GTX 970 Gigabyte G1 vs GTX 970 SSC ACX EVGA vs R9 290X MSI Lightning

[Aleppi]

MY friend is wondering which would be the best for him. He has a 750w powersupply and a 1080p monitor.

[Tim Drake]

Personally I would choose a G1 Gaming and BIOS mod that bitch and try to get it 1600MHz so it kills 980s at stock. Then again silicone lottery might not be your friend but i'm expressing my opinion.

[SkywardKkalox]

If he wants straight up bang for the buck get a g1 970 and add another g1 970 later down the road.

But! If his case can fit a 3 slot length card like the lightning 290x get this one!

[mayu]

Gigabyte G1 gaming 970

[DotoreN]

i have a MSI 970 and I love it. I always will stick with MSI as all of the cards performed great, oc'd great and never had one with coilwhine. So I'd recommend the MSI 970.

 

MSI - Just an overall good brand, safe pick ( I love MSI ) also the MSI is really quiet and has passive fans (fans only turn on above 60 C, which is great.

EVGA - Awesome customer support/service (this can be a reason to pick EVGA) they'll help you out with any problems you have.

G1 Gaming - Good/best overclock capability due to 3 fans

 

I wouldn't recommend any other.. especially the asus strix as 2 of my friends have them with horrible coilwhine (any 970 can have coilwhine, but the strix seems to have a higher chance of getting it)

[Tim Drake]

i have a MSI 970 and I love it. I always will stick with MSI as all of the cards performed great, oc'd great and never had one with coilwhine. So I'd recommend the MSI 970.

 

MSI - Just an overall good brand, safe pick ( I love MSI ) also the MSI is really quiet and has passive fans (fans only turn on above 60 C, which is great.

EVGA - Awesome customer support/service (this can be a reason to pick EVGA) they'll help you out with any problems you have.

G1 Gaming - Good/best overclock capability due to 3 fans

 

I wouldn't recommend any other.. especially the asus strix as 2 of my friends have them with horrible coilwhine (any 970 can have coilwhine, but the strix seems to have a higher chance of getting it)

Even though I have the MSI, it sucks for big overclocks which most G1 Gamings can close the gap between 970 and 980 game performance which makes me sad

 

Our card is unfortunately TDP locked at 110% and refuses to go any higher.

[DotoreN]

Even though I have the MSI, it sucks for big overclocks which most G1 Gamings can close the gap between 970 and 980 game performance which makes me sad

 

Our card is unfortunately TDP locked at 110% and refuses to go any higher.

 

Depends on the card aswell in how far you can push it.. but I heard some people manage to get it run on around 1450mhz for msi. But like I mentioned the g1 gaming will always be better (also louder), but theres no reason to pick g1 over msi if you dont even consider oc

[Tim Drake]

Depends on the card aswell in how far you can push it.. but I heard some people manage to get it run on around 1450mhz for msi. But like I mentioned the g1 gaming will always be better (also louder), but theres no reason to pick g1 over msi if you dont even consider oc

But with the chance of beating a 980 at stock, you should consider OC

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I'd pick Lightning 290x all day everyday

[DotoreN]

But with the chance of beating a 980 at stock, you should consider OC

 

Yep. I shall be honest, I haven't even oc'd my card yet (I only have my 970 for 4 days so that's why).. not sure when i'm going to.

 

I'm not sure how far MSI can be pushed without touching voltage compared to g1.

[Tim Drake]

Yep. I shall be honest, I haven't even oc'd my card yet (I only have my 970 for 4 days so that's why).. not sure when i'm going to.

I'm not sure how far MSI can be pushed without touching voltage compared to g1.

Not very far

[alexyy]

Not very far

 

My msi 970 boosts to 1574 without any extra voltage or even touching the power limit but sadly the memory won't go past 7.2 

 

When I've got some time I'm going to see how far I can push it.

[DotoreN]

My msi 970 boosts to 1574 without any extra voltage or even touching the power limit but sadly the memory won't go past 7.2 

 

When I've got some time I'm going to see how far I can push it.

 

I wonder if the lifespan of the msi 970 will be significantly decreased by boosting it to 1500+ like you even though you didn't touch voltages.

[alexyy]

I wonder if the lifespan of the msi 970 will be significantly decreased by boosting it to 1500+ like you even though you didn't touch voltages.

 

 

I highly doubt that.

[Tim Drake]

My msi 970 boosts to 1574 without any extra voltage or even touching the power limit but sadly the memory won't go past 7.2 

 

When I've got some time I'm going to see how far I can push it.

What games have you tested it on? A lot of games will crash it because I doubt that's stable.

[Tim Drake]

I wonder if the lifespan of the msi 970 will be significantly decreased by boosting it to 1500+ like you even though you didn't touch voltages.

No it won't.

[alexyy]

What games have you tested it on? A lot of games will crash it because I doubt that's stable.

 

BF4,Cod:AW, Far Cry 4 it's been stable for well over 2 months now. 

[Tim Drake]

BF4,Cod:AW, Far Cry 4 it's been stable for well over 2 months now. 

I highly highly highly doubt it's stable.

[alexyy]

I highly highly highly doubt it's stable.

 

 

When I get home I'll take some screenshots while playing some games at 1440p

[Tim Drake]

When I get home I'll take some screenshots while playing some games at 1440p

Screenshots don't prove stability.

[alexyy]

Screenshots don't prove stability.

 

what does apart from it running completely fine for over a month? if you don't believe me I don't really care to be honest. 

[BestBOTEU]

for 1080p 970 for sure

for 1440p the 290x and the 970 are the same

for 4k the 290x is better than the 970

[Tim Drake]

what does apart from it running completely fine for over a month? if you don't believe me I don't really care to be honest. 

You must understand there are a lot of liars and it doesn't seem trustworthy at all.

[Whorax]

Lightning 290X.

 

There's literally not a more badass looking card on the market.

[DotoreN]

I highly doubt that.

 

 

No it won't.

 

Ah I see, I never really cared about whether the lifespan decreases a little or not. But just out of curiousity, do you guys think by upping the core & memory clocks to the max (while still stable) decreases lifespan at all? or is it not affecting the liftepan in any way? From my experience it's not significant but it's ofc not good for your card (even if <75c).

 

I usually just never touch voltages, because I usually replace my card when i'm considering that.