msi or gigabyte gtx 970?

[slolegend]

which one should I get?

 

[Auxine]

which one should I get?

i received my gigabyte 970 yesterday, its very large but is also extremely quiet. The backplate is nice and the cooler frame is all steel. The Gigabyte cards this time around are actually binned card so they overclock like beasts. Mine can go up to 1.5ghz stable(not constant on boost). The cooler looks great and the 970 is an insane value for its cost. 780 for 320-380 hell yeah!

 

[ap70]

None of them actually. EVGA or ASUS. My brand preference. But wait till you get to read the reviews on that. Btw EVGA GTX 970 review is available on Hexus.net and it is very impressive.

Impressive is the fan noise and the mistake with the heat sink location. EVGA lost my trust. I am getting a MSI.

 

[Taneras]

Impressive is the fan noise and the mistake with the heat sink location. EVGA lost my trust. I am getting a MSI.

Same here, glad I decided to hold off before ordering. I was between MSI and Gigabyte, went with the latter but I think, at least from what I've read so far, both are super solid cards.

 

[terroralpha]

the EVGA card is trash. the worst one of them all.

MSI GTX 970 Gaming is the best version available right now. it uses 8 pin and 6 pin PCI power input which will allow high overclocks. it also has 6+2 phase power regulation. asus and gigabyte use 5+2 and evga uses 4+2. the EVGArbage GTX 970 also use junk components. the MSI GTX 970 uses much better quality MOSFETs, chokes, and capacitors.

the MSI GTX 970 is a no brainer. no one else has anything that even remotely comes close to it. i returned my EVGA GTX 970 cards for a pair of MSI GTX 970 gaming cards, and WOW, what a difference. the MSI cards can over clock to 1500MHz+ without voltage mods!

 

[RyviusRan]

I ordered 2 Windforce Gigabyte GTX 970s.
They should be here by tomorrow.
If there is anything wrong I will post it here.

 

[Taneras]

the EVGA card is trash. the worst one of them all.

MSI GTX 970 Gaming is the best version available right now. it uses 8 pin and 6 pin PCI power input which will allow high overclocks. it also has 6+2 phase power regulation. asus and gigabyte use 5+2 and evga uses 4+2. the EVGArbage GTX 970 also use junk components. the MSI GTX 970 uses much better quality MOSFETs, chokes, and capacitors.

the MSI GTX 970 is a no brainer. no one else has anything that even remotely comes close to it. i returned my EVGA GTX 970 cards for a pair of MSI GTX 970 gaming cards, and WOW, what a difference. the MSI cards can over clock to 1500MHz+ without voltage mods!

It's by no means a "no brainer".

Guru3D did a good review of these cars, both stock and boosted, and the results were neck and neck but the slight edge was given to the Gigabyte throughout (by 1-2 fps on some games). It also overclocked a few MHz over the MSI.

Temperature was a big win for the Gigabyte 970, having an 8C lower temp under load.

Noise was virtually even as well.

Virtually same performance, same noise level, the Gigabyte cools much better but also costs more and is around 3 inches longer.

So it all comes down to what case do you have, and do you want to spend the extra money for a card that cools better.

If you're interested here are the review links:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_970_g1_gaming_review,1.html

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_970_gaming_review,1.html

 

[Jonaboy]

Just like Taneras said, Gigabyte has one awesome cooler on the card but cost a premium. For me, it will be Gigabyte of MSI, whichever comes available first. Gigabyte is the only 970 that I found who has 3 DisplayPort : big winner for me since you can't run 4k displays @ 60hz at the moment from hdmi/dvi but you can with DP (only afects you if you want 2-3 4k displays).

 

[RyviusRan]

I just got my first Gigabyte GTX 970 and the second one arrives tomorrow.

I overclocked it to 1567mhz on the core clock and 8000mhz on the memory clock.

I didn't even have to adjust the voltage and the card stays cool at 65C even in my warm room.

Can't wait to see what SLI can do.

