EVGA, MSI, Gigabyte or Asus GTX 970?

[Dawis67_AE]

I have read a TON of reviews and watched ton of videos. More and more i do it it seems to get more complicated. I havent read a lot about EVGA though since everybody seems to have huge hype over ASUS and MSI.
Now here is the question. Which GTX 970 is better overclocker? Asking which performs best is useless since they all use same chip.

I heard lot of good things about Gigabytes version. Personally its in my shopping list at the moment for couple of reasons. I have seen good overclocks with it (1500mhz+) and it runs extremely cool. Although i have hear bad things like fans wearing out very quickly and generaly not so good build quality.

MSI Twin Frozr has got ton of attention however i havent seen any good overclocks and temperatures are bit lower

Same goes for ASUS Strix. Generally its highly popular but i have heard that it runs hot and you cant overclock it as well as u can others.

And generally nothing much about EVGA.

Can some GPU expert explain these rumours to me and tell me if they are true or not, especially if Gigabytes fans will die fast?

Tnx.

 

[hazzac181]

I am stuck here too. Tossing up the Asus and the MSI. This is really tedious.


I have a question for the people of this thread. I live in Australia. If, for example, I purchased the MSI, and it had coil whine, where would I need to be sent for warranty replacement? Locally (in Aus) or overseas? If it was overseas, would I have to pay for shipping?

 

[Alex Kelly]

^ You send it to wherever you bought it, I recommend CPL or PC Case Gear.
Yes, if you bought it overseas you would have to pay for warranty. Don't do it

 

[Dawis67_AE]

I am stuck here too. Tossing up the Asus and the MSI. This is really tedious.


I have a question for the people of this thread. I live in Australia. If, for example, I purchased the MSI, and it had coil whine, where would I need to be sent for warranty replacement? Locally (in Aus) or overseas? If it was overseas, would I have to pay for shipping?

Best choice so far seems like Gigabyte since it has outstanding performance and generally stays cool. I heard ASUS cards having problems with the fan idle thingy. Something about fans not spining when over 60 degrees and reducing the performance or something like it. If i had to put them in a order it would be Gigabyte>MSI>ASUS>EVGA

 

[cowboydude99]

Anyone with the coil whine update their GPU bios yet?

I was reading some forum posts yesterday that updating the bios and leaving your system off for a few minutes had fixed the issues.

I should receive mine today, is there any good way to see if you get the coil whine problem?

Stress test or anything specific?

 

[mastergup]

best choice is i think still the msi, the think it has maybe nothing to do with the bios, maybe its just the not updated msi afterburner.

 

[LoneGun]

I am stuck here too. Tossing up the Asus and the MSI. This is really tedious.


I have a question for the people of this thread. I live in Australia. If, for example, I purchased the MSI, and it had coil whine, where would I need to be sent for warranty replacement? Locally (in Aus) or overseas? If it was overseas, would I have to pay for shipping?

Hi

Its highly unlikely that if you buy the MSI it will have an issue and Alexs coil whine could be caused by any number of other issues of which the card is just one possibility.
First before buying any GPU make sure your PSU is up to the job as this card states a minimum of 500watts on a 12v rail with 48amps. If you have other parts that you overclock and use more than one hard drive then I would recommend a 750w PSU with at least 12v and 62amps on the rail. Its always good to have a little extra power in your pocket and it helps with stability and reducing chances of things like coil whine.

Research your seller in Australia and find one who gives proper full customer service with all its products and is prepared to accept returns.

You can checkout MSI's warranty for Australian customers here :- http://au.msi.com/page/warranty

This card has received 23 awards already and you can check those out here:- http://game.msi.com/product/graphics-card/gaming-tf5-series/awards

As to whether it can overclock well I had a play with my MSI970 Gaming 4G this afternoon and got this
Checkout my stable 1414mhz benchmark result here -->

Tbh it is a very easy card to overclock and I promise mine did not whine about it once. Didn't even hear the fans !

 

[LoneGun]

still no problems with fans

I have had zero issues with my fans too master. Wonder what the actual fail rate on these is ? I'm gonna guess at 1-4% still 23 awards cant be wrong hey ?

 

[mastergup]

I am stuck here too. Tossing up the Asus and the MSI. This is really tedious.


I have a question for the people of this thread. I live in Australia. If, for example, I purchased the MSI, and it had coil whine, where would I need to be sent for warranty replacement? Locally (in Aus) or overseas? If it was overseas, would I have to pay for shipping?

