Which GTX970s would SLI best

[Fleonar]

Hey guys,

 

I am planning a dual GTX 970 build, at first I was going to get the Palit Jetstream version, which seemed like a good choice because of the high stock clocks and, of course, that price.

But I read somewhere that a reference cooler is better for SLI. I would be using, most likely, a gigabyte z97x gaming 3 motherboard, so the cards won't exactly be touching each other, but I don't know much about SLI, never done it before.

I can't seem to find a review of the reference Palit GTX970, which I can get for significantly cheaper where I live, so is it any good? Are Palit cards a good choice overall?

I cannot find any other reference cooler gtx970 where I am...

 

Another options I can get are the Asus Strix, the MSI Gaming G4, And the gigabyte windforce (which I don't like because of it's length).

 

What do you guys think?

 

 

Ivan

[themaniac]

Hey guys,

 

I am planning a dual GTX 970 build, at first I was going to get the Palit Jetstream version, which seemed like a good choice because of the high stock clocks and, of course, that price.

But I read somewhere that a reference cooler is better for SLI. I would be using, most likely, a gigabyte z97x gaming 3 motherboard, so the cards won't exactly be touching each other, but I don't know much about SLI, never done it before.

I can't seem to find a review of the reference Palit GTX970, which I can get for significantly cheaper where I live, so is it any good? Are Palit cards a good choice overall?

I cannot find any other reference cooler gtx970 where I am...

 

Another options I can get are the Asus Strix, the MSI Gaming G4, And the gigabyte windforce (which I don't like because of it's length).

 

What do you guys think?

 

 

Ivan

the reference ones will have the lowest temps in sli

[Archangel1994]

Gigabyte G1 gaming

Reference style cooler from EVGA (That's the non-ACX version)

ASUS strix if you like silence

[thekeemo]

The reference one because the hot air will be going out the case and not into another card

[MasonIsPurple]

Reference is probably best, that send the hot air out of the case. Thats important with more than one card.

 

If you have a large case with really good airflow, this might not matter.

[TPeezy]

I tried out 970 SLI with the leaf blower from EVGA, but now I have Gigabyte G1s which run much cooler. The G1 at load is low 70s vs near 90 on EVGA. I live in AZ so the ambient temp is higher then what others have.

[I/O]

the reference ones will have the lowest temps in sli

Not true at all . They will run much hotter because reference blower coolers have one small fan and a smaller heat sink/Rad. There was a guy on these forums that just made a post about his blower cooled 970 and msi TF 970 both in SLI and the msi non reference coolers performed 20 to 30c cooler than the crap blower style coolers.

[I/O]

Reference is probably best, that send the hot air out of the case. Thats important with more than one card.

 

If you have a large case with really good airflow, this might not matter.

Blower coolers are the worst always always always this is true especially in SLI/CFX where increased cooling performance and capacity are needed.

[Mick Naughty]

Depends on the case. I have been switcing back and forth from blower style and open air coolers.

 

And also the mobo, If you will have a slot between cards.

 

With my crappy corsair case fans. open air gpu coolers were better. With nicer fans, such as the noctuas I just got, blower is the best.

 

Most peolple just got off of what they see in videos and on test benches which would make no sense.

[Bhav]

LMAO the reference ones are turd, they are NOT going to beat the G1 / Strix / MSI gaming for temps.

A SINGLE reference blower crap card runs hotter than my TWO windforce OCs in SLI.

[MasonIsPurple]

Blower coolers are the worst always always always this is true especially in SLI/CFX where increased cooling performance and capacity are needed.

Well thats just wrong, unless you go with the AMD cards. if you cant get the hot air out of the case with airflow, get it out with a blower cooler. 

[I/O]

Well thats just wrong, unless you go with the AMD cards. if you cant get the hot air out of the case with airflow, get it out with a blower cooler. 

Not at all. The single tiny fan has to work much to hard to try and compensate.

[Bhav]

If you cant get the hot air out of the case with airflow then buy a new case before new GPUs!

[MasonIsPurple]

Not at all. The single tiny fan has to work much to hard to try and compensate.

What about small form factor? Like HTPCs or something. The 980 blower isnt that loud and keeps it decently quiet, and your case fans dont have to work so hard. 

 

Not every PC needs to be open air to have good cooling. 

