Upgrading! GTX 970 vs 980

[Trollelicious]

I want to upgrade my current rig so I can enjoy smooth(er) gameplay and  hopefully record some of it too I've been waiting since january for nvidia's 900 series cards heh. Atm I'm using a 1080p monitor and an old sqare low-res monitor but I might go for a 3x 1080p setup some day.

 

I'm wondering if I can just swap my current card for either the 970 or  980 or if I have to upgrade another component too?

This is my current rig: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/42C3WZ

It's still doing good but I'd love to be able to play Thief on high or ultra without any fps drops for example.

Also, I suppose with one of these cards I would get a bottleneck somewhere in my system. If so, what would it be?

My budget is enough to buy one 980 or one 970 but not 2 of any of them so I need help with picking which one of them. For example if the 980 would just be a waste of money if my other components can't keep up with it.

 

Thanks in advance and if you need any more info just ask me and I'll try to answer as quickly as possible!

[Aniallation]

970 is a noticeably better card for the money

[Briggsy]

with your current build 970 is probably spot on. 

[Trollelicious]

with your current build 970 is probably spot on. 

So I wouldn't really get that much of a performance boost from the 980?

[Samfisher]

So I wouldn't really get that much of a performance boost from the 980?

 

Of course you will, just not worth the extra 200-300+ extra it costs.

[Schoolofmonkey]

Here's some benchmarks, run in my machine, I'm gaming at 1080p@144Hz.

Both cards are overclocked the GTX970 more than the GTX980.

The GTX970 is the Gigabyte G1 Gaming, the GTX980 is the eVGA Superclocked with reference cooler.

 

 

[Briggsy]

Here's some benchmarks, run in my machine, I'm gaming at 1080p@144Hz.

Both cards are overclocked the GTX970 more than the GTX980.

The GTX970 is the Gigabyte G1 Gaming, the GTX980 is the eVGA Superclocked with reference cooler.

 

OP has an i5-3450 @ 3.1Ghz with (I'm guessing) a stock cooler. Although max turbo with all cores under load is 3.7Ghz, I doubt OP is running full turbo on a stock cooler as the stock fan wil try to lift off of the motherboard.

 

It would be interesting to see the Heaven results with your cpu downclocked and hyper-threading disabled, to see if there is a difference. For gaming Haswell and Ivybridge are fairly close clock for clock.

[Trollelicious]

Okey, I've now (1 week later....) decided that I'm gonna get a 970 because I really don't mind keeping the extra money and maybe buy something later in 2015 when I'm going to the US

But now the question is: Which 970? In my opinion the MSI card looks the best and would fit my black and red build. Gigabyte's card has the highest clock (speed?) but is larger than the others. Asus Strix card also looks good but from what I've seen/heard it performes a bit worse than the MSI and Gigabyte cards.

[Trollelicious]

OP has an i5-3450 @ 3.1Ghz with (I'm guessing) a stock cooler. Although max turbo with all cores under load is 3.7Ghz, I doubt OP is running full turbo on a stock cooler as the stock fan wil try to lift off of the motherboard.

 

It would be interesting to see the Heaven results with your cpu downclocked and hyper-threading disabled, to see if there is a difference. For gaming Haswell and Ivybridge are fairly close clock for clock.

Yes I'm using the stock cooler and I can confirm that when I tried max turbo (3,7Ghz) the motherboard and everything almost flew out the side window on my case! jk

[KiddKlean24]

Okey, I've now (1 week later....) decided that I'm gonna get a 970 because I really don't mind keeping the extra money and maybe buy something later in 2015 when I'm going to the US

But now the question is: Which 970? In my opinion the MSI card looks the best and would fit my black and red build. Gigabyte's card has the highest clock (speed?) but is larger than the others. Asus Strix card also looks good but from what I've seen/heard it performes a bit worse than the MSI and Gigabyte cards.

