Which GeForce GTX 970 4GB to Buy?

[PuppyBoss]

Hi. I am planning on upgrading my GPU to play the newer games, as my old GTX 460 just doesn't cut it.
I wanted the best card there is, but my budget restricts me upto the GTX 970 series only (can't afford the 980 series or the Titan series).
Also, I only want to get the Nvidia cards, not the AMD ones. I'm biased towards Nvidia because of many reasons (like, I've only used Nvidia cards till not, they have good compatibility with most games, etc etc)

Now, with regard to the Nvidia GeForce 970 4GB DDR5 cards, there are so many out there, and as a beginner in GPU and hardware stuff, I can't decide which one to buy. Here's a list of the cards with the online retailers I buy from (FlipKart)

Gigabyte NVIDIA GV-N970WF3OC-4GD 4 GB GDDR5: 1114 MHz GPU Clock Speed
Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX 970 4 GB GDDR5: 1051 MHz GPU Clock Speed
Asus NVIDIA Strix GTX 970 4 GB GDDR5: 1114 MHz GPU Clock Speed
MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 4GD5T OC 4 GB GDDR5: 1102 MHz GPU Clock Speed
ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB GDDR5: 1076 MHz GPU Clock Speed
Inno3D NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 OC 4 GB DDR5: 1088 MHz GPU Clock Speed
Galax NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB GDDR5: 1178 MHz GPU Clock Speed

The price difference between these is not significant enough to make me choose based on the price.
The card should be very durable, and have good cooling because my PC is placed where there's no good airflow around the cabinet. I have no plans to OC it, but in the future I might need to OC to run the newer games at max settings. So please advice and guide me on selecting the good GPU.

For those wondering, these are my system specs:

PSU: Seasonic M12II 750W
Processor: Intel i5-2500K (@ 3.3 GHz)
HDD: 2x 2TB WD SATA
RAM: 2x 4GB Corsair (1600 Mhz)
MoBo: Intel DH67BL (old, no SLI support)
Cabinet: Zotac Vertex

I just bought the PSU, after consulting with the experts in the PSU section of these forums. I was told this PSU is more than enough for my setup and for any upgrades I do in the future. In fact, even a 600W PSU would suffice, I was told. I got the 750W one so as to just be on the safer side. Please note that I plan to upgrade the MoBo, Processor, RAM & cabinet in the future, as I save up for it. I really want the GPU so that I can play games till I get the rest of the updates.
P.S: With my current setup, can I play the latest games (GTA 5, Witcher 3, AC Syndicate, Fallout 4) smoothly at 1080p with all settings maxed? Or will the processor/RAM bottleneck the performance?

 

[Seba]

I would have bought a Seasonic S12G 550 instead of Seasonic M12II 750.

You have a GTX 770 on that list.

I can't find your case. What is the maximum length of the graphics card that fits in it?

 

[PuppyBoss]

I would have bought a Seasonic S12G 550 instead of Seasonic M12II 750.

You have a GTX 770 on that list.

I can't find your case. What is the maximum length of the graphics card that fits in it?

Oops, sorry about that. I've removed the 770 from the list.
I found out that some of the above cards are upto 11.5" long (that's what she said). I checked my case, & it looks like i can fit it in if I move the HDD to the unused space above meant for the DVD drive. Measured with a scale and I just might fit a 12" card inside :sneaky:

 

[LTC8K6]

Asus and GB make short GTX970 cards if you need a shorter card.

 

[Charlie98]

In absence of a reasonable EVGA card, I'd get the Gigabyte.

As far as the 2500K/970 combo, it's still a reasonable setup and allow you to play new titles at reasonable settings. I don't play any of those games you listed, so I can't comment specifically, but coming off a 460 you should be impressed!

 

[PuppyBoss]

Asus and GB make short GTX970 cards if you need a shorter card.

I think the card length shouldn't be a problem, unless the length factors into durability/cooling ability/etc?

In absence of a reasonable EVGA card, I'd get the Gigabyte.

As far as the 2500K/970 combo, it's still a reasonable setup and allow you to play new titles at reasonable settings. I don't play any of those games you listed, so I can't comment specifically, but coming off a 460 you should be impressed!

Yes, that's what I reckon! Should be a significant step-up from the current 460. Hoping the bottleneck won't be too much of an issue, as it's going to be a long time before I can save up for the CPU+MoBo upgrade

 

[Magic Carpet]

Asus and GB make short GTX970 cards if you need a shorter card.

They also run hotter/louder too. 970 Class GPU needs two fans for efficient and quiet cooling. The ASUS one is of higher quality, however.

 

[PuppyBoss]

They also run hotter/louder too. 970 Class GPU needs two fans for efficient and quiet cooling. The ASUS one is of higher quality, however.

Gigabyte (Windforce) has 3 fans!

 

[PuppyBoss]

Reading user reviews from popular online shopping sites, I came across the "3.5gb of regular VRAM. 0.5gb of crippled RAM" issue. What exactly is this, and why are people comparing that this card performs like a gtx 460??!

 

[Teizo]

Either the Asus Strix or MSI Gaming, and the 100ME Gaming 970 if you can find a good deal on it.

