitting in my chair. I should note I use a Corsair 550D and not some crappy case with a bunch of vent holes all over the place. I also keep my PC under a desk.

I suppose if you you leave the side panel off and place the PC on your desk right next to your face you might notice it. But when gaming, typically you have volume on and it will be drowned out. Regardless, even in the case of Hitman, my WD Black HDD regularly makes noise which are much louder. So while it does have minimal coil whine in a few titles, it is not noticeable unless you stick your face against your PC. Also, using V Sync will kill it in most of the games that do have it. The exception being Hitman's menu.
 
i wonder if the manufacturers have improved on the coil whine issues, or if the people who were sensitive to it just gave up complaining ;p
 
I see less complaints with the MSI and Asus for coil whine issues. I am getting mine locally so if it has noise ill just return it for another. Companies claim it's normal but if it is then we do some cards do it and some don't when the same model? Heading up to Fry's this morning to see what is available. If nothing I may just keep my Asus 770 for now and wait for the next gen AMD release *shrug*
 
Copyright said:
I see less complaints with the MSI and Asus for coil whine issues. I am getting mine locally so if it has noise ill just return it for another. Companies claim it's normal but if it is then we do some cards do it and some don't when the same model? Heading up to Fry's this morning to see what is available. If nothing I may just keep my Asus 770 for now and wait for the next gen AMD release *shrug*
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I think that's just a cop out by the companies. No video card should make a high pitch whine when in use. I'd never even heard of coil whine until the day before I got my 970, and I've always had high end gaming video cards.

They can say it's normal all they want, but to me it's defective. And if my next whines, I'll either send it back or just get my money back. New card get's delivered today, so I'll know soon.
 
Ive heard coil whine as far back as the AMD/ATI 4870. It's been around for a while and I remember some fixes where clear nail polish was used on the coils. I have also heard downclocking or overclocked the card can make it go away. All I know is I got a STRIX 970 just now and I plan to test it soon. I will probably use Kombuster to load it down and the game I play. If I get no whine with those I am probably good.
 
Well both the MSI and Asus made noise for me. I had planned to keep the MSI since honestly both were quiet at idle and then I notice its making my power supply make noise.. no idea why. It;s high pitched though and driving me nuts.. my study room is tile so I hear it all now. My GTX770 seems to maek the least amount of noise although it's fans are kinda loud. Not sure what to do.
 
Well, got my new card today. It whines just like the other one. Still audible unless I have the game cranked up. So they are both going back. It's just not acceptable to me that a high end graphics card has a flaw like this. I've never had this issue before, and always had high end cards.
 
Ok guys.. to report back... they did not have the MSI in stock so I picked up an Asus Strix GTX 980... MUCH MUCH MUCH better. I got worried at first because only one fan spun when i powered it on.. but when it got into windows it shut that fan off and when it got hot both came on just fine.

So as far as noise goes..10X better than the 970. The buzz when gaming is VERY VERY VERY light and impossible to hear with the case closed up. The coil whine when removing the donut in furmark is very very light as well. Actually this card is more quiet than my GTX 770. Much happier with this card over the GTX 970. I really didn't need the power but I cannot STAND noise.. also I was getting power supply noise that I now no longer hear. One thing I dont like about the strix is hte heatsink on the gpu is slightly loose.. I can rotate it a tiny bit... my guess is when the paste cures it will be locked in.. ran 67C in furmark so apparently it's doing it's job. The 970 is a great card for the price but after 2 with noise the 980 is for me.
 
I would say in this particular case, the extra $200 for the 980 is completely worth it and justified. Glad you're happy with it!
 
I went with the MSI GAMING GTX 970 for the superior cooler and the fact that everyone was loving them lol. The part I like is that the fans turn off when it is idle and it makes the computer so much quiter than the previous 290X Lightning that I had in there :) Going to try and move it to a MATX build and hope that that I can get another to pair with it :)
 
The Asus and MSI both have the fan's turn off. I am happy with the Asus 980 which also turns off it's fans. Should get more fan life this way and I love the silence.
 
I have my desktop right next to me ontop of the table and I have no coil whine issues from my MSI gaming 970. Super quiet and most of the time, the fans do not spin. Some of the best overclockers too.
 
Vatican said:
I have my desktop right next to me ontop of the table and I have no coil whine issues from my MSI gaming 970. Super quiet and most of the time, the fans do not spin. Some of the best overclockers too.
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Yeah, the Asus shut their fans off too. The MSI is a great card but from what I have read the G1 clocks better in almost every review. Your card may not have coil whine but I promise you I can make it whine running the right benchmarks. I noticed it comes down to the games you play.. 4 video cards I tested did not whine in COD Advanced warfare.. but if I fired up furmark and removed the donut they would whine. During regular game play and furmark WITH the donut they had some electrical buzz coming from them but you had to put your ear right next to the card to hear it. The 980 produced the least amount of noise when stressed trying to produce noise.
 
I've had a great experience with the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NH5T1MS. Best performance of the available models (not including the MSI Golden) and the fans are quiet.

If you want the quietest with best performance then the MSI GTX 970 Gaming http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NN0GEXQ would be the best option. Gigabyte for best performance and then the MSI for the quietest with next best performance.
 
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GameHard6 said:
I've had a great experience with the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NH5T1MS. Best performance of the available models (not including the MSI Golden) and the fans are quiet.

If you want the quietest with best performance then the MSI GTX 970 Gaming http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NN0GEXQ would be the best option. Gigabyte for best performance and then the MSI for the quietest with next best performance.
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We way head of you.. lol
 
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This time around EVGA's quality is subpar, they had thermal placement issues on their earlier cards that they probably fixed but I still wouldn't go with it. Their warranty isn't as good as before either, they gave up their lifetime warranties and pretty much any other manufacturer is giving similar warranty on their cards. Go with MSI or Gigabyte if your aiming for a 970. Yes the gigabyte clocks a little higher but your not going to see much of a performance difference between these two, so take your pick.

I personally was able to clock my msi gtx970 to 1.525 ghz/8000mhz memory and saw like maybe 1fps increase in most benchmarks/gaming sessions. I brought it down to 1.5ghz/7700mhz memory stable and left it there.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814132038

Mine is benching at 1300mhz core boost just over 1500mhz. Everyday gaming is at 1200+mhz just right around 1390-1410mhz boost.

Replaced 2x Nvidia Brand 660Ti's. Scored over 2500 more points than the SLI Ti's in single card in 3D Mark. Haven't benched Shadow of Mordor, but I left 4xDSR@100% on and don't have any slow downs, settings all the way up @1080p. (Left DSR cranked coming from WoW.) Will be going SLI later on down the road, probably the time Star Wars Battlefront comes out.
 
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