• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Advice on a GTX 970 purchase?

thezeronumber

thezeronumber

thezeronumber

Associate
Joined
22 Feb 2011
Posts
98
Hello,

I've been using a GTX 480 for 4.5 years and the card is still going strong but I'm in need of an upgrade so I can start playing recent and upcoming demanding titles. My budget is £250-£300 which puts me nicely in the GTX 970 series. I have considered the R9 390 cards but ShadowPlay on Nvidia is a big selling point for me, alternatives such as Open Broadcaster Software don't look to perform anywhere near as well.

I game at 1080p with no plans to change this in the next couple of years. I also have no plans to use multiple cards. Sound level is a factor but coming from the wind turbine that is a GTX 480 I think anything would be an improvement. Looks and lightning are not important.

My current system:
i5 3570k @ 3.40GHz CPU
8GB DDR3 RAM
ASUS P8Z77-V Motherboard
Antec Truepower 80+ Bronze 750w PSU

I have 13" inches of clearance inside the case and I believe the longest card is 12.5" including bracket so my current build should accommodate it nicely.

With so many options available I was hoping the community here could point me in the right direction. I don't know what differentiates one brand of card from another, similarly I'm not good at telling what might make a £300 card better than a £250 one. The only thing I have to add to this decision is that I've heard great things about the Gigabyte G1 (which is the very top end of my budget).

Any assistance would be appreciated.
 
The G1 is excellent, metal shroud, backplate, quiet.

MSI and ASUS strix both run passive at idle and also excellent.

The Gigabyte Windforce is a more plastic and non backplate version of the G1 (plus a bit of a clock difference).


Is your boards BIOS upto date?
 
I've only had a Strix 970 and I loved it - It was really quiet and looked really nice. I don't believe it's one of the more expensive variants either, rather it sits in the middle.

The G1 Gaming is a rather long card but you should have 15mm of clearance if 13" is correct.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I haven't updated my BIOS for a while, I will look into doing that after posting this.

Ah, so the G1 is a factory OC'd card. Could a £30 saving be as straight-forward as buying a Windforce and over-clocking it myself?

I've since read an article on Gigabyte v MSI v Asus; all 3 cards performed well but Gigabyte came out on top with MSI second. Other online sources follow this trend in results so I'm probably going to go with a Gigabyte card unless there's a good reason not to. It's my understanding coil whine on the GTX 970s is a lottery and isn't localised to one particular brand, right?
 
thezeronumber said:
Thanks for the replies.

I haven't updated my BIOS for a while, I will look into doing that after posting this.

Ah, so the G1 is a factory OC'd card. Could a £30 saving be as straight-forward as buying a Windforce and over-clocking it myself?

I've since read an article on Gigabyte v MSI v Asus; all 3 cards performed well but Gigabyte came out on top with MSI second. Other online sources follow this trend in results so I'm probably going to go with a Gigabyte card unless there's a good reason not to. It's my understanding coil whine on the GTX 970s is a lottery and isn't localised to one particular brand, right?
Click to expand...

They will all overclock, some will oc more than others and you also will get variations even between the same models due to silicon lottery.
 
tbh there will be nothing much in the oc in most cards.

i think the quality of the cooler is the real good thing about the card.

they are long though.
 
Alright, I've decided that it will definitely be a Gigabyte card. I will have a think about the Windforce and G1 versions overnight and place an order in the morning.

Thanks for the snappy help. :)
 
The G1 Gaming is the card I would get.

I have the 980Ti version and the card is so long I wouldn't dare use it without a backplate. The 970 may be lighter but it's nice to have the backplate there.
 
i have an R9 390...
it performs very similar to a GTX 970, But has Double the Vram, draws ever so slightly less current (nothing to hype about mind)..

i play Call of Duty a lot, my main preference in game..
i max out, stay pinned at 200fps (games max), at 1440p, all settings up full..
Play Battlefield 4, ultra settings, with 72fps.... YES 72!!! at 1440p!!!
and recently played the Black ops 3 beta, @ 1080p, all settings cranked up, fluctuating between 70-85fps!!!
no joke!... the 8gb Vram really doesnt play a massive part at high resolutions...

and temps have never exceeded 65c.. with fan speed never touching 40% even under load for 2+ hours...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom