Which 970 Are You Buying?

Don't think I'm actually going to bite on a 970, but it's tempting. The Asus looks like a nice option for my pretty quiet mini-itx 1920x1200 gaming machine. But the 7870 is still doing fine in that machine. The single 8 pin connector might cause cabling issues for me. I guess I could live with the MSI instead, once the case is closed up and I don't have to look at that awful teenage boy color scheme anymore. What I really like about those cards is the no fan modes.

For some reason, the 3 DP connectors on the Windforce 970 really has me geeked out, even though I don't need anywhere near that much GPU in my workstation. I don't even have three monitors on my desk at home.
 
Got two MSI Gaming on the way to replace my single 770 2GB.

I game at 1600p so I was due for an upgrade. :)
 
Just got in my MSI Gaming 970. Nice looking card, even comes with a sweet mouse pad!

Damn game updates take way too long to DL.

*Edit* - Also happy to report, very quiet under load card and no coil whine that I can tell so far. Wish it had a backplate and the power connectors are upside down from what I am used to are the only complaints!
 
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MrSneis said:
Just got in my MSI Gaming 970. Nice looking card, even comes with a sweet mouse pad!

Damn game updates take way too long to DL.

*Edit* - Also happy to report, very quiet under load card and no coil whine that I can tell so far. Wish it had a backplate and the power connectors are upside down from what I am used to are the only complaints!
Click to expand...

how does it perform?
 
Am I the only guy leaning towards zotac? I mean, they are cheap and I never had an issue with them when GPU folding was the king, had 19 nvidia cards running once, 14 of which were zotacs.

Only thing I worry is the small ass pcb compared to the others.

Thoughts?

And what about the whole power issues I'm hearing about, who's got the better builds in that regard (scratch evga lol)
 
Yes, I think you're the only one leaning Zotac. Personally, I think the small PCB is a little off-putting. There's probably nothing wrong with it, but if I'm buying a high end card I want it to look high end.

Doesn't really make much sense, I know, but there you have it.
 
I was leaning toward the MSI one until the specs said it still supports HDMI 1.4a instead of 2.0.... WTF? Not sure if its an error on the MSI site, why would they go using HDMI 1.4a instead of HDMI 2.0 doesn't make sense to me. If any of you guys have a 4K TV and have the MSI card can you please confirm it does 4K at 60Hz without that colour loss would be great.

More interested in the ASUS Strix one, waiting for stock to arrive and get a pair and put it in SLI.
 
ChronoDetector said:
I was leaning toward the MSI one until the specs said it still supports HDMI 1.4a instead of 2.0.... WTF? Not sure if its an error on the MSI site, why would they go using HDMI 1.4a instead of HDMI 2.0 doesn't make sense to me. If any of you guys have a 4K TV and have the MSI card can you please confirm it does 4K at 60Hz without that colour loss would be great.

More interested in the ASUS Strix one, waiting for stock to arrive and get a pair and put it in SLI.
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That does seem odd. The Guru 3D review mentioned HDMI 2.0 and they have some results of over 30 FPS at 4K resolutions:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-970-gaming-review,2.html
 
I hope all of you who bought the MSI card realize if you so much as try to repaste the card your warranty is void right? Unless MSI actually removed that retarded "warranty void if removed" sticker from one of the screws on the back...

The Gigabyte and MSI cards have better overclocking potential purely because of the 8+6 connectors for 300W of power as opposed to a single 8 pin on the Asus for 225W. Otherwise, the Asus has better power delivery relatively speaking because you have 6+1 for 225W, instead of 6+1 or 6+2 for 300W.

I'm personally waiting to see just how bad that annoying fan profile issue getting in the way of overclocking really is, and whether having the fan permanently at 50% is going to be an issue since I'm a bit noise sensitive.
 
n=1 said:
I hope all of you who bought the MSI card realize if you so much as try to repaste the card your warranty is void right? Unless MSI actually removed that retarded "warranty void if removed" sticker from one of the screws on the back...
Click to expand...

The [H] MSI rep said this about the issue recently..

Eugene Kuo said:
Our official policy is we do not want customer to make any modifications to the heatsinks, now that being said we do unofficially allow customers to make these mods if they wish to do so and it will not void the warranty as long as they keep the original and if the card ever needs warranty service they send it back with the original heatsink back on
Click to expand...