 

[Teizo]

Reading user reviews from popular online shopping sites, I came across the "3.5gb of regular VRAM. 0.5gb of crippled RAM" issue. What exactly is this, and why are people comparing that this card performs like a gtx 460??!

Because the 970 ripped a hole in AMD and they needed a way to keep people from buying it.

Granted it is a flaw, and Nvidia did not disclose it properly, but the card runs just fine @ 1080p and 1440p....especially @ 1080p.

The 3.5gb of Vram will not be an issue for some time to come @ 1080p and possibly 1440p. If that were the case, Radeon Fury cards would have come with more than 4gb of Vram.

 

[Teizo]

That said, if you don't mind buying a Radeon card, the Power Color PCS+ 390 is a good card and is only $299. It does use more power and will dump more heat into your case than the 970, but performance wise they are virtually the same.

 

[RussianSensation]

Now, with regard to the Nvidia GeForce 970 4GB DDR5 cards, there are so many out there, and as a beginner in GPU and hardware stuff, I can't decide which one to buy. Here's a list of the cards with the online retailers I buy from (FlipKart)

For those wondering, these are my system specs:

PSU: Seasonic M12II 750W
Processor: Intel i5-2500K (@ 3.3 GHz)
HDD: 2x 2TB WD SATA
RAM: 2x 4GB Corsair (1600 Mhz)
MoBo: Intel DH67BL (old, no SLI support)
Cabinet: Zotac Vertex

With your stock CPU, buy the cheapest 970 with good cooling as the performance between all of them will be virtually identical. In that order we would get:

#1 - Inno 3D 970 for 28.3K

#2 - Asus Strix for $30.95K <- Only pay extra 10-12% for this card over Zotac 970/Inno 3D if you value the lowest noise levels.

Nothing else really makes sense besides the Zotac 970.

All the other cards cost 32K-39K. Compared to the 27-28K Zotac/Inno 3D, even the Asus Strix is 31K or at least 10% more expensive.

MSI Gaming, G1, none of these make sense at their prices here:
http://www.flipkart.com/computers/c...asc&sid=6bo,g0i,6sn&filterNone=true&q=gtx+970

Pretty much all 970s will perform the same on your stock CPU so spending extra on cards like G1 is just a waste of $. Spend as less as possible and save the $ towards PC games or your next GPU upgrade in 2-3 years.

 

[Leyawiin]

I don't see it among the choices, but I have an MSI Gaming GTX 970 that I bought recently and its great. I can't hear the fans even in heavy gaming, there's no coil whine, it runs cool and performance is exactly what I was expecting.

Edit: Didn't realize how much more it was at the website vs. the others. I'd go with Russian's suggestion. The Inno3D looks good for the money.

 

[RussianSensation]

Edit: Didn't realize how much more it was at the website vs. the others. I'd go with Russian's suggestion. The Inno3D looks good for the money.

I'll even add this, instead of him spending 33-39K on some other 970s, get a cheaper 970 for 27-28K like the Inno3D and then purchase a CPU cooler to overclock the processor to 4.5-4.8Ghz. This will especially help in Fallout 4.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Cooler = 2.75K
Cooler Master Hyper 212X Cooler = 3.2K
Deepcool Neptwin Cooler = 3.75K

And surprisingly affordable vs. the NH-D14, Deepcool Assassin for 5.6K

These tower CPU coolers would also help to exhaust the heat out of his case.

 

[tweakboy]

I go with EVGA ,, all the way!

 

[skipsneeky2]

Had at one point the Asus Strix 970,it was a very nice looking card and its 0% fan function insured the quietest of cards during moments when i didn't game.

I had a fan curve of 45% @ 35 Cel which insured i couldn't hear the card and that also it wouldn't usually load over 62 C.I had found myself opening up my case and physically making sure the damn fans were working as it was just to quiet lol.

My Zotac AMP! 770 on the other hand,ramping it to 2200rpm or 75% barely keeps me under 70 C lol.

 

[PuppyBoss]

I'll even add this, instead of him spending 33-39K on some other 970s, get a cheaper 970 for 27-28K like the Inno3D and then purchase a CPU cooler to overclock the processor to 4.5-4.8Ghz. This will especially help in Fallout 4.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO Cooler = 2.75K
Cooler Master Hyper 212X Cooler = 3.2K
Deepcool Neptwin Cooler = 3.75K

And surprisingly affordable vs. the NH-D14, Deepcool Assassin for 5.6K

These tower CPU coolers would also help to exhaust the heat out of his case.

Thank you for taking the time to check out the shopping site and reviewing the prices. Appreciate it a lot :thumbsup:
I was thinking of getting the Gigabyte Windforce card, but now I've decided not to. Also, the gigabyte cards don't have a backplate (except G1, but it's way over the budget @ 39.5K). Users have complained that they had their cards sagging after a while without the backplate to support these humongous cards. Thus, the Asus Strix seems like a better option, as it has a backplate. Zotac & Inno have no backplates either.

About the coolers you recommended, I have no idea on how to set them up. Do i fix them with screws or will I have to use thermal paste or something? And also, when I upgrade my cabinet/CPU, can I remove this cooler and transfer it to the new cabinet?

