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[mhayze]

Quick question for a noob. Will a gtx 970 (with i7 4790 and 12gb ram) let me run most games at 1080p at settings higher or better than a ps4? If so, significantly better or just marginally?

Just a comment on the 12GB RAM - that is a dual channel CPU, and 8GB + 4GB means that some RAM (or all the RAM)is not running dual channel. 8GB or 16GB would have been better options.

Regarding your original question, IMHO, yes, that CPU + GPU combo will run things better than a PS4, but even twice as good is deceptive in its difference. For example if you could run a game twice as fast, that might mean 1080p @ 60fps locked, instead of 1080p @ 30fps. Or, it might mean higher AA levels, plus more detailed texture at a slightly higher res.

 

[Afro]

Is 3DMark worth it for $5 or is the free ver good enough?

bought.

running an evga 970 ftw + i7 3770. is a 9866 total score okay?

edit: my Maximum turbo core clock is 1,596 mhz. wtf is this????

edit #2: just set my Power Options to "Performance". Turbo clock shot up to 3,860 mhz, but I'm still getting the same score.

 

[garath]

bought.

running an evga 970 ftw + i7 3770. is a 9866 total score okay?

edit: my Maximum turbo core clock is 1,596 mhz. wtf is this????

edit #2: just set my Power Options to "Performance". Turbo clock shot up to 3,860 mhz, but I'm still getting the same score.

That's a pretty appropriate score. CPU overclocked? It's about what I get with my 4.2ghz i5 2500k and EVGA FTW 970

 

[Afro]

That's a pretty appropriate score. CPU overclocked? It's about what I get with my 4.2ghz i5 2500k and EVGA FTW 970

it's not a 3770k, just a 3770. score just jumped to 9,900 when I put Precision X on.

can't believe my power options have been set to balanced this whole time. i think that's what was giving me micro stutter in Ground Zeroes.

looks good now though, thx.

 

[NoRéN]

That's a pretty appropriate score. CPU overclocked? It's about what I get with my 4.2ghz i5 2500k and EVGA FTW 970

Good to hear. Was just about to ask the same about my 970.

 

[zXe]

Just saw the thread about best graphics of 2014 and it got me thinking. What is the best card of 2014? It has to be the 970, purely for price/performance. Nothing compares.

 

[toastyToast]

Took my MSI 4G 970 back and got a Gigabyte G1. Works great and I've gotten it to 1570 on the core and it's still laughing. Only issue I have is that it throttles at 65C which is crazy. My last card which was faulty didn't have that issue. What happens is after it evens out at our above 65 it downclocks 14MHz and stays at that level until the temps go back down.

Is there a bios update for that or something?

 

[Evo X]

Just saw the thread about best graphics of 2014 and it got me thinking. What is the best card of 2014? It has to be the 970, purely for price/performance. Nothing compares.

Well, no. The best card at the moment is the 980. Price shouldn't be a factor. That's like nominating some indie game for best graphics because they accomplished relatively more with a smaller budget.

 

[wowzors]

Well, no. The best card at the moment is the 980. Price shouldn't be a factor. That's like nominating some indie game for best graphics because they accomplished relatively more with a smaller budget.

I suppose if you look at best in a purely black/white manner that holds true. If you look into other qualities it does not.

In other words subjective based on the question askers own values.

 

[Alo81]

Well, no. The best card at the moment is the 980. Price shouldn't be a factor. That's like nominating some indie game for best graphics because they accomplished relatively more with a smaller budget.

That's not really an apt comparison. There are tons of indie games that while not superior on a technical standpoint blow AAA games out of the water aesthetically.

But I think their point is "Best card for average joe to get" more accurately.

 

[Nastrodamous]

Just saw the thread about best graphics of 2014 and it got me thinking. What is the best card of 2014? It has to be the 970, purely for price/performance. Nothing compares.

980 but I prefer 2 970 for a hundredish more

 

[The Llama]

Well, no. The best card at the moment is the 980. Price shouldn't be a factor. That's like nominating some indie game for best graphics because they accomplished relatively more with a smaller budget.

A 295x2 or Titan Z is technically the best card at the moment

 

[Coldsun]

Well, no. The best card at the moment is the 980. Price shouldn't be a factor. That's like nominating some indie game for best graphics because they accomplished relatively more with a smaller budget.

If price isn't a factor, the TItan-Z is hands down the best choice. If price IS a factor, a 970 is a better choice than a 980.

 

[Agent_ShortBus]

Guys I bought the 3DMARK benchmark to mess around with. I'm not really into OC or getting the most power out of my system (my friend gives me shit over this all the time). Which benchmark are you guys running? I got 15459 on the regular Fire Strike one, do the numbers add up? Tried the Ultra one and got 4646 lol I'm guessing this is bad for 4K gaming?

 

[Evo X]

Dual gpus like the 295 and titan z don't count.