Darksword said:
Yes, I think you're the only one leaning Zotac. Personally, I think the small PCB is a little off-putting. There's probably nothing wrong with it, but if I'm buying a high end card I want it to look high end.
Click to expand...

The ZOTAC is the only 970 I'm currently interested in (until someone actually makes one with a smaller cooler). If I go for the 970, I'd want the standard short PCB, not some fake extended board designed to make the card look bigger (unless I actually wanted a huge cooler for some reason). If I wanted a full-size card, I'd just get the 980. But to each their own :)

MSI & EVGA 970 extended PCB..

570HTvG.jpg
nxgoauv.jpg
 
If what he's saying is true then why put that sticker in such an inopportune location? Why not do what other companies do and put it somewhere on the PCB instead? It's pretty clear what MSI's intentions are by having that sticker on the screw.

I'll believe what Mr. Kuo said when someone here confirms a successful RMA with a torn warranty sticker. Until then those are just empty words.
 
Be aware that Asus might have the sticker as well. The backplate just might be covering it. I'm not sure for this series specifically but the reports were there for last gen.

n=1 said:
I'm personally waiting to see just how bad that annoying fan profile issue getting in the way of overclocking really is, and whether having the fan permanently at 50% is going to be an issue since I'm a bit noise sensitive.
Click to expand...

I assume you can use something like afterburner to just set a custom fan profile though so it wouldn't be stuck at 50%? You'd just not get the complete fan shutoff feature (unless maybe it gets exposed via software down the line).
 
Was able to pick up a asus card and a evga with acx cooler. Much happier with the asus, runs cooler and quieter then the evga.
 
Got the Zotac short PCB, cos its the only one that fits in my Lian Li Q11 itx case :D would love short 980 but so far I couldn't be happier with the preformance i'm getting! It's a beast!!!, Upgrading from old 7870.
Most quiet card I've owned actually.

Maximum 260W draw (whole system) from the wall.
Idle 70W

I also agree with AFD, everything going smaller is better, Space is a premium for some people and if the smaller card performs as good as the large ones then they are more refined in my opinion.
 
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It's going to be another month until I buy, but I'm kinda leaning to the Gigabyte card. I love my current MSI 660ti PE's, but the Guru3d review of MSI's 970 has the temps of the GDDR and VRM's pretty high, especially compared to Gigabytes offering .

Only thing making me hesitate is the super cheesy "WINDFORCE" lettering lighting up......be nice if you could disable that.



Edit - looks like you can disable the lights on the Gigabyte card with software.

however.....my R4 case has a length of 295mm with the top HD cage installed, the Gigabyte is 297mm long. I'm not currently using the top cage, but I'd like to have the option in the future. meh.
 
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Sewje said:
Got the Zotac short PCB, cos its the only one that fits in my Lian Li Q11 itx case :D would love short 980 but so far I couldn't be happier with the preformance i'm getting! It's a beast!!!, Upgrading from old 7870.
Most quiet card I've owned actually.

Maximum 260W draw (whole system) from the wall.
Idle 70W

I also agree with AFD, everything going smaller is better, Space is a premium for some people and if the smaller card performs as good as the large ones then they are more refined in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your impressions! I've been holding out for the semi-passive MSI card, but my patience is beginning to wear thin. With Zotacs seemingly in stock everywhere I've seriously been considering pulling the trigger on one. I'll give MSI one more day I think, and if they haven't refilled vendor's stocks by then I'll grab the Zotac.
 
I'm planning on grabbing a 970 I think, either the MSI or the Gigabyte, whichever I see at Microcenter on Friday...I'll upgrade later on next year when I need more power.
 
ChronoDetector said:
I was leaning toward the MSI one until the specs said it still supports HDMI 1.4a instead of 2.0.... WTF? Not sure if its an error on the MSI site, why would they go using HDMI 1.4a instead of HDMI 2.0 doesn't make sense to me. If any of you guys have a 4K TV and have the MSI card can you please confirm it does 4K at 60Hz without that colour loss would be great.

More interested in the ASUS Strix one, waiting for stock to arrive and get a pair and put it in SLI.
Click to expand...

