Need new gpu, don't know which one?

[EternalSeeker]

What up LLT,

 

If you have been following my previous thread, I had a GTX 780ti OC from gigabyte. Never owned a product from them but i discovered first hand (in my experience) that their manufacture OC is horrible, I ran into so many crashes, from benchmarks to gaming to even GPGPU computing. Now thank god NCIX approved an RMA request. Should be getting a refund, but I am down a card and need a new one. So here goes:

 

Which card should I get? Gigabyte has lost me as a customer for now. I have a X99 platform with 5960x cpu. I do alot of HPC tasks but i do some regular video editing and gaming for fun. I do almost all types of computing, so a good GPGPU compute + Gaming card is needed. I live in Canada as well. Should I get a 970/980 or go with the R9 series? Reference or After Market? Which is better?

 

Also I am down a gpu and can't continue operation until either RMA process is done and i get a new card, so should i go and buy a card now and then get a partial re-embursment when the RMA returns with a refund or?

[HDSantos]

The 980 from Gigabyte is a very nice card.

Good overclocker!

[VincentiusIV]

A GTX 970/980 for sure. I recommend the ones from EVGA and ASUS. Especially ASUS.

Get a non-reference

 

Also, nice 5960x you got there

[s3ns3]

get the gigabyte gtx 980 g1 gaming its a beast. aftermarket VRM,cooler great overclocker

[JRuss16]

980

[BrianPena]

get the gigabyte gtx 980 g1 gaming its a beast. aftermarket VRM,cooler great overclocker

He literally said he doesn't want a gigabyte card

[Hans Christian | Teri]

I love how there's already two people who have suggested Gigabyte cards....

[EternalSeeker]

How much do you want to spend?

Where are you from (in terms of UK Europe etc?

I have just got a new 970 and its top of the line (hugh overclock and sitting at under 50C while gaming)

I should be getting a refund of $520 CDN. I live in Canada, specifically Ottawa On. I am willing to spend a max 100 on top of that. I am looking for hpc computing and gaming powerless. Cooler the better. And I am hoping it's more stable than a 5 legged table, gigabyte kind of dissapointed me with the 780ti Oc.

[EternalSeeker]

Double post 

[EternalSeeker]

Should I get the dcuii 780ti from asus, looks like none of the 970/980 accept for gigabyte are in stock..

[Monkie]

Gigabyte 970/980 G1 - Great overclocker, best temp performance, but not the most silent compared to other competitors (BUT still very silent) & Backplate + Windforce blue LED

 

Asus 970/980 Strix - Lowest out of factory boost+base clock, 0 dba mode, backplate, No LED

 

MSI 970/980 Twin Frozr - Most silent card, also decent overclocker, & does not have a backplate, MSI logo white LED

 

Although Gigabyte seems to win in terms of overclocking & temp performance, but Asus & MSI are also great contenders.

 

Just pick any brand that you like, they are not miles apart from each other in terms of overall performance.

 

Oh FYI Gigabyte used to have a rep for poorly made GPU's, not sure about now thou

[EternalSeeker]

Gigabyte 970/980 G1 - Great overclocker, best temp performance, but not the most silent compared to other competitors (BUT still very silent) & Backplate + Windforce blue LED

 

Asus 970/980 Strix - Lowest out of factory boost+base clock, 0 dba mode, backplate, No LED

 

MSI 970/980 Twin Frozr - Most silent card, also decent overclocker, & does not have a backplate, MSI logo white LED

 

Although Gigabyte seems to win in terms of overclocking & temp performance, but Asus & MSI are also great contenders.

 

Just pick any brand that you like, they are not miles apart from each other in terms of overall performance.

 

Oh FYI Gigabyte used to have a rep for poorly made GPU's, not sure about now thou

 

Thanks man, It seems like the only thing in stock right now is the 970/980 G1, I'll take the plunge and go gigabyte again, I am hearing good things about it to, but i see the 970 and 980 are plagued with coil whine, man...

[EternalSeeker]

Guys I took the plung. NCIX game me store credit for a Gigabyte g1 gaming gtx 970. Hope i don't run into any issues with this one.

