Which 970 Are You Buying?

Good thread imo...as I'll probably grab either a 970 or 980 (unsure as of now) for my new rig...saw only one 970 at my local Microcenter online so far, no 980's.
 
BiH115 said:
Good thread imo...as I'll probably grab either a 970 or 980 (unsure as of now) for my new rig...saw only one 970 at my local Microcenter online so far, no 980's.
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Yes, which manufacturer, MSI, Gigabyte, etc.?
 
If I was buying a gtx 970 it would probably be the Asus Strix. Or a EVGA with a titan cooler if there is one
 
EVGA overcloked 970 with the cool looking blower should be here Wednesday.
 
970s are phenominal cards regardless of the scenario. However since I like to do some extreme overclocking I'm concerned because I've been seeing them throttling back their clocks and voltage when hitting the 145Watt TDP wall. Once the cards are set to +125 in the software they get a bit more headroom but even there they start to throttle. This is happening even though the GPU's technically have more stability left in them for an even higher overclock.

I'm hearing conflicting reports that some cards are and aren't doing it.

Goldentiger found some promissing things with bios modding that may help increase the power limit but I'm not sure the PCB's power distribution will allow that to be fully realized. Brent J said that the PCB's litterally are different and the GTX 980 has better power distribution on board. Because my gut feeling on this I went with GTX 980s.

Eventually there will be bios modding available and I'll be tweaking and flashing a custom bios upping my Vcore voltage to around 1.3v (as long as it's stable) on my cards and I want to make sure I can get the most out of my cards boost clocks without them throttling my voltage down and in turn my clock speed in game.

Jury is still out on all of this but I thought I'd throw this out there.
 
DEO3 said:
I value a quiet/silent PC, so I was originally sold on Asus' semi-passive Strix 970, but after reading that you have to disable it's semi-passive mode in order to overclock it, I cancelled my order and am now waiting for MSI's semi-passive Twin Frozr to be available. Hopefully now that the weekend is over, retailers will finally be able to restock their inventories.
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Going for same card. Was also considering Strix, because of the passive mode, backplate and metal shroud, but that review pushed me away from Asus. Also MSI made the cooler bit thinner than 2 slots, to make better airflow for my future SLI. Found also the buyer for my 290X, so the 970 will cost me $30 :) Preordered one, and it should be in store tomorrow, so Wed-Thu at my place :)
 
I personally went with the frozr 970 from newegg. I wanted the G1, but it was roughly 30 bucks more. I think the MSI one will suffice for 30 bucks less. I read up on that semi-passive cooling as well and it sounds like it would really work out since I like my PC fairly quiet as well. Just wished it had a backplate, at least it has a mid plate for the VRAM and stuff.
 
I've been looking at reviews and comparisons all morning trying to decide which 970.

The only thing I'm 100% positive about is I'm not buying EVGA. The potential coil whine and temp issues are enough to scratch that off.

I was originally going for ASUS STRIX but it has the lowest factory overclock and to overclock it you have to disable the silent operation feature as others have mentioned.

The MSI seems like the best bang for the buck. Good factory overclock, silent idle operation, great cooling, 6 phase power (so no coil whine) and best overclocking out of the box.

The only downside is it's a bit more expensive on Amazon right now.

I've considered the Gigabyte but it's size and price are a little deterring.
 
Originally got two eVGA sc acx cards but am ending up with two MSI GTX 970 Gaming ones for SLI.
 
DEO3 said:
I value a quiet/silent PC, so I was originally sold on Asus' semi-passive Strix 970, but after reading that you have to disable it's semi-passive mode in order to overclock it, I cancelled my order and am now waiting for MSI's semi-passive Twin Frozr to be available. Hopefully now that the weekend is over, retailers will finally be able to restock their inventories.
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That's because as the review said they manually set its fan speed to 50%. Of course the card won't override a manual setting :). MSI's got a little lower a threshold on the passive part (60c per Brent, vs. 65c on the asus I've seen in reviews) but it's a nice feature that helped sway me. I will say the MSI Gaming card seems to be the best clocker from users so far!
 
Seems like the 970 is a solid choice...I guess I'll see when/where the Gigabyte or MSI are available for my purchasing!
 
Comixbooks said:
EVGA overcloked 970 with the cool looking blower should be here Wednesday.
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I want two of these since the blower-style is optimal for SLI, but no store I have checked seems to have them listed... I don't overclock, so I'm looking at the ASUS Strix as alternatives. Might work if I put in the 200mm side-panel fan in for exhaust.
 
DEO3 said:
I value a quiet/silent PC, so I was originally sold on Asus' semi-passive Strix 970, but after reading that you have to disable it's semi-passive mode in order to overclock it, I cancelled my order and am now waiting for MSI's semi-passive Twin Frozr to be available. Hopefully now that the weekend is over, retailers will finally be able to restock their inventories.
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I also did the same thing. I initially ordered Strix but switched it to MSI.
 
Armenius said:
I want two of these since the blower-style is optimal for SLI, but no store I have checked seems to have them listed... I don't overclock, so I'm looking at the ASUS Strix as alternatives. Might work if I put in the 200mm side-panel fan in for exhaust.
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I almost bought 2 of those on Friday. I'm convinced they are a best bet for SLI. But they are ugly as hell so I just went for the 980.
 
garath said:
I've considered the Gigabyte but it's size and price are a little deterring.
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Just to be clear- the size is 12.5" long (slightly under that, actually). I know some people have been reporting 15+, but that seems to be from Amazon and is incorrect (maybe the length of the box it comes, though).
 
