Buying a GTX 970, how to know it's right for me?

[UNATCO-PC]

Hey everyone,
I'm planning to buy a GTX 970, not sure what brand to go with. I want to make sure that I am able to have it properly working in my PC. Im going to be upgrading my Asus 660 Ti 2 GB. I currently have a Intel core i5 4460 3.2 GHz, Gigabyte H97-D3H MB, 500 watt power supply, and a Cooler Master HAF 912 case. At the risk of myself sounding stupid, will my PC be able to run a GTX 970? Also, any suggestions on what specific model to buy?

Thank you all for your help!

EDIT: So, if I am going to buy a GTX 970 (by now it's possibly a STRIX model) and I want to overclock, Im looking at buying a new PSU alongside a GPU? Also, can anyone recommend a good thread or tutorial on how to overclock a 970?
Thank you for all the replies!

 

[rcald2000]

Buy the GTX 970. And buy it from Amazon.com. They have a no-hassle return policy.

I like both the EVGA 970 FTW (3978) and the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming. Buy the card tonight and enjoy the experience. Make sure they come with Metal Gear Solid V.

 

[g-unit1111]

Entirely depends on what monitor resolution you're using. I have two GTX 970s - a Gigabyte Windforce 3X and an MSI Twin FROZR V. I like the MSI because of the customization more than the Gigabyte but it's all relative.

 

[UNATCO-PC]

Buy the GTX 970. And buy it from Amazon.com. They have a no-hassle return policy.

I like both the EVGA 970 FTW (3978) and the MSI GTX 970 4G Gaming. Buy the card tonight and enjoy the experience. Make sure they come with Metal Gear Solid V.

http://www.amazon.ca/EVGA-GeForce-Superclocked-256bit-Graphics/dp/B00NVODXR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441765212&sr=8-1&keywords=EVGA+GTX+970

I took a glance at this nice beauty. You think this will be able to fit my MB and CPU?

Thanks for your help!

 

[CarmelloFellow]

970 is nice as long as you don't care about that 3.5GB memory issue that people had (not sure if still relevant). Fast performing GPU overall and worth the cost. The reference card looks cooler if you care about that at all. Just a tip if you want it to look baller. But the STRIX models perform better.
plus you have to consider overclocking. more vans means lower temps means more overclocking

 

[g-unit1111]

970 is nice as long as you don't care about that 3.5GB memory issue that people had (not sure if still relevant). Fast performing GPU overall and worth the cost. The reference card looks cooler if you care about that at all. Just a tip if you want it to look baller. But the STRIX models perform better.
plus you have to consider overclocking. more vans means lower temps means more overclocking

Please do not start this argument again. It has been posted and debunked thoroughly 1,000,000 times. I do not want this thread to devolve into this.

 

[KKAW]

Hey everyone,
I'm planning to buy a GTX 970, not sure what brand to go with. I want to make sure that I am able to have it properly working in my PC. Im going to be upgrading my Asus 660 Ti 2 GB. I currently have a Intel core i5 4460 3.2 GHz, Gigabyte H97-D3H MB, 500 watt power supply, and a Cooler Master HAF 912 case. At the risk of myself sounding stupid, will my PC be able to run a GTX 970? Also, any suggestions on what specific model to buy?

Thank you all for your help!

GTX 970 is the sweet spot for 1080P gaming it will handle most modern gaming on ultra settings well.

GTX 970 is also power efficient so a quality 550W will be enough even for overclocking purposes.

GTX 970 has great overclocking headroom, it's safe and easy.

GTX 970 models tier list from http://biomtech.weebly.com/gpu-manufacturermodel-tier-list.html

 

[Cryio]

*Do not* buy a 970. It's not worth it anymore. You can buy a 390 for less or same money and it's faster at both 1080p and 1440p. It's also got more VRAM for when future games will require it for better textures and loading more assets AND it appears DirectX12 is better supported at this time.

Buy the better card for the money . You already have an i5, so basically there is absolutely no CPU driver issues, if you've read on the problem.

