Which 970 and why?

[willywonkerdoodle]

without thinking about stock, which GTX 970 should I get and why?

[79wjd]

Gigabyte G1 gaming; it's an excellent cooler with a highly binned chip, which overclocks like a champ thanks to it's cooler and excellent power delivery system.

[the jolly roger]

gigabye windforce, most best cooler and best overclocker

 

if you are going for pure silence then the asus strix is the quietest

[mr.skyrim_pc]

Evga sc gtx 970, because evga.

 

(They have the best customer support)

[Imakuni]

You should get the "take a look at other topics" 970. There is a crap ton of them here.

 

Being serious, MSI 4gd5t OC. If it costs as much or just a tiny bit than the MSI Gaming 4g, it's a better option.

 

I don't trust EVGA's cooler, the G1 gaming has glaring issues related to size, loudness and overpricing, and the ASUS is just bad OC and huge price tag. MSI 4g is also overprice if you compare to the 4gd5t, at least where I live. Other brands I either don't know, or are blower type coolers, which are not good if you aren't SLIing.

[Interfectorem]

Personally, I would go with the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming. It has a cherry picked GPU chip which should translate into better overclocking, it also has a beast of a cooler and I've heard it has some excellent power delivery.

[Doughnutnator]

G1 Gaming

It's not loud, there's a chance that you get a card that has a ton of coil whine, nothing special, you can RMA it if it's that loud.

Personally, the G1 Gaming it's the best because of cooling, is the only with that cools VRM's, MSI and Asus 970's doesn't have VRM cooling, nothing too special, but it can harm the card in the long run. The backplate is a nice feature and the better power delivery gives you more OC potential, is a great card, not for SLI and not for small cases.

[willywonkerdoodle]

G1 Gaming

It's not loud, there's a chance that you get a card that has a ton of coil whine, nothing special, you can RMA it if it's that loud.

Personally, the G1 Gaming it's the best because of cooling, is the only with that cools VRM's, MSI and Asus 970's doesn't have VRM cooling, nothing too special, but it can harm the card in the long run. The backplate is a nice feature and the better power delivery gives you more OC potential, is a great card, not for SLI and not for small cases.

 

Why is the G1 gaming not for sli? I was actually planning on doing that later on

[Imakuni]

Why is the G1 gaming not for sli? I was actually planning on doing that later on

That is because:

1. It generates more heat (higher clocks) and is able to dissipate a lot more with it's fans. So that means, hot air being thrown right in the back of the 2nd card, making temperatures skyrocket!
2. The card is HUGE. It traps air between the cards. Makes temperatures go even higher!
3. It is (often) one of the more expensive models. When you SLI it, you get to pay that extra money twice.

If you plan on buying a G1 now, and a blower type cooler later (to avoid the problems above), you might as well just buy 2 blowers. More often than not, the blower one is gonna have lower clock speeds; in SLI, the stronger card downclocks itself to match the other card. So essentially, you paid more for the G1, and you are not getting the benefit of it.

[Spev]

gigabye windforce, most best cooler and best overclocker

 

if you are going for pure silence then the asus strix is the quietest

EVGA card also has the same no fan option built in. I don't know why they didn't advertise it, I was surprised when I got the card.

[Doughnutnator]

Why is the G1 gaming not for sli? I was actually planning on doing that later on

Basically all what @Imakuni said. The Windforce cooler throws hot air to the case, if you SLI them the 2nd card will be "breathing" the hot air of the first one. For SLI blower-style coolers are better.