MSI GTX 970 or GIGABYTE

[joshfinest]

I want to get the MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G. My only quarrel with it is that it doesn't come with a backplate nor is it compatible with one (unless you guys know one!).

The Gigabyte GTX 970 has the backplate included for an added price but its huge.

I have the NZXT Phantom 410. It can hold up to around 305mm graphics card without fan, around 290 with fan on the hard drive cage. Without the cage I can fit the Gigabyte but is it worth it to remove the cage and lose access to the fan for the backplate?

I plan to hopefully OC my 970 to just over 1500clock speed and 8000MHz memory if possible.

 

[ael00]

Do you actually use or plan to use that many drives ? Personally I would ditch the drive cage without hesitation, it also improves airflow for the front intake to cool your gpu.

From the 970 series probably the gb g1 gaming is definately the best cooled one. ATM I am running mine on 1544 core / 7600 memory, with a +25mv bump. Tops out at 67C with only 67% fan usage. Not sure if I can get to 8k memory I will have to keep testing.

I am still testing the card as I got it yestarday after RMA-ing my first G1 gaming for coil whine - I was stupid enough to buy a discounted refurbished one. Unless you make the same mistake I would say you will be happy with a GB card as they have generally good rep.

 

[guanyu210379]

Coil whine is a cause for RMA and could happen by any brands.

Getting over 1500clock speed and 8000MHz memory is only a matter of luck.
GTX970 is not hot in any way, it is quite brand independent, if I may say so.
e.g.
my KFA2/Galax GTX970 EXOC is also OCed and the temp never exceeds 70'C.
But somehow, I could not get stable OC above 1450MHz, tried the voltage, etc. already. The memory is ok to be set @8000MHz.