Upgrade for GTX 560 ti best TDP option

[ituhata]

Hi, I had a few questions concerning the best solution for my next upgrade.

One of the things I hate the most about my GTX 560 Ti is how hot my card runs and how loud the fan is. Playing something as mundane as WoW makes it run in the 80's with the fan sounding like a small fighter jet prepping for takeoff. Partially my fault with custom fan profile but I really try to keep the card from going over 80 if I can help it.

I expect to be playing games like WoW, and trying out next gen MMO's, Homeworld remastered, and I may try my hand at Shadows of Mordor or the occasional FPS, but mostly MMOs. I plan to upgrade my monitor to a 144Hz monitor because I cannot stand screen tearing, I want something my card can run max in without vsync.

I was going to wait for the GTX 960 but now I am growing impatient and also having second thoughts about taking it when the 970 is such a good deal, also afraid of the assumed smaller memory bandwidth.

I wanted to see what some smart people think about buying the 970 and underclocking it to match the theoretical TDP of a 960, if thats even possible or wise, and I also wanted to ask if its even necessary since my last card may run hotter compared to almost anything new on the market now. Maybe running the 970 at reference speed is more than enough to beat the power consumption and heat of my old card, but part of me wants to take the TDP as low as I can possibly go and still have a 3-4 tier upgrade over my old one.

EDIT: System Specs if it helps any::
i5-4460
8GB Ram 1600
Old Thermaltake TR2-600W, heard alot of bad reviews but mine is probably 4 years old now and never given me any trouble as far as I know.

 

[smackers_12]

the 970 runs cool anyway, you wont need to underclock it to make it quiet

 

[ituhata]

Does it run cool or does it just dissapate heat really well? I forgot to add my current card turns my room into a sauna, actually moved my desktop on top of the desk to keep my legs from frying, not it just makes my face hot.

 

[rockie_]

GTX 970 is a great choice
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/29.html

 

[Coolboy951]

if you want a very good budget card i think you should Get the 7950 since your doing mmo games this card handles them great and if you overclock it the becomes as good as the Gtx 780 but if you dont have a budget and you want a very good card you should get the 295x2 because the card is very stable and does not become hot that easy while the 970 becomes very hot after playing for awhile which makes the card kind of unstable and not the best for overclocking either.

 

[fudoka711]

Check out this article from Tom's posted when the gtx 970 first came out: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-970-maxwell,3941-15.html

At least the Gigabyte Windforce version stayed at around 65C.

Here's an article from anandtech for the 560ti: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4135/nvidias-geforce-gtx-560-ti-upsetting-the-250-market/16

You will not need to underclock your 970 (even if you get a 1-fan reference design). If you buy any non-reference design, it's not going to hit 80C and it'll be quieter than a single-fan reference design.

EDIT:

if you want a very good budget card i think you should Get the 7950 since your doing mmo games this card handles them great and if you overclock it the becomes as good as the Gtx 780 but if you dont have a budget and you want a very good card you should get the 295x2 because the card is very stable and does not become hot that easy while the 970 becomes very hot after playing for awhile which makes the card kind of unstable and not the best for overclocking either.

The gtx 970 runs cooler than any 7900 series from AMD and definitely runs cooler than the 295x2. It also runs a little cooler than the 780. The 900 series uses a totally different design (maxwell) than the 700 series (kepler, save for the 750/ti). The 295x2 is also $1000.

 

[smackers_12]

coolboy is just wrong. the 970 does actually run cool and it wont work as hard in the same games as a 560ti does. The 295x2 may dissipate heat well but it runs really hot as there are two chips in it.

 

[Coolboy951]

i mean this is from a personal expirence with my friend when he had the card before he switched to AMD

 

[ituhata]

Thanks smackers, rockie & fudoka for replying. I especially found the direct comparisons to my current card very useful. Surprisingly, it looks like the 970 will actually pull more watts than my current card according to the toms hardware article (p13). My previous research led me to believe even the 970 pulled less watts than my 560 ti.

Either way, I am first and foremost concerned about heat and noise, the power consumption was a want not a need. Just a how low can you go since I mosed from a 95W AMD down to the i5 and I kinda wanted to get the lowest TDP upgrade, but a 750 ti was more of a sidegrade. I may slightly be concerned about my PSU as it is old and I read that the capacity drops off as they get older and alot of people complained about my TR2-600W that it doesnt put out the 600W promised to begin with.

I've tried overclocking my 560ti a few times, got it as high as 965 playing with the voltage but it always has a driver crash about 30 minutes or so after playing WoW, I dunno jack about this stuff but I wonder if its my PSU or if thats pretty much the ceiling for that card.

EDIT: Also, as I've researched as much as I could before asking on the forum, I have seen it largely reported that AMD R 280 and above are heat monsters. Remember, its not just how cool the card runs, I don't want all the heat coming to meeeeee!

 

[Coolboy951]

im telling you dont need the best gpu to run mmos theres great budget gpus that can run the mmos with no problem at all like the 760Ti, Radeon 7950, Gtx 770, R9 280x etc

 

[smackers_12]

He has already said he wants to upgrade to a card that will last a long time. A 750ti will play an mmo fine but it wont last into the future, the 770 is similar but will last longer. The 7950 and r9 280x both dump loads of heat out and he doesnt want to heat up his room which is a viable request.

 

[ituhata]

This is true, but I did mention I would mostly be playing MMO's, but also dipping my hand into more modern titles like Shadows of Mordor and whatever Homeworld Remastered might be (admittedly probably not going to be very intensive as a 4XRTS). I started playing Warframe recently and I might get back into playing FPS too.

Since I spent the money to upgrade to an I5, for the price they are asking for the 970 seems well worth it to futureproof my machine for any titles I may want to try, mentioning the MMO's was just ot give people an idea of what I mostly spend my time playing right now in regards to solving a major heat issue.

It should be noted that I do not plan to move from 1080p 144MHz anytime soon, 4k is just too rich for my blood. The DSR features sound nice, I may want to try them as well.

As far as the AMD camp goes, I am probably not patient enough to wait for the rumored 300 series cards that will have some newfangled awesomely efficient memory, I'm not even patient enough to wait for the 960!!!

 

[Coolboy951]

my 6750 Hd can run shadow of mordor with 45-55 fps on 1080p and meduim settings

 

[ituhata]

I appreciate your input Coolboy, but I am looking toward the future. Right now I need to wait a month or so to get the money to get the 970 which I think I am leaning heavily towards. The only reason I would go with a 960 at this point is if nVidia makes an announcement before I buy with some specs and let the media tell me what I would be getting for what price. I would love to give AMD a chance, especially considering their recent news that makes me worry about the health of competition in the market, but I am not going to pick up old tech. If anything, I would pick up their new series when it launches next year but I just won't be patient enough to wait for it.

 

[Coolboy951]

okay np if I were you I would wait till decemeber or January since NVidia and amd said they would be realeasing new gpus

 

[ituhata]

I may have to, I could have the money for the 970 in a month, but I got to be very good with my spending and as you can probably tell by my tone in these posts, I am not very good with patience or self control. v0v

 

[Coolboy951]

yeah same here