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DJL99

DJL99

DJL99

Associate
Joined
24 Jun 2014
Posts
109
I currently have an MSI R9 290. I want to get a GIGABYTE GTX 970 G1 GAMING. Does the Gigabyte have any improvements over the Msi?
Thanks
DJL99 :)
 
I want to do the upgrade because I want to be able to run most or all of the upcoming games. I want to be able to play Far Cry 4 and GTA 5 on at least high settings with AA at 60+ fps. I will also change my CPU from AMD 8350 to I7 4790K.
 
Surely 970 vs 290 is the comparison you want to make and not GIGABYTE versus MSI?

The 970 is a side-grade/minor upgrade. Whether you would make the swap depends on a number of factors:

How you rate/desire/need the feature set nVidia offers (G-SYNC, Surround, PhysX)
How much you care for power consumption
How much you care for heat output
 
GTX 970 or GTX 980? I am going to be gaming at 1080p. I want to have lower temps with a lower amount of power consumption while still being able to play graphically demanding games.
 
You will not see much of a performance increase moving from a 290 to a 970. It's more of a side-grade in that respect.
 
You won't notice a big improvement imho. Why not wait 3 months and see what AMD releases. Very likely the new AMD card will be faster.
 
I've looked at all sorts of reviews and benchmarks. In my opinion, the 970 is faster, quieter and more efficient. I want to be absolutely sure that I will be able to run games being released at this time, and in the future. I feel that this card will do just that.
 
Then we can confirm what you already know - the 970 consumes less power and is both quieter and cooler, but will offer a negligible performance increase.
 
DJL99 said:
I've looked at all sorts of reviews and benchmarks. In my opinion, the 970 is faster, quieter and more efficient. I want to be absolutely sure that I will be able to run games being released at this time, and in the future. I feel that this card will do just that.
Click to expand...

So what's the issue then?

It's not much, if any, of a performance upgrade. If you want less heat, less noise and have disposable income to burn on a sidegrade then buy it.

As for cast iron guarantee on it's ability to run unreleased games? No chance.

As a general rule of thumb ANY current gen mid/high range GPU will perform adequately at 1920x1080 in any current or next years big titles. But you are going to find titles you need to turn settings down on.
 
Unless you have a GSync monitor or something don't bother. Certainly do your mentioned CPU upgrade first, as any slowdowns you see are likely due to that.

A 290 will smash anything at 1080p.
 
fs123 said:
LoL, since you are 'informed' then go ahead buy a 970....:eek:
Click to expand...

Why the need to take the ****? He obviously meant TXAA, and has a valid point about nVidia tech considering one of the games he mentions is a gameworks title.

OP, I have a MSI 970 and absolutely love it. I've enjoyed games just working without the need to tinker with my crossfire setup. Also quite like DSR and physx in some games. I would recommend the MSI but I don't think you would be disappointed with either. Of course, for more of an upgrade as opposed to side grade, you would be looking at the 980.
 
there will be no noticable difference going from a 290 to a 970 but if you have the urge then do it after all a mans gota do what a mans gota do
 
yeah, depends how attached you are to nvidia-specific gameworks stuff. i really like to be able to run with physx etc, but imo your situation it is a total waste of money.

i bought a 7970 last year when they were cheap, about 2 weeks before the 770s dropped in price! if i'd waited i would have definitely gone with the 770, but no way was i going to side-grade to it. i could have probably made the switch for about £50 if the ebay gods had smiled on me, but it wasn't worth it.

save your money, wait and see what amd release, possibly wait until nv release their next card.
 
DJL99 said:
I've looked at all sorts of reviews and benchmarks. In my opinion, the 970 is faster, quieter and more efficient. I want to be absolutely sure that I will be able to run games being released at this time, and in the future. I feel that this card will do just that.
Click to expand...
Beyond the lower power-consumption and temp, performance wise the 970 is still within trading-blows range of the 290.

If you think going from 290 to 970 will give you noticable improvement on performance, then you are saddly mistaken. Yes you can almost be certain that AMD cards will underperform (regardless of the cause or reason) comparing to Nvidia cards in GameWorks title, but if you want to go Nvidia, I would strongly suggest at least wait for a Nvidia card that's actually hugely faster than your existing 290 before upgrading.

Just upgrade your CPU/platform first, and wait at least the true next gen Nvidia cards...rather than the current 970/980 range which performance wise haven't really moved on much comparing the the 290/290x/780/780Ti generation.
 
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