And where can I get information on how to overclock my CPU? Is there a program for it, like afterburner for GPUs?

 

[Headfoot]

The backplate really doesn't make much of any difference other than the fact it looks cool and kinda protects the back of the card. I wouldn't pay any extra for it, but if 2 have the same price its probably a nice-to-have

 

[Seba]

You said in the first post that the prices are similar.

If cheapest GTX 970 from your list is 28000 and the most expensive is 39000, those are not similar prices.

You should add prices to your list of GTX 970 cards.

 

[Creig]

Reading user reviews from popular online shopping sites, I came across the "3.5gb of regular VRAM. 0.5gb of crippled RAM" issue. What exactly is this, and why are people comparing that this card performs like a gtx 460??!

I don't know about the GTX 460 level performance part, but Nvidia actually lied about the specs of the 970 for four and a half months after release. Apparently not one of the 10,000 Nvidia employees noticed that every single 970 review on the net was listing incorrect specs for the 970. It wasn't until gamers noticed odd behavior while benchmarking the 970 that they were able to track down its 0.5GB of slow memory.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8935/geforce-gtx-970-correcting-the-specs-exploring-memory-allocation


Fast Segment (3.5GB) - 192GB/sec
Slow Segment (512MB) - 28GB/sec

The 970 relies on software heuristics to determine which memory system to use only after 3.5GB is requested &#8211; enough to fill the entire 3.5GB segment. Then the 512MB segment get used, at which point Nvidia attempts to place the least sensitive/important data in the slower segment. This driver software needs to be programmed on a per-game basis.

So basically, all 970 owners are going to have to cross their fingers and hope that Nvidia continues to include the 970 software memory allocations for future games. Otherwise, GTX 970 performance could suffer due to the extremely slow 0.5GB portion of memory.

 

[Mercennarius]

For the money I would recommend a 290X/390X over a 970 any day. But i'm biased .

 

[PuppyBoss]

You said in the first post that the prices are similar.

If cheapest GTX 970 from your list is 28000 and the most expensive is 39000, those are not similar prices.

You should add prices to your list of GTX 970 cards.

39.5K is for the gigabyte G1, which isn't on the list I've put up. The prices are within $70 for the above listed cards. Among the above list, the cheapest is 28.3k & the costliest is 33.5k, so the price difference is Rs. 5200, which is $75. What I feel is, when I'm spending so much for the card, I'd rather pay a little extra and get the best one out there (provided it's not way too much. My budget is 30k, and I might be able to squeeze out max 2k more, or I might also save more by inquiring at local dealers if they have the card in question)

Here are the prices of them all:

Asus NVIDIA Strix GTX 970 4 GB Rs. 30950
Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX 970 4 GB (Not G1) Rs. 32900
GigabyteNVIDIA GV-N970WF3OC-4GD4GB Rs. 33,500
MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 4GD5T OC 4 GB Rs. 29360
ZOTAC NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Rs. 28390
Inno3DNVIDIA GeForce GTX 970OC4GB Rs. 28300
GalaxNVIDIA GeForce GTX 9704GB Rs. 28500

Prices of other cards not on the list:

Gigabyte NVIDIA GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD 4 GB Rs. 39,500
Evga NVIDIA GeForce GTX970 SSC 4 GB Rs. 36,260
INNO3DNVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 OC4GB Rs. 32,150http://www.flipkart.com/inno3d-nvid...y=NVIDIA+GeForce+GTX+970&otracker=from-search

 

[Charlie98]

And where can I get information on how to overclock my CPU? Is there a program for it, like afterburner for GPUs?

It's my suggestion to NOT use any sort of OC software, even the stuff included with your motherboard (if applicable.) I tried it with my Gigabyte board and had no end of problems, I didn't even waste my time with my Asus board... it's far easier to just change the settings in the BIOS yourself, that way you know what's going on. I'm sure there is a guide to basic OC'ing here or elsewhere... just Google it.

 

[PuppyBoss]

I don't know about the GTX 460 level performance part, but Nvidia actually lied about the specs of the 970 for four and a half months after release. Apparently not one of the 10,000 Nvidia employees noticed that every single 970 review on the net was listing incorrect specs for the 970. It wasn't until gamers noticed odd behavior while benchmarking the 970 that they were able to track down its 0.5GB of slow memory.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8935/geforce-gtx-970-correcting-the-specs-exploring-memory-allocation

Good lord, I did not know this. Now I'm scared AF to buy this D:
Reading through the 398 comments didn't help either. There are those saying performance is not affected, & there are those saying it's OK for the games out now, but future games will take a hit with this. Some have complained that games like Dying Light & Borderlands Pre-Sequel have taken a hit with just 1080p resolutions with Ultra settings. Dunno how many of these are genuine comments. I know this is a big controversy and has been discussed elsewhere, but could someone tell me whether it's OK to buy the card with this limitation? I intend to always use a single monitor, never dual or triple screens. I have been gaming at 1920x1080 resolution on my 22" LCD. I might increase this resolution later with the new card. Will this cause any hurdles for gaming the latest titles, and future titles?