GTX570 Upgrade to GTX970 || 2 GTX960 ?

N

NightWolfe

Gawd
Joined
Sep 30, 2002
Messages
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Hello Gawds ... I coming seeking advice in regards to the gaming PC in my sig

Currently have a Gigabyte GTX570 ... looking to upgrade ... Budget ~$400

So ... single Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 (Gigabyte has been good to me but open to other options) ... or should I SLI 2 GTX 960s? Maybe MSI?

Only using a single 1920x1200 display ... most likely won't be upgrading my display or card for another 2 years from now

Most of my gaming right now is Elite: Dangerous and WoW ... not to say I won't jump into something more graphic intensive in the guture

Thanks!
 
Definitely the 970, you'll feel the 2gb VRAM limit in game at those resolutions today, let alone in the future.
 
Stev3FrencH said:
Definitely the 970, you'll feel the 2gb VRAM limit in game at those resolutions today, let alone in the future.
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i agree wholeheartedly

my heart kinda sank a little when i saw the release of the GTX 960 for only $200 very shortly after i bit the bullet on a 970....until i saw that they only had 2GB of VRAM. i just upgraded from a Radeon 6870 with only 1GB of VRAM, and i don't wanna deal with hitting VRAM limits ever again. things run so much more smoothly now, and i won't be going back to low amounts of VRAM.

plus, if you have a 120hz+ monitor, or intend to get one (which i HIGHLY recommend, i LOVE mine), you'll need the extra juice that a 970 has anyway, even at 1080p
 
Awesome ... thanks for the feedback guys ... much appreciated!

As for the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 ... I saw all the stuff about the refunds regarding the amount of VRAM ... it's still pretty much the top card right? Or should I look at any others?

Thanks!
 
NightWolfe said:
Awesome ... thanks for the feedback guys ... much appreciated!

As for the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 ... I saw all the stuff about the refunds regarding the amount of VRAM ... it's still pretty much the top card right? Or should I look at any others?

Thanks!
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I honestly haven't experienced any slow downs with the ram issue. It does have 4GB of VRAM and I have had it tap into the slower segment without any hitching or stutters so in my experience I wouldn't worry about the VRAM controversy. In my opinion the 970 is the best card for the money. That is of course if you care at all about power consumption. If you don't and don't mind taking a look at AMD, you can get a good 290x for around the same or less and it is slightly slower than the 970 at 1080p but does have unsegmented 4GB of ram and good bang for your buck as well, it just can compete with a microwave for power consumption :D

Personally, I would rather have good temps and low power consumption so I opted for a 970 and have been very happy.
 
Stev3FrencH said:
I honestly haven't experienced any slow downs with the ram issue. It does have 4GB of VRAM and I have had it tap into the slower segment without any hitching or stutters so in my experience I wouldn't worry about the VRAM controversy. In my opinion the 970 is the best card for the money. That is of course if you care at all about power consumption. If you don't and don't mind taking a look at AMD, you can get a good 290x for around the same or less and it is slightly slower than the 970 at 1080p but does have unsegmented 4GB of ram and good bang for your buck as well, it just can compete with a microwave for power consumption :D

Personally, I would rather have good temps and low power consumption so I opted for a 970 and have been very happy.
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Its pretty much been proven that it DOES slow down and stutter a bit if it NEEDS over 3.5. There are only maybe a couple of rare cases will that will happen at playable settings anyway though. In many newer games the 290x is closer to the 980 than the 970 and can even beat it in a couple of occasions. I would personally still get the 970 though.
 
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It's interesting how someone without a 970 is telling someone with a 970 how his card works when the VRAM goes over 3.5GB. I have had it go over 3.5 GB in a handful of games now and never had the problems others have. I said in "my experience", which is all I can comment on. You should try it too.

Edit: Sorry for the hate, but I am so sick of the 3.5GB arguments on this forum
 
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Stev3FrencH said:
It's interesting how someone without a 970 is telling someone with a 970 how his card works when the VRAM goes over 3.5GB. I have had it go over 3.5 GB in a handful of games now and never had the problems others have. I said in "my experience", which is all I can comment on. You should try it too.