I Have The Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 And It Is Heavenly

[i_build_nanosuits]

Okey, I've now (1 week later....) decided that I'm gonna get a 970 because I really don't mind keeping the extra money and maybe buy something later in 2015 when I'm going to the US

But now the question is: Which 970? In my opinion the MSI card looks the best and would fit my black and red build. Gigabyte's card has the highest clock (speed?) but is larger than the others. Asus Strix card also looks good but from what I've seen/heard it performes a bit worse than the MSI and Gigabyte cards.

they are all great cards, the gigabyte G1 gaming is oriented toward performance and high overclocks the cooler is ''cool'' to say the least but it's also the loudest and the cards consumes a little more power, the MSI is balanced being more quiet and shorter card, the MSI card does not come with a backplate though..the gigabyte one does have a sexy backplate but the card cost more as well. The asus strix as all sort of issues with coil whine and artefacts, i'd stay away from it...evga as pipe in the wrong spot on the ACX 1.0 cooler and the ACX 2.0 cards are overpriced for what they are.

So i guess it depends what you want to prioritize, is the backplate a big deal for you, are you after highest overclocks possible, do you care about noise coming from the card, can your case acomodate the giant G1 gaming card.

[Trollelicious]

they are all great cards, the gigabyte G1 gaming is oriented toward performance and high overclocks the cooler is ''cool'' to say the least but it's also the loudest and the cards consumes a little more power, the MSI is balanced being more quiet and shorter card, the MSI card does not come with a backplate though..the gigabyte one does have a sexy backplate but the card cost more as well. The asus strix as all sort of issues with coil whine and artefacts, i'd stay away from it...evga as pipe in the wrong spot on the ACX 1.0 cooler and the ACX 2.0 cards are overpriced for what they are.

So i guess it depends what you want to prioritize, is the backplate a big deal for you, are you after highest overclocks possible, do you care about noise coming from the card, can your case acomodate the giant G1 gaming card.

Okey, sounds like it's I'm choosing between the Gigabyte and MSI cards then. What is the difference in loudness (?) between them? And what does the backplate do? Does it matter if I have one or not?

[i_build_nanosuits]

Okey, sounds like it's I'm choosing between the Gigabyte and MSI cards then. What is the difference in loudness (?) between them? And what does the backplate do? Does it matter if I have one or not?

backplate improve the look of the card and nothing else, on the gigabyte it also improve rigidity of the card but the MSi twin frozr V cooler used on the MSI card has it's own rigidity built in the cooler so no need for backplate on it, so it's only about looks when installed in the case. The difference in noise is not much, honestly you will feel it only with both cards overclocked as high as they would go...at stock or near stock voltage it's pretty much the same the GTX 970 is a very efficient GPU and it won't stress thoses coolers that much at stock voltages.

The gigabyte windforce having 3 smaller fans is a little louder than a card designed with two bigger fans obviously, but if the GPU is efficient those won't spin really fast so the difference is minimal at best.

Go with the one you think looks better and have the price that fit your wallet..they are both good choices.

[Trollelicious]

backplate improve the look of the card and nothing else, on the gigabyte it also improve rigidity of the card but the MSi twin frozr V cooler used on the MSI card has it's own rigidity built in the cooler so no need for backplate on it, so it's only about looks when installed in the case. The difference in noise is not much, honestly you will feel it only with both cards overclocked as high as they would go...at stock or near stock voltage it's pretty much the same the GTX 970 is a very efficient GPU and it won't stress thoses coolers that much at stock voltages.

The gigabyte windforce having 3 smaller fans is a little louder than a card designed with two bigger fans obviously, but if the GPU is efficient those won't spin really fast so the difference is minimal at best.

Go with the one you think looks better and have the price that fit your wallet..they are both good choices.

I took a look at some pictures and I have to say, the backplate on the Gigabyte card looks really nice. I'm not going to overclock the card so I guess noice wouldn't be an issue and here in sweden the gigabyte card is actually ~14$ cheaper than the msi card. If the gigabyte card consumes more power would it still work with my 550W PSU? On the hardware store website I'm gonna buy from it says minimum req is 550 for gigabyte's card and 500 for msi's card.

