I'm Confused

[byalexandr]

So I finally have the money to buy a new GPU. I wanted to get a R9 380 Nitro. I asked a bunch of people, they said wait and get something really nice. Like more high end than a 970. Help me out here, the decision that is made here will be my final one.

 

So I play at 1080p, 144Hz. ASUS VG248QE for all of those people who want to know. The most graphically intensive game I play is either Battlefield 4 or ARMA II/III. I don't want a card that will max out every single game at 1080p with at least 100 FPS, I just want the card to max out these games at 1080p with at least 100 FPS (and ARMA I can deal with 60+ FPS, I barely even get 40-50 right now). So no, I don't want a 980 Ti or a Fury X or something, just a card that I know will max out everything up to BF4. Doesn't need to be good at Crysis, who even actually plays that game. I mean seriously, these are the most common games I play right now (and am starting to play as well):

 

CS:GO

Killing Floor 2

Battlefield 4 (ESPECIALLY this game)

a little bit of GTA V (I don't play much, so the card doesn't have to max out this particular game)

ARMA II

CS:Source (which even a potato can run)

Just Cause 2

 

Just to name a few. Literally the most intensive game I play on that list is BF4. The card only has to be powerful enough to max out that game with very high FPS (so that I can take advantage of my 144Hz-ness). So that takes care of power needs (in terms of processing power, not power draw). Here are some physical limitations:

 

My case is an SG05. I cannot stress this enough. People recommend 11" cards thinking my case can fit them (I can if I straight up slice open the front of my case and let it poke through, which is beyond stupid). I can go up to 9.5" without modification to the case, and up to 10.5" (MAYBE, not sure if my radiator will allow for it) with modification. I want the card to not draw a shit ton of power and pump out a shit ton of heat, but AMD cards have gotten better and I will definitely consider them, so long that they are under 9.5". My Scythe Gentle Typhoon not only pushes air through the radiator and out the front of the case, but also pulls a lot of GPU heat through the rad as well, effectively cooling both the CPU and GPU. I plan on upgrading to a more hot running Xeon from my i3 soon, so the cooler the GPU runs the better the CPU runs, if that makes sense.

 

So, what is the card I should get? Please don't spatter out an answer, give a good explanation as to why I should get it, because if it's a $300+ card I want a justified answer before I drop that much money on a PC part. I have the money for a 380 Nitro, but I'm willing to save more. I don't plan on upgrading my monitor, 1080p is where it's at yo.

 

Sorry for the wall of text, here's to make up for it.

TL;DR: The cheapest but best GPU that will max out games up to BF4 (with 80-100+ FPS) in terms of graphics. So stuff like Crysis 3 and GTA V is not considered, as they are more graphically intensive than BF4.

 

And a little treat for all of you guys with a Strix card, I made a wallpaper for you (I can make other cards or PC parts if you ask nicely):

 

Thanks!

[manikyath]

i have a 970 strix, and it runs CS:GO fanless.

 

is that helpful?

[byalexandr]

i have a 970 strix, and it runs CS:GO fanless.

 

is that helpful?

Gigantic ass card, won't fit in my case. My friend has that card by the way, it gets a lot of coil whine for some reason. Have you played BF4 on your 970?

[Trik'Stari]

The 970's get between 60 and 80 fps on ultra 1080p on bf4

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/6

[thekeemo]

The 380 is a good middle of the road choice. Personally I like to save up so I don't have to buy a card every year or two. Then again I have a gtx 650. Die 290x guy DIE...

[DarkBlade2117]

Gigantic ass card, won't fit in my case. My friend has that card by the way, it gets a lot of coil whine for some reason. Have you played BF4 on your 970?

Eather get a 380 or 390. If you can find a short one. ( Doesn't the 970 have a short one? ). If it's just 1080p the 390 is more then enough.

[byalexandr]

The 970's get between 60 and 80 fps on ultra 1080p on bf4

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/6

Really? I thought they would do better than that. According to my friend he gets 130+ FPS on Ultra, which I am starting to disprove.

[manikyath]

Gigantic ass card, won't fit in my case. My friend has that card by the way, it gets a lot of coil whine for some reason. Have you played BF4 on your 970?

i'm not really a shooter guy, but i've tortured my card a fair bit, and i actually have to say i've never heard any coil whine.

 

the fans ramp up and are audible, but its not like the card is screaming my ears off...

--

that said, thats a tiny ass case you have there. have you thought of getting a blower-style cooler so the hot air gets pushed straight out the case?

[byalexandr]

Eather get a 380 or 390. If you can find a short one. ( Doesn't the 970 have a short one? ). If it's just 1080p the 390 is more then enough.

