best 970 cooler

[themaniac]

what cooler for the 970 cools the best i don't want you to recommend the one with the best performance just the one with the best cooling

[Archangel1994]

Gigabyte Windforce 3 or EVGA ACX 2.0

[themaniac]

Gigabyte Windforce 3 or EVGA ACX 2.0

ok thanks

[Wano97]

Gigabyte.

[othertomperson]

Maxwell kicks out so little heat, they all seem like massive overkill to me. Have fun testing this hypothesis with overclocking, though, whichever you decide on.

[Aniallation]

what cooler for the 970 cools the best i don't want you to recommend the one with the best performance just the one with the best cooling

Hands down Gigabyte. Windforce X3 or G1

[Aniallation]

Gigabyte Windforce 3 or EVGA ACX 2.0

Not ACX 2.0. They're just reused 980 coolers that don't even fit over the GPU properly.

[themaniac]

Hands down Gigabyte. Windforce X3 or G1

ok and could you link me a comparison of all of the coolers for the 970 i looked and i couldn't find any comparisons of all of them

[alexyy]

The Twin Frozr is very good. 

[BaSkA]

Hands down Gigabyte. Windforce X3 or G1

 

I believe both Windforce 3X(called Overclocked version) and G1 (Gaming) video cards use the same cooler, the "WINDFORCE 3X cooling system".

The 970 Overclocked is a less factory overclocked and "backplate-less" version of the 970 if compared to the more expensive and more factory overclocked G1 Gaming, both from Gigabyte (Both at amazon, the G1 is out of stock though)!

 

Now, if you want to compare the 970's from Gigabyte, the main difference is the backplate. If it actually helps dissipate heat and you don't mind the extra $20, then go for it but I guess both have similar overclocking capabilities (apart from the silicon lottery).

[LmeAde2]

I would get either the ASUS GTX 970 STRIX http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ9BJ8G or the MSI GTX 970 TF http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NN0GEXQ and my preference being the STRIX. The G1 Gaming doesn't cool any better and is louder than the ASUS or MSI options.

[Aniallation]

I would get either the ASUS GTX 970 STRIX http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NJ9BJ8G or the MSI GTX 970 TF http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NN0GEXQ and my preference being the STRIX. The G1 Gaming doesn't cool any better and is louder than the ASUS or MSI options.

G1 cools better then Strix. Why would you say Strix has an advantage over the MSI TF? (and don't say 0db fan because it's pointless)

[LmeAde2]

G1 cools better then Strix. Why would you say Strix has an advantage over the MSI TF? (and don't say 0db fan because it's pointless)

ASUS customer support > MSI is the primary reason.

[I/O]

G1 cools better then Strix. Why would you say Strix has an advantage over the MSI TF? (and don't say 0db fan because it's pointless)

Because some people don't like having a computer that sounds like a refrigerator so having a silent GPU is not pointless at all. I rather silence over a lousy few extra fps.

[Tacitus]

Gamed for about 3 or 4 hours last night, my Gigabyte G1 GTX 970 peaked at 61 degrees with under 50% fan speed. I also know the MSI card stays below 65ish.

[Tacitus]

Because some people don't like having a computer that sounds like a refrigerator so having a silent GPU is not pointless at all. I rather silence over a lousy few extra fps.

 

My already-quiet case fans are louder than my Gigabyte 970. I can't hear it unless I manually ramp up the fan speeds to around 60%, and then it's hardly anything more than a subtle "woosh"

[Aniallation]

Because some people don't like having a computer that sounds like a refrigerator so having a silent GPU is not pointless at all. I rather silence over a lousy few extra fps.

You won't even hear a reference card at idle. It will be drowned out by your case, CPU, and other fans anyways

[I/O]

You won't even hear a reference card at idle. It will be drowned out by your case, CPU, and other fans anyways

Well being that there is not even any reference cooled 970s on the market I believe you are correct in that nobody will ever hear it LOL.

[Aniallation]

Well being that there is not even any reference cooled 970s on the market I believe you are correct in that nobody will ever hear it LOL.

I said reference card, not reference 970. Unless you have no case fans you likely won't even hear a reference 290X at idle/low load. 

[AlexStriz]

Because some people don't like having a computer that sounds like a refrigerator so having a silent GPU is not pointless at all. I rather silence over a lousy few extra fps.

 

G1 cools better then Strix. Why would you say Strix has an advantage over the MSI TF? (and don't say 0db fan because it's pointless)

 

Ahem...

 

 

I would recommend the MSI Twin Forzr. My 780ti's are Twin Frozr's and they are DEAD silent. They also perform insanely well. I would highly recommend them off my personal opinion on them. 

 

Also, Bit-tech rated the MSI as better than the EVGA and Asus. I've read in other places too that the MSI>Asus. I can try to find those as well.

 

Here are some overviews of all the cards: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-gtx-980-970-roundup,27716.html#xtor=RSS-181

edit: they missed some of the smaller known options. Those can be seen here (it's wccftech, but it should suffice): http://wccftech.com/article/complete-maxwell-roundup-geforce-gtx-980-gtx-970-aib-variants-compared/

 

I'd say your best options are the MSI, Zotac, and Gigabyte