[totjup5]

I would get the 970, it's great for the price, and overclocks a ton.

[i_build_nanosuits]

I took a look at some pictures and I have to say, the backplate on the Gigabyte card looks really nice. I'm not going to overclock the card so I guess noice wouldn't be an issue and here in sweden the gigabyte card is actually ~14$ cheaper than the msi card. If the gigabyte card consumes more power would it still work with my 550W PSU? On the hardware store website I'm gonna buy from it says minimum req is 550 for gigabyte's card and 500 for msi's card.

Yes this card will run just fine on a 550W PSU provided it's not too cheap of unit. The card you are looking at is the gigabyte G1 gaming? (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5209#ov) If so, make sure you have enough room in your case cause this beast is very long measuring at 312mm in lengh (12.3 inches) many mid-tower case can't house such a long card.

[BaSkA]

Either will be fine.

If you have enough money to buy a 980, definitely get one;

If money is a concern or you could spend the extra ~$250 elsewhere, the 970 will be fine for anything you throw at it at 1920x1080. I believe 5760x1080 will also be playable with a 970 but not for long if you love Ultra settings.

 

As for which brand, from my recent readings, get a Gigabyte 970 or 980 because they kick ass (if your case can fit that big girl/boy).

[Trollelicious]

Yes this card will run just fine on a 550W PSU provided it's not too cheap of unit. The card you are looking at is the gigabyte G1 gaming? (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5209#ov) If so, make sure you have enough room in your case cause this beast is very long measuring at 312mm in lengh (12.3 inches) many mid-tower case can't house such a long card.

https://www.komplett.se/gigabyte-geforce-g1-gaming-gtx-970-4gb/825299 it's G1 Gaming . And you can see my case (CM Storm Enforcer) in my pcpartpicker list in my first post.

 

Edit: I took a look at my case on pcpartpicker and it looks like I would have to take out my drive cages to fit the G1 Gaming card.

[i_build_nanosuits]

https://www.komplett.se/gigabyte-geforce-g1-gaming-gtx-970-4gb/825299 it's G1 Gaming . And you can see my case (CM Storm Enforcer) in my pcpartpicker list in my first post.

 

Edit: I took a look at my case on pcpartpicker and it looks like I would have to take out my drive cages to fit the G1 Gaming card.

indeed you have 11 inches of clearance with cage in place, if you can deal with having the cage removed from the case then you should go for it! ...and yes your PSU is fine for this card.

[Trollelicious]

indeed you have 11 inches of clearance with cage in place, if you can deal with having the cage removed from the case then you should go for it! ...and yes your PSU is fine for this card.

Okey, I'll take a look in my case tomorrow and see if it's worth the work of moving my harddrive and taking out the cage

[Trollelicious]

Kinda reviving this thread with an update:

I just got my Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming and I'm super happy with it! I've maxed every game I've played so far and everything looks sooo much better now

One thing though... After installing the graphics card my computer has been booting really slow. It gets "stuck" on the screen where you can choose to open bios etc but it wont let me open bios or startup menu with F12 or Delete, it's stuck there for 1 minute +-~2sec (timed). Nothing else has been slowed down, just that. So I'm wondering how do I fix this? Has anyone else got this problem? Thanks in advance

[Bhav]

GTX 980 is overpriced, should be more like £350-£400 max compared to the 970s £250-£300 price point, but its around £400-£500+ for the aftermarket cooled ones, absolutely not worth it over the 970.

[Trollelicious]

GTX 980 is overpriced, should be more like £350-£400 max compared to the 970s £250-£300 price point, but its around £400-£500+ for the aftermarket cooled ones, absolutely not worth it over the 970.

You should read my latest post

[Bhav]

I clicked on thread and responded to the title / OP oops.

[chitradev]

I personally got the GTX 980 only because i could not find a gtx 970 in stock anywhere and i really needed to get a graphics card to complete my system. I am using the GTX 980 and it is working great but i think i would have gotten by just fine with the 970 even running at 1440p.