I see that the 390 or even a 390X is a really good choice, but the only one under 9.5" is the Gigabyte one, and people have so many problems with that card. Weird stuff like it won't let their PC shutdown and has locked voltage and locked BIOS and stuff.

[byalexandr]

i'm not really a shooter guy, but i've tortured my card a fair bit, and i actually have to say i've never heard any coil whine.

 

the fans ramp up and are audible, but its not like the card is screaming my ears off...

--

that said, thats a tiny ass case you have there. have you thought of getting a blower-style cooler so the hot air gets pushed straight out the case?

Before my ASUS 760 I had an MSI reference 760 (so yeah, a blower). Loudest card I have ever used. I know the 760 reference cooler is crap but holy cow that thing was loud. And with the 970, it's weird because my friend and I Skype a lot and when we're playing games I can hear his Strix 970 coil whine through his quiet Define R5.

[HumbleMobo]

Gigantic ass card, won't fit in my case. My friend has that card by the way, it gets a lot of coil whine for some reason. Have you played BF4 on your 970?

Oh then get a GTX 970 ASUS Turbo!  It has the GPU and PCB of a GTX 970 mini but it adds just a little bit more length to include a superior cooler.

[Trik'Stari]

Really? I thought they would do better than that. According to my friend he gets 130+ FPS on Ultra, which I am starting to disprove.

I can't confirm anything as my screens are capped at 60fps. That and I play triple monitor surround, which means I have to set things to about "medium-high" ish. Worth it in my opinion because TSM is just better. I still have anything labeled "render distance" maxed out though.

 

My fans never kick on though. At least not that I've ever heard.

[HumbleMobo]

Before my ASUS 760 I had an MSI reference 760 (so yeah, a blower). Loudest card I have ever used. I know the 760 reference cooler is crap but holy cow that thing was loud. And with the 970, it's weird because my friend and I Skype a lot and when we're playing games I can hear his Strix 970 coil whine through his quiet Define R5.

That is actually something has to do with the mic, and his card.  The card has little to no coil whine so quite possible it could have an issue and his mic may actually be picking it up so it could be a bit on the sensitive side so it could be causing an amplification of high pitch noises 

[byalexandr]

Oh then get a GTX 970 ASUS Turbo!  It has the GPU and PCB of a GTX 970 mini but it adds just a little bit more length to include a superior cooler.

Like I mentioned before, the blower cards are VERY loud in my case. Is this one better with it's 'twin intake'? And what about the Gigabyte version of that card? I'm not liking the white, I mean I have white headphones but a white GPU is kinda... Cool I guess but I prefer something sleeker.

 

 

I can't confirm anything as my screens are capped at 60fps. That and I play triple monitor surround, which means I have to set things to about "medium-high" ish. Worth it in my opinion because TSM is just better. I still have anything labeled "render distance" maxed out though.

 

My fans never kick on though. At least not that I've ever heard.

Well the main point is to take advantage of my 144Hz. I have to turn down my settings in BF4 to medium to get 130 FPS avg, and that really takes a toll when you're sniping at 1000m away and the aliasing is retarded at that distance.

[manikyath]

Before my ASUS 760 I had an MSI reference 760 (so yeah, a blower). Loudest card I have ever used. I know the 760 reference cooler is crap but holy cow that thing was loud. And with the 970, it's weird because my friend and I Skype a lot and when we're playing games I can hear his Strix 970 coil whine through his quiet Define R5.

so... i have a strix 970 and a define r5... its dead silent...

 

are you sure he doesnt just have a bad unit? (or i just got extremely lucky)

 

you should look into some aftermarket blower style coolers, like the asus one: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-turbogtx970oc4gd5

in case you dont trust asus, MSI makes a blower cooler as well i believe.

[byalexandr]

That is actually something has to do with the mic, and his card.  The card has little to no coil whine so quite possible it could have an issue and his mic may actually be picking it up so it could be a bit on the sensitive side so it could be causing an amplification of high pitch noises 

Might be. It's really loud on the mic, maybe it just picks up at that range. When I went to his house for a LAN party his system was very quiet even on full load. It is in a Define R5 after all.

[Senzelian]

-M-M-M-MONSTER SNIP-

Usually I would recommend an R9 390, because they have a higher value than a GTX 970.

But because you are limited in space I recommend a GTX 970.

I like EVGA's cooler design a lot, but their ACX 2.0 cooler might be too long. It's exactly 10.07''. I'm not sure if you can make that work.

Zotac does have a fairly small GTX 970, which definitly fits. Their cooler design isn't the best, but gets the job done and is pretty quiet.

