970 Strix or G1 Gaming and why?

[DaKi_B]

Going to get 2 GTX 970s don't really know which one is better, the strix or g1 gaming.

[themaniac]

g1 because it has better quality everything and better cooling

[EzioSan]

Strix (edit:and g1)has backplate...its nice but you have to check your mobo if you put them together in sli.

on the other hand the g1 is pretty long.

asus has 0fan mode.

g1 has higher clockspeeds...

they are both good gtx 970 like the msi one. 

[Caironc]

The G1 has better temps/sound but strix has that feauture where it turns on while not under load. If you like the asus strix gimmick then go for it, if you couldn't care less than go with the G1

[Aniallation]

Going to get 2 GTX 970s don't really know which one is better, the strix or g1 gaming.

G1 Gaming hands down. There is no debate. Better cooler, better VRMs on the card, cherry picked GPU chips, everything about it is better aside from the Strix having the fans turn off under idle/low load, but in reality, this is practically pointless because when it's in your case you won't even hear a reference 290X at idle/low load.

 

Anybody who says Strix is just falling for the gimmick and bandwagon.

[Aniallation]

Strix has backplate

So does G1

[mrmonmon2]

The strix is basically Direct CU II with 0 fan mode if I'm not mistaken, and the direct CU II keep cards very cool and quiet, I speak from experience, fans never have to go above 70 at a 68 temp target unless you are mining or stress testing

[DaKi_B]

G1 Gaming hands down. There is no debate. Better cooler, better VRMs on the card, cherry picked GPU chips, everything about it is better aside from the Strix having the fans turn off under idle/low load, but in reality, this is practically pointless because when it's in your case you won't even hear a reference 290X at idle/low load.

 

Anybody who says Strix is just falling for the gimmick and bandwagon.

 

I guess you are right, from what I've seen the only difference is the idle fan mode. But then why did linus pick 2 strix instead of 2 g1 for his "GAME ON" holiday build?

[KamiKatze]

Wow so much missinformation and just not true stuff on this thread.

 

The Strix is more silent. The cooler Doesn't spin until 67 °C GPU temps and if it starts spinning it's really quiet AND GPU temps just stop rising with just ~40% fan speed. At least that's my milage, in my Define R4. The Strix overclocks to 1450 MHz without any problems.

 

The Gigabyte G1 uses significantly more power but also overclocks to 1550 MHz or maybe further. It is a louder cooler but still pretty quiet. It has no 0dB mode but if you don't care about absolute silence its okay...

 

So if you want the maximum performance: get the G1. If you want silence and low power consumption get the Strix. I mean in terms of performance the G1 has less than 10% of performance overhead over the Strix, so it's not that dramatic but it's there...

 

 

 

I own the Strix and i have owned a Gigabyte R9 280X Windforce so i know what I'm talking about.

[DaKi_B]

Wow so much missinformation and just not true stuff on this thread.

 

The Strix is more silent. The cooler Doesn't spin until 67 °C GPU temps and if it starts spinning it's really quiet AND GPU temps just stop rising with just ~40% fan speed. At least that's my milage, in my Define R4. The Strix overclocks to 1450 MHz without any problems.

 

The Gigabyte G1 uses significantly more power but also overclocks to 1550 MHz or maybe further. It is a louder cooler but still pretty quiet. It has no 0dB mode but if you don't care about absolute silence its okay...

 

So if you want the maximum performance: get the G1. If you want silence and low power consumption get the Strix. I mean in terms of performance the G1 has less than 10% of performance overhead over the Strix, so it's not that dramatic but it's there...

 

 

 

I own the Strix and i have owned a Gigabyte R9 280X Windforce so i know what I'm talking about.

 

With all that said the Strix seems like a better pick right now but nobody mentioned the IO on the G1 that is fucking perfect. So the only thing that Is making it hard for me to decide is the IO on the G1 and the fact that my PSU is 620Watts and I am not sure if it will be able to handle 2 G1 gamings or 2 Strix tbh. If you do know is 620Watts is enough for either please do tell me.

[Rock1m1]

I will go with G1, not just because of the fans, but take a look at this:

 

Asus GTX 970 Strix

 

 

Gigabyte G1 GTX 970

 

 

The Asus model reduces the number of display ports from 3 to 1 and instead opted 2 DVI ports. The Gigabyte model not only has the three display ports of the reference design, but they also have total of 2 DVI ports which has been missing in the reference design. I don't need to tell you how much Display Port is better than the DVI and going forward, it will become the norm for almost all displays to have Display ports instead of older and limited DVI.  Third party board manufacturers have been going the 2 DVI and 1 DP route like Asus for GTX 970, however, over here we see Gigabyte offering you flexibility of choosing the ports in any combination you want. Also, GTX 970 I believe has 2x 8pin power for better overclock.

[KamiKatze]

With all that said the Strix seems like a better pick right now but nobody mentioned the IO on the G1 that is fucking perfect. So the only thing that Is making it hard for me to decide is the IO on the G1 and the fact that my PSU is 620Watts and I am not sure if it will be able to handle 2 G1 gamings or 2 Strix tbh. If you do know is 620Watts is enough for either please do tell me.

 

It depends on what PSU exactly you have but SLI Strix shouldn't be a problem. My entire system draws 240W under snythetic load, so add maybe another 150W to that and you still have lots of room to spare. I am no PSU professional but I'd say even a gigabyte G1 SLI should work. I have no exact numbers on the difference in pwoer draw between the Strix and G1. As far as connectors go: just think about what monitor(s) you want to run in the future and then do what's best for your setup. For multi monitor, the Gigabyte is obviously the better choice.

