Hi there
Well so many of you are struggling with the decision of which 9xx series card do I buy, there has being no launch like this previously where board partners rolled out their custom designs so quickly and the fact there is so many. So unlike previous launches where reference cards were built in larger volumes and demand was not so high, this time we see the reference card nearly all gone already, simple because NVIDIA made less than previous launches and beyond all expectations demand was actually higher. The good news is there is plenty of custom designs to choose from on 970 and 980 with OcUK offering the largest range compared to any competitor and also the best in stock range as well.
Please remember that no other competitors spends their time doing this, giving you guys reports on each cooler and how good/bad it is, so in future when people are moaning about a few quid here and there I think it is justified by the extra service we give. Not only that but quite often were also the cheapest, example being the £399.95 GTX 980 on weekend offer!
Anyway lets move onto the coolers:-
NVIDIA REFERENCE COOLER GTX 980/970
This cooler does exactly what it is designed to do, keep the GPU below 80c with absolute minimal noise and the overall quality and backplate is above and beyond any of the reference coolers by far. Set the fan to 100% and its just a gentle whoosh and the cooling performance is then exceptional, typically within 10c of the very best louder custom coolers.
Positives
- Highest quality cooler on the market with best backplate
- GeForce green LED
- Best cooler for small cases
- Best cooler for 3-way and 4-way SLI setups
- Most power efficient and good power limits from reference PCB design
Negatives
- Very expensive
- Not the most powerful cooling performance for the serious overclocker
- Limited supply
[Asus DC2 STRIX Cooler[/URL]
I'd rate the STRIX as the best all round cooler, it has the best heatpipe efficiency and the cooler is absolutely huge meaning it cools the GPU better than others resulting in the fans either not requiring to spin or when they do still remaining silent. It is without doubt the quietest cooler design, it is practically silent. On a plus side at 100% fan speed they are quite powerful so it is also well suited to overclocking.
Positives
- Best heatpipe cooling ability
- Huge cooler
- Most quietest design and has 0Db fan mode
- Stunning backplate design
- Great power design
- Slim design - 2-slots
Negatives
- Very tall PCB/Cooler, might not fit in all cases, especially smaller designs.
- 1x 4-pin on 970 version, though so far it does not seem a limiting factor.
- Not the cheapest!
Radial blower designs from Palit, Galax and EVGA
Essentially a cheaper less visually impressive version of the NVIDIA reference cooler with no backplate. Performance is OK and they are generally very quiet though the funs can rumble a little at idle speeds.
Positives
- Low cost
- Quiet
- Exhaust heat out of case
- Better for SLI but not as good as NVIDIA reference cooler
Negatives
- Cheap
- Rumble at idle possible
- Performance is lowest of all cooling designs but still perfectly fine.
EVGA ACX 2.0 Coolers
Great looking with a quality feel and also extremely quiet due to the new improved fan blade efficiency on the ACX 2.0 models.
Positives
- Minimalist clean styling
- Extremely quiet, near silent in most cases
- Good performance, but not as good as Strix or G1
- 2-Slot design will fit in practically all cases
- Great value for money
Negatives
- Not great in SLI
- Not the best performance cooler but extremely good
- Clean/minimalist looks not for everyone.
Galaxy 980 SOC/Gamer
A truly stunning cooler that oozes absolute quality being completely constructed from metals, no plastics here!
The three fans are practically silent yet the design offers incredible levels of performance and the colour combination is unique but also looks fantastic in person. Also the cost is extremely reasonable for a such a highly engineered card, can't wait to see their HOF version!!
Positives
- Superb looking card made from quality materials
- Near silent operation
- Good cooling performance
- Great value for money
Negatives
- The fans could be more powerful for those who want to push the card to the limits
- Its quite a large cooler design
Gigabyte G1 Coolers/Boards
Not only one of the quietest coolers I have tested but also the second most powerful cooling design with fans at 100%. The G1 boards also have FLEX technology and they have the best power design for the GPU of any card I have tested and this has shown in overclocking with G1 980 reaching 1630MHz for benchmarking and G1 970 hitting the dizzy heights of 1680MHz. Also several customers on the forum are also seeing 1600MHz+ clocks, the power design is without a doubt the best. Memory clocking wise they are good with me seeing between 8000-8200MHz on them.
Positives
- FLEX Technology
- Best power phase design and power limits
- Second most powerful cooler
- Backplate
- Extremely quiet as fans hardly ever need to spin up due to size of cooler
- Blue WindForce LED
Negatives
- Cooler is huge
- More expensive
- Wire visible that powers blue LED, can be hidden away.
HerculeZ X2/X3 Cooler
The HerculeZ X3 cooler was immensely popular on the 780 and 780Ti for its fantastic cooling power and near silent operation. Nothing has changed!
