GTX 970 or GTX 780

sithlord · 27 Sep 2015 at 13:33

What to get GTX 970 or GTX 780? I dont game much, I only play fighting games.

So they are both overpowered for my needs but Id like some more grunt in my system to replace my ancient gtx 260.

Whats important for me is quietness, so which card is quieter ?

Also which manufacturer to go with Asus / EVGA / MSI etc ?

Would there be any issues with my PSU, its an old 625W Enermax.

Seanspeed · 27 Sep 2015 at 16:52

Your PSU is fine, especially with a 970.

Which you should go for. 970 was already Titan-like in performance on Day 1, and the gap has grown since then. You also get a bit more vRAM than the 780 and some specific Maxwell functionality going forward.

If both of these cards are truly overkill and you can find a 780 dirt cheap, maybe consider that, but all else being equal, 970 is far and away the better option.

tommybhoy · 27 Sep 2015 at 16:57

Seanspeed · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:07

Also, in terms of brand, don't overthink it. The differences are mostly pretty negligible. Make sure it fits in your rig and buy what is cheaper out of the major names or maybe what fits your color scheme if you care about that.

970's almost always overclock comfortably well beyond what they come out-of-the-box, so unless you're looking for max overclock potential(which it sounds like you aren't), they'll all probably comfortably run at 1200Mhz base clock at least. 1300Mhz is usually not a problem.

nashathedog · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:21

If I was shopping for one it would be a 970 and it would be one of these three

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-082-ZT&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-010-GX&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

One has a very nice 5 year warranty, another was overdeveloped to ensure minimal coil whine and the other has been highly spoken about by users.

That's the Zotac AMP extreme, KFA2 "Infin8 Black Edition" and the Gigabyte G1 gaming.

However unless you are anti AMD they have some great card options at this price level but be aware of the current driver issue with DX11 and the 390 range. I wouldn't mention it but it's been around for a couple of weeks now, Undoubtedly it will be fixed soon but I'll mention it in case you bought a card today had it crash tomorrow and hated me for it the day after

I'd go 390 myself.

Seanspeed · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:28

nashathedog said:
If I was shopping for one it would be a 970 and it would be one of these three

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-082-ZT&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-010-GX&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

One has a very nice 5 year warranty, another was overdeveloped to ensure minimal coil whine and the other has been highly spoken about by users.

That's the Zotac AMP extreme, KFA2 "Infin8 Black Edition" and the Gigabyte G1 gaming.

However unless you are anti AMD they have some great card options at this price level but be aware of the current driver issue with DX11 and the 390 range. I wouldn't mention it but it's been around for a couple of weeks now, Undoubtedly it will be fixed soon but I'll mention it in case you bought a card today had it crash tomorrow and hated me for it the day after I'd go 390 myself.

Should be warned that the G1 is *very* long and you should make sure it will actually fit in your case. But it is generally considered one of the best models if it does.

MissChief · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:42

Having had a 780 that died, I was offered a 970 as a replacement. I rejected it saying I wanted a 980 instead and, TBH, I think the gameplay on my 780 was smoother although the 980 is the slightly faster of the two. I would base it in cost and whether you want a new one with warranty.

Andy7 · 27 Sep 2015 at 17:54

nashathedog said:
If I was shopping for one it would be a 970 and it would be one of these three

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-082-ZT&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-010-GX&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

One has a very nice 5 year warranty, another was overdeveloped to ensure minimal coil whine and the other has been highly spoken about by users.

That's the Zotac AMP extreme, KFA2 "Infin8 Black Edition" and the Gigabyte G1 gaming.

However unless you are anti AMD they have some great card options at this price level but be aware of the current driver issue with DX11 and the 390 range. I wouldn't mention it but it's been around for a couple of weeks now, Undoubtedly it will be fixed soon but I'll mention it in case you bought a card today had it crash tomorrow and hated me for it the day after I'd go 390 myself.