Hi

Its highly unlikely that if you buy the MSI it will have an issue and Alexs coil whine could be caused by any number of other issues of which the card is just one possibility.
First before buying any GPU make sure your PSU is up to the job as this card states a minimum of 500watts on a 12v rail with 48amps. If you have other parts that you overclock and use more than one hard drive then I would recommend a 750w PSU with at least 12v and 62amps on the rail. Its always good to have a little extra power in your pocket and it helps with stability and reducing chances of things like coil whine.

Research your seller in Australia and find one who gives proper full customer service with all its products and is prepared to accept returns.

You can checkout MSI's warranty for Australian customers here :- http://au.msi.com/page/warranty

This card has received 23 awards already and you can check those out here:- http://game.msi.com/product/graphics-card/gaming-tf5-series/awards

As to whether it can overclock well I had a play with my MSI970 Gaming 4G this afternoon and got this
Checkout my stable 1414mhz benchmark result here -->"http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah176/lonegun1/Valley1414_zpsbcd6b9bf.jpg"

Tbh it is a very easy card to overclock and I promise mine did not whine about it once. Didn't even hear the fans !

Very well spoken and so true, the sell al lot of these cards and ofcourse there will be problems with some cards, but i think most just work fine, but if a card works fine, why talk about it, just show the benchmarks.
Like withe every card, if sombody has a bad 1, the talk about it, why does it do this, o mine has the same, and stuff like that.

 

[mastergup]

Like you lone gun, i run stable at youre settings, more then enough for a bit extra performance.

 

[Alex Kelly]

Actually, a LOT of people are having issues with MSI 970 coil whine. I have a great PSU, it's definitely the card.
I don't think an updated BIOS will fix coil whine. Can you link me to proof of this?

 

[LoneGun]

Like you lone gun, i run stable at youre settings, more then enough for a bit extra performance.

Nice one Mastergup ! Quick word of advice to anyone oggling our settings on those benches. Do not copy them everyones hardware varies. If you want to oc your card start with 10mhz at a time and test. Stay safe out there .

Actually, a LOT of people are having issues with MSI 970 coil whine. I have a great PSU, it's definitely the card.
I don't think an updated BIOS will fix coil whine. Can you link me to proof of this?

I'd just RMA it and either try another or go with a different brand. I just had a quick google and all the brands except ASUS are flagging as having the odd noisy card. Even the gigabyte has a few people complaining about it even a youtube vid.

The only problem I see with the ASUS card is with the fan needing its own profile see :- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/12

"One issue we did notice with the ASUS card is that it initially wasn't boosting as high as we'd have expected. We noticed that the fans didn't seem to want to spin beyond 42 percent, apparently prioritising low noise over boost frequency. As such, we set the fans manually to 50 percent, which saw a higher and more constant boost clock emerge. The downside to this is that the fan speed is locked, and won't slow down or enter its passive mode, even when idle."

 

[Alex Kelly]

^ Yeah I have seen that, It's one of the reasons I went with the MSI in the first place. I'm hoping they will release a BIOS to fix it. I'm not sure if you create a fan curve you get the 0db mode, so that's a little worrying. I might try another MSI, if that's the same, I'll go ASUS or Gigabyte.

 

[mastergup]

Like you lone gun, i run stable at youre settings, more then enough for a bit extra performance.

Nice one Mastergup ! Quick word of advice to anyone oggling our settings on those benches. Do not copy them everyones hardware varies. If you want to oc your card start with 10mhz at a time and test. Stay safe out there .

Actually, a LOT of people are having issues with MSI 970 coil whine. I have a great PSU, it's definitely the card.
I don't think an updated BIOS will fix coil whine. Can you link me to proof of this?

I'd just RMA it and either try another or go with a different brand. I just had a quick google and all the brands except ASUS are flagging as having the odd noisy card. Even the gigabyte has a few people complaining about it even a youtube vid.

The only problem I see with the ASUS card is with the fan needing its own profile see :- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/12

"One issue we did notice with the ASUS card is that it initially wasn't boosting as high as we'd have expected. We noticed that the fans didn't seem to want to spin beyond 42 percent, apparently prioritising low noise over boost frequency. As such, we set the fans manually to 50 percent, which saw a higher and more constant boost clock emerge. The downside to this is that the fan speed is locked, and won't slow down or enter its passive mode, even when idle."

Do i read you corectley did you rma you msi card also lone gun????

 

[maxtex]

The Asus arrived today and no coil whine here. With the case panels closed, idle it's extremely silent (the semi-passive cooling system works perfectly by the way), and under load it's also pretty silent.