[Spev]

I have been looking into the 900 Maxwell series from NVIDIA as you mentioned, The 980 is pretty pricey but the 970 seems very affordable. The only thing that is holding me back are the reports of coil while specifically on the GTX970...I'm nervous and not sure what to do atm or I would recommend one of those to you as well. =/

[TechSilver13]

Gigabyte 970/980 G1 - Great overclocker, best temp performance, but not the most silent compared to other competitors (BUT still very silent) & Backplate + Windforce blue LED

 

Asus 970/980 Strix - Lowest out of factory boost+base clock, 0 dba mode, backplate, No LED

 

MSI 970/980 Twin Frozr - Most silent card, also decent overclocker, & does not have a backplate, MSI logo white LED

 

Although Gigabyte seems to win in terms of overclocking & temp performance, but Asus & MSI are also great contenders.

 

Just pick any brand that you like, they are not miles apart from each other in terms of overall performance.

 

Oh FYI Gigabyte used to have a rep for poorly made GPU's, not sure about now thou

Unless you own a Gigabyte G1 970 you have been fed a bunch of BS about noise. MSI and Asus coolers are MUCH louder at 100% 90% and 80% fan speed. I have owned 670's SLI and a 290x Asus DCUII and they are loud as balls compared to the G1. I have owned MSI 760's SLI (HAWKS), MSI 680 Lightnings SLI'd, 290x Lightning which was the quietest of all of them but is still much louder than the G1. Now I HIGHLY doubt that MSI or ASUS coolers have changed that much since they all still look almost the exact same cooler wise. Who knows, maybe I am crazy and don't know what I am talking about but I have owned a BOAT load of cards in the past two years and the G1 is the most silent card I have ever had.

[TechSilver13]

I have been looking into the 900 Maxwell series from NVIDIA as you mentioned, The 980 is pretty pricey but the 970 seems very affordable. The only thing that is holding me back are the reports of coil while specifically on the GTX970...I'm nervous and not sure what to do atm or I would recommend one of those to you as well. =/

I had coil wine on my EVGA 970 SC but I folded overnight and it was literally gone the next morning. It was unbearably loud to but now its nonexistent.

[Spev]

I had coil wine on my EVGA 970 SC but I folded overnight and it was literally gone the next morning. It was unbearably loud to but now its nonexistent.

I'm sorry I don't know what folding is =/ Sorry to be the noob...it still concerns me because even if I learn to do what you have done I'm not sure that will guarantee removal of coil whine. I've heard this is on all models of the 970

[TechSilver13]

I'm sorry I don't know what folding is =/ Sorry to be the noob...it still concerns me because even if I learn to do what you have done I'm not sure that will guarantee removal of coil whine. I've heard this is on all models of the 970

You just download the FAH (folding at home) client and open it up click fold anonymously and move the slider in your browser from medium to full (your browser will open up with the folding at home page) and let it go over night if you get coil wine. Even if you get coil wine you can RMA it, BUT I would try folding first since I have read around online that folding seems to fix it in certain cases.

[Monkie]

Unless you own a Gigabyte G1 970 you have been fed a bunch of BS about noise. MSI and Asus coolers are MUCH louder at 100% 90% and 80% fan speed. I have owned 670's SLI and a 290x Asus DCUII and they are loud as balls compared to the G1. I have owned MSI 760's SLI (HAWKS), MSI 680 Lightnings SLI'd, 290x Lightning which was the quietest of all of them but is still much louder than the G1. Now I HIGHLY doubt that MSI or ASUS coolers have changed that much since they all still look almost the exact same cooler wise. Who knows, maybe I am crazy and don't know what I am talking about but I have owned a BOAT load of cards in the past two years and the G1 is the most silent card I have ever had.

Like I said before, the Gigabyte 9 series are actually the loudest among its competitors (i think its because they have 3 fans), but just by a small margin. Obviously not enough to be a deal breaker.

 

See links for noise level reviews

http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1443&page=17

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_970_strix_review,10.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/24.html

 

There are many other reviews out there that suggest the same thing in terms of acoustic comparison.