To be absolutely safe, you'd need a 550 PSU, but I think you'll be fine. GPU and PSU overclocking would be off the table.

 

[Cryio]

GTX 970 is the sweet spot for 1080P gaming it will handle most modern gaming on ultra settings well.

GTX 970 is also power efficient so a quality 550W will be enough even for overclocking purposes.

GTX 970 has great overclocking headroom, it's safe and easy.

He has a 500W PSU, so overclocking for the 970 is likely off the table.

If he buys a new 550W, he might as well get a 390.

970 IS NO LONGER the sweet spot for 1080p gaming, That honor goes now to the R9 390. Performance, money and value wise.

 

[KKAW]

GTX 970 is the sweet spot for 1080P gaming it will handle most modern gaming on ultra settings well.

GTX 970 is also power efficient so a quality 550W will be enough even for overclocking purposes.

GTX 970 has great overclocking headroom, it's safe and easy.

He has a 500W PSU, so overclocking for the 970 is likely off the table.

If he buys a new 550W, he might as well get a 390.

970 IS NO LONGER the sweet spot for 1080p gaming, That honor goes now to the R9 390. Performance, money and value wise.

It is recommended to have a 650W PSU for R9 390. GTX 970 is still 550W so if you consider the additional price you are paying for the PSU you could say the GTX 970 and R9 390 price point is basically the same.

R9 390 is an improvement compared to it's R9 200 series when it comes to heat output.

The GTX 970 and R9 390 are equally the sweet spot for 1080P gaming. I never said the R9 390 is worse than the GTX 970 regarding performance.

However there are plenty of other games benchmarks with the R9 390 coming far ahead. So it's up to the buyer. R9 390 has better overclocking headroom compared to the R9 200 series however the GTX 970 will still have better overclocking abilities compared to the R9 390.

 

[Cryio]

PSUs recommended for the 390 are 550-600, not 650.

 

[KKAW]

PSUs recommended for the 390 are 550-600, not 650.

I use http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

They test all the GPU's.

 

[CarmelloFellow]

970 is nice as long as you don't care about that 3.5GB memory issue that people had (not sure if still relevant). Fast performing GPU overall and worth the cost. The reference card looks cooler if you care about that at all. Just a tip if you want it to look baller. But the STRIX models perform better.
plus you have to consider overclocking. more vans means lower temps means more overclocking

Please do not start this argument again. It has been posted and debunked thoroughly 1,000,000 times. I do not want this thread to devolve into this.

Chill. Did you read the whole thing. I said it might not even still be relevant. People are saying 390 for 1080p gaming is good and I would go with that also considering the DX12 issue with NVIDIA cards. AMD cards apparently run better on DX12

 

[UNATCO-PC]

*Do not* buy a 970. It's not worth it anymore. You can buy a 390 for less or same money and it's faster at both 1080p and 1440p. It's also got more VRAM for when future games will require it for better textures and loading more assets AND it appears DirectX12 is better supported at this time.

Buy the better card for the money . You already have an i5, so basically there is absolutely no CPU driver issues, if you've read on the problem.

To be absolutely safe, you'd need a 550 PSU, but I think you'll be fine. GPU and PSU overclocking would be off the table.

Buying a $400 card would be good enough right? I don't this that I will ever be overclocking my GPU, but would I still need a 550 PSU?

Thanks for your help!

 

[g-unit1111]

Chill. Did you read the whole thing. I said it might not even still be relevant. People are saying 390 for 1080p gaming is good and I would go with that also considering the DX12 issue with NVIDIA cards. AMD cards apparently run better on DX12

That's debatable. The only issue I have with the R9-390 is that it really isn't even a new card technically. If you have an R9-290X, the R9-390X is really just about the exact same card with more VRAM that doesn't really do anything. For 1080P either one is fine. I have two 970s like I said, I would easily SLI both of them if I had the money right now, the MSI is definitely the better of the two.

