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Looking to upgrade my HD6950 (Accidentally ordered a GPU too big!)

The GTX970 seems like it would be a good fit for my computer. I've been looking at this one http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-006-GX&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

What do you guys think?

Dimensions are great, at:
Length 271 mm
Height 124.3 mm
Width 41.5 mm

Its a tad more expensive, but if it'll run fine on my specs, case, airflow, etc then i have no problem paying it. Just need confirmation from some experienced guys that im not forgetting anything, or making a mistake. I'd hate to have to return a second purchase. (Just want to play DA:Inquisition, finally :( Im holding off playing until i upgrade)
 
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Malmortius said:
In what way is a 970 different from an r9 290 when it comes to cooling, air flow etc? How is the 970 a better option for my case and setup? Im willing to change to NVIDIA, thats no problem. Its just a case of uninstalling the AMD drivers, right?

Sorry, im going to ask a ton of questions from now on. I don't have too much experience but i'm trying to understand.
Click to expand...

If you get a 970 that exhausts out the back, then it would be a better solution than a 290 that keeps the hot air in your restrictive case.

Sorry about the 'pop' remark. That's only really a risk after many years of dust build up.
 
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Hey bro.

Looks like the Nvidia guys are on a break atm lol.

The card looks good to me. I know gibbo has been praising the galax cards as of late. Build quality is meant to be damn good.

I suggested a blower/reference design as it would exhaust the hot air straight out of your case instead of dumping it back into your case with its limited air flow. Unfortunatly (and unusally) there doesnt seam to be a great choice of these cards at the lower end of the 970 market :(

there is this;

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-264-EA

but from my quick half assed googling, it seams a little loud. if you dont care about the noise, then this might be the one for you, but fan noise is important to me so I wouldnt have it.

then there is the proper "titian" style cooler

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-205-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Yeah, its awsome... But damn its silly money... I wouldnt pay it personally even if it is amazing (which it is!!!).

So I'd say the one you picked out looks like prety nice. (You triple checked it fits this time right? :P)

I recon your be happy with the 970 you picked mate. Wait a little and get another opinion from someone more in the know though if your in no rush.
 
new boy said:
Hey bro.

Looks like the Nvidia guys are on a break atm lol.

The card looks good to me. I know gibbo has been praising the galax cards as of late. Build quality is meant to be damn good.

I suggested a blower/reference design as it would exhaust the hot air straight out of your case instead of dumping it back into your case with its limited air flow. Unfortunatly (and unusally) there doesnt seam to be a great choice of these cards at the lower end of the 970 market :(

there is this;

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-264-EA

but from my quick half assed googling, it seams a little loud. if you dont care about the noise, then this might be the one for you, but fan noise is important to me so I wouldnt have it.

then there is the proper "titian" style cooler

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-205-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Yeah, its awsome... But damn its silly money... I wouldnt pay it personally even if it is amazing (which it is!!!).

So I'd say the one you picked out looks like prety nice. (You triple checked it fits this time right? :P)

I recon your be happy with the 970 you picked mate. Wait a little and get another opinion from someone more in the know though if your in no rush.
Click to expand...

Fan noise is definitely a concern of mine, since my pc is right next to me.
Yeah, thats pretty expensive. I mean, its more than a 3rd of a new decent pc. Spending that much on a card thats going into a pretty old pc wouldn't be wise, i think.
What exactly is a blower/reference design?

And oh yes i measured and checked thoroughly. :) Definitely not going to make that mistake again. My desperateness for shiny new graphics cost me in the end.

Ill wait until tomorrow to see if there's any more opinions (or a go-ahead for this card) I'd really like to order tomorrow so i get it before the weekend, and finally enjoy dragonage inquisition! Thanks for all your replies up to now, man. I imagine it can be frustrating trying to talk sense to a hardware noob like me.
 
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Malmortius said:
What exactly is a blower/reference design?
Click to expand...

