GTX 970: Gigabyte or MSI or EVGA GTX 980 with reference cooler?

[Hatsune Miku 「 」]

Should I buy the GTX 980 or GTX 970?

 

The GTX 970 for ether gigabyte or msi is at $519 with their respective custom coolers or the evga gtx 980 with the nvidia reference cooler $749. All cards are overclocked.

[PokémonTrainerFour]

the 980 pretty much smokes the 970 might as well get that

 

maxwell is a much more efficient core so the reference cooler will do ok

[Razzaa]

The 970 is the better price/performance card imo. The MSI and Gigabyte are both quality cards. It is very easy to OC a 970 to match a stock 980.

[blackadder]

Are you in the USA,if so the 970 should be cheaper. I would get the 970 to much for to little gain for me. Also if playing at 1080 970 is great imo

[Hatsune Miku 「 」]

Are you in the USA,if so the 970 should be cheaper. I would get the 970 to much for to little gain for me. Also if playing at 1080 970 is great imo

Not in the US. If I was I would get the GTX 980. 

[askmax]

the 980 pretty much smokes the 970 might as well get that

 

maxwell is a much more efficient core so the reference cooler will do ok

No offence but are you mentally ill? The 980 does not by any means "smoke the 970". In most benchmarks the difference is 5-7fps about 10%, for nearly double the price that is not "smoked". 

[Hatsune Miku 「 」]

Also if I do get a GTX 970 which cooler?

[blackadder]

Gigabytes or msi. Whatever you like more. If sli get reference cooler.there are some reviews on YouTube of the 970

[Razzaa]

Also if I do get a GTX 970 which cooler?

My gigabyte 970 doesnt get much hotter than 62c running 1590/8000 clocks. That is with the fan on the stock auto setting.......my case fans are louder

[Hatsune Miku 「 」]

Gigabytes or msi. Whatever you like more. If sli get reference cooler.there are some reviews on YouTube of the 970

How do I get a GTX 970 reference cooler?

[PokémonTrainerFour]

No offence but are you mentally ill? The 980 does not by any means "smoke the 970". In most benchmarks the difference is 5-7fps about 10%, for nearly double the price that is not "smoked". 

crysis 3 1080p: 11.2 FPS difference in favor of the GTX 980

crysis 3 4k: ~9 FPS difference to the 980

Bioshock Infinite 4k: ~16 FPS difference

Far Cry 3 1080p: ~10 FPS difference

Far Cry 3 4K: ~8 FPS difference (the 980 can maintain 30+ FPS however)

 

Depending on the games you play, sometimes every FPS matters. 

 

source: 

[Schoolofmonkey]

Picked up a Gigabyte GTX970 Gaming G1 from MSY, I plan on getting a second.

After having a Asus GTX980 Reference card that just ran stupidly hot, to the point it would throttle BELOW base clock speeds.

Only way I could keep it cool was to crank the fans to 70%, which made the card unbearably loud.

 

Ended up returning it, I ummed and ahhed for a while, and after seeing the Techpowerup GTX970 Sli review thought it would be a better way to go.

Picked up the first card, and it seriously blew my socks off, it was matching my GTX780ti card, but with much lower temps.

It ran Watch_Dog's better.

I am gaming at 1080p 144hz.

 

Here's a Firestrike benchmark after an overclock:

[blackadder]

Evga and galaxy make one i believe

[Heizoel_Walther]

Don't go evga and don't go reference. I made very bad experience with the evga support and the cards are basically overpriced for what they offer. If I'd buy a card right now, I'd go with gigabyte windforce or asus strix, gigabyte a bit more likely.