Positives
- Great cooling power
- Low noise
- Looks like a monster
- Low cost
- Backplate on X3 models
Negatives
- It is huge!
HerculeZ AIR BOSS X4
Without a doubt the most powerful cooler I have tested yet, even beating the Gigabyte G1 cooler but a few degrees. People will also be happy to know that the small fan on the top is completely SILENT.
Cooler wise the Air Boss really is the BOSS, nothing beats it for GPU or PCB/VRM temps it really is quite incredible. The only downside is Inno3D did nothing on improving power limits or power design, so all that cooling power is great but your gonna need good silicon, my sample hit 1520MHz core and 8400MHz memory.
Positives
- The most powerful cooler out of them all, LIKE A BOSS
- Also one of the quietest
- It looks like a powerplant, it is huge and menacing, cool red LED's too
- Stunning Backplate
Negatives
- It is silly big, 3-slot design easily
- Expensive
- Hopefully they will release a DHS version with hand picked GPUs and improved power phase/limits
MSI Gamer
Without a doubt our no.1 seller in the 970 segment, this cooler does exactly what it says. It is plastic and they don't try to make it look anything other than plastic and because of this it actually looks really good. Nice white LED as well to finish of the look. It is one of the most quietest cards here pretty much on parr with the Asus STRIX for noise, its let down is its cooling capacity is not as good as others and the fans are very weak power wise, so we'd not recommend any more than two of these in SLI.
Positives
- Great looking and white LED
- One of the quietest cards
- Great price
- Good overclocking performance
- Very slim design, making 2-way SLI fine
Negatives
- More powerful fans for those who want to run at 100% and benchmark
- Give us a Lightning version!
Palit Jetstream cooler
Palit have come a real long way and the Palit Jetstream cooler impressed me, on the 970 it is the only black/gold design card making it rather unique and the 980 versions are truly huge. Performance is good, not the best or worse but they are extremely quiet and have 0Db fan function just like the Asus and MSI cards have.
Positives
- Nice colours
- Good all round performance
- Very quiet with 0Db fan function
Negatives
- Not the best, but not the worse.
- 980 Cooler is huge
- Should be a little cheaper!
Zotac Gamer, Omega & Extreme
Zotac is the card which shocked me most, the gamer is very similar to the MSI in all round performance, the Omega similar to the Strix, so two great all round cards, though a little expensive. Though Zotac warranty is superb at 5 years.
The Extreme however blew me away, we have 5 here from our stock which we are using for a new 8 Pack project. To put it simply Zotac have custom OC+ module that allows you to monitor so much more on this card compared to competitors and even better it has memory voltage control!!
But get this our very worse card does 8200MHz memory and the best 8600MHz, then when we put +20mv into the memory with Zotacs software our worse memory clock improves to 8500MHz and the best upto 8800MHz, no other card comes close to the memory overclocking, yet all the cards we've tested are all Samsung. So Zotac have clearly improved upon the design.
The downside is this is an extreme card yet Zotac's BIOS only allows for +37mv which only gives 1.21mv which is a huge shame, as such our best GPU overclock was 1570MHz as that is practically stock voltage. The Gigabyte G1 allows +88mv and MSI's are at +100mb which is getting towards 1.30mv and as such is why we've managed 1600MHz+ core on those cards. If Zotac can improve the power limit and max voltage in the BIOS we will be going beyond 1650MHz core with these cards.
Cooler wise, well you will love or hate it, carbon fibre effect, huge, green led at idle, red led at load and carbon fibre look backplate. Its cooling performance is only bettered by the Air Boss X4 cooler so it is exceptional indeed but at the same time it is huge, your only getting two of these in SLI.
Positives
- Best memory overclocks by far, upto 8800MHz!
- Fantastic cooler with carbon effect and green/red leds
- Memory voltage adjustment. +20mv
- Near silent operation
- 5yr warranty
Negatives
- No additional core voltage, on +37mv which is 1.21mv, that is stock, come on Zotac!
- Huge!
- Expensive compared to Asus Strix & Gigabyte G1
Galax EX OC 970 Cooler
A wolf in sheeps clothing, a stunning looking cooler that is just a 2-slot design and also only spins one fan at idle for silent operation. Performance very similar to the MSI but better at 100% fan speed due to better fans and like the MSI a very good overclocking record as it has improved power design. Only downside is blue PCB, though you can't really see it due to lovely backplate, but newer revisions will have a black PCB.
Positives
- Good looking and effective design
- Backplate
- Great overclocking
- Great price
Negatives
- Blue PCB (Back version coming soon
Vote which card you purchased and post your OC/ASIC!
