Has anyone received a 970 that has a cooler like this? Looks very similar to their design on older cards like the 770 and 670, which was apparently loud and hot, unfortunately I need one like this due to the size on my case, so sort of stuck with it. I can only find reviews for the two or three fan designs, what do you guys think this one will be like? I'm hoping the 970 runs cool enough anyway to compensate.
The 970 and 980, has this as reference design for it's cooler: Which is said to be quiet, based on what I read. As the reference design cooler is expensive, manufactures instead made a cheaper one, which is the one that you see in yours. So, now it depends on the fan they put, heatsink size, and feature (heat-pipes, number of fins, etc). Personally, I am waiting for the reference cooler to show up. While technically it doesn't mater in terms of look, as it will in side my case, facing down, like all GPUs, and well no glass door. I don't like noisy fans, and if the price is about the same, give me the more solid, metal cast heatsink enclosure, even if it's bit more expensive. It's more the feel of having something solid and high build quality. Usually, Nvidia reference design are pretty darn good. I have never liked the other kind of cooler. Sure it can cool a bit better, but usually they are noisy, or the fan turn noisy after several years of usage (cheap fan, despite quiet at first), and releases the heat inside your case, and not out of the back, making it harder to remove that heat, which leads to a more noisy computer as you need more fans or turn them faster than a slow speed.
According to bit's review of the 970, Nvidia is not producing a reference design for it unlike the 980. No idea on temps/noise, sorry.
Thanks for all the info, I think OcUK are making a 970 with the 980 cooler which would be perfect for you. Unfortunately that won't work for me Yeah it's a shame, now the only blower designs are from third parties. Nice, is it the same design as the one I linked? If so, how is the noise? Good to know, feeling a bit more confident about these coolers now.
Yeah, exactly the same model. In normal gaming use it was alright, not super silent but by no means deafening. It got a bit louder under stress testing but nothing too extreme. Max temperature we saw was 50C above ambient.
The Silverstone SFX 600-G. There aren't a lot of good SFX power supplies around, I think I might be waiting a while for it to come in stock.