[I/O]

What about small form factor? Like HTPCs or something. The 980 blower isnt that loud and keeps it decently quiet, and your case fans dont have to work so hard. 

 

Not every PC needs to be open air to have good cooling. 

A blower cooler will limit GPUs no matter what they are not the best option.

[MasonIsPurple]

A blower cooler will limit GPUs no matter what they are not the best option.

Even if you get a G1 980, if you run it in a box then the temps will eventually rise to the point of throttling. If blowers weren't useful, people would stop making them. 

[I/O]

Even if you get a G1 980, if you run it in a box then the temps will eventually rise to the point of throttling. If blowers weren't useful, people would stop making them. 

Blower are there because they are cheaper period. That's why all reference cooling units are blower style cause they are the cheap version. An open air cooler will always run cooler no matter what and that's why all high performance aftermarket cards have open air coolers cause they offer the best performance no matter what.

[Mick Naughty]

Blower are there because they are cheaper period. That's why all reference cooling units are blower style cause they are the cheap version. An open air cooler will always run cooler no matter what and that's why all high performance aftermarket cards have open air coolers cause they offer the best performance no matter what.

Well that wasn't the case for me. ACX coolers must just be junk then. Ref blowers ran 20 degrees less.

[I/O]

Well that wasn't the case for me. ACX coolers must just be junk then. Ref blowers ran 20 degrees less.

Contrary to you claims a guy just did testing between TF open 970s in SLI vs EVGA Blower style 970s in SLI and the msi TF cards ran cooler by around 20 to 30c under max load.

[Mick Naughty]

Contrary to you claims a guy just did testing between TF open 970s in SLI vs EVGA Blower style 970s in SLI and the msi TF cards ran cooler by around 20 to 30c under max load.

I could say the same for mine. Wasted the money on the coolers too. Results way vary. I'm not on a test bench or a giant ass case that claims good airflow. Average joe kinda build. Only one way to find out I guess.

[Bhav]

No one said that EVGA make good fansink coolers because they dont.

 

They cant compare to Twinfrozr / DirectCU / Windforce because EVGA seem to lack the experience with making these kinds of coolers.

 

Blower coolers only exist because they are cheapo, thats why a blower 970 only costs £260 vs £280-£300 for the fansink ones.

[Fleonar]

Thanks for your replies

 

I see several posts mention that it's important to consider what case we're using, and I was planning on a Corsair 450d. Seems like It would have a decent amount of airflow, two 14cm fans on the front, one 12cm on the back and I'll be using a Corsair H100i on the top of the case.

The motherboard I mentiond in my initial post has two PCI slots worth of space between the two PCI Express slots i'll be using...

Some people say that reference cooler are much noisier, and I am currently using a GTX480 with a reference cooler and I can confirm it gets quite noisy on full load.

 

So it seems like the aftermarket coolers would be the way to go?

[Bhav]

Definitely get aftermarket fansink coolers. Go with Asus, MSI or Gigabyte, they make the best ones.

[MasonIsPurple]

Thanks for your replies

 

I see several posts mention that it's important to consider what case we're using, and I was planning on a Corsair 450d. Seems like It would have a decent amount of airflow, two 14cm fans on the front, one 12cm on the back and I'll be using a Corsair H100i on the top of the case.

The motherboard I mentiond in my initial post has two PCI slots worth of space between the two PCI Express slots i'll be using...

Some people say that reference cooler are much noisier, and I am currently using a GTX480 with a reference cooler and I can confirm it gets quite noisy on full load.

 

So it seems like the aftermarket coolers would be the way to go?

Yeah, look at the open air coolers. Sorry for the clusterf on your thread, but I'm glad you could come to a decission. 

[anon3na]

In all honesty this depends entirely on your circumstances

If your case has restrictive airflow then blower coolers are must, anthe only 3 blowers I know of are evga, gainward and galax.

However if your case is large and/or has good air flow go for open designs... The main risk with open designs is that the top card suffers if air flow is poor, and the rest of the system will have to deal with higher temperatures. However this is a non-issue in cases with good air flow. Also stick to non reference cards with 2 slot height as you should have at least one empty slot between cards... As for the better non-reference cards I personally have to go with the gigbyte g1 gaming cards from the benchmarks I've seen, however it's probably worth doing ur own research anyway