Zotac 980 Extreme
ASIC: 73.2%
Core: 1570MHz @ +37mv
Memory: 8800MHz @ +20mv
Well so many of you are struggling with the decision of which 9xx series card do I buy, there has being no launch like this previously where board partners rolled out their custom designs so quickly and the fact there is so many. So unlike previous launches where reference cards were built in larger volumes and demand was not so high, this time we see the reference card nearly all gone already, simple because NVIDIA made less than previous launches and beyond all expectations demand was actually higher. The good news is there is plenty of custom designs to choose from on 970 and 980 with OcUK offering the largest range compared to any competitor and also the best in stock range as well.
Please remember that no other competitors spends their time doing this, giving you guys reports on each cooler and how good/bad it is, so in future when people are moaning about a few quid here and there I think it is justified by the extra service we give. Not only that but quite often were also the cheapest, example being the £399.95 GTX 980 on weekend offer!
Anyway lets move onto the coolers:-
NVIDIA REFERENCE COOLER GTX 980/970
This cooler does exactly what it is designed to do, keep the GPU below 80c with absolute minimal noise and the overall quality and backplate is above and beyond any of the reference coolers by far. Set the fan to 100% and its just a gentle whoosh and the cooling performance is then exceptional, typically within 10c of the very best louder custom coolers.
Positives
- Highest quality cooler on the market with best backplate
- GeForce green LED
- Best cooler for small cases
- Best cooler for 3-way and 4-way SLI setups
- Most power efficient and good power limits from reference PCB design
Negatives
- Very expensive
- Not the most powerful cooling performance for the serious overclocker
- Limited supply
[Asus DC2 STRIX Cooler[/URL]
I'd rate the STRIX as the best all round cooler, it has the best heatpipe efficiency and the cooler is absolutely huge meaning it cools the GPU better than others resulting in the fans either not requiring to spin or when they do still remaining silent. It is without doubt the quietest cooler design, it is practically silent. On a plus side at 100% fan speed they are quite powerful so it is also well suited to overclocking.
Positives
- Best heatpipe cooling ability
- Huge cooler
- Most quietest design and has 0Db fan mode
- Stunning backplate design
- Great power design
- Slim design - 2-slots
Negatives
- Very tall PCB/Cooler, might not fit in all cases, especially smaller designs.
- 1x 4-pin on 970 version, though so far it does not seem a limiting factor.
- Not the cheapest!
Radial blower designs from Palit, Galax and EVGA
Essentially a cheaper less visually impressive version of the NVIDIA reference cooler with no backplate. Performance is OK and they are generally very quiet though the funs can rumble a little at idle speeds.
Positives
- Low cost
- Quiet
- Exhaust heat out of case
- Better for SLI but not as good as NVIDIA reference cooler
Negatives
- Cheap
- Rumble at idle possible
- Performance is lowest of all cooling designs but still perfectly fine.
EVGA ACX 2.0 Coolers
Great looking with a quality feel and also extremely quiet due to the new improved fan blade efficiency on the ACX 2.0 models.
Positives
- Minimalist clean styling
- Extremely quiet, near silent in most cases
- Good performance, but not as good as Strix or G1
- 2-Slot design will fit in practically all cases
- Great value for money
Negatives
- Not great in SLI
- Not the best performance cooler but extremely good
- Clean/minimalist looks not for everyone.
Galaxy 980 SOC/Gamer
A truly stunning cooler that oozes absolute quality being completely constructed from metals, no plastics here!
The three fans are practically silent yet the design offers incredible levels of performance and the colour combination is unique but also looks fantastic in person. Also the cost is extremely reasonable for a such a highly engineered card, can't wait to see their HOF version!!
Positives
- Superb looking card made from quality materials
- Near silent operation
- Good cooling performance
- Great value for money
Negatives
- The fans could be more powerful for those who want to push the card to the limits
- Its quite a large cooler design
Gigabyte G1 Coolers/Boards
Not only one of the quietest coolers I have tested but also the second most powerful cooling design with fans at 100%. The G1 boards also have FLEX technology and they have the best power design for the GPU of any card I have tested and this has shown in overclocking with G1 980 reaching 1630MHz for benchmarking and G1 970 hitting the dizzy heights of 1680MHz. Also several customers on the forum are also seeing 1600MHz+ clocks, the power design is without a doubt the best. Memory clocking wise they are good with me seeing between 8000-8200MHz on them.
Positives
- FLEX Technology
- Best power phase design and power limits
- Second most powerful cooler
- Backplate
- Extremely quiet as fans hardly ever need to spin up due to size of cooler
- Blue WindForce LED
Negatives
- Cooler is huge
- More expensive
- Wire visible that powers blue LED, can be hidden away.
HerculeZ X2/X3 Cooler
The HerculeZ X3 cooler was immensely popular on the 780 and 780Ti for its fantastic cooling power and near silent operation. Nothing has changed!