Great advice right there. I went with the Infin8 Black Edition. The coil whine guarantee sealed the deal for me. I am very happy with the card and it overclocks well with no coil whine.

Dave2150 · 27 Sep 2015 at 18:12

sithlord said:
What to get GTX 970 or GTX 780? I dont game much, I only play fighting games.

So they are both overpowered for my needs but Id like some more grunt in my system to replace my ancient gtx 260.

Whats important for me is quietness, so which card is quieter ?

Also which manufacturer to go with Asus / EVGA / MSI etc ?

Would there be any issues with my PSU, its an old 625W Enermax.

A AMD 390 would be a viable alternative to the 970 or 980.

The 390 has over double the VRAM (8GB full speed) and has fantastic DX12 performance going forward.

It's also cheaper than the 970 and 980

sithlord · 28 Sep 2015 at 01:28

Thanks for the advice guys.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 28 Sep 2015 at 01:29

What games are you playing??

sithlord · 28 Sep 2015 at 03:40

Ultra street fighter 4 & street fighter V beta when it comes out.

smilertoo · 28 Sep 2015 at 04:53

Both roughly same speed but 970 can run quieter/cooler with less power, it can also connect to a 4K tv in future with hdmi2.

Dave2150 · 28 Sep 2015 at 05:12

smilertoo said:
Both roughly same speed but 970 can run quieter/cooler with less power, it can also connect to a 4K tv in future with hdmi2.

970 is crippled for the future with it's 3.5GB fullspeed 0.5GB slow speed VRAM.

390/390 have a full 8GB VRAM, off of which can run at fullspeed. It will last a lot longer than a 970.

It also has better DX12 performance than a 970 - just look at the decent Fable Legends benchmarks:

390/390X can also connect to a 4K TV via Display Port.

mururoa · 28 Sep 2015 at 07:06

Dave2150 said:
970 is crippled for the future with it's 3.5GB fullspeed 0.5GB slow speed VRAM.

390/390 have a full 8GB VRAM, off of which can run at fullspeed. It will last a lot longer than a 970.

It also has better DX12 performance than a 970

Every iteration of SFIV ran better on Nvidia cards - having said that, I didn't know SFV was going to be a DX12 title, got a link to where it says so?

Amatsubu · 28 Sep 2015 at 15:30

mururoa said:
Every iteration of SFIV ran better on Nvidia cards - having said that, I didn't know SFV was going to be a DX12 title, got a link to where it says so?

Don't bother, he says the same thing in every thread involving the 970

It doesn't matter that you can't actually tap into all of the 390's vram because the card is far too weak for that, even in SLI. And it will definitely last a lot longer than a 970 judging by the fact that they both already struggle at 1080p in many games and it's not because of vram :rolleyes:

And seriously, that tired 3.5gb ******** is getting way out of hand. I ran Shadow of Mordor with ultra textures at 1440p and there was no stuttering whatsoever. It's a non-issue. I suppose the card has to be pushed into unplayable framerate territories to produce any stuttering, at which point the 390 simply won't fare much better.

And no, DX12 won't miraculously make the 390 a a top-of-the-line card and no one will remember about it when DX12 games become widespread.

Of course the 390 IS a viable alternative to the 970 but it's neither significantly more powerful nor future-proof. It's just a direct competitor to the 970 that came a year too late. Both are just stopgap cards at this point in time. I'd grab a used 970/290x and be done with it.

EDIT: Especially that the OP only plays fighting games and could easily get away with something cheaper;p

Dave2150 · 28 Sep 2015 at 16:21

Amatsubu said:
Don't bother, he says the same thing in every thread involving the 970 It doesn't matter that you can't actually tap into all of the 390's vram because the card is far too weak for that, even in SLI. And it will definitely last a lot longer than a 970 judging by the fact that they both already struggle at 1080p in many games and it's not because of vram

And seriously, that tired 3.5gb ******** is getting way out of hand. I ran Shadow of Mordor with ultra textures at 1440p and there was no stuttering whatsoever. It's a non-issue. I suppose the card has to be pushed into unplayable framerate territories to produce any stuttering, at which point the 390 simply won't fare much better.

