EVGA 970 - Which should I get? (or reasons for other brand versions) and overclocking

[Wesley Newsome]

Hello!

So to start, my build is just a really good deal I got from craigslist and is working perfectly fine but I'm just looking to upgrading to a 970. My parts list is:

CPU - InteCore i7-3770k 3.50GHz
GPU - EVGA GTX 770 2GB Superclocked
RAM - 8gigs Patriot ram (buying another 8 but seems fine atm)
MOBO - Asus Z97 ultimate
SSD/HDD - Kingston 120gb SSD / 4TB WD HDD
PSU - Corsair 1200i (1200watts, platinum) Yes... overkill but hey, it was free.
Cooling - H80i, 1 large side fan, 2 top, 2 front, 2 back.

My first question is - If I buy a 970 and attempt to overclock, will I hit any bottlenecks other than the GPU maxing out itself? I know power is definitely not an issue and I believe I have sufficient cooling.

My Second and MAIN QUESTION - For the small price increase, is it worth it to buy a 970 FTW rather than a regular EVGA 970? Obviously if there are apparent bottlenecks on the first question, then I assume just going for a regular EVGA 970 would be better.

Any help would be great. Thank you!

 

[Alan Caldwell]

The Gigabyte Windforce model is the best choice as it has one of the best cooling and performance for a GTX 970.

Review:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-970-g1-gaming-review,1.html

Comparison(Latest review with all the GTX 970s compared):
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/galax_geforce_gtx_970_exoc_review,1.html

It will not bottleneck.

 

[watafak]

searching for what other brand to go aswell. I wanted to get EVGA, then i read something about bad thermal paste placement and coil noises, so im going for msi or asus. gigabyte is the best of all, but i dont such a big case and not looking forward to buy a big one right now.

 

[Wesley Newsome]

Yeah I should note that my case is a Haf X Black edition high tower case so I believe it should be able to fit easily. I'm not sure how much longer the card is with the extra fan but I'll just look that up.

Thank you for the help ^^. Happy to know that I don't have to worry about a hardware bottleneck.
Hopefully I can get the windforce for under $370. I'm assuming the difference between the cards is pretty minimal.

 

[watafak]

the card is exactly 310mm and the gaming edition one is 312mm.

 

[danielchew]

Go with the Msi GTX 970 GAMING 4G. Its a great card for OCing and results were also great. It has silent operating due to its newly designed rotor blades, independent fans and also stops the fans when its not needed to use. And its on 269mm long.