So many 970's

[55five55]

With there being such a big range of 970's I can't decide which to get!

 

This is my build (no GPU obviously) http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/pKBDmG

 

The ones I've been looking at: (Prices in AUD)

 

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4G - $469

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Windforce 3X - $495

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4G SC - $505

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Gaming G1 - $519

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4G SSC - $ 539 

 

The main difference I can see is in the clock speed (base from 1050 to 1190).

Is the cost increases of ~$10-20 between each card worth the 20-50 MHz clock speed increase?

Other than clock speed, what factors are worth looking for or comparing for similar cards like these?

 

I'll only be using it for gaming, no media editing.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

[Excon]

Id go Gigabyte Windforce 3x

[Guest]

What about the ASUS GTX 970 Strix?

[SimpleG]

Id go Gigabyte Windforce 3x

The man said it

[s4spencer]

Personally I would go with the gigabyte g1 (the windforce 3x if your okay with overclocking it yourself) as I've heard nothing but good things about their cooler

I'm not to sure what the deal is with the pricing, I know it's more expensive with AUD but from what I had seen gigabyte was the priciest, and the most factory OC'd.

[Semper]

As i'll always say, when it comes to Nvidia, or... GPU's in general, customer service is second to none when it comes to EVGA.

I'm also a fan of their ACX, it's effective and quiet, though I do not like the new style in terms of aesthetics. 

[Si3Rra_7]

Asus Strix , it has the 0db fan mode and it's gorgeous , and doesn't have the cooler problem evga has ( say what you want , but 3 heatpipes> 2,25 heatpipes on the ACX ).

[55five55]

Id go Gigabyte Windforce 3x

 

What's the reason you would pick that one?

 

 

What about the ASUS GTX 970 Strix?

 

The Asus I've seen at $535 and has the same clock speeds at the $495 Gigabyte, wasn't sure of what features that had that made it worth the extra $40 (plus I believe the Gigabyte's have the blue led which fits my build a little better but isn't a deciding factor

[Excon]

What's the reason you would pick that one?

Price for what youre getting. It's arguably the best cooler out there. Its priced in the middle and stock clocks mean nothing

[55five55]

Personally I would go with the gigabyte g1 (the windforce 3x if your okay with overclocking it yourself) as I've heard nothing but good things about their cooler

I'm not to sure what the deal is with the pricing, I know it's more expensive with AUD but from what I had seen gigabyte was the priciest, and the most factory OC'd.

 Thanks for the reasoning There seems to be a lot of back and forth with the pricing which makes it all pretty confusing.

 

 

As i'll always say, when it comes to Nvidia, or... GPU's in general, customer service is second to none when it comes to EVGA.

I'm also a fan of their ACX, it's effective and quiet, though I do not like the new style in terms of aesthetics. 

I also prefer the aesthetics of the Gigabyte cards over the EVGA, but good customer service is always a big plus. 

 

 

Asus Strix , it has the 0db fan mode and it's gorgeous , and doesn't have the cooler problem evga has ( say what you want , but 3 heatpipes> 2,25 heatpipes on the ACX ).

I have heard good things about the Asus Strix, was the $40 more for the same clock speeds that made me not include it on the list but maybe I judged it too quickly.

[55five55]

Price for what youre getting. It's arguably the best cooler out there. Its priced in the middle and stock clocks mean nothing

Thanks for the clarification! I didn't imagine a change of potentially as low as 20MHz increase to clock speeds would warrant charging more but that seems to be the case a lot of the time (unless I am missing another factor). 

[s4spencer]

found quite a nice comparison benchmark test for you

http://www.overclock.net/t/1516121/gtx-970-comparison-strix-vs-msi-gaming-vs-gigabyte-g1

 

I'll also add in some of the reasoning that convinced me for the gigabyte version

 

0dB (which is a huge draw for some of the other cards) means nothing to me, if i'm not gaming (no audio playing), the noise from any card i've ever owned is negligible to me.

The extra-large size of their cards has also never been an issue for me (could be for you, im using a phantom 410)

I've heard of people hitting 1500mHz OC speeds without any real issue for the 970 windforce cards, that 3rd fan, as noted in the review above isn't just for show

[Si3Rra_7]

 Thanks for the reasoning There seems to be a lot of back and forth with the pricing which makes it all pretty confusing.