[Aniallation]

I guess you are right, from what I've seen the only difference is the idle fan mode. But then why did linus pick 2 strix instead of 2 g1 for his "GAME ON" holiday build?

Again, STRIX bandwagon. And it's black and red, which everyone seems to go crazy over.

 

 

With all that said the Strix seems like a better pick right now but nobody mentioned the IO on the G1 that is fucking perfect. So the only thing that Is making it hard for me to decide is the IO on the G1 and the fact that my PSU is 620Watts and I am not sure if it will be able to handle 2 G1 gamings or 2 Strix tbh. If you do know is 620Watts is enough for either please do tell me.

How is the Strix a better pick? The only thing that it has going for it is the damn color and the fact that the fans turn off under a certain temp but like I said before, with the fan curve of any current card, even a reference 290X leaf blower, it will still be inaudible when inside your case. It's because the cards in reviews are put on a test bench, so there's no case fans to drown out the noise difference between the G1 and Strix. 

 

Better performance? G1

Better IO? G1

Better for Overclocking? G1

 

Strix only sells because pure marketing and fanboyism.

 

620W is just perfect for SLI 970s if it's a decent quality unit.

[rockmassif]

I really don't know why ASUS abandoned that perfect look of DCU2, I never really liked Strix even on 700 series.

And all that fans don't spin thing just seems like a joke to me. How can people think of this as a good feature I just don't understand.

[DaKi_B]

Again, STRIX bandwagon. And it's black and red, which everyone seems to go crazy over.

 

 

How is the Strix a better pick? The only thing that it has going for it is the damn color and the fact that the fans turn off under a certain temp but like I said before, with the fan curve of any current card, even a reference 290X leaf blower, you will still be inaudible when inside your case. It's because the cards in reviews are put on a test bench, so there's no case fans to drown out the noise difference between the G1 and Strix. 

 

Better performance? G1

Better IO? G1

Better for Overclocking? G1

 

Strix only sells because pure marketing and fanboyism.

 

620W is just perfect for SLI 970s if it's a decent quality unit.

 

By far one of the best and most helpful answers I received, thanks for your help. The only thing that made me think the Strix might be better was the power consumption since I didn't really feel like buying a new PSU, and after I did some calculations my pc with 2 970s would draw around 600W at peak load (that includes SDD HDD CPU RAM and all the other good stuff) but ofc in the future I will get a new PSU if I want to OC. So in the end G1 wins IMO, will be getting it soon. Thanks to all of you for your help

[Aniallation]

By far one of the best and most helpful answers I received, thanks for your help. The only thing that made me think the Strix might be better was the power consumption since I didn't really feel like buying a new PSU, and after I did some calculations my pc with 2 970s would draw around 600W at peak load (that includes SDD HDD CPU RAM and all the other good stuff) but ofc in the future I will get a new PSU if I want to OC. So in the end G1 wins IMO, will be getting it soon. Thanks to all of you for your help

What specific power supply were you using?

 

There is little power consumption difference between the slowest and fastest 970 out of the box, it's when you start overclocking that power usage starts to increase by a noticeable amount.

[Tacitus]

Gigabyte:

 

• 8+6 pin power connectors allows for more power consumption - better OC
• Is very quiet, my case fans are louder than the card is, 0db mode I see as being virtually obsolete
• Better cooling. Also better VRM cooling, I've read some reports of extremely poor vrm cooling on the Strix, two in SLI would only worsen this.
• Better rear I/O
• Better customer service

My second choice 970 would have been MSI.

[DaKi_B]

What specific powr supply were you using?

 

There is little power consumption difference between the slowest and fastest 970 out of the box, it's when you start overclocking that power usage starts to increase by a noticeable amount.

I have a Seasonic M12II 620W Bronze

[Aniallation]

I have a Seasonic M12II 620W Bronze

Yep that's definitely enough for two 970s. If you have an Intel CPU then you could also overclock them and stay within safe load limits 

[DaKi_B]

Yep that's definitely enough for two 970s. If you have an Intel CPU then you could also overclock them and stay within safe load limits 

I'm not that big a fan of overclocking, I don't want to mess something up accidentally ;_;. And yea I have an I7-3770k but I will get a I7-4790K in the nearish future

[Aniallation]

I'm not that big a fan of overclocking, I don't want to mess something up accidentally ;_;. And yea I have an I7-3770k but I will get a I7-4790K in the nearish future

tbh it's pointless to upgrade from 3770K to 4790K 

[Method]

G1 owner here. I did a ton of research on a number of cards before pulling the trigger on it. As everyone else has said, the g1 overclocks like a massive beast. Jayztwocents has a video detailing as much. I have a massive case so video card length isn't a big deal for me. If it is for you, the strix might be the better option. I mainly picked the g1 for its insane overclocking, and I think the strix just looks ugly. Massive heatpipe sticking out of the card. I like clean designs.

[DaKi_B]

tbh it's pointless to upgrade from 3770K to 4790K 

How so?

[mrmonmon2]

its pointless to upgrade from the 3770k because you will be spending the money for a new cpu and mobo to gain maybe 4 fps or none at all if you run more programs, anyway instead of upgrading you can just overclock a few hundred MHz

[DaKi_B]

its pointless to upgrade from the 3770k because you will be spending the money for a new cpu and mobo to gain maybe 4 fps or none at all if you run more programs, anyway instead of upgrading you can just overclock a few hundred MHz

Gonna need a new cooler to oc though, but yea I get your point. You guys basically saved me some money right now, thanks