Now that I'm writing this I've seen that EVGA's Superclocked ACX 2.0 cooler is a bit smaller. It's 9.48 inches long which would fit perfectly.

Sadly the Strix and MSI cards are too long.

I've now also seen that the Gigabyte R9 390 with the dual fan design would fit aswell. It's only 8.77 inches long.

[byalexandr]

so... i have a strix 970 and a define r5... its dead silent...

 

are you sure he doesnt just have a bad unit? (or i just got extremely lucky)

 

you should look into some aftermarket blower style coolers, like the asus one: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-turbogtx970oc4gd5

in case you dont trust asus, MSI makes a blower cooler as well i believe.

Huh, so you guys really recommend the 970 Turbo? I trust ASUS, hell I'm using an ASUS 760 right now. Are you guys sure it will be quieter than the reference MSI 760 I had and will it deliver the performance I want?

[Trik'Stari]

Like I mentioned before, the blower cards are VERY loud in my case. Is this one better with it's 'twin intake'? And what about the Gigabyte version of that card? I'm not liking the white, I mean I have white headphones but a white GPU is kinda... Cool I guess but I prefer something sleeker.

 

 

Well the main point is to take advantage of my 144Hz. I have to turn down my settings in BF4 to medium to get 130 FPS avg, and that really takes a toll when you're sniping at 1000m away and the aliasing is retarded at that distance.

I've never had a problem at 60fps in bfbc2. I don't snipe or really even play bf4 anymore because it just isn't playable with all the net code issues and my shit internet connection.

 

I shoot someone in the face 20 times, get hit markers, they apparently shoot me once, I die....yay?

[manikyath]

That is actually something has to do with the mic, and his card.  The card has little to no coil whine so quite possible it could have an issue and his mic may actually be picking it up so it could be a bit on the sensitive side so it could be causing an amplification of high pitch noises 

now you say, my old headset used to do this as well. turned out to be an uncommon scenario where combining that headset (tritton, just shaming them right here) with their inline box of magic, with a high end system.

 

theres several threads about stuff like this happening on the forum.

[byalexandr]

Usually I would recommend an R9 390, because they have a higher value than a GTX 970.

But because you are limited in space I recommend a GTX 970.

I like EVGA's cooler design a lot, but their ACX 2.0 cooler might be too long. It's exactly 10.07''. I'm not sure if you can make that work.

Zotac does have a fairly small GTX 970, which definitly fits. Their cooler design isn't the best, but gets the job done and is pretty quiet.

Now that I'm writing this I've seen that EVGA's Superclocked ACX 2.0 cooler is a bit smaller. It's 9.48 inches long which would fit perfectly.

Sadly the Strix and MSI cards are too long.

I've now also seen that the Gigabyte R9 390 with the dual fan design would fit aswell. It's only 8.77 inches long.

I would like the R9 390 as well, it has 8GB of VRAM which has to be useful for something. But the Gigabyte has tons of problems according to almost everyone who owns one. I like EVGA's 970, I have had a 750 Ti from EVGA before, very nice card. A lot of others are recommending the 970 Turbo, though. What do you think about the 970 Turbo?

[manikyath]

Huh, so you guys really recommend the 970 Turbo? I trust ASUS, hell I'm using an ASUS 760 right now. Are you guys sure it will be quieter than the reference MSI 760 I had and will it deliver the performance I want?

well, i have ZERO experience with the turbo, but with a small case a blower cooler will be SO much easier to manage temps.

 

EDIT: MSI's "hero" 970 has a blower style cooler as well, MSI's cooler is much more similar to a reference design. (which is also an option)

[Guest]

Here are the cards that I found that are close to the card size needed:

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0: https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp43975kr

Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB : https://pcpartpicker.com/part/zotac-video-card-zt9010110p

[byalexandr]

I've never had a problem at 60fps in bfbc2. I don't snipe or really even play bf4 anymore because it just isn't playable with all the net code issues and my shit internet connection.

 

I shoot someone in the face 20 times, get hit markers, they apparently shoot me once, I die....yay?

Haha, happens sometimes. I really like BF4, I've gotten quite good at it, usually I'm at the top of the match in terms of score now, although my friend still says I suck lol.

[byalexandr]

Here are the cards that I found that are close to the card size needed:

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0: https://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp43975kr

Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB : https://pcpartpicker.com/part/zotac-video-card-zt9010110p

That Zotac is butt ugly. The EVGA one is nice, but I am really starting to consider this and the ASUS Turbo card. Maybe the FTW version as it has a beefier cooler.