I'll be getting a 970 soon to replace my 6950. I'll probably be getting the Gigabyte G1 but there's been next to no stock available so far so it's a bit of a waiting game. While I've been waiting I've found myself looking at the MSI, which is cheaper and available (sounds like my girlfriend), and I've been indecisively switching back and forth between the two. Chances are I'll stick with the G1 though. Here are some pros and cons for each, in no particular order, as I see it Gigabyte: + Metal shroud + Backplate + Higher clocks out of the box + Great overclocker according to reviews + Binned GPU + Slightly better cooling (direct contact to MOSFETs) than the MSI + Light can be controlled by software + Better connectivity - More expensive than the MSI - Probably louder than the MSI MSI: + Cheaper than the G1 + Passive mode + Great overclocker according to reviews - No backplate - Plastic shroud - Memory modules on rear left to fend for themselves - Lower stock clocks The Gigabyte card also has half its memory on the back of the PCB, I assume the backplate is making contact with it but I'm not sure. Obviously some of those are subjective, and stock clocks become moot once you overclock. They're clearly both great cards. What do you guys think? Worth an extra £15 or so for the G1?
Were the Memory is even when Overclocked makes little difference for performance or overclocking. Even at 7ghz as most review sites have it set at the memory is still cool to touch on the back of those cards. MSI is the cheapest but Id be paying extra for a EVGA one personally Its ment to be pretty much silent compared to the other 2 and that is a price worth paying.
Yeah I thought that might be the case with the memory but I wasn't sure. I'm with you on the noise too, my 6950 is this monster and I never hear it, even with the PC up on the desk beside me. I don't want to start hearing GPU fans when I upgrade, that's for sure.
I'd be very surprised that the EVGA is quieter than silent with the MSI card being semi passive. I can hear a BitFenix Spectre Pro 230mm case fan, over the GPU. There is one real downside to the MSI and that's the lack of a backplate. It should have one TBH Without dipping my head in the case I couldn't even tell you if it's spinning up
Got 2 MSI versions, you can control the light by software on that also (mine is set to "breathing" which looks kinda cool). They are both silent. Unless I'm stressing them out by benchmarking or something the fans hardly ever come on. I'm not really sure if they even do come on most of the time unless I put my head in the case to check. I thought they were malfunctioning to begin with until I started stressing them out and had to look inside the case to check the fans were actually working. For day to day gaming and stuff you don't even know they are there. The idle temps are around 32C the benchmark temps can get up to 65C or so. The only real downside for me is lack of a backplate. I'm sure the EVGA is a very fine card also, but as with most things for me, once the MSI got the gold star premium grade from CPC/Bit Tech on here I knew I wouldn't go wrong in getting them. Love them! I'm not very good with benchmarking and overclocking, but even an idiot like me got a Furmark score of 8449 on the 1080 test thing, and 5180 in the Valley test thing, but that dropped to 4133 once I found the option for Extreme HD in the Valley benchmarker thing.
Thank you for your post. I do really like the passive fan feature on the MSI. Looks like I'll be getting this one.
What are everyone's thoughts on the Asus version? I was planning on getting this one but after a Google search I came across this thread and I haven't seen it even mentioned in here... Is it to be avoided and should I be looking at MSI or Gigabyte instead? Cheers
Both 970 Strix and MSI has semi-passive mode. Strix has the lowest power limit (around 190W), MSI has ~200W and Gigabyte has 250W if i remember correctly. Unfortunately at least in one of the reviews both semi-passive GTX970 cards from ASUS and MSI made annoying coil whine noises (no problem with 980 Strix) : http://www.cnews.cz/testy/drtivy-na...x-970-gtx-980-asus-strix-msi-tf-v/strana/0/16 (Czech language) Hopefully it happens only in a specific combination (he has a Enermax Revolution85 PSU).
I'm holding on for a GTX970 with a better blower. There's MSI's OCV1 which looks to have something close to the NVTTM cooler but with a plastic shroud (looks the same as the one used on their N770-2GD5), and the phantom Manli GTX970-NV, which doesn't appear to be for sale anywhere.
Assuming the 970 and 980 have the same PCB, keep an eye out for stock 980 coolers that have been ripped off for watercooling purposes. I saw a number of these on eBay for earlier Titan-esque cards, and there's no reason why someone might want to recoup some of the costs of their expensive new setup by selling off the cooler(s).
Really the differences between the top vendor cards is neglible at this point in time until more serious binned cards turn up. Assuming you stick with the top vendor names out there you're not going to be disappointed with any of them. It's mostly going to come down to noise, looks and price. Also given that the 970 is a prime target to go SLI the coolers are likely to come off anyway to pave the way for some W/C
They don't, which is the major barrier to just slapping an existing cooler on a 970. The main option is to wait for cards using the 980PCB with a 970 chip, as happened with the 7xx series.
I just slapped this together for you on my mobile phone. So forgive the (lack of) quality but you can take from it what you will. (I struggle to use the damned phone let alone all this overclocking stuff) This is both cards overclocked to a 1300mhz clock speed and a 1800mhz memory (I hope I have that the right way around) and benchmarked so you can tell the noise with the fans on the go and without. I have to literally shove the phone inside the case to hear anything, and what you do hear is my other fans until the benchmark bit starts, or my fat arse squeaking about on my chair as I struggle to bend over low enough to get the phone in place I've tried to edit it a bit but as I will openly admit I'm pretty crap with all this sort of thing, but hope you and others find it useful one way or another.
Which is why i said that "Hopefully it happens only in a specific combination (he has a Enermax Revolution85 PSU)." . But as you can see from his videos, it can happen. I just wish there would be a GTX 970 like ASUS Strix or the MSI card, but with the 3DP + 1HDMI+1DVI layout.
Techpower up reviewed the Palit Jetstream and said it turns the fans off and has the connections you mentioned. Well, there's a mini HDMI not a full one.
I've pre-ordered the MSI for £275. There's stock of the G1 again but prices keep creeping up and it's the best part of £300 most places now. Ultimately it was the price that swung it, I couldn't justify spending an extra £25.