Edit: Sorry for the hate, but I am so sick of the 3.5GB arguments on this forum
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No the interesting part here is that you can't seem to pay attention to the context even when I put it in capital letters. AGAIN if the card actually NEEDS over 3.5 it will stutter or hitch in some cases. Just because it goes over 3.5 does not mean it actually needed it...
 
misterbobby said:
No the interesting part here is that you can't seem to pay attention to the context even when I put it in capital letters. AGAIN if the card actually NEEDS over 3.5 it will stutter or hitch in some cases. Just because it goes over 3.5 does not mean it actually needed it...
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*sigh* I see that you have tested this with your...oh yeah you don't have a 970. I am commenting on my experience. The OP asked what happens with more than 3.5GB of ram gets allocated and in my EXPERIENCE (see what I did there?) it runs just as smooth as when its less. I have not had any problem. And why would it allocate the memory if it wasn't using it? Caching? Is that your argument? Because if it was a caching it would be because it was going to USE the resources it cached. When it caches the extra resources I still do not experience the stuttering or hitching.

I am done arguing my point as the OP already made his choice.
 
Stev3FrencH said:
*sigh* I see that you have tested this with your...oh yeah you don't have a 970. I am commenting on my experience. The OP asked what happens with more than 3.5GB of ram gets allocated and in my EXPERIENCE (see what I did there?) it runs just as smooth as when its less. I have not had any problem. And why would it allocate the memory if it wasn't using it? Caching? Is that your argument? Because if it was a caching it would be because it was going to USE the resources it cached. When it caches the extra resources I still do not experience the stuttering or hitching.

I am done arguing my point as the OP already made his choice.
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Yeah you should stop arguing when you still can't comprehend what it means when a card actually needs VRAM as opposed to just allocating it.:rolleyes:
 
I Would go with a 970 GTX over 960's in SLI.

Look in the for sale/trade forum here. Alot of people are selling 970's for cheap now since the 3.5gb bullshit.

Good luck!
 
Go for the 970 and not 960s. Multi GPU is just problems waiting to happen and the 970 still has more vram even with its proven 3.5GB. If you're not brand loyal I would recommend a Sapphire or MS I 290x as it would upgrade you, save you money, and give you a full 4GB of vram you can actually use.
 
OofC_S7v7N said:
Can we just appreciate that someone is upgrading a graphics card and came here for help!?
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DASHlT said:
I Would go with a 970 GTX over 960's in SLI.

Look in the for sale/trade forum here. Alot of people are selling 970's for cheap now since the 3.5gb bullshit.

Good luck!
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{NG}Fidel said:
Go for the 970 and not 960s. Multi GPU is just problems waiting to happen and the 970 still has more vram even with its proven 3.5GB. If you're not brand loyal I would recommend a Sapphire or MS I 290x as it would upgrade you, save you money, and give you a full 4GB of vram you can actually use.
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Thank you very much guys! I just pulled the trigger on the Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming ... I appreciate the thought to look in the FS section but I generally try and buy new

Side question though ... I should probably keep my GTX 570 in as a PhysX card right?
 
NightWolfe said:
Thank you very much guys! I just pulled the trigger on the Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming ... I appreciate the thought to look in the FS section but I generally try and buy new

Side question though ... I should probably keep my GTX 570 in as a PhysX card right?
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Just sell the 570 as there's really no point for the few games that will ever even use hardware physx. And newer versions of physx are more CPU friendly. I actually get a couple of more frames per second in Metro last light running it on my CPU as opposed to my GPU.
 
misterbobby said:
Just sell the 570 as there's really no point for the few games that will ever even use hardware physx. And newer versions of physx are more CPU friendly. I actually get a couple of more frames per second in Metro last light running it on my CPU as opposed to my GPU.
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This guy is most likely right. I am not sure about the 570 but only certain GPUs work well as a physx card. The 570 might be too weak compared to the power of the 970.

You could always try it as a physx card and sell it if it doesn't help. The Witcher 3 is the next GPU Physx I game I'll be playing.
 
Cool ... thanks for the feedback guys ... I'll probably just stick it in my other PC then since that is just running onboard graphics

Thanks again everyone for all the help!
 
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