Graphics card upgrade - Gigabyte G1 970

[philrobbo89]

Hello All,

I am about to upgrade my graphics card, and have heard lots and lots of good things about the 970s. I don't know that much about the detailed stuff but know that the card should last me for a good 3/4 years before I need an upgrade to get back to the same level.

So here is my problem, I am not sure if this is the right option to go for, I am living in Canada so I will be ordering it from Canada (which is much cheaper compared to england), I'll cost me around $470 (after tax) Canadian to get the 970 Gigabyte G1 edition. Is this a good card to go for, or can I get something better with my money?

Also, I have a current motherboard of:

Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

Would my motherboard be compatible with the 970?

Thanks for your time!

New member,
Phil

 

[Face2Face]

It's my personal favorite because of the higher power limit and great cooler. There should be no compatibility issues using the card with your motherboard.

 

[MrA79]

Hello All,

I am about to upgrade my graphics card, and have heard lots and lots of good things about the 970s. I don't know that much about the detailed stuff but know that the card should last me for a good 3/4 years before I need an upgrade to get back to the same level.

So here is my problem, I am not sure if this is the right option to go for, I am living in Canada so I will be ordering it from Canada (which is much cheaper compared to england), I'll cost me around $470 (after tax) Canadian to get the 970 Gigabyte G1 edition. Is this a good card to go for, or can I get something better with my money?

Also, I have a current motherboard of:

Asus P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard

Would my motherboard be compatible with the 970?

Thanks for your time!

New member,
Phil

It's been pretty well labeled as the best pure bang for your buck, and it runs comparable to the 290x in a lot of games (AMD had to slash prices on the 280\90 series to stay in the game). If it's in your budget, I say go for it.

 

[kasakka]

Your main issue is going to be the size of the card. I've got two of the slightly cheaper Windforce 3X OC cards and they just barely fit my Fractal Define R3 case. The G1 is slightly larger due to the fancy back plate. The measurements on Gigabyte's site are for the whole card including connectors and plates and whatnot so in reality the card fits in a slightly smaller space (Define R3 supposedly takes max 290mm cards).

At least the Windforce needed an easy BIOS mod to quiet the fans in idle.

 

[RussianSensation]

Welcome to AT!

NCIX Canada has the card for cheaper:
http://m.ncix.com/products/sku/102012/1301

The problem is you need to send a $40 rebate and the card still works out to $445 CDN.

You said you want the best deal? Here is my advice:

Get the Club R9 290 Royal King for $280 CDN, which is about $316 after tax. It also requires no rebate:
http://m.ncix.com/products/sku/94192/1301

This card also comes with 3 free games.

Keep in mind an after-market 290 = reference R9 290X:
http://www.computerbase.de/2014-05/amd-radeon-r9-290-290x-roundup-test/2/

Now the performance comparison of an after-market 290 based on reference 290X scores vs. after-market 970:

1080p = 970 leads by 6%
1440p = tied
4K = after market 290/reference 290X leads by 1%
http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/27.html

So you will save $130-150 compared to the 970; take that savings and buy a new card in 3 years. You won't even notice the 6% difference but in 3 years your future card upgrade will be a lot less costly!

Don't forget that an i7 4790K is 6% faster on average against a 2500K:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389580

That means unless you have a highly overclocked Sandy Bridge, the 6% advantage of 970 at 1080P will be reduced to 0-2% faster because of your CPU bottleneck but you will be $130-150 more out of pocket.

If you only want to buy NV, just save $40 and get this one:
http://m.ncix.com/products/sku/103049/1301

 

[TechFan1]

I've been very satisfied with my Gigabyte G1 970.

 

[philrobbo89]

Some very interesting points you guys have been bringing up. The one about the 290X being 6% less productive but being that much cheaper is certainly interesting and something I will have to think about!

Do you not think it is worth it to pay the $409 for the G1 edition, compared to the $349 one you quoted at the end? Just to give you perspective, here is the rest of my specs on the computer.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI)
Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2)
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Silverstone Precision PS03B Midi Tower Case - Black

Another thing that I am worried about, is that I bought all of these things in the UK, so the power supply will have different voltages to those used in Canada. Would this be a problem if I took this setup over there? or is it simple enough to use a plug adapter, or would I need a voltage changer as well.

Thanks again for your great replies

EDIT* I also have a SSD 128GB sitting at home, which I am going to place the operating system onto, therefore the computer should run a lot faster!