 

[CarmelloFellow]

*Do not* buy a 970. It's not worth it anymore. You can buy a 390 for less or same money and it's faster at both 1080p and 1440p. It's also got more VRAM for when future games will require it for better textures and loading more assets AND it appears DirectX12 is better supported at this time.

Buy the better card for the money . You already have an i5, so basically there is absolutely no CPU driver issues, if you've read on the problem.

To be absolutely safe, you'd need a 550 PSU, but I think you'll be fine. GPU and PSU overclocking would be off the table.

Buying a $400 card would be good enough right? I don't this that I will ever be overclocking my GPU, but would I still need a 550 PSU?

Thanks for your help!

Well the R9 390 is about $320 I think and performs better and has twice the memory as the GTX 970.

 

[UNATCO-PC]

Chill. Did you read the whole thing. I said it might not even still be relevant. People are saying 390 for 1080p gaming is good and I would go with that also considering the DX12 issue with NVIDIA cards. AMD cards apparently run better on DX12

That's debatable. The only issue I have with the R9-390 is that it really isn't even a new card technically. If you have an R9-290X, the R9-390X is really just about the exact same card with more VRAM that doesn't really do anything. For 1080P either one is fine. I have two 970s like I said, I would easily SLI both of them if I had the money right now, the MSI is definitely the better of the two.

So if I was set on the fact that I want to buy a 970 and not planning on overclocking it, would I still need a bigger PSU?
And are there any specific 970s you would recommend for my H97-D3H and i5 4460?

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[Cryio]

A 970 with an i5 with no overclock will be fine with a 500 PSU.

 

[UNATCO-PC]

A 970 with an i5 with no overclock will be fine with a 500 PSU.

You think so? If that's the case, you have any recommendations on which one I should go with? Ones that my PSU can support?

 

[TofuLion]

well what model PSU do you have? if it's a lower tiered PSU and has some age, i would suggest upgrading it anyway.

as for the 970 models, it goes something like this:
gigabyte - great for overclocking, good thermals, however a bit louder than other models.
msi - good for overclocking, good thermals, good noise level
asus - not so good overclocking, great thermals, great noise level
evga - comes factory overclocked higher than most cards, good thermals, good noise, great customer service and warranty

in any case, i would definitely stick with the 970 since it trades punches with 390 at stock clocks, does so with half the power usage, and competes with a card two tiers above it when SLI.

again, what model PSU you have will determine if you need to upgrade it anyway.

 

[sheriff12]

I think you may want to bump your PSU up. At present I believe your right on the edge. In the future, if you are going to do any more upgrades, I would go to an 850W.

 

[UNATCO-PC]

well what model PSU do you have? if it's a lower tiered PSU and has some age, i would suggest upgrading it anyway.

as for the 970 models, it goes something like this:
gigabyte - great for overclocking, good thermals, however a bit louder than other models.
msi - good for overclocking, good thermals, good noise level
asus - not so good overclocking, great thermals, great noise level
evga - comes factory overclocked higher than most cards, good thermals, good noise, great customer service and warranty

in any case, i would definitely stick with the 970 since it trades punches with 390 at stock clocks, does so with half the power usage, and competes with a card two tiers above it when SLI.

again, what model PSU you have will determine if you need to upgrade it anyway.

Sorry for the late reply, I've just been pretty busy.
I have a Thermaltake TR2 500W PSU. And by what you are saying, looks to me the best choice would be an EVGA card.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[mrchips1]

Buy the EVGA GTX 970 ACX 2.0 FTW+. It is already overclocked (1215 base 1367 boost) so you needn't worry about power supply as long as it's 500 watts. You won't be disappointed. I have 3 in SLI running solely on air. If you set them up right (there is a little BIOS switch on each one) the fans don't come on until they reach 60C.

 

[sheriff12]

You can't possibly be running 3 GPU's with only 500W, can you?

 

[mrchips1]

You can't possibly be running 3 GPU's with only 500W, can you?

No, I'm running an EVGA 1300 G2. However, the original question was; "What would one need to run only one card."