GTX970 /960 or what GPU suggestions please

oshb5ems · Mar 25, 2016

Hi
Iv been looking at GPUs and think (im not fully sure) that im sort of sort of looking at the GTX970 Well as with everything else there is a huge price difference. Iv seen this one for instance
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palit-Nvidi...d=1458916762&ref_=sr_1_24&s=computers&sr=1-24
But it says there is a newer model for about £12 which is this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Palit-GeFor...=1458916762&ref_=sr_ob_24&s=computers&sr=1-24
But there are others going right up to £300+ And I was wondering other than the price what was the difference.

Also is the GTX970 a good GPU to go for seeing as im only building this PC to play Elite and the other thing it will do is do some downloads from the internet via my seedbox and thats all. Originally I had looked at the GTX960 4Gb so there was that one and I just wondered if anyone else could come up with any othersuggestions for a GPU other than the GTX970 or (^) and with what I have said I want to use the PC for I just wondered if the extra £80 on the 970 will make that much of a difference to if I just went with the 960 Or as I have asked can anyone give any other suggestions and price. Thank you

Regards Os

Triple88a · Mar 25, 2016

Wait till june. Thats when Nvidia releases their new Pascal GPU and the prices of the 9 series will drop pretty quick then. As far as the 970, get the gigabyte version since it comes with more outputs and a massive cooler.

as far as the 970 vs 960. main difference will be that if u go 960, it wont last you as long so you'll have to look for a video card in 2 years again if you wanna keep up with the new games. Like the 960 will have difficulty running new games. it's a mid level gaming card.

Para Handy · Mar 25, 2016

oshb5ems said:
Hi
Iv been looking at GPUs and think (im not fully sure) that im sort of sort of looking at the GTX970 ........
Also is the GTX970 a good GPU to go for seeing as im only building this PC to play Elite and the other thing it will do is do some downloads from the internet via my seedbox and thats all. Originally I had looked at the GTX960 4Gb so there was that one and I just wondered if anyone else could come up with any othersuggestions for a GPU other than the GTX970 or (^) and with what I have said I want to use the PC for I just wondered if the extra £80 on the 970 will make that much of a difference to if I just went with the 960 Or as I have asked can anyone give any other suggestions and price. Thank you

Regards Os

I recently had to replace a blown-out 660ti and I opted in the end for a 970:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-GTX970-DC2OC-4GD5-Nvidia-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B00NFFAW50

It runs E D and Horizons on ultra at 2560x1440 with no issues whatsoever (it also makes FSX and X-Plane look amazing).

I can't comment on the 960 except to say when I was reading up the 970 got the vote over it.

InDigital · Mar 25, 2016

I have Radeon R9 290. Absolutely perfect performance.

[DOOK] Droogie · Mar 25, 2016

The 390 is better for the money than a 970, and doesn't have the vram issue. I'd say wait for Pascal, but they're pulling another 670/680 and releasing a mid range gpu as their flagship at first. I'm not sure what the difference in performance will be. The 960 is horrible price/performance.

Justyn Time · Mar 25, 2016

I got a 970 before Christmas for playing Elite and it performs flawlessly. I avoided AMD as there was a performance bug when in supercruise with my previous card which was a 7870. I don't know if this has been resolved now.

Jaybong · Mar 25, 2016

I'm selling a GTX770 Classified with ATX Cooler, pre-overclocked from factory, TRUE 4gb, better than basic 970s.

Triple88a · Mar 25, 2016

970>770.

InDigital · Mar 25, 2016

Droogie said:
The 390 is better for the money than a 970, and doesn't have the vram issue. I'd say wait for Pascal, but they're pulling another 670/680 and releasing a mid range gpu as their flagship at first. I'm not sure what the difference in performance will be. The 960 is horrible price/performance.

What VRAM issue?

Triple88a · Mar 25, 2016

InDigital said:
What VRAM issue?

The 970 had 3.5gb of ddr5 ram and .5gb of slower ram.

[DOOK] Droogie · Mar 25, 2016

InDigital said:
What VRAM issue?

The 970 is sold as a 4gb card, but it can only really use 3.5gb of it. The remaining 512mb run slower than system memory, so it is basically worthless. This was all over the net and there was even a class action lawsuit in the works because this tiptoes around false advertising.

It's kind of like selling a car with 4 wheel disc brakes, but only 3 are actually functional. The car will not stop as it should with 4, but technically, it has brakes on all 4 wheels. This was a deliberate deception on the part of Nvidia. However, laws are terrible at protecting the consumer.

Jexter · Mar 25, 2016

Is the price gap to a 980 very big from a 970? I like my 980, although it makes funny noises sometimes.

777Driver · Mar 25, 2016

Droogie said:
The 970 is sold as a 4gb card, but it can only really use 3.5gb of it. The remaining 512mb run slower than system memory, so it is basically worthless. This was all over the net and there was even a class action lawsuit in the works because this tiptoes around false advertising.

It's kind of like selling a car with 4 wheel disc brakes, but only 3 are actually functional. The car will not stop as it should with 4, but technically, it has brakes on all 4 wheels. This was a deliberate deception on the part of Nvidia. However, laws are terrible at protecting the consumer.

970 runs ED in VR fine, and is a beast with other games, a bit dramatic saying it's worthless. I gave mine to a friend when I switched to the Titan and then 980TI, he's happy with it playing games on a 4K screen. Everyone knows about the 512 issue, in reality it is a minor because the card is such a beast.

Triple88a · Mar 25, 2016

Jexter said:
Is the price gap to a 980 very big from a 970? I like my 980, although it makes funny noises sometimes.

Thats because of the cooler. All of the coolers with heat pipes make that squeeling noise.

Deadspin · Mar 25, 2016

Go the extra mile, future proof with a 980 / 980 Ti now.

Points to reference cards for not having those silly aftermarket coolers and coming with back plates.

Price difference from 970 to 980 is $100-$150 USD ($350 or $450-$500 depending on manufacturer/model).

X-Terminator · Mar 25, 2016

I got EVGA GTX970 and is fine once you understand it. It will crash unless you run fan control software like EVGA X-Precision to keep temps around 60-70. Mine is SC and needs the K-Boost set ON after each update else it will also crash on any game.

Deadspin · Mar 25, 2016

"Needs fan controls or it overheats"
"Need to set toggle that should automatically stay set but doesn't or it crashes"

That's not the best argument for an EVGA product. Have you contacted their support over it?

X-Terminator · Mar 25, 2016

No need if you know of such issues. They're developing new products so is not expected the old software/hardware will change as is independent on each comsumers system (i.e. the PC world)

777Driver · Mar 25, 2016

Deadspin said:
"Needs fan controls or it overheats"
"Need to set toggle that should automatically stay set but doesn't or it crashes"

That's not the best argument for an EVGA product. Have you contacted their support over it?

He's running a superclocked card. Cant find the box for mine, it was just a standard EVGA 970 FTW, never had to mess around with fan control etc

Jexter · Mar 25, 2016

Triple88a said:
Thats because of the cooler. All of the coolers with heat pipes make that squeeling noise.

I'm repping you. But not because of the excellent piece of information which will henceforth enable me to choose non-squealy gfx cards. No. Instead I shall rep you for your completely disgusting avatar which for some unknown reason fills me with pleasure just by looking at it :O