What's the difference in vendor variations of a given graphics card?

[Jrminot]

I am looking to purchase an Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 and I was wondering what is the difference between all the different versions of said card?

Price wise, I see a range running from:

Gigabyte GV-N970IXOC-4GD Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 OC 4GB @ $315
ZOTAC ZT-90103-10P Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB @ $443

That is a $100+ difference for just variations of the same card. Some of this I attributed to competing vendors, but EVGA, for instance, has multiple different versions of the same card. What is different about the various card versions that warrants the price range. Also, how should I go about choosing one particular version (narrowing down a card was hard enough).

This was my first post so hopefully I was detailed enough.

Thanks in advance!

Jrminot

 

[Tam99]

Different companies like EVGA, MSI or Gigabyte modify them based on the stock one. They usually have better, more silent cooler and higher clock speed. Possibly some lighting added too. I prefer EVGA and MSI when choosing an NDIVIA card.
EVGA GTX 970 FTW has higher clock than SSC version, so I'd probably go with FTW version. Here's the one I'm talking about:
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Quieter-Graphics-04G-P4-2978-KR/dp/B00OSS0AG4

 

[Jrminot]

Thank you for the advice!

I looked on the EVGA website and they appear to have an FTW and an FTW+. From using their comparison tool, they appear to be identical excelt the FTW+ uses more wattage (No idea why). They also have some kind of hybrid card. I'm not sure but could that be partially liquid cooled?

Again, than you for the advice.

 

[Tam99]

Thank you for the advice!

I looked on the EVGA website and they appear to have an FTW and an FTW+. From using their comparison tool, they appear to be identical excelt the FTW+ uses more wattage (No idea why). They also have some kind of hybrid card. I'm not sure but could that be partially liquid cooled?

Again, than you for the advice.

No problem. The hybrid card is the liquid cooling for the GPU but personally I don't think you'd need that since GTX 970 is very power efficient.
I'm not sure of the difference between the FTW and FTW+ (maybe better cooler or power consumption...).