Here is a reference picture with my old Asus Directcu ii GTX 570 monster 3 slot card and the GTX 970 may be thinner but is certainly longer coming in at around 12.2inches or 311mm.

It also lights up

And I've recorded one benchmark so far at 1440p which was Resident Evil 6.
Keep in mind recording lowers the frame rate by a little bit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qg4Nx3Q0yc&list=UUwEZgvHItRzIDIhmJWtVchw

 

[Frag Maniac]

@vMax,
Thanks, beautiful rig btw, and nice temps for a fully closed case, esp with no window fan!

@JAClark91,
I bit on that article at first too, but there's no misalignment there.

This pic I cropped from it clearly shows the GPU chip imprint lines (which I highlighted the corners of in red and added lots of contrast to make it easier to see) as lining up right on the outside edges of the two 8mm pipes.

The problem lies in the cooler itself, not it's alignment. EVGA's never taken non reference cooling too seriously. They were last to adopt it, and are content to just use any cooler from another model that happens to fit the GPU chip.

It's about the hottest running cooler of all the major brands,and the 970 deserves better than that, as do the top binned chips they are able to source from Nvidia. They're really doing themselves a disservice to cheap out on this stuff.

 

[Taneras]

I overclocked it to 1567mhz on the core clock and 8000mhz on the memory clock.

I didn't even have to adjust the voltage and the card stays cool at 65C even in my warm room.

Sounds amazing, really good numbers. 1567MHz with no voltage adjustment and staying at 65C, simply stunning.

I'd have my specs posted too but UPS messed up and I'll be getting my delivery tomorrow instead of today. Oh well, as long as it arrives in working condition.

 

[Frag Maniac]

I overclocked it to 1567mhz on the core clock and 8000mhz on the memory clock.

I didn't even have to adjust the voltage and the card stays cool at 65C even in my warm room.

Nice results, but you really won't know until you test it thoroughly on some of the more demanding and less optimized games whether it will stay stable, or start showing artifacts. How did you determine where to stop your OC?

Did you push it with something like Kombustor or Furmark until you saw artifacts, then bump it back down? Just playing games like Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3 can also help test for stability, esp at max settings, max AA, etc.

One more question, can you run GPU-Z and tell us what your ASIC is?

 

[gizmo11x]

@RyviusRan - congrats man!
would it be possible to upload a video with the noise it makes under load/stress?
thx

 

[RyviusRan]

I overclocked it to 1567mhz on the core clock and 8000mhz on the memory clock.

I didn't even have to adjust the voltage and the card stays cool at 65C even in my warm room.

Nice results, but you really won't know until you test it thoroughly on some of the more demanding and less optimized games whether it will stay stable, or start showing artifacts. How did you determine where to stop your OC?

Did you push it with something like Kombustor or Furmark until you saw artifacts, then bump it back down? Just playing games like Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3 can also help test for stability, esp at max settings, max AA, etc.

One more question, can you run GPU-Z and tell us what your ASIC is?

I tested a bunch of games from Crysis 3 to Resident Evil 6.
Ironically it was not Crysis 3 that made me drop my clock speed it was RE6.
I actually had my core clock at 1600mhz but got artifacting in the RE6 benchmark so I quickly dropped it straight to 1567mhz without seeing if I can go higher.
Going to SLI so I probably won't get much higher with relying on both cards to keep that stable clock.
I still like how I did not have to increase the voltage at all.

GPU-Z does not correctly read my card (says it has only 32 ROPs and incorrectly reads my boost clock) so I wouldn't trust the ASIC percent on it.

 

[RyviusRan]

@RyviusRan - congrats man!
would it be possible to upload a video with the noise it makes under load/stress?
thx

I don't have a good mic to record the noise.
I know that if I hit over 1000fps it does have a whining noise but a lot of cards have that issue.

Here is a video I uploaded with the Thief benchmark.
http://

 

[gizmo11x]

yeah, coil whine is normal when fps suddenly jumps in the hundreds.
how do they sound to you when under load?
thanks anyway and good luck with the card

 

[ap70]

which one should I get?