The best single gpu is still the 980. Great performance and no coil whine.

 

[Evo X]

That's not really an apt comparison. There are tons of indie games that while not superior on a technical standpoint blow AAA games out of the water aesthetically.

But I think their point is "Best card for average joe to get" more accurately.

Yeah, I was talking from a pure technical level about the games. Bigger budgets usually mean more fancy tech and features.

I won't argue that the best price/performance gpu of the year was the 970, but best overall is still the 980, average Joe be damned.

The best car for the average person might be a Toyota Camry, but you're not gonna convince me it's better than a Porsche.

 

[Coldsun]

Guys I bought the 3DMARK benchmark to mess around with. I'm not really into OC or getting the most power out of my system (my friend gives me shit over this all the time). Which benchmark are you guys running? I got 15459 on the regular Fire Strike one, do the numbers add up? Tried the Ultra one and got 4646 lol I'm guessing this is bad for 4K gaming?

No, your 4K score is about right. Just because it's a low score doesn't mean its bad. Additionally, as the 4K benchmark is more taxing, of course it's performing worse than the normal version of it. Don't look at the scores across different benchmarks (or versions of the benchmark). The numbers only really relate within each test.

Your scores are actually quite close to mine (when my CPU isn't overclocked) [930 2.8] and 2x 970s. You can see a noticble gain if you were to OC the CPU but your rig is definitely fine for the foreseeable future

Added: Just set my cpu back to default clock but left hyperthreading off (because meh) and then ran the 4K test:

http://www.3dmark.com/compare/fs/3550865/fs/3549235

Looks like your CPU helps you a good deal with the physics as you score almost 6k higher in that portion

 

[The Llama]

Dual gpus like the 295 and titan z don't count.

The best single gpu is still the 980. Great performance and no coil whine.

Someone's trying to justify their 980 purchase

 

[Evo X]

Someone's trying to justify their 980 purchase

Not really. I had 980 SLI actually, but returned one because I didn't like dealing with SLI issues. I just want the best single gpu availabe. Money is not a concern. It provides the most consistent gaming experience for me on the ROG Swift. DSR does not work with SLI & GSync.

 

[Coldsun]

Not really. I had 980 SLI actually, but returned one because I didn't like dealing with SLI issues. I just want the best single gpu availabe. Money is not a concern. It provides the most consistent gaming experience for me on the ROG Swift. DSR does not work with SLI & GSync.

DSR definitely works with SLI. There's been numerous issues with it, but a full clean install tends to fix those. Granted since I use surround, DSR is kind of out of my range :\

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

DSR definitely works with SLI. There's been issues with it, but a full clean install tends to fix those

I think he means it won't work together.
SLI + DSR + Gsync won't work.

 

[Coldsun]

I think he means it won't work together.
SLI + DSR + Gsync won't work.

Ahh, that makes sense.

 

[Afro]

Grounds Zeroes at 1440p DSR is stunning.

Is there a significant difference between running 1440p DSR on a 1080p monitor and using an actual 1440p monitor?

 

[undercoverb0ss]

Recently started playing Wolfenstein: The New Order (fantastic old school FPS fun), and I am surprised I am not able to run the ultra setting and maintain locked 60fps, at 2560x1600. Only .cfg/command line tweaks I have tried is to set vt_useCudaTranscode "1", which didn't do much if anything.

Judging the texture quality, I should be able to rip through this game on ultra. Googling seems to reveal anecdotally that the 900 series is not performing as well as the 600 series.

Anyone feel my pain?

2500k @ 4.6
8gb ram
SSD
GTX980 G1 @ 1530/4001

 

[Seanspeed]

Recently started playing Wolfenstein: The New Order (fantastic old school FPS fun), and I am surprised I am not able to run the ultra setting and maintain locked 60fps, at 2560x1600. Only .cfg/command line tweaks I have tried is to set vt_useCudaTranscode "1", which didn't do much if anything.

Judging the texture quality, I should be able to rip through this game on ultra. Googling seems to reveal anecdotally that the 900 series is not performing as well as the 600 series.

Anyone feel my pain?

2500k @ 4.6
8gb ram
SSD
GTX980 G1 @ 1530/4001

2560x1600 is a lot of pixels.

Grounds Zeroes at 1440p DSR is stunning.

Is there a significant difference between running 1440p DSR on a 1080p monitor and using an actual 1440p monitor?

Yea. Downsampled 1440p gets you a cleaned up image and a bit of extra sharpness on textures and whatnot. Native 1440p gets you all that plus a big boost in clarity.

 

[XBP]

So bought 3dmark in the recent sale and ran a few firestrike bechmarks. Pretty much getting the same score and all the runs. Seems in line with everyone else's score I think.

1308MHZ core clock and 1930MHZ memory OC. I'm pretty sure I can OC this further by cranking up the voltage to max but I'd rather not risk damaging my card.