1 of 2 960's (with g-sync), or 1 of 4 970's? Help please!

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damarious25

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
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I posted this a while ago: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1872598 I'm including system details here so you won't have to go back to that post (Note: the system wasn't built to be a gaming PC but I have no other choice but to use it now).

MB:
BIOSTAR Hi-Fi B85N 3D
Intel B85
2×240pin DDR3 1600/1333/1066 Dual Channel
1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16
Mini ITX

CPU:
Intel Core i5-4430 Haswell Quad-Core 3.0GHz LGA 1150 84W

The main reason for this card is to max Fallout 4 at 1080. Although, I know there are no specs out yet so it's all speculation at this point.

Everyone kinda said just go with a 970 but cost is a factor so I'm still on the fence about a 960. I have no idea how 960's are performing with today's latest titles at 1080 so if enough people say they have a 960 (NOT in SLI) and they're maxing everything out, then I might just get a 960. I also want a card with G-Sync. Does anyone know how well a 960 with g-sync and a g-sync monitor performs?


The 960's:
ASUS GeForce GTX 960 STRIX-GTX960-DC2OC-4GD5 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121928

MSI GeForce GTX 960 GTX 960 GAMING 4G 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ATX Video Card
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127860


The 970's:
MSI G-SYNC Support GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC Video Card
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127835

MSI GeForce GTX 970 GTX 970 4GD5T OC 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833

ASUS GeForce GTX 970 STRIX-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121899

MSI GeForce GTX 970 GTX 970 GAMING 4G 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support G-SYNC Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832


Normally I'd go with EVGA but I've read some nasty things about the ACX 1.0 release and saw some pics of bad cooling design. So I'm avoiding EVGA even if they've addressed the issue with the ACX 2.0 release.

I really need help from the community on this one. Any thoughts are welcome because I'm sure there are lots of things I might be missing.

Thanks!
 
As long as your card is g-sync ready it doesn't matter, even my old 670 was performing flawlessly with g-sync.

But I'd just get a 970 if I were you, it's great value while the 960 is very meh, IMO. It's much slower than a 970 (about on par with a 670 which you could pick up really cheap).

The 970 MSI Gaming 4g is great, super quiet, super cool and decent OC out of the box. I know since I had one before I went for a 980 ti. If I were a 1080p gamer, I'd gladly have sticked with it.
 
Thanks!

The more I read the more I'm finding out that most recent cards will have g-sync. Just because a card doesn't have "G-Sync" in the description, that doesn't mean it doesn't have G-Sync. Or am I wrong in saying that? I know for sure you need a G-Sync monitor but that's as far as my knowledge goes.
 
AFAIK all nvidia cards starting from the Kepler ones are g-sync ready. Well maybe not the very first Kepler but 650 something was the first I believe.
 
kalston said:
AFAIK all nvidia cards starting from the Kepler ones are g-sync ready. Well maybe not the very first Kepler but 650 something was the first I believe.
Click to expand...

Yea, that's what I'm reading. All the cards I shared above say "G-Sync" in the title so I stupidly assumed g-sync cards were different then regular cards. Proof to show how far behind I am with gaming hardware these days.
 
If you want a 960 you'd really be better of finding a used 280x or something. That just goes to show how unimpressive the 960 can be. I own a Gigabyte G1 970 and I played at 1080p and now 1440p and its one hell of a capable card. Can easily max almost any game at 1080p and lock 60 fps
 
970 is a great deal and you should get it if it's in your budget, but as someone who has a 960 G-Sync setup, I can't imagine using anything else.

Having been previously on a 120hz monitor, I had to buy close to bleeding edge just to maintain the smoothness I was accustomed to (i.e. 100+ fps).

G-Sync changed that by delivering 100fps level smoothness at 70fps. This meant for me that you don't need as much horsepower as you used to for a smooth experience. The 960 delivers at 1080p; even Crysis 3 (read, Crysis mother fucking 3) ran at near max settings above 90fps minimum.

It actually took the wind out of my sails a bit because I was all set to SLI this 960.

tl;dr at 1080p the 960 does the job effortlessly. Probably need a little more for 1440p, so go 970 if budget permits
 
Your 960 will probably only last a year. You might be able to stretch that by about 3-4 months with the 970. It's your pick.

Having said that, if you're saying to choose between 960 + G-Sync or 970 + normal monitor I'd say get a used 290x + a FreeSync monitor. Best of both worlds, IMO.
 
Like most other people here, I would suggest the 970 over the 960. My personal suggestion would be the MSI Gaming 4G version.
 
960 + Gsync would be a great 1080p experience if that is where your budget is.

970 is better sure, but I think people that bag on 960 have never used one. In my experience it holds up more gracefully in terms of perceived smoothness than pretty much all of its direct competitors, even at lower reported framerates.
 
skiddierow said:
960 + Gsync would be a great 1080p experience if that is where your budget is.

970 is better sure, but I think people that bag on 960 have never used one. In my experience it holds up more gracefully in terms of perceived smoothness than pretty much all of its direct competitors, even at lower reported framerates.
Click to expand...
It seems to be a matter of perspective. The 960 on its own is in line with previous mid-range offerings (at x80 level or better in raw fps assuming perfect scaling with SLI, at a lower price). But it came after 970 dropped at such a low price that AMD had to shift its old offerings to match, causing a price and lineup cascade. The 970 was even low compared to just Nvidia's product lineup, past and present (570 also was around the $300 mark relative to 580's $500, and we thought that was a bargain -- AMD then also positioned 6970 pricing to fill the gap). The 960 has to compete in a post-970 pricing market, and as such doesn't look as good.

In short, the 960 isn't bad or necessarily overpriced. The 970 is just really, really good and cheap.
 
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Thanks everyone for the advice. I like all the good things said about the 960 but I'll go with a 970 and save for the g-sync monitor.
 
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