[Newegg-US] Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 - $310 after rebate

[SteveGrabowski0]

The big daddy of GTX 970s for $310 after rebate

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125684

[Drackeo]

How do the 970s compare to the 390? and 290x? There all in the same price range, looking to pick one up for the new watercooled build im planning.

[SteveGrabowski0]

How do the 970s compare to the 390? and 290x? There all in the same price range, looking to pick one up for the new watercooled build im planning.

 

Watercooling a 970 is pointless, overclocks are never limited by temperature on the 970. The 970, 390, and 290x are all extremely similar at 1080p, the AMD cards pull away at 1440p and above. Of the three the 390 is the best 1080p card by a hair.

[Sir Asvald]

How do the 970s compare to the 390? and 290x? There all in the same price range, looking to pick one up for the new watercooled build im planning.

390 is a bit better than the 970

[Drackeo]

390 is a bit better than the 970

 

Okay ill probably go for the 390 then. Whats a good one for watercooling?

[Gofspar]

Watercooling a 970 is pointless, overclocks are never limited by temperature on the 970. The 970, 390, and 290x are all extremely similar at 1080p, the AMD cards pull away at 1440p and above. Of the three the 390 is the best 1080p card by a hair.

Hello????

 

Do you understand how Maxwell scaling works with voltage at low temperatures, please use a cork to plug all the crap coming from your mouth.

The G1 Gaming will blow past both underwater, 390/x doesn't OC for shit. If you insist on AMD get a 290X Lightning.

[Lays]

Watercooling a 970 is pointless, overclocks are never limited by temperature on the 970. The 970, 390, and 290x are all extremely similar at 1080p, the AMD cards pull away at 1440p and above. Of the three the 390 is the best 1080p card by a hair.

 

Maxwell is extremely limited by temperature, but not in the general sense. (IE: omg my 290x is hitting 95c!! I need to watercool!)

 

Maxwell really likes to be cold, the lower you get the temp the better it will scale, you won't gain a lot of mhz from watercooling a 970, but if you have the extra $ and want more performance as well as way quieter operation, then its always a plus.

[Sir Asvald]

Hello????

 

Do you understand how Maxwell scaling works with voltage at low temperatures, please use a cork to plug all the crap coming from your mouth.

The G1 Gaming will blow past both underwater, 390/x doesn't OC for shit. If you insist on AMD get a 290X Lightning.

Ahem.. 

 

https://youtu.be/k9cKZiJw6Pk?t=8m22s

[SteveGrabowski0]

Maxwell is extremely limited by temperature, but not in the general sense. (IE: omg my 290x is hitting 95c!! I need to watercool!)

 

Maxwell really likes to be cold, the lower you get the temp the better it will scale.

 

That's not my experience at all. I can get my 970 to stay in the low 60s and it doesn't make a shred of difference in the overclock I get versus running it at 75C with the default fan curve.

[Lays]

That's not my experience at all. I can get my 970 to stay in the low 60s and it doesn't make a shred of difference in the overclock I get versus running it at 75C with the default fan curve.

Getting it below 50 helps in my experience. I was just benching my 980 at 1609 core and 9312 memory with load temps at 27c, something I couldn't get anywhere close to on air.

[SteveGrabowski0]

Maxwell really likes to be cold, the lower you get the temp the better it will scale, you won't gain a lot of mhz from watercooling a 970,

 

If you don't get a lot of mhz out of the lower temperatures, what do you mean by the way it scales?

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Ahem.. 

 

https://youtu.be/k9cKZiJw6Pk?t=8m22s

 

Well you can't really use that... The 970 is just 1442mhz

 

That's not my experience at all. I can get my 970 to stay in the low 60s and it doesn't make a shred of difference in the overclock I get versus running it at 75C with the default fan curve.

 

Maxwell cards like even lower temps

[SteveGrabowski0]

Getting it below 50 helps in my experience. I was just benching my 980 at 1609 core and 9312 memory with load temps at 27c, something I couldn't get anywhere close to on air.

 

Are you talking with an EK waterblock so you're cooling the VRM and memory too? Is Maxwell limited by VRM temperatures? Would a Kraken G10 + Asetek cooler be pointless then?

[Drackeo]

IDK what to do lmfao X'D 

[SteveGrabowski0]

Hello????

 

Do you understand how Maxwell scaling works with voltage at low temperatures, please use a cork to plug all the crap coming from your mouth.

The G1 Gaming will blow past both underwater, 390/x doesn't OC for shit. If you insist on AMD get a 290X Lightning.

 

I guess I don't. How does the voltage scale with temperature and how much difference has it made for your 970's performance putting it under water?

[Gofspar]

I guess I don't. How does the voltage scale with temperature and how much difference has it made for your 970's performance putting it under water?

I no longer own it, but when I could keep it below 50c 1625mhz and 2100 mem was EZ in FS. where as around 75c I could barely bench 1590.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I no longer own it, but when I could keep it below 50c 1625mhz and 2100 mem was EZ in FS. where as around 75c I could barely bench 1590.

 

What was your memory clock on air?

[Gofspar]

What was your memory clock on air?

2150 was my bench stable

[Darkman]

Maxwell is extremely limited by temperature, but not in the general sense. (IE: omg my 290x is hitting 95c!! I need to watercool!)

 

Maxwell really likes to be cold, the lower you get the temp the better it will scale, you won't gain a lot of mhz from watercooling a 970, but if you have the extra $ and want more performance as well as way quieter operation, then its always a plus.

^ This. My 970 takes a shit past 52C once I have it at 1560/2100 for benching. Then my 650ti doesn't care if its at 70C or 50C.

[TriviaBeast]

These cards are not all decently binned, but mine runs a stable 1550 core and 8000 memory on air. Make sure you get the Samsung memory which is available in both revisions but less so in the second one than the first.

[TriviaBeast]

These cards are not all decently binned, but mine runs a stable 1550 core and 8000 memory on air. Make sure you get the Samsung memory which is available in both revisions but less so in the second one than the first.

ETA: mine is stable through 78c which is as hot as I can possibly get it. Normally runs around 68c peak and 57-62 normal gaming at 100 percent usage. I have never upped my core anymore to find out but I imagine there is 20 or so more left for core speed.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I no longer own it, but when I could keep it below 50c 1625mhz and 2100 mem was EZ in FS. where as around 75c I could barely bench 1590.

 

 

2150 was my bench stable

 

I'm a little confused here. Your 970 got to 1590 MHz core on air and 1625 MHz core on water? That doesn't sound like much of a bump. 2150 MHz on memory sounds like a lot, though I'm confused there too since you said 2100 MHz on water and then 2150 MHz when I asked what you got on air for memory. 

[Godlygamer23]

Watercooling a 970 is pointless, overclocks are never limited by temperature on the 970. The 970, 390, and 290x are all extremely similar at 1080p, the AMD cards pull away at 1440p and above. Of the three the 390 is the best 1080p card by a hair.

Water cooling a 970 is not inherently pointless. A cooler running card is always a plus.