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Differences between the aftermarket 970s

jd2195
By jd2195
in Graphics Cards
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I am looking at getting a 970 in the near future and I was wondering what the differences between the aftermarket 970s are. I know one of the main differences is the cooling solution which they choose but this does not affect me as I will be water cooling it so that is one of the main things I need, that it has a supported water block. I would like to keep it under £300 but it can go over if there is a good option. So which option manufacturer has the best features and should I be paying more for something like a Asus Strix or should I go for something cheaper?

My rig: i5 2500k, MSI Z77A G45, Gainward GTX 980 Phantom, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, OCZ ZT series 750W PSU, 1TB HDD, 800D, fully water cooled. I am currently working on modding my HAF 912+ to fit a custom loop, here is the build log: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/165963-project-viridis-water-cooled-haf-912/

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They are all about the same. Ones with a custom PCB will have better power delivery, but will also require a custom waterblock for that specific card.

The gigabyte G1 gaming will perform the best of all aftermarket cards because they are binned chips. Try to find a waterblock for that card.

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If you're going to water cool them, you'll want to go with a reference PCB, they're the only ones that are (almost) guaranteed a compatible waterblock.

the strix will only benefit you so long as you leave the stock shroud/heatsink/fans on, once you water cool it, your card is just a card, it comes down to core/boost clock at that point.

 

as always, i'll recommend that you look at EVGA, their customer support can't be beat.

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-Don't be this kind of person-

CPU:  AMD Ryzen 7 5800x | RAM: 2x16GB Crucial Ripjaws Z | Cooling: XSPC/EK/Bitspower loop | MOBO: Gigabyte x570 Aorus Master | PSU: Seasonic Prime 750 Titanium  

SSD: 250GB Samsung 980 PRO (OS) | 1TB Crucial MX500| 2TB Crucial P2 | Case: Phanteks Evolv X | GPU: EVGA GTX 1080 Ti FTW3 (with EK Block) | HDD: 1x Seagate Barracuda 2TB

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They are all about the same. Ones with a custom PCB will have better power delivery, but will also require a custom waterblock for that specific card.

The gigabyte G1 gaming will perform the best of all aftermarket cards because they are binned chips. Try to find a waterblock for that card.

I doubt there will be a full-cover block for the G1 since it's a custom PCB and there's just no market for that.

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They are all about the same. Ones with a custom PCB will have better power delivery, but will also require a custom waterblock for that specific card.

The gigabyte G1 gaming will perform the best of all aftermarket cards because they are binned chips. Try to find a waterblock for that card.

 

 

I doubt there will be a full-cover block for the G1 since it's a custom PCB and there's just no market for that.

 

There is currently no G1 waterblock from EK but they say that is coming soon so I may wait a while and see

 

If you're going to water cool them, you'll want to go with a reference PCB, they're the only ones that are (almost) guaranteed a compatible waterblock.

the strix will only benefit you so long as you leave the stock shroud/heatsink/fans on, once you water cool it, your card is just a card, it comes down to core/boost clock at that point.

 

as always, i'll recommend that you look at EVGA, their customer support can't be beat.

Ill give the EVGA cards a look

My rig: i5 2500k, MSI Z77A G45, Gainward GTX 980 Phantom, 8GB Corsair Vengeance, OCZ ZT series 750W PSU, 1TB HDD, 800D, fully water cooled. I am currently working on modding my HAF 912+ to fit a custom loop, here is the build log: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/165963-project-viridis-water-cooled-haf-912/

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They are all about the same. Ones with a custom PCB will have better power delivery, but will also require a custom waterblock for that specific card.

The gigabyte G1 gaming will perform the best of all aftermarket cards because they are binned chips. Try to find a waterblock for that card.

+1 and -1

 

The G1 wont be the best, it will be one of the best but not the best. Especially with EVGA's classified series, EVGA's (not confirmed for the 900 series AFAIK) K|ngp|n series and Zotac's AMP cards. Honestly Gigabite is just hype imo, a company that uses a mobile GPU and tries to sell it off as a desktop GPU (link in sig) isn't worth considering if you ask me.

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They made a failure of a mini PC. That doesn't make all their other products bad. Their graphics cards are among the best.

Linus is my fetish.

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I doubt there will be a full-cover block for the G1 since it's a custom PCB and there's just no market for that.

EK makes a lot of custom waterblocks for custom-PCB cards. They have a lot of different waterblocks for 780s and 780tis from a bunch of different manufacturers.

NEW PC build: Blank Heaven   minimalist white and black PC     Old S340 build log "White Heaven"        The "LIGHTCANON" flashlight build log        Project AntiRoll (prototype)        Custom speaker project

Spoiler

Ryzen 3950X | AMD Vega Frontier Edition | ASUS X570 Pro WS | Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB | NZXT H500 | Seasonic Prime Fanless TX-700 | Custom loop | Coolermaster SK630 White | Logitech MX Master 2S | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB + 970 Pro 512GB | Samsung 58" 4k TV | Scarlett 2i4 | 2x AT2020

 

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