I tested the card in Watch Dogs and Crysis 3 in Ultra, and especially in Watch Dogs the performance was really smooth. Crysis is a bitch but with MSAA 4x I get around 45 fps average and with MSAA 2x I get around 53-54, so that's as advertised. I didn't overclock yet by the way. Max temps were 69-70C.

 

[mastergup]

if find that a little hot, for those cards, if you see what others do, still not to hot do.

another thing, there is a sticker on the msi fan, maybe some of you pulled that of to hard, and causes that the fan problem.

 

[Alex Kelly]

It's not a fan problem :/
good to hear maxtex! You should go through a run of uniengine heaven on highest settings and let me know what you score, and also what your temps are during the benchmark. My MSI stays at 60C.

 

[maxtex]

I was expecting my temps to be pretty high cos i don't have the best case in terms of airflow and all (got a Bitfenix Phenom micro-atx case), but even in Crysis 3 on ultra the temps stayed nicely in the high 60s, with 70C max. Which is like 1-2C more than the benchmarks from the reviewers.
And yeah I'll surely do a benchmark of that soon (never done it before tho) and post it here then, although now im gonn eat and watch some football

 

[mastergup]

Like you lone gun, i run stable at youre settings, more then enough for a bit extra performance.

Nice one Mastergup ! Quick word of advice to anyone oggling our settings on those benches. Do not copy them everyones hardware varies. If you want to oc your card start with 10mhz at a time and test. Stay safe out there .

Actually, a LOT of people are having issues with MSI 970 coil whine. I have a great PSU, it's definitely the card.
I don't think an updated BIOS will fix coil whine. Can you link me to proof of this?

I'd just RMA it and either try another or go with a different brand. I just had a quick google and all the brands except ASUS are flagging as having the odd noisy card. Even the gigabyte has a few people complaining about it even a youtube vid.

The only problem I see with the ASUS card is with the fan needing its own profile see :- http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/12

"One issue we did notice with the ASUS card is that it initially wasn't boosting as high as we'd have expected. We noticed that the fans didn't seem to want to spin beyond 42 percent, apparently prioritising low noise over boost frequency. As such, we set the fans manually to 50 percent, which saw a higher and more constant boost clock emerge. The downside to this is that the fan speed is locked, and won't slow down or enter its passive mode, even when idle."

It's not a fan problem :/
good to hear maxtex! You should go through a run of uniengine heaven on highest settings and let me know what you score, and also what your temps are during the benchmark. My MSI stays at 60C.

the coil wine maeby not, but some people have problems with the fan spinning
or not spinning at all.

 

[hazzac181]

Is the slightly sub par performance/cooling (in comparison) on the Asus worth what seems to be a better quality product? What are your thoughts on this?

Also on a side note, (not that it matters) I will be installing this card in a Asus z97 Sabertooth Mark 2 motherboard.

 

[Alex Kelly]

Not sure. People are getting better scores with the ASUS card at stock than I get with my MSI, but higher temps.

 

[h3llfire741]

Just looked over at the MSI forums and apparently, if you take the sticker off fan 1 too abruptly, it might screw with the whole fan system.

We have a little thought it might be actually this sticker as you have mentioned. Since FANS are a bit fragile and delicate parts, a bit different way or strength/direction of taking sticker off, in some cases the fan just possible breaks or loses its tightness. But that's a thought which was also reported to MSI. We will see what they will come up with, hopefully this week.
But I have a good thought it will be ok soon

 

[mastergup]

The funny thing is if you read some reviews the say the default core clock of the msi is 1140mhz, ITS NOT its 1114mhz only if you use gaming app, en click on the oc button its 1140mhz on the core.

 

[kingcarlos89]

Just looked over at the MSI forums and apparently, if you take the sticker off fan 1 too abruptly, it might screw with the whole fan system.

We have a little thought it might be actually this sticker as you have mentioned. Since FANS are a bit fragile and delicate parts, a bit different way or strength/direction of taking sticker off, in some cases the fan just possible breaks or loses its tightness. But that's a thought which was also reported to MSI. We will see what they will come up with, hopefully this week.
But I have a good thought it will be ok soon

lol fans are fragile parts? thats not convinving answer

 

[mastergup]

Like a say before I think that if you read other articles from asus/giga/evga you also find people that have problems, people with problems wright about it.
People that don't have problems don't wright as much about it.
Like many more, i love my msi card, and i have it now for 6 days and don't have any problems at all, no coil, no weird fans, fan control works great, but wy you need that i don't now.

 

[Dazinek]

Long live AMD... Can always wait for the 300 series in Q1 ... keep that thought in the back of your head