Positives
- Great cooling power
- Low noise
- Looks like a monster
- Low cost
- Backplate on X3 models
Negatives
- It is huge!
HerculeZ AIR BOSS X4
Without a doubt the most powerful cooler I have tested yet, even beating the Gigabyte G1 cooler but a few degrees. People will also be happy to know that the small fan on the top is completely SILENT.
Cooler wise the Air Boss really is the BOSS, nothing beats it for GPU or PCB/VRM temps it really is quite incredible. The only downside is Inno3D did nothing on improving power limits or power design, so all that cooling power is great but your gonna need good silicon, my sample hit 1520MHz core and 8400MHz memory.
Positives
- The most powerful cooler out of them all, LIKE A BOSS
- Also one of the quietest
- It looks like a powerplant, it is huge and menacing, cool red LED's too
- Stunning Backplate
Negatives
- It is silly big, 3-slot design easily
- Expensive
- Hopefully they will release a DHS version with hand picked GPUs and improved power phase/limits
MSI Gamer
Without a doubt our no.1 seller in the 970 segment, this cooler does exactly what it says. It is plastic and they don't try to make it look anything other than plastic and because of this it actually looks really good. Nice white LED as well to finish of the look. It is one of the most quietest cards here pretty much on parr with the Asus STRIX for noise, its let down is its cooling capacity is not as good as others and the fans are very weak power wise, so we'd not recommend any more than two of these in SLI.
Positives
- Great looking and white LED
- One of the quietest cards
- Great price
- Good overclocking performance
- Very slim design, making 2-way SLI fine
Negatives
- More powerful fans for those who want to run at 100% and benchmark
- Give us a Lightning version!
Palit Jetstream cooler
Palit have come a real long way and the Palit Jetstream cooler impressed me, on the 970 it is the only black/gold design card making it rather unique and the 980 versions are truly huge. Performance is good, not the best or worse but they are extremely quiet and have 0Db fan function just like the Asus and MSI cards have.
Positives
- Nice colours
- Good all round performance
- Very quiet with 0Db fan function
Negatives
- Not the best, but not the worse.
- 980 Cooler is huge
- Should be a little cheaper!
Zotac Gamer, Omega & Extreme
Zotac is the card which shocked me most, the gamer is very similar to the MSI in all round performance, the Omega similar to the Strix, so two great all round cards, though a little expensive. Though Zotac warranty is superb at 5 years.
The Extreme however blew me away, we have 5 here from our stock which we are using for a new 8 Pack project. To put it simply Zotac have custom OC+ module that allows you to monitor so much more on this card compared to competitors and even better it has memory voltage control!!
But get this our very worse card does 8200MHz memory and the best 8600MHz, then when we put +20mv into the memory with Zotacs software our worse memory clock improves to 8500MHz and the best upto 8800MHz, no other card comes close to the memory overclocking, yet all the cards we've tested are all Samsung. So Zotac have clearly improved upon the design.
The downside is this is an extreme card yet Zotac's BIOS only allows for +37mv which only gives 1.21mv which is a huge shame, as such our best GPU overclock was 1570MHz as that is practically stock voltage. The Gigabyte G1 allows +88mv and MSI's are at +100mb which is getting towards 1.30mv and as such is why we've managed 1600MHz+ core on those cards. If Zotac can improve the power limit and max voltage in the BIOS we will be going beyond 1650MHz core with these cards.
Cooler wise, well you will love or hate it, carbon fibre effect, huge, green led at idle, red led at load and carbon fibre look backplate. Its cooling performance is only bettered by the Air Boss X4 cooler so it is exceptional indeed but at the same time it is huge, your only getting two of these in SLI.
Positives
- Best memory overclocks by far, upto 8800MHz!
- Fantastic cooler with carbon effect and green/red leds
- Memory voltage adjustment. +20mv
- Near silent operation
- 5yr warranty
Negatives
- No additional core voltage, on +37mv which is 1.21mv, that is stock, come on Zotac!
- Huge!
- Expensive compared to Asus Strix & Gigabyte G1
Galax EX OC 970 Cooler
A wolf in sheeps clothing, a stunning looking cooler that is just a 2-slot design and also only spins one fan at idle for silent operation. Performance very similar to the MSI but better at 100% fan speed due to better fans and like the MSI a very good overclocking record as it has improved power design. Only downside is blue PCB, though you can't really see it due to lovely backplate, but newer revisions will have a black PCB.
Positives
- Good looking and effective design
- Backplate
- Great overclocking
- Great price
Negatives
- Blue PCB (Back version coming soon
Vote which card you purchased and post your OC/ASIC!
Zotac 980 Extreme
ASIC: 73.2%
Core: 1570MHz @ +37mv
Memory: 8800MHz @ +20mv
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