EVGA has a design mistake.
Gigabite - Not yet on stock.
MSI - Got the last one on Newegg.ca . Luck choice!!!.

check here why - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/1

 

[terroralpha]

One more question, can you run GPU-Z and tell us what your ASIC is?

ASIC scores are a bunch of BS. i had a pair of GTX 470 rated at 51% and 59%. but they both overclocked by about 40% from reference clocks without breaking a sweat. no crashes, no artifacts. nothing.

at a much later time i had a GTX 780 that was rated at 78% but wouldn't overclock for ****. bumping the clock by just 40MHz caused any 3D game or application i tried to run to just crash. adjusting voltage made it worse.

 

[RyviusRan]

Finally got my second GTX 970.
Time to benchmark them when OCed and see the results.

 

[terroralpha]

i can't figure out why they decided to strap these stupid bright ass lights onto these cards. were they upset that maxwell didn't use enough power and needed a way to burn a few more watts? i have MSI GTX 970 cards and they too have lights on them.

i would much rather have a bunch of small leds that indicate load, activity or health of the cards instead of their dumb logos. ever use crucial ballistix tracer RAM? something like that.

 

[Cancius]

i can't figure out why they decided to strap these stupid bright ass lights onto these cards. were they upset that maxwell didn't use enough power and needed a way to burn a few more watts? i have MSI GTX 970 cards and they too have lights on them.

i would much rather have a bunch of small leds that indicate load, activity or health of the cards instead of their dumb logos. ever use crucial ballistix tracer RAM? something like that.

On windows, you can switch those lights off

Geforce Experience --> My Rig --> LED Visualizer --> Configure LED Visualizer --> Led Effects Off

 

[Cancius]

I bought the gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970, larger than other gtxs 970, doesn't fit in all cases.
I had to remove a HDD cage to make it fit.

But, im a little annoyed with the GPU-Z test, only 32 Rops (must be 64) and the pixel filrate half of the normal, as well, only 37,7 GPixel/sec.

expect to be a GPU-Z error and not a problem with my card :-(

 

[Cube_of_Rubik]

^Yeah funny how most only talk EVGA, ASUS, or MSI. Look at the Guru3D reviews on the Giga and MSI, then the TechPowerUp reviews on the EVGA and ASUS. Giga smacks them all on most everything, especially temps. It's 60c at load. The only one that comes close is the MSI at 68c. The ASUS is 71c and the EVGA 73c. It's also only 39 db at load, only the ASUS is quieter.

The Giga also OCs damn high even at stock volts. The Giga seems the one for me, I even feel they have the best support. It would be nice to know when it will be in stock and at what price though. I really don't need to upgrade right away though. I've only had my 7970 just under 2 yrs. I might wait until end of next yr to upgrade my CPU, MB, RAM, and GPU. By then I'll know a lot more about the new stuff coming out.

The reviews of Guru3D and TechPowerUp have different test setups, so we cannot fairly compare the reviewed Gigabyte and MSI cards to EVGA and Asus.

 

[Frag Maniac]

The reviews of Guru3D and TechPowerUp have different test setups, so we cannot fairly compare the reviewed Gigabyte and MSI cards to EVGA and Asus.

It's close enough to give a pretty good idea of which comes out on top, and the customer feedback verifies it so far.

Anyways, I don't care, going to hold out for Pascal, and I'll be glad I did. GPUs won't have fully evolved until then, because none of them yet have the two things that are holding them back most in these high texture games, unified memory and stacked DRAM.

Pascal will also have NVLink. These will be true supercomputer level graphics cards on a PCB the length of an ink pen. They will def be GPUs more future ready than any we've seen.

 

[webtrol]

I going with a ASUS ARES III

 

[B-man33]

Can't go wrong with an Asus or Evga card, good cards, I had to decide between the MSI GTX 770 and Asus GTX 770, ended up taking the Asus, much later I heard from friends Evga is great for the GTX 700 series and Asus is the 2nd best choice you can make, Gigabyte seem to have problems with their motherboards and quality control, maybe it is the same for their video cards? I would not know