And no, DX12 won't miraculously make the 390 a a top-of-the-line card and no one will remember about it when DX12 games become widespread.

Of course the 390 IS a viable alternative to the 970 but it's neither significantly more powerful nor future-proof. It's just a direct competitor to the 970 that came a year too late. Both are just stopgap cards at this point in time. I'd grab a used 970/290x and be done with it.

EDIT: Especially that the OP only plays fighting games and could easily get away with something cheaper;p

I'm not going to humour this with a proper reply, if you believe the 390/390x or 970 struggle at 1080P in current games, just go get a clue buddy.

Amatsubu · 28 Sep 2015 at 18:18

Dave2150 said:
I'm not going to humour this with a proper reply, if you believe the 390/390x or 970 struggle at 1080P in current games, just go get a clue buddy.

I know, there were too many sensible arguments you can't counter, "buddy"

I don't have to get a clue, I have a 970 and I know its limitations (and vram is not the most obvious one), just as I know the limitations of a 390, whereas you're just blabbering about 8gb/3.5gb and some imaginary future-proofing of a 2-year old rebrand without having any proper knowledge to back it all up.

Anybody with half a brain knows that a 970 can't cope with everything at 1080p. Heck, even a 980Ti struggles sometimes and that runs circles around the 970/390. Try to max out Witcher 3, GTA 5, Crysis 3 and countless other games and maintain a steady 60fps, then come back and argue.

I've recently moved to 1440p and things get even worse. And you know what? Vram is still not the problem. The card just isn't powerful enough to drive it all and framerate plummets way before I hit the vram ceiling... How much more futureproof can a 390 be then if it's roughly the same performance as a 970 and will run out of grunt before you even get to utilise your glorious vram?

If you want to act condescending then try to at least disprove a single thing I've said. The thing is, you won't be able to.

Dave2150 · 28 Sep 2015 at 18:26

Amatsubu said:
I know, there were too many sensible arguments you can't counter, "buddy"

I don't have to get a clue, I have a 970 and I know its limitations (and vram is not the most obvious one), just as I know the limitations of a 390, whereas you're just blabbering about 8gb/3.5gb and some imaginary future-proofing of a 2-year old rebrand without having any proper knowledge to back it all up.

Anybody with half a brain knows that a 970 can't cope with everything at 1080p. Heck, even a 980Ti struggles sometimes and that runs circles around the 970/390. Try to max out Witcher 3, GTA 5, Crysis 3 and countless other games and maintain a steady 60fps, then come back and argue.

I've recently moved to 1440p and things get even worse. And you know what? Vram is still not the problem. The card just isn't powerful enough to drive it all and framerate plummets way before I hit the vram ceiling... How much more futureproof can a 390 be then if it's roughly the same performance as a 970 and will run out of grunt before you even get to utilise your glorious vram?

If you want to act condescending then try to at least disprove a single thing I've said. The thing is, you won't be able to.

You're trying to save face by altering your statement to be that the 970 or 390 cannot maintain a constant 60 fps at 1080P in the Witcher 3.

Then you go on to say a 980ti cannot sustain 60 fps minimum either.

So tell me, how are people playing at 1440p or 4k with a 980ti/titan and reporting a playable and enjoyable FPS? Of course they have some fps dips, though Gsync/Freesync work to eliminate this drop from mattering much.

You keep moving the goalposts - if you don't believe a 970 or 390 to be very competent 1080P cards then you are grossly mistaken.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 28 Sep 2015 at 18:30

sithlord said:
Ultra street fighter 4 & street fighter V beta when it comes out.

I would say an R9 380 or GTX960 would be fine for what you are playing.

They will be between two to three times faster than what you have ATM. There is also an R9 380X being released.