 

And yes, especially MSI, they seriously have made a major cooling upgrade for their 9 series cards, which is quite a surprise for me tbh.

 

Im actually looking forward to get the gigabyte 970 too in the very near future, and I also pray that nvidia somehow fix the coil whine issue 

[EternalSeeker]

Well idk how similar the gtx 780ti OC from gigabyte is to the g1, similar cooler. Even with the side panel open in my H440 and running my kraken x61 cooling my 5960x the gigabyte card I had was pretty silent, more silent then my buddies asus 780's. As well should be getting the card this noon, atleast its set to be delivered to NCIX store for me to pick up. They also ordered in an asus strix card for me to, which ever comes first and if i have an issue with the g1 i'll switch to the strix. I got the 780ti on fire sale so the sale price was equivalent to the 970 out right now, so Im not paying anything extra. As well I would assume this "coil noise" is going to be an issue (if there is any) for me since my HPC workload is similar to Folding, Bionic and Seti at home (can be way more brutal then seti/folding/bonic). So I will update once I run the card and give a stress test. The people at NCIX store said they have sold a bunch of the new 9 series gigabyte cards and none returned to them for RMA, they do have ton of 7 series cards returning for RMA, maybe gigabyte can win me again? Who knows. Also i might go SLI maybe in the new year unless 990 or 980ti comes out...

[Monkie]

Well idk how similar the gtx 780ti OC from gigabyte is to the g1, similar cooler. Even with the side panel open in my H440 and running my kraken x61 cooling my 5960x the gigabyte card I had was pretty silent, more silent then my buddies asus 780's. As well should be getting the card this noon, atleast its set to be delivered to NCIX store for me to pick up. They also ordered in an asus strix card for me to, which ever comes first and if i have an issue with the g1 i'll switch to the strix. I got the 780ti on fire sale so the sale price was equivalent to the 970 out right now, so Im not paying anything extra. As well I would assume this "coil noise" is going to be an issue (if there is any) for me since my HPC workload is similar to Folding, Bionic and Seti at home (can be way more brutal then seti/folding/bonic). So I will update once I run the card and give a stress test. The people at NCIX store said they have sold a bunch of the new 9 series gigabyte cards and none returned to them for RMA, they do have ton of 7 series cards returning for RMA, maybe gigabyte can win me again? Who knows. Also i might go SLI maybe in the new year unless 990 or 980ti comes out...

Best of luck, do let us know if u have any problems such as coil whine for example

[EternalSeeker]

So i got the baby installed. Had to removed my HDD case to get the guy to fit in, was annoying till i got it in. I think its snug (Y). 

 

It doesn't crash on 3D skydiver or Firestrike, no artifacts. Looks like Gigabyte did well with the 970. Though my mobo restarted once before hitting windows, probably posting. As well, only once did it show on my asus VG 24 inch 1080p 144Hz monitor that dvi connection was lost, but it got it back and it continued the bench, no crashing or artifacts. Here are the scores: 

 

P.S. idle temp 34 degree C and at load around 62-63ish C. Though this was with side panel open.

 

P.P.S. here are the acoustics, sorry used a note 3 camera

 

 

 

[Monkie]

Grats on the 970, seems like the fps performance ur getting are close to many of the 970 reviews out there.

 

60ish degree under load is pretty dope, especially in a air starve case like h440.

 

By the way, you should overclock your 970 to get it to hover at a average 60+ fps for the benchmark, because a card like 970s is actually a bottleneck for your beast i7-5960X (so do it justice  )

[EternalSeeker]

Grats on the 970, seems like the fps performance ur getting are close to many of the 970 reviews out there.

60ish degree under load is pretty dope, especially in a air starve case like h440.

By the way, you should overclock your 970 to get it to hover at a average 60+ fps for the benchmark, because a card like 970s is actually a bottleneck for your beast i7-5960X (so do it justice )

Ha ha, that's the last word I wanted to hear..bottleneck :v Also it doesn't seem like there is coil noise, all I can here is the cards fan and the pump.