According to a MSI rep commenting at Kitguru in there review - http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/msi-gtx-970-gaming-4g-review/

Dennis Achterberg said:
Official Certification by the HDMI consortium. The components are 2.0 (NVIDIA spec) just the card itself hasn't passed the certification yet. No issue.
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Also he mentions the reasoning behind the 8 pin + 6 pin -
Dennis Achterberg said:
We actually use the 6 and 8-pin to separate the voltage between the GPU VRM and the memory/io/fan vrm. so, no, it doesn't guzzle more power when connected, but does allow us to deliver cleaner power to the card.
Click to expand...

I wonder if the Gigabyte 8+6pin config is using the principal.
 
limitedaccess said:
Be aware that Asus might have the sticker as well. The backplate just might be covering it. I'm not sure for this series specifically but the reports were there for last gen.

I assume you can use something like afterburner to just set a custom fan profile though so it wouldn't be stuck at 50%? You'd just not get the complete fan shutoff feature (unless maybe it gets exposed via software down the line).
Click to expand...

Other companies most certainly do have a sticker, but MSI is the only one that puts the sticker on the actual screw, which means something as simple as a repaste will completely tear up the sticker, which is just absurd. Most if not all other companies have the sticker on the actual PCB itself.

As for the fan issue, I was refering to this:

One issue we did notice with the ASUS card is that it initially wasn't boosting as high as we'd have expected. We noticed that the fans didn't seem to want to spin beyond 42 percent, apparently prioritising low noise over boost frequency. As such, we set the fans manually to 50 percent, which saw a higher and more constant boost clock emerge. The downside to this is that the fan speed is locked, and won't slow down or enter its passive mode, even when idle.
Click to expand...
 
n=1 said:
Other companies most certainly do have a sticker, but MSI is the only one that puts the sticker on the actual screw, which means something as simple as a repaste will completely tear up the sticker, which is just absurd. Most if not all other companies have the sticker on the actual PCB itself.

As for the fan issue, I was refering to this:
Click to expand...

I'm referring to the same sticker dot on the screws. I remember this because of was researching this when buying a 770/780 card and out of Asus/MSI/Gigabyte and only Gigabyte did not have the screw sticker dot. For example - http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_770_Direct_Cu_II_OC/4.html

However the backplate (made an error here) doesn't seem to cover the heatsink screws so maybe they aren't being used this generation.

I know that was the review you were referencing regarding the fan issue. However I'm wondering whether or not he could have just set a custom fan profile (using for example afterburner) and just having low fan speeds under say 60C but ramps up aggressively to 50% (or higher) so you don't hit the boost temperature limit (if that is the boost flag being tripped).

Edit: Just to add you'll also notice in the review the Asus needed more voltage and a higher power limit (after all there will be chip to chip variation as well). I'm wondering if this is linked to the boosting issue and strictly due to the fan speed/temperature.
 
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BTW guys. MSI has hdmi 2.0. I called MSI Poland today and they confirmed, that they made mistake on webpage and they will correct it - all versions of 980 and 970 have 2.0 port.
 
In my case, I'm looking at the ASUS STRIX GTX970 (which replaces the EVGA GTX970 ACX - which had replaced the ASUS GTX760 DirectCu II; basically I've gone full-circle). The STRIX replaced the ACX due to the cooler issue; it also has better performance than either the GTX750Ti or GTX760 (including the DirectCu II) without using either more space or more power than the latter - if anything, it splits the TDP difference between GTX750Ti and GTX760, and for just $50USD more than the 760 DCU II.
 
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I'm so bummed out right now, it seems each of the 3 big players have their own issues and quirks I'd have to put up with:

Asus:
- 6+1 phase, quality components for core, nothing special for memory
- all 8 memory chips in front so nothing left to roast on back, but no direct contact with heatsink
- no active cooling for VRM controller or memory mosfets

Gigabyte:
- best cooler of all 3 (albeit noisier)
- 5+1 phase*, quality of components unknown
- memory chips on front make contact with heatsink
- no active cooling for VRM controller or memory mosfets

MSI:
- 6+2 phase, both using quality components
- active cooling for VRM controller AND memory mosfets
- no backplate, memory chips on back left to roast
- warranty sticker placed on screw, thus a simple repaste voids warranty

*not sure if it's 5+1 or 5+2, because the wording used by Guru3D is confusing:

A 5+1 phase power supply is responsible for supplying the GPU and memory with power. One additional phase power supply is dedicated for the board’s GDDR5 memory.
Click to expand...