I would get the MSI card, but I think it's too wide for my case (nCase M1). Thinking I'll remove the fans from the heatsink of the Gigabyte card and put 2 120mm fans on the case floor, blowing directly onto the heatsink of the card.
 
masteraleph said:
Just to be clear- the size is 12.5" long (slightly under that, actually). I know some people have been reporting 15+, but that seems to be from Amazon and is incorrect (maybe the length of the box it comes, though).
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True. But still 12.5" is pretty sizable. It's a full 2" larger than the MSI card for example.

Does anyone know anything about the number of power phases for the Gigabyte card? Their product page doesn't seem to talk about it. I want to avoid something like the coil whine of the EVGA.
 
garath said:
True. But still 12.5" is pretty sizable. It's a full 2" larger than the MSI card for example.

Does anyone know anything about the number of power phases for the Gigabyte card? Their product page doesn't seem to talk about it. I want to avoid something like the coil whine of the EVGA.
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It's 5+1. Same as the MSI card. Check out the review at Guru3D.
 
Just (back)ordered the MSI Gaming from Amazon. This will replace the EVGA GTX 970 ACX I am sending back tomorrow.

At this point all I care about is having a GTX 970 no coil whine from a company that isn't Asus, so this should fir the bill.
 
ellroy80 said:
Hrm, the Guru3D review says the MSI card is only 5+1 - http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-970-gaming-review,3.html

:confused:
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Weird! Maybe the confusion is that for the MSI it says a 5+1 for supplying GPU and memory with power then it goes on to say one additional power phase for memory. That might be the missing number? I have no idea.

Either way, they are both superior to the EVGA and reference. That's what's important. Nothing drives me crazier than coil whine.

Unfortunately info like that isn't easily available on the mfg website.
 
Is the MSI 4G Gaming worth the extra money over the 4GDST OC?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832&cm_re=GTX970-_-14-127-832-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833&cm_re=GTX970-_-14-127-833-_-Product

Aside from the cooler and slight clock boost, what are the differences? Money is tight and I am trying to keep it as close to $300 as possible.

And how would the ASUS version compare? I am considering it, although bad customer service stories about ASUS has me less inclined to buy from them. But it seems like a nice inbetween, performance and cooler wise, compared to the two MSI cards.

I do not care for the passive cooling mode as my current GTX670 PE/OC from MSI is essentially silent at idle even on the hottest of days. If I get one of these cards I would like to disable it. I assume that is possible via the Nvidia control panel?
 
Waiting impatiently for an MSI GTX 970 Gaming ITX, or similar..

..going to go pester the new [H] MSI rep now ;)
 
I would get the MSI one. Gigabyte G1 has a fantastic cooling but it's too long for my taste.
 
Zicro said:
Waiting on 980Ti.. this is [H]ardForum not Mid-rangeForum.
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Lol then you should be running an i7 not an i5. What's the point in having a high end GPU when your CPU can't even let you stay above 50 fps in Crysis 3? And also why aren't you running some faster ram as it will help some with Haswell. But thanks for popping in the thread to troll.

On topic, I have the MSI non Gaming 970 on the way.
 
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misterbobby said:
Lol then you should be running an i7 not an i5. What's the point in having a high end GPU when your CPU can't even let you stay above 50 fps in Crysis 3?
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Don't get me wrong I still look for best bang for the buck. You might say the 970 is just that but I think it's worth spending a little more on the GPU. Most games are GPU dependent, you need to give me a better example than a poorly optimized game from a company that's almost going bankrupt.
 
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Zicro said:
Don't get my wrong I still look for best bang for the buck. You might say the 970 is just that but I think it's worth spending a little more on the GPU. Most games are GPU dependent, you need to give me a better example than a poorly optimized game from a company that's going bankrupt.
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Well I don't consider it a poorly optimized game at all. If anything its amazing how well it runs for how good it looks. Really no reason to post what you did other than to stir up trouble. This is nothing more than a thread checking to see what 970 cards people are getting.
 
I have two MSI 970 Gamings arriving tomorrow. I'm going to water cool them on the cheap with my MCW82s like I did with Gigabyte Windforce 670s.
 
misterbobby said:
Well I don't consider it a poorly optimized game at all. If anything its amazing how well it runs for how good it looks. Really no reason to post what you did other than to stir up trouble. This is nothing more than a thread checking to see what 970 cards people are getting.
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Seriously. Every thread has to have "that guy", who just drops in to start shit.
 
Zicro said:
Waiting on 980Ti.. this is [H]ardForum not Mid-rangeForum.
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Says the guy with an i5 in his sig... :p.

Just pointing that out. Most people would be ecstatic to have a 970 or a 980 :p. Let alone two :D. And those are the best two cards on the market, so what exactly is high-end in your comparison? :confused:
 
I've got the Gigabyte G1 on the way.

Initially I had ordered it because everything else was out of stock and the price difference pissed me off... but then I started running the numbers. The shipping was cheaper, got a $5 cash card, it has a WAY better cooler and is claimed to be bin sorted for overclocking.

In the end it was only about a $28 difference which is kind of a no brainer for the Windforce cooler. I was SUPER happy with the one on my Gigabyte 770 4GB so having the same thing on this card keeps me comfortable with the change.

And yes, I just sold the 770 4GB so I'm about the worst lateral upgrade case you'll find. It's still worth it to me though. With just a mild OC this 970 will still beat the 770 pretty soundly.
 
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