A blower design is a card like the two I linked where the fan sucks air into the cooler, and the air travels across the heatsink and the hot air gets exhausted through the pci slots (the plate you screw the gpu to the case to secure it). look at the titan cooler and you can see clearly.

a refernce card is one that amd / nvida design and is the cheapest and usually poorest performing cooler. these are almost always blower designs. for some reason, there is no offical refernce design for the 970 which is strange.

A card like a galax you picked has much more cooling power. all the air is blown on top of the heatsink and is exhausted through the sides of the card. Down side is that all the hot air is being released into the case, so will increase case temperature. the non-refernce coolers will probably have a bit of a vent on the pci slots, but wont really do anything.

Its probably not a big deal as the 970 should be cooler than your 6950 was.
 
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I wanted to ask what case is that? :)

but yeh 970 isn't a bad choice I think, especially if you don't want to wait

a 290 and change the case would be another option right now but whatever :) performance isn't that different, temps on 970 is lower, its more about the features you want, gsync, freesync, all the rest of it

dragonage with mantle or not I think the cutscenes at 30fps will annoy you the most

on which 970 id go evga but maybe im wrong on that, I just trust their warranty

btw I meant these evga's not the blower
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-263-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010
 
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new boy said:
A blower design is a card like the two I linked where the fan sucks air into the cooler, and the air travels across the heatsink and the hot air gets exhausted through the pci slots (the plate you screw the gpu to the case to secure it). look at the titan cooler and you can see clearly.

a refernce card is one that amd / nvida design and is the cheapest and usually poorest performing cooler. these are almost always blower designs. for some reason, there is no offical refernce design for the 970 which is strange.

A card like a galax you picked has much more cooling power. all the air is blown on top of the heatsink and is exhausted through the sides of the card. Down side is that all the hot air is being released into the case, so will increase case temperature. the non-refernce coolers will probably have a bit of a vent on the pci slots, but wont really do anything.

Its probably not a big deal as the 970 should be cooler than your 6950 was.
Click to expand...

I see. Thats an interesting design.

Mei said:
I wanted to ask what case is that? :)

but yeh 970 isn't a bad choice I think, especially if you don't want to wait

a 290 and change the case would be another option right now but whatever :) performance isn't that different, temps on 970 is lower, its more about the features you want, gsync, freesync, all the rest of it

dragonage with mantle or not I think the cutscenes at 30fps will annoy you the most

on which 970 id go evga but maybe im wrong on that, I just trust their warranty

btw I meant these evga's not the blower
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-263-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010
Click to expand...

Im not sure about the case, i bought this PC pre-built from overclockers. (3.5 years and still going!) I tried to go and look at my order but it only shows the bundle,not the separate components.
 
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its a antec something..
maybe a 300 im not sure, was just wondering :)

do you play on monitor or tv?
read some reviews on the 970 its pretty nice card
 
Mei said:
its a antec something..
maybe a 300 im not sure, was just wondering :)

do you play on monitor or tv?
read some reviews on the 970 its pretty nice card
Click to expand...

I just googled Antec 300, wow you're right. Good observation man.

I play on a (22inch?)monitor at 1920x1080
 
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Forget the 290. I've got an MSI Gaming 290 and the heat this thing puts out is ridiculous. I ended up filling all the fan spaces in my Cooler Master Silencio case just to tame the damn thing. To think I once had two of them :eek:

First off, find a compressor or buy a can of air duster (maplin) and give your case a good clean. That dust is doing no good at all.

Then you need to decide if you want a blower or an aftermarket-style cooler. A blower will be louder and hotter but it'll blow the hot air out the back of your case so it's a case of plug in and go.

If you don't intend to overclock or play for ridiculous sessions, this would be my choice as it's 30 seconds work and it's fitted. If you decide to go down the blower route, avoid AMD at all costs as the blowers are simply inadequate (if you can even find them). Nvidia cards, especially the 9xx series run much cooler, so a blower is in fact very viable.