 

[raghu78]

Some very interesting points you guys have been bringing up. The one about the 290X being 6% less productive but being that much cheaper is certainly interesting and something I will have to think about!

Do you not think it is worth it to pay the $409 for the G1 edition, compared to the $349 one you quoted at the end? Just to give you perspective, here is the rest of my specs on the computer.

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - OEM
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI)
Corsair Builder Series CX 600W V2 '80 Plus' Power Supply (CMPSU-600CXUKV2)
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
Silverstone Precision PS03B Midi Tower Case - Black

Another thing that I am worried about, is that I bought all of these things in the UK, so the power supply will have different voltages to those used in Canada. Would this be a problem if I took this setup over there? or is it simple enough to use a plug adapter, or would I need a voltage changer as well.

Thanks again for your great replies

EDIT* I also have a SSD 128GB sitting at home, which I am going to place the operating system onto, therefore the computer should run a lot faster!

If you decide to go with GTX 970 , definitely go with Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming. its the best card in terms of stock clocks, increased power limit, cooling and other features like backplate etc. .Its definitely worth the 420 CAD.

www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11831102011&vpn=GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD

As for the R9 290 its the best perf/$ card easily. this test of 2014 games by gamegpu reveals the same fact.

http://gamegpu.ru/test-video-cards/igry-2014-goda-protiv-sovremennykh-videokart.html

Few good deals are

Gigabyte R9 290 (947 Mhz) - CAD 320
www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11830BD5321&vpn=GV-R929WF3-4GD

Club3D Royal Ace R9 290 (1040 Mhz) -CAD 340
http://www.ncix.com/detail/club3d-radeon-r9-290-royal-f3-94205.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DQYp6VU58Y

reasonably good 3 cooler fan on both cards. club3d royalace seems to have good VRM cooling too as seen in the overclock3d review. its also the fastest clocked R9 290 at 1040 Mhz and will be close to R9 290X perf. :thumbsup:

 

[Headfoot]

It's been pretty well labeled as the best pure bang for your buck, and it runs comparable to the 290x in a lot of games (AMD had to slash prices on the 280\90 series to stay in the game). If it's in your budget, I say go for it.

Uh no it hasn't been labeled best bang for the buck because the objectively 5% slower 290 is ~$100 cheaper. The 290 is the best bang for the buck by a mile right now until/unless prices come back up. People still pick 970s over 290s but its not due to bang for the buck. Usually its power consumption/heat.

OP: That Club3d 290 raghu posted looks like a good pick

 

[Carfax83]

The R9 290 is only close to the GTX 970 when you use reference models for the latter, which are clocked very low. With aftermarket parts, the gap is bigger. And if you throw overclocking into the mix, the gap widens even more into the double digit range easily..

 

[RussianSensation]

The R9 290 is only close to the GTX 970 when you use reference models for the latter, which are clocked very low. With aftermarket parts, the gap is bigger. And if you throw overclocking into the mix, the gap widens even more into the double digit range easily..

Why do you continue to keep spreading this false information when many posters prior to you already linked comparisons of highly clocked after-market 970 matching a reference 290X, and only beating it by 6% at 1080p?
http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/27.html

As has already been stated, he has a stock 2500K, but most of these reviews use a faster overclocked i7 3770/4770 which with HT are about 5-6% faster than a 2500k. That means for him the 6% difference will be less due to a CPU bottleneck at 1080p. Also, the price delta is even greater than $100 in Canada which makes 970 a very poor value since one also has to pay taxes on the higher pre-rebate amounts of 970 to begin with.

Philrobbo89, your PSU should work just fine in terms of voltages. However, you might need a wall plug adapter as UK uses different prongs from Canada I believe.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Stock GTX970 is quite faster in 1080p than stock 290 in that link(~10%). Even faster than stock 290X.

Not even in 4K can the 290 keep up.

 

[Carfax83]

Why do you continue to keep spreading this false information when many posters prior to you already linked comparisons of highly clocked after-market 970 matching a reference 290X, and only beating it by 6% at 1080p?
http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/27.html

LOL RS, you call a MSI GTX 970 4G highly clocked?

The base clock for that card is 1140, and boost clock is 1280, which is hardly highly clocked.

There are GTX 970s that are boosting to 1400+ MHz with no adjustment. Those are highly clocked..