My new MSI GTX 970's arrived!

N

N1GHTRA1N

Gawd
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
781
My old cards were MSI 6970 Lightnings that I bought in fall of 2011. Today my new MSI GTX 970 Gaming and SLI bridge arrived. Pretty happy with initial tests. Windows 10 did freak out and gave me fits as it wouldn't boot with critical errors. After rebooting about 6 times it finally went though and everything has been good since.

The old:

uoR7NrU.jpg


hr5rqsr.jpg


The New:

Ne61EDf.jpg


QDbzkvY.jpg


xjmAWsP.jpg



Compared:

atvXbsc.jpg
 
Last edited:
6970's to 970'S..

Yeah, a little bit of an upgrade. :)
 
Yeah... 6970's were getting long in the tooth especially since I run 2560x1600. The biggest difference I've noticed so far is Mortal Kombat X, it didn't run well on my old cards at 2560x1600. Mad Max worked surprisingly well on 6970's but I was able to crank a bit more detail out of the 970's. Everything maxed and it run at over 100 fps.

The noise reduction is amazing, super impressed. Also the energy savings. The 6970s used to overload my APC 1300 VA (780W) UPS if I maxed out games with the side panel on because they ran so hot. With the side panel off the system was run and topped out at about 740W. Seems to run about 150W less now, which is nice. My only complaint so far is a bit of coil whine, only notice it on silent load screens when gaming so it isn't too bad.
 
rc3ilynt said:
That's a pretty valid question as it would be close in terms of price and performance but 970s in SLI are no joke either. The MSI design looks pretty sweet though. :p
Click to expand...

That SLi bridge is awesome also.
 
MS Store in Canada basically listed (well it is still listed but out of stock) the MSI 970 at US MSRP ($350) with free shipping. You can stack an education discount to get it down to $315, and further down to $300 with rebates. Cheapest aftermarket 980ti (Gigabyte Windforce) is $850 after rebates as a comparison. The MSI 970 gaming has been in the low $400s when exchange was better but now is around $450.

If you go by exchange (computer parts in Canada track close to exchange plus a little typically) it would essentially be a $230 USD GTX 970.

And yes apparently the Microsoft Store sells graphics cards (well one, I tried searching for others).
 
Pics too large, should have gone single 980Ti, and that poor sound card must be burning up!

They do look nice..:D
 
Sorry for the image sizes, resized them.

As for the 980 Ti. I really wanted one but could afford it right now. I live in Canada and with the weak Canadian dollar video cards are expensive. I was saving for the 980 Ti, was planning on getting around Christmas. The MSI 980 Ti Gaming is about $915 + taxes here in Canada. (about $1050 shipped and taxed) NEWEGG.CA

I managed to get the MSI 970 Gaming for $314 each, or just over $700 taxed and shipped for both. It was too big a difference and too good a price to pass up.

We pay 13% sales tax too. If you convert to USD I paid about $560 for the two cards and the bridge (about $35 alone). The MSI 980 Ti Gaming would have been very close to $800 USD.
 
Last edited:
Same thing I did 3 weeks ago and am loving it. Dual 970's smoke a single 980ti for less money. Also having to pay another $90 for an active adapter to power the third monitor in my 3D surround setup made my choice a no-brainer. Good call OP!
 
I put an MSi 960 in my friend's computer a couple weeks ago. I really like the LED on the side of the card, and it looks even sweeter with that SLI bridge lit up!
 
DeadSkull said:
Why would you get 970 SLI over 290X CF or single 980 TI?!
Click to expand...

See my previous post. Saved a lot of money this way.

N1GHTRA1N said:
Sorry for the image sizes, resized them.

As for the 980 Ti. I really wanted one but could afford it right now. I live in Canada and with the weak Canadian dollar video cards are expensive. I was saving for the 980 Ti, was planning on getting around Christmas. The MSI 980 Ti Gaming is about $915 + taxes here in Canada. (about $1050 shipped and taxed) NEWEGG.CA

I managed to get the MSI 970 Gaming for $314 each, or just over $700 taxed and shipped for both. It was too big a difference and too good a price to pass up.

We pay 13% sales tax too. If you convert to USD I paid about $560 for the two cards and the bridge (about $35 alone). The MSI 980 Ti Gaming would have been very close to $800 USD.
Click to expand...
 
N1GHTRA1N said:
Sorry for the image sizes, resized them.

As for the 980 Ti. I really wanted one but could afford it right now. I live in Canada and with the weak Canadian dollar video cards are expensive. I was saving for the 980 Ti, was planning on getting around Christmas. The MSI 980 Ti Gaming is about $915 + taxes here in Canada. (about $1050 shipped and taxed) NEWEGG.CA

I managed to get the MSI 970 Gaming for $314 each, or just over $700 taxed and shipped for both. It was too big a difference and too good a price to pass up.

We pay 13% sales tax too. If you convert to USD I paid about $560 for the two cards and the bridge (about $35 alone). The MSI 980 Ti Gaming would have been very close to $800 USD.
Click to expand...

1. I am very jealous (see signature). I've been happy with them until recently when I started playing Ark.
2. Where did you find 970s that cheap? I've been keeping an eye on newegg.ca over the last month and they've been steady at ~$425CDN
 
Roman79 said:
1. I am very jealous (see signature). I've been happy with them until recently when I started playing Ark.
2. Where did you find 970s that cheap? I've been keeping an eye on newegg.ca over the last month and they've been steady at ~$425CDN
Click to expand...

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1041868541&postcount=10

MS Store and Amazon.ca often make exchange rate based errors especially at launch. Useful tip for Canadains with the current exchange rates.
 
Roman79 said:
1. I am very jealous (see signature). I've been happy with them until recently when I started playing Ark.
2. Where did you find 970s that cheap? I've been keeping an eye on newegg.ca over the last month and they've been steady at ~$425CDN
Click to expand...

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store...ng-GDDR5-4G-Graphics-Card/productID.325634000

They are $459.99 now, but were $349.99. Microsoft Store sometimes puts items up with USD pricing in CAD. Also 10% off educational pricing so $314 CAD each. It was online for about 10-12 hours before going out of store. Looks like they updated the price in the last day or so.
 
OP,

Nice looking SLI you got there. :D Are you thinking of upgrading your CPU and mobo next?
 
These things run cool. Idle in the mid 20's and low 70's at max load for top card and 3-5 degrees cooler for bottom card at load. My 6970's idled in mid 40's and would hit 100 degrees or close to it on full load.

CPU runing 4-6 degrees cooler now too. I'm very impressed so far.
tPU4SgA.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top