If however you want less noise, you'll be looking at an MSI Gaming, Tri-x, basically all the non OEM coolers. Those will however vent straight into your case so be prepared to make sure you have at least some form of ventilation, or be willing to cut some in with a dremel.

Personally I'd simply do this:

Clean case with compressor / air duster / hoover ---> install GTX 970 with blower cooler ---> run DDU (stands for display driver uninstaller, it's free, search for "ddu") ---> install drivers that come with the 970 and update when prompted ---> enjoy.


Literally 15 mins work and your upgrade is complete.


Enjoy :)
 
Diddums said:
Forget the 290. I've got an MSI Gaming 290 and the heat this thing puts out is ridiculous. I ended up filling all the fan spaces in my Cooler Master Silencio case just to tame the damn thing. To think I once had two of them :eek:

First off, find a compressor or buy a can of air duster (maplin) and give your case a good clean. That dust is doing no good at all.

Then you need to decide if you want a blower or an aftermarket-style cooler. A blower will be louder and hotter but it'll blow the hot air out the back of your case so it's a case of plug in and go.

If you don't intend to overclock or play for ridiculous sessions, this would be my choice as it's 30 seconds work and it's fitted. If you decide to go down the blower route, avoid AMD at all costs as the blowers are simply inadequate (if you can even find them). Nvidia cards, especially the 9xx series run much cooler, so a blower is in fact very viable.

If however you want less noise, you'll be looking at an MSI Gaming, Tri-x, basically all the non OEM coolers. Those will however vent straight into your case so be prepared to make sure you have at least some form of ventilation, or be willing to cut some in with a dremel.

Personally I'd simply do this:

Clean case with compressor / air duster / hoover ---> install GTX 970 with blower cooler ---> run DDU (stands for display driver uninstaller, it's free, search for "ddu") ---> install drivers that come with the 970 and update when prompted ---> enjoy.


Literally 15 mins work and your upgrade is complete.


Enjoy :)
Click to expand...

Then you need to decide if you want a blower or an aftermarket-style cooler
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what those are, or how to install them. Do OCUK sell them?

The first step is deciding on a GPU. Does this look ok? http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-006-GX&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Im going to order some compressed air cans from amazon.
 
Malmortius said:
I just googled Antec 300, wow you're right. Good observation man.

I play on a (22inch?)monitor at 1920x1080
Click to expand...

okay yeh 970 will max most games that res
and its pretty much the best you can get right now without spending crazy more

if you no plans to change your screen anytime soon I don't think it matters but the choice between NVidia and AMD right now is more about gsync/freesync, the 970 has hdmi2 atleast so there is that

your pc is still good enough, id get an ssd if you haven't already tho!

sorry about getting you told off about your dusty case :)
 
An "aftermarket style" cooler will already be fitted to tje card. Basically you get blowers, which have one fan at the back of the card. These suck air in and blow it towards the other side, where it exhausts out the case.

Any cooler which isn't like that can be referred to as an aftermarket style cooler and will already be fitted to the card. Some have two fans (msi gaming, evga ftw, etc etc) and some have three fans (like the Tri-X you had). These are all pre-assembled on the card, simply take out box, plug in motherboard, connect power and that's it.

Then the drivers obviously, but that's software and easy ;)
 
They were just being over dramatic, it won't go pop. :)

Unless something possibly running a bit warmer is the same as something going pop! :p

What power supply do you have though?

Edit: Guys a 290 would be fine if the OP bought a couple of fans, the Antec 300 has space for dual 12cm intakes and it has a 12cm and 14cm exhaust...

But I see you have decided to go green. Good decision! Green team is best team! :D (Though I currently have an HD7970)
 
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Malmortius said:
Do you guys have any preferences for compressed air?
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forum rules no linking other shops :) you will need to remove that

if you look up "Rubber Dust Blower" at the same place I got one of them, was only £2 and used a old makeup brush

takes longer but does a better job, £20 for a can of air is insane
plus some cans squirt out liquid which I don't trust lol
 
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