GeForce GTX 970 with Reference Coolers and/or NVIDIA branding?

[Adam-James]

I've seen petitions and posts before about the possibility of OEMs making 970s with the awesome magnesium coolers (the kind that first appeared on the GTX Titan). I was wondering if there's been any news on that front.

More specifically though, I'm curious if anyone could tell me whether it's likely we will see any "pure" NVIDIA-branded 900 series cards in the near future. In the U.S., from what I understand there is only one place these are sold directly to consumers: Best Buy. But right now there's no sign of any NVIDIA-branded 900 series cards on Best Buy's website, just the last generation GTX 770. I would happily pay 10% more just to get a card without some 3rd party's stickers all over it (not to mention the peace of mind that comes with getting the product directly from the people that designed it, no middleman involved).

 

[Suztera]

I pretty sure there always a "middleman". Nvidia doesn't directly sell their GPUs to consumers. EVGA is its official partner so they will deal with selling reference designs.
There is no news about the GTX 970 having a Titan-sytel cooler.

 

[Adam-James]

I pretty sure there always a "middleman". Nvidia doesn't directly sell their GPUs to consumers. EVGA is its official partner so they will deal with selling reference designs.

It is a teensy bit irksome that you wrote that without clicking on the link I gave. That NVIDIA does sell their GPUs directly to consumers is not up for debate: it is a plain fact. They've done this for select cards ever since 2010, up to and including the 700 series (more evidence here). It is not something they widely advertise, however, so I would understand if you didn't know that until today. In the U.S., they can only be found at Best Buy. These are not simply reference designs (though they are reference designs): they are cards branded and packaged exclusively by NVIDIA. And no, neither EVGA nor any other 3rd party OEM have any role whatsoever in the manufacture or sale of these cards. Which is part of why I'm very hopeful NVIDIA will continue to sell them, I'd be bummed if they stopped making them this generation.

There is no news about the GTX 970 having a Titan-sytel cooler.

Damn, that's too bad. The GTX 770 did, so I can't understand why NVIDIA changed its plans this gen.

 

[Suztera]

I probably didn't realise that before but I have seen Nvidia branded gpu. I just didn't acknowledge that .
I don't see much difference getting other manufacturers cards. They bought the same technology and either modified parts of it or custom PCB and added their own cooler designs other than getting the Titan style cooler if the EVGA one is not available.

I seen a reference GTX 970 but the picture seems dodgy:
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=GC-XNGTX974

 

[Adam-James]

I probably didn't realise that before but I have seen Nvidia branded gpu. I just didn't acknowledge that .
I don't see much difference getting other manufacturers cards. They bought the same technology and either modified parts of it or custom PCB and added their own cooler designs other than getting the Titan style cooler if the EVGA one is not available.

I seen a reference GTX 970 but the picture seems dodgy:
http://www.eclipsecomputers.com/product.aspx?code=GC-XNGTX974

That's interesting. Maybe they're selling cards that were sent to reviewers? That's assuming they're legit to begin with. I'd buy one and find out, but given the prices are all in GBP, I doubt they ship stateside.

 

[Daniel Wu]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814132038&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Graphics+Cards-_-N82E16814132038&gclid=CjwKEAjwrNeiBRD3goG_1s-0_XMSJADuGQQcSTCoijVlLzedUQk5UysZCxPEu10lRJAiHvvDZMhLSBoCsb3w_wcB over here guys