Does that mean an extra phase in addition to the 5+1, or that the +1 is the additional phase??

Also Legion Hardware reports a 6 phase supply for the GPU, which does seem to be corroborated by the pictures[/url].

In any case, it seems that MSI has the most robust power delivery. But MSI has no backplate and put in that retarded warranty sticker on a screw. Gigabyte has the best cooling and the best OC potential but I fear for the VRMs. Asus will be power limited since only single 8 pin instead of 8+6 pins like the other two.

Which ones would you guys if you were buying today? (I'm not btw, but I'd like some opinions)
 
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I really wanted the Gigabyte, but it's too long for my Define R4 case. If I buy, I will probably get the MSI Gaming.
 
DEO3 said:
Thanks for your impressions! I've been holding out for the semi-passive MSI card, but my patience is beginning to wear thin. With Zotacs seemingly in stock everywhere I've seriously been considering pulling the trigger on one. I'll give MSI one more day I think, and if they haven't refilled vendor's stocks by then I'll grab the Zotac.
Click to expand...

I pulled the trigger and went Zotac as well. Couldn't wait any longer :D
 
Flogger23m said:
Between these two, which is the better card?

MSI 4GD5T GTX 970
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-GTX-970-4...F8&qid=1411493782&sr=8-2&keywords=MSI+GTX+970

ASUS STRIX GTX 970
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-STRIX-GT...8&qid=1411493797&sr=8-1&keywords=ASUS+GTX+970

The MSRP of the 4G Gaming MSI is a bit too much for me at $360 and these two seem to be a bit cheaper.

How would one rate the customer service of ASUS compared to MSI?
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Asus strix between those two.

Asus customer support is utter shit, while msi's is solid. Solid as in they back their products without making you jump through hoops (I've dealt with both of them).

Still like asus though ;).
 
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n=1 said:
Gigabyte:
- best cooler of all 3 (albeit noisier)
- 5+1 phase*, quality of components unknown
- memory chips on front make contact with heatsink
- no active cooling for VRM controller or memory mosfets

MSI:
- 6+2 phase, both using quality components
- active cooling for VRM controller AND memory mosfets
- no backplate, memory chips on back left to roast
- warranty sticker placed on screw, thus a simple repaste voids warranty
Click to expand...

I'd get one of these 2 personally. I can't decide between the 2. I like the shorter length of the MSI and most of it's construction. I like the fact that most components have direct cooling on the Gigabyte. I don't know though, the STRIX might end up being a good card, but it just doesn't come across as designed for O/Cing as much as the others. I haven't seen any o/cing results from users of the gigabyte really though either. I've seen good results from 3 MSI gaming users that have posted on different forums.

On the warranty sticker from MSI; I know on the overclockers.com.au forums it has been noted by an MSI rep that they won't void warranty even if you change the cooler as long as you stick the original one back on and there's no damage. I can't vouch for MSI USA or Europe and obviously they could change that policy whenever they wanted, but the general feeling on the aussie forums is that they are good to deal with when RMAing.
 
Yeah Ive read up on those posts, but I gotta say it doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy knowiing that sticker is there and the policy could change any time.

Also, I updated my post as I found some bare board photos of the Gigabyte card and it too seems to have 6 phases for the core, and definitely more than 1 phase for the memory. The Gigabyte card is looking more attractive by the minute.
 
Yeah fair enough, although I have emailed gigabyte before asking them if I can remove a cooler (was when the r9 290s came out) and they said outright "no." But yeah if there's no sticker there its all good I guess.

Now, I want to see some ocing results from the gigabyte, c'mon people!!
 
n=1 said:
I hope all of you who bought the MSI card realize if you so much as try to repaste the card your warranty is void right? Unless MSI actually removed that retarded "warranty void if removed" sticker from one of the screws on the back...

The Gigabyte and MSI cards have better overclocking potential purely because of the 8+6 connectors for 300W of power as opposed to a single 8 pin on the Asus for 225W. Otherwise, the Asus has better power delivery relatively speaking because you have 6+1 for 225W, instead of 6+1 or 6+2 for 300W.