 

 

I also prefer the aesthetics of the Gigabyte cards over the EVGA, but good customer service is always a big plus. 

 

 

I have heard good things about the Asus Strix, was the $40 more for the same clock speeds that made me not include it on the list but maybe I judged it too quickly.

I don't think the 40$ is extra , it's just that the EVGA lowered price to get people to buy because of their not quite ready cooler , and gigabyte are always cheap and their cooler is ugly as fuk 

 

I'd always buy in this order : ASUS>MSI>EVGA>GIGABYTE 

Altho i got an MSI 760 card because it was mighty cheap and same cooling as the asus one

[Semper]

 Thanks for the reasoning There seems to be a lot of back and forth with the pricing which makes it all pretty confusing.

 

 

I also prefer the aesthetics of the Gigabyte cards over the EVGA, but good customer service is always a big plus. 

 

 

I have heard good things about the Asus Strix, was the $40 more for the same clock speeds that made me not include it on the list but maybe I judged it too quickly.

The price/performance isn't likely to be worth it if you look at it from a core/boost/factory overclock standpoint. Non-reference coolers and/or are where it comes into play. They often times keep the card cooler, and give more headroom for overclocking.

Asus' Direct CUII, Gigabytes Windforce, and EVGA's ACX are all powerful coolers, they're all going to perform fairly well, and, if history repeats, better than the stock blower cooler design. So honestly, it's really personal preference/aesthetics from that standpoint, they'll all cool fairly similarly. Keep in mind that in most systems, however, the only thing you will be seeing is the top edge and the back of the PCB/backplate.

 

Gigabyte was quick to jump on RMA'ing my DOA board, however, you don't have to search far or hard to find horror stories with their customer service. it took them two days to get back to me.

 

Asus was reasonably helpful when it came to RMA'ing a monitor that had dead onboard speakers for a PC I built for a friend, it took them about a week to get back to me, It's taken them in excess of three months (and two support tickets) for them to get back to me about my dead HD7870.

 

My current 780 had damage in-transit (the HDMI port was damaged), EVGA got back to me within five hours, paid shipping both ways, and had my replacement in the mail as soon as they got confirmation that the damaged card was in the mail, something neither Gigabyte or Asus did with their RMA process (though, Asus does offer rapid replacement for some products).

 

That level of dedication to the customer, post-sale is worth the extra $20, $30...$40, whatever it may be, to me anyways.

[55five55]

found quite a nice comparison benchmark test for you

http://www.overclock.net/t/1516121/gtx-970-comparison-strix-vs-msi-gaming-vs-gigabyte-g1

 

I'll also add in some of the reasoning that convinced me for the gigabyte version

 

0dB (which is a huge draw for some of the other cards) means nothing to me, if i'm not gaming (no audio playing), the noise from any card i've ever owned is negligible to me.

The extra-large size of their cards has also never been an issue for me (could be for you, im using a phantom 410)

I've heard of people hitting 1500mHz OC speeds without any real issue for the 970 windforce cards, that 3rd fan, as noted in the review above isn't just for show

Thanks for the link, that had some really helpful info on it!

With the sound of computers I've dealt with in the past, this one will be significantly quieter anyway so absolute silence isn't vital for me either. I'm using the BitFenix Shinobi which says it can accommodate 320mm cards, so the 310mm of the G1 should be fine.

 

 

I don't think the 40$ is extra , it's just that the EVGA lowered price to get people to buy because of their not quite ready cooler , and gigabyte are always cheap and their cooler is ugly as fuk 

Hehe I don't mind the look of the Gigabyte cooler and the LED would fit my build well anyway.

 

 

The price/performance isn't likely to be worth it if you look at it from a core/boost/factory overclock standpoint. non-reference coolers and/or are where it comes into play. They often times keep the card cooler, and give more headroom for overclocking.

 

Thanks for the help!

That's very impressive from EVGA, can't underestimate the value of good customer service like that. It's something I hadn't thought much to consider up until this point so I'm glad you brought it up!

[s4spencer]

I will admit, definitely not looking forward to ever having to contact gigabyte about anything. Their "contact us" page was nothing short of almost hidden, and asking for BIOS versions before you've even contacted them about an issue? Compared to EVGA's 2 click to their 5 item "contact us" form....