Looking into the 970 need advice

Calranthe · 7 Oct 2014 at 09:45

Hello,
I am parting ways with my AMD 290x, while it is a good card I need to prioritize power efficiency and noise levels over raw power.

I can afford any of the 970's it comes down noise levels, my system is almost silent except for the 290x.

I am looking for a long term warranty as well, so which is the best 970 for my situation?

Will have the money on the 20th

Stas823 · 7 Oct 2014 at 09:50

Msi by far!

topgun06 · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:02

How about EVGA? I see they are offering an extended 5 year warranty.

Gregster · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:04

Not sure on the noise of the EVGA but for the warranty alone, it is a good deal. If noise is a priority, the MSI is the card to get and does have a 3 year warranty.

Edit:

Geeeeez, just looked at stock and it has nearly all gone again. These cards can't get stocked quick enough - Flying off the shelves

Geeman1979 · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:06

As above ^

EVGA are also offering a free backplate on the 970's.

http://eu.evga.com/articles/00876/EVGAs-Got-Your-Back/

topgun06 · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:07

Yes some reported noise problems with the ACX coolers. Apparently there will be a BIOS update in an attempt to reduce the noise.

RanxZy · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:11

If you want a much quieter experience I would avoid the EVGA ones and get either the MSI or the Asus one tbh.

The Asus would be my choice but they have worse customer service compared to MSI, according to a lot of people on the forums.

Gregster · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:13

RanxZy said:
If you want a much quieter experience I would avoid the EVGA ones and get either the MSI or the Asus one tbh.

The Asus would be my choice but they have worse customer service compared to MSI, according to a lot of people on the forums.

Yer, took 6 weeks to get my Asus Titan RMA sorted. Too long for us gamers

topgun06 · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:16

The EVGA noise problem is disappointing.

5 year warranty - check
Free backplate - check
Noise - meh!

Does anyone know if the noise is a problem when idle? Or just when gaming?

RanxZy · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:36

There were users complaining that even the idle noise on the EVGA 970 ACX 1.0 was so much that they had to return it

JamesM · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:41

MSI or Gigabyte, your call which you prefer

ASUS is nice but doesn't have the extra power to overclock further. If that doesn't bother you then ASUS too

razorpakk · 7 Oct 2014 at 10:49

I understand how 5 years warranty might sound cool, but are you honestly going to keep the same card for more than 2, even 3 years (especially if your jumping from 290 to 970)?

Calranthe · 7 Oct 2014 at 11:08

I would have gone for EVGA in a second because of there excellent service record looks like it will be MSI unless EVGA can convince me the card can be quiet.
The 290 is going to a friend and as for extended warranty, how it usually goes is this (working to a budget) 970 will stay in my machine for a year then I buy the next iteration and 970 goes into my wife's pc a year later that 970 will go into the media pc and stays there until it can not handle games+media.

EVGAdominik · 7 Oct 2014 at 11:08

Hi, for our ACX 2.0 models we have a BIOS update for 0% fanspeed in idle up to about 60 degree, if silent is important for you I would suggest to go for this model.
For the ACX 1.0 models we will also launch an improved BIOS for fanspeed but they can not stop spinning in idle.

Calranthe · 7 Oct 2014 at 11:12

Actually I have another question.
Looks like I may be able to get £400+ to spend on this so my question is, would a 980 be a better replacement for the 290x and which is the quietest 980 ?

JamesM · 7 Oct 2014 at 11:13

The 980 is faster than the 970 yes but is it worth the extra cost? For me, I personally don't think so.

The 970 overclocked can reach stock 980 performance.

Calranthe · 7 Oct 2014 at 11:14

EVGAdominik said:
Hi, for our ACX 2.0 models we have a BIOS update for 0% fanspeed in idle up to about 60 degree, if silent is important for you I would suggest to go for this model.
For the ACX 1.0 models we will also launch an improved BIOS for fanspeed but they can not stop spinning in idle.

I was thinking about the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0 even if I have to wait till the end of the month. if I do not go for a 980

topgun06 · 7 Oct 2014 at 11:18

Calranthe said:
I was thinking about the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0 even if I have to wait till the end of the month. if I do not go for a 980

Same here. And if the ACX 2 can be quite at idle then I may be tempted with that.

Rhaos · 7 Oct 2014 at 11:31

I notice no one has mentioned a Palit or Innox.

Are they not that good then? Would you prefer to pay the extra and go MSI/Gigabyte then going for a Palit or Innox?

Boldie007 · 7 Oct 2014 at 17:02

topgun06 said:
Yes some reported noise problems with the ACX coolers. Apparently there will be a BIOS update in an attempt to reduce the noise.

I personaly don't find the noise a problem (it seems quiet to me!) and despite what others on the EVGA forum are saying the temps seem good too.

I have not seen it over 59 Degs C with 120hz adaptive Vsync enabled and BF4 on max settings @ 1080P. It's much cooler than the 780 ref card I had for the same settings.