I'm personally waiting to see just how bad that annoying fan profile issue getting in the way of overclocking really is, and whether having the fan permanently at 50% is going to be an issue since I'm a bit noise sensitive.
Click to expand...

n=1 said:
If what he's saying is true then why put that sticker in such an inopportune location? Why not do what other companies do and put it somewhere on the PCB instead? It's pretty clear what MSI's intentions are by having that sticker on the screw.

I'll believe what Mr. Kuo said when someone here confirms a successful RMA with a torn warranty sticker. Until then those are just empty words.
Click to expand...

picket23 said:
On the warranty sticker from MSI; I know on the overclockers.com.au forums it has been noted by an MSI rep that they won't void warranty even if you change the cooler as long as you stick the original one back on and there's no damage. I can't vouch for MSI USA or Europe and obviously they could change that policy whenever they wanted, but the general feeling on the aussie forums is that they are good to deal with when RMAing.
Click to expand...

n=1 said:
Yeah Ive read up on those posts, but I gotta say it doesn't exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy knowiing that sticker is there and the policy could change any time.
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Hey N=1,

Just to clarify if you are worried about the warranty sticker. Like my original post regarding the issue, our official stance is that we do not want customers modifying the heatsinks, due to many different variables/issues that could happen to the card due to user/random errors. However, we all know that customers such as yourself and the rest of the modding community all want to do exactly that. We will be glad to still RMA your card as long as the user did not affect the card themselves due to user error.

If there is an RMA issue with the card and you send it in with the warranty sticker ripped, we will know you modified/worked on the card yourself and we will look into what caused the problem to decide if the RMA should be granted or not.

TL;DR-Don't mess up your card while you work on it, and you will be A-Okay :)
 
The PNY 970 with a blower is in stock on Tigerdirect. I'm really tempted to bite considering all the bad press on the EVGA cards.
 
xp3nd4bl3 said:
The PNY 970 with a blower is in stock on Tigerdirect. I'm really tempted to bite considering all the bad press on the EVGA cards.
Click to expand...

Be Careful, Tiger's definition of In stock is a lot different than Newegg or Amazon. I got burned during the GTX 680 Release by them and have never purchased a product from there since.

For them In-Stock doesn't necessarily mean in the warehouse and ready to ship. It may mean We are supposed to be getting a truck sometime in the next 6 days that is supposed to have 18 of those but maybe 7. :rolleyes:
 
Eugene Kuo said:
If there is an RMA issue with the card and you send it in with the warranty sticker ripped, we will know you modified/worked on the card yourself and we will look into what caused the problem to decide if the RMA should be granted or not.

TL;DR-Don't mess up your card while you work on it, and you will be A-Okay :)
Click to expand...

That's cool mate, like I said you have a good rep in Australia for your cards and warranty.

n=1 said:
Gigabyte:
- best cooler of all 3 (albeit noisier)
- 5+1 phase*, quality of components unknown
- memory chips on front make contact with heatsink
- no active cooling for VRM controller or memory mosfets
Click to expand...

-Dual bios also on the gigabyte apparently.
Might be a confidence booster for those who are going to be flashing an "improved" custom bios when available. I am trying to find out from users on other forums what the go is with the dual bios though. I haven't seen an obvious switch in pictures.

Don't forget you can turn the fans down and then you have a quieter but hotter card similar to the others. Just like you can turn the fans up on the others and make them cooler but louder. To some extent at least. One card is always going to be coolest at a given dB level, but I don't think which one that is has been established yet.
 
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I realize the MSI Gaming 4G does not have a back plate whereas the Gigabyte and ASUS do. How big of a deal is that? The cooler certainly does look big (two 100mm fans). Is board flexing a realistic issue?
 
I just bought a MSI GTX 970 which supposely supports HDMI 2.0 though the website states it still supports HDMI 1.4a and I'm still getting that colour loss at 60Hz... not sure if this card is lacking HDMI 2.0 support or I'm doing something wrong.

Though the reps at MSI confirmed that the specs at the website is wrong or either that this card still lacks HDMI 2.0.... not happy here.
 
I'm glad to finally see Nvidia take a page out of AMD's playbook and release a new card with competitive pricing versus overcharging out of the gate
 
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