My Asus Strix GTX 970 review

[Jonathan Cave]

Today i bought 2 x Asus STRIX GTX 970's to replace my Zotac 780 TI OC. £600 for both cards.

i5 4670k @ 4.0ghz
16GB 1600
2 x Asus GTX 970

I've managed a stable overclock to 1442mhz GPU (Boost) and 1824Mhz Memory (still early days) I'm blown away how powerful these cards are in SLI.

Card 1 / Card 2

They outperform a Titan Z ! - but obviously has 8GB less ram but still £1600 less.

 

[Alex Kelly]

Very nice review do you think it's worth sending my MSI back when it arrives to get the Strix? I'm still undecided. Does the SLI bridge cover the Strix logo, and have you noticed the right side of them drooping?

 

[Jonathan Cave]

Well apparently the MSI cards are the best according to one review on the net, i think its tit for tat tbh. The asus card is a great performer.

no the sli bridge doesnt cover the logo.

 

[Alex Kelly]

I decided to return my MSI and get this. It just looks like a premium card and it'll look really nice in my H440, the MSI is very plasticy and doesn't look clean. I am shallow haha but I think I'll be happy I did it.

 

[maxtex]

Hmm the MSI was plasticy? I thought it would all be metal.. How was its performance though?
I just got notice that my card will arrive on Monday (although I'll believe it when i see it), so i'm happy about that, hope i can try it out then
So how long do you gotta wait for your strix now?

 

[Alex Kelly]

I haven't even got the MSI yet, hopefully monday. 80% sure I'm going to send it back then though.

 

[Frag Maniac]

What do your Strix cards score on ASIC quality in GPU-Z?

The one that looks best to me is the Gigabyte, but they're hard to get right now.

 

[Jonathan Cave]

Card 1

Card 2

 

[Alex Kelly]

What's ASIC quality and how is it judged?

 

[azzazel_99]

i would have thought it would score higher in heaven...Hmmm seems a little on the low side. Anyways nice setup and good numbers.

 

[Alex Kelly]

Do you get any coil whine at all? My MSI sounds horrible and I just want to make sure the ASUS doesn't do the same thing.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Thanks Jonathan. Pretty low on that second card.

@Alex,
ASIC quality is a measure of how much current leakage a GPU chip exhibits.

The general rule of thumb is the more leakage (low score-50s, 60s) the less you can OC on air, but the higher you can OC on water, because usually more leakage means more power, as long as you can control the heat output.

Conversely, the less leakage (high score-80s, 90s) the more effectively you can OC on air, but less effectively on water.

Factory OCed chips are generally those which have been tested for low current leakage, but the final test, and the one that primarily matters in real world application, is how much they can OC it.

These are only rules of thumb though, and often real world results show otherwise.

 

[Alex Kelly]

Where do I find the option to test this in GPU-Z?
I got my MSI 970, it looks amazing in my H440, matches really well. My max temps are 63C which is damn impressive, but it has pretty bad coil whine.
Think I'm going to exchange it for the Strix, although it'll cost me.

 

[Frag Maniac]

@Alex,
Just right click the tiny green icon in the very upper left corner of GPU-Z and you'll see a Read ASIC quality option.

 

[unknownofprob]

I haven't even got the MSI yet, hopefully monday. 80% sure I'm going to send it back then though.

Why would you do that?

The MSI has been reviewed at running cooler and quieter then the Asus at a much higher clock speed. Check out Guru 3D's review on the cards.

 

[Alex Kelly]

57.9. Does coil whine go away after a while? It already seems mine is not as loud as it was a couple hours ago and I'm considering keeping it...
Mine boosts to 1455Mhz at stock :O

 

[Frag Maniac]

^ Too many people only talk about/care about the clock speed when OCing.

I've too many times seen 3 or 4 cards reviewed by the same tester, via the same exact test bench, showing cards with higher clocks don't always play at higher FPS.

Look at Guru3D's tests of the Giga and MSI 970. It shows the MSI OCing to 1500MHz, and the Giga 1328MHz I think, but the Giga played at higher FPS in what they tested it on. It also runs 8c cooler at load.

If you get too caught up in the OC hype, it becomes a thing like world record CPU OCs, which get utterly ridiculous to the point of comparing only clock speed, with no regard to real world application, architectural differences, etc.

 

[Alex Kelly]

True that. I have no idea if I should exchange this for the ASUS now :/
It matches my case so nicely, but if I ever change my case it wont.

 

[iamlegend]

I think you are over excited.

 

[Alex Kelly]

what

 

[maxtex]

Daamn, well at least its less now. So was the coil whine only with the fans spinning or without? Hopefully it's totally gone soon, if not then join the strix party yeah

Although in other news, I don't even know if my 970 will arrive today.. Its weird, it said its gonna be delivered today on the tracker, but suddenly since yesterday there was a note added that "delivery has been delayed", although it still says it's gonna be delivered some time today. -_-

 

[Alex Kelly]

Well hopefully it comes today! I can't hear the whine with my side panel on, and the card matches my case perfectly. It's overclocked really well so far so I think I'll actually be keeping it considering other people have reported some coil whine with ASUS cards too

 

[Jonathan Cave]

Upped the Memory to +200mhz

It's stable at +350mhz, but i get lag during the benchmark and slighly lower fps.

 

[Alex Kelly]

Oh man, I CANNOT decide whether to try my luck with another MSI card or just go ASUS.

What are the temps for your cards in Heaven?
My MSI doesn't go over 65C at stock.

 

[Jonathan Cave]

66 degree's on both cards overclocked to 1443 GPU and 1753 memory.

i'll run a single card overclocked to show you the difference.