MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC vs GTX 970 GAMING 4G

[mikemcc]

Hi Folks,

I'm wondering if any of you have experience with both of these GTX 970 cards from MSI. I had planned on going with the 970 Gaming 4G for $349 at Newegg. However, today the 4GD5T OC is $319 at Tigerdirect after the $20 Visa Checkout. (They don't have the 4G, or I'd use the promotion on that.)

As best I can tell, the 4G has the Twin Frozr V's and is clocked slightly higher.

So, in your opinion, are the fans and the higher clocks worth the extra $30? The 4GD5T OC is already overclocked, so I don't know if there is much headroom for more -- maybe you all would know that. Or, maybe the 4G has the potential to go much higher.

In the context of this build, $30 isn't a whole heck of a lot, but I'm not going to sneer at a small savings if both cards are very much alike. At the same time, if the more expensive 4G is clearly superior, I have no problem at all shelling out an extra $30.

This will go in a 5820K that I'll use for gaming. My wife is a partner in an advertising agency, so she sometimes has to edit TV or radio commercials and does some high-end stuff with photography. Otherwise I would have gone with the 4790K. Most of the time she uses her machines at work, but two or three times a month she has to use mine. For my part, I just want the best gaming in BF4 and Arma 3 and maybe something else that I'll get for X-mas. I don't plan to SLI -- one card will do me for now. When the next-gen cards come out, I'll probably just upgrade to one of those and pass this one on to my son. (That's how we do it at my house -- my old parts trickle down to my kids, so they are always happy when there is a new upgrade cycle on something!)

 

[raghu78]

since you are interested in the next gen cards (R9 3xx or Nvidia GM200) and this card seems to be a stop gap you could either spend almost USD 80 lower on the R9 290 OC and enjoy the same class of performance.

www.amazon.com/Asus-R9290-DC2OC-4GD5...dp/B00HWQUI02/

if you want a GTX 970 get the asus strix 970. fantastic build quality. the fans don't even spin upto 65c.

www.amazon.com/ASUS-STRIX-GTX970-DC2...dp/B00NJ9BJ8G/

 

[Carfax83]

So, in your opinion, are the fans and the higher clocks worth the extra $30? The 4GD5T OC is already overclocked, so I don't know if there is much headroom for more -- maybe you all would know that. Or, maybe the 4G has the potential to go much higher.

The answer to these questions depends squarely on you. The 4G is the faster card due to higher clock speeds, but the difference isn't very much.

But if you will be overclocking and want to get maximum performance, then the 4G looks like the better option as it has better thermal characteristics overall including fans, heatsink etcetera.. Even if you don't overclock, the max boost clock on the 4G should be significantly higher as it runs cooler.

So you're more likely to get more out of the 4G. That said, the GTX 970 generally speaking is highly overclockable. Even the 4GD5T should be able to much higher clock speeds than default.

There's a few people on this forum that have the MSI GTX 970 4G and have managed to get into the 1500 Mhz range..

 

[netxzero64]

So, in your opinion, are the fans and the higher clocks worth the extra $30? The 4GD5T OC is already overclocked, so I don't know if there is much headroom for more -- maybe you all would know that. Or, maybe the 4G has the potential to go much higher.

The 970 gaming 4G does not determine higher OC potential. I had that card for 10 days before selling it and switching to Galax 970 EXOCs for SLI.

Going back, my MSI 970 4G gaming before got a max OC clock of 1473mhz only and that is way below what you can see on the review sites out there about this baby. In short, the brand does not pertain to higher OC potentials. If you want a 970 that can go past 1500mhz, then the Gigabyte G1 is for you. I have read a lot of threads that the Gigabyte G1 970 has binned chips or so called golden chips which overclocks above 1500mhz and sometimes go past 1600mhz!

 

[toyota]

I would not get the GTX 970 4GD5T OC. I had one and right out of the box it was pegging the TDP and dropping clocks and voltage. even leaving at out of the box clocks and raising the power limit to max did not help much.

 

[mikemcc]

Thanks folks! I haven't decided yet, but I will remove the GTX 970 4GD5T OC from my list and add the R9 290 OC and the Gigabyte G1. I'll see what is in stock tomorrow afternoon when I order everything.

 

[Carfax83]

The G1 will be a quite a bit faster than the R9 290. The latest HardOCP review shows a XFX Double Dissipation edition R9 290 overclocked to 1125 MHz just competing with a stock clocked Asus GTX 970 Strix, one of the slower GTX 970 models..

 

[Headfoot]

The G1 will be a quite a bit faster than the R9 290. The latest HardOCP review shows a XFX Double Dissipation edition R9 290 overclocked to 1125 MHz just competing with a stock clocked Asus GTX 970 Strix, one of the slower GTX 970 models..

If by quite a bit you mean 5-7% for $80, then yes.

 

[NomanA]

Thanks folks! I haven't decided yet, but I will remove the GTX 970 4GD5T OC from my list and add the R9 290 OC and the Gigabyte G1. I'll see what is in stock tomorrow afternoon when I order everything.

I'd recommend getting MSI 4GD5T, if you find it at a good enough price. I got it for $315 on the day of release, and it has performed exceptionally well. Power limit can be increased to 106%. I have overclocked it to 1420-1440MHz boost levels and the GPU clock remains fairly stable during games. Thermal and noise profile are great. It's a very quiet card. No coil whine either.

I don't think it'd be worth it, to pay $50-100 more to get another 970 that may let you have 1500MHz+ boost levels with 112% power limit, essentially giving 2-3%, if not less, over the 4GD5T.

 

[NomanA]

And R9 290s at $240 are even better buys.

 

[Carfax83]

If by quite a bit you mean 5-7% for $80, then yes.

Right, the R9 290 overclocked barely competes with a stock clocked GTX 970 Strix which is one of the slower models. The G1 GTX 970 will have a double digit percentage lead over it when overclocked to 1500 MHz..

 

[NomanA]

A new BIOS for 4GD5T had come out, two or three weeks back. This thread reminded me to finally try it and see what the changes are. The max power limit is now raised to 110% (from earlier 106%), and more importantly, the monitored power-limit is lower, and GPU clocks are dead stable even at 1460 MHz.

With the previous BIOS, and a Heaven benchmark run (2560x1440, extreme tessellation, 2xAA), the core clock would range from 1460 to 1420 MHz, averaging around 1445MHz. Power limit was at 106 most of the time. With this BIOS however, the GPU core clock remains completely constant at 1460 MHz (which is where I have set the over clock levels) I may try and boost the clock further.

It's an even better card now, and if the TigerDirect deal is still there, you should consider it.

 

[WittyRemark]

Right, the R9 290 overclocked barely competes with a stock clocked GTX 970 Strix which is one of the slower models. The G1 GTX 970 will have a double digit percentage lead over it when overclocked to 1500 MHz..

Agreed.
Though I don't think oc'd 290 was "barely" competing, It matched the strix except in Crysis 3.
but then again, it did used more power while doing so.

So OP, GTX970 4GD5T seems like a better deal IMO.
I don't think you're going feel any significant difference in games if the card runs at 1400mhz or 1500mhz.

 

[WittyRemark]

Thanks folks! I haven't decided yet, but I will remove the GTX 970 4GD5T OC from my list and add the R9 290 OC and the Gigabyte G1. I'll see what is in stock tomorrow afternoon when I order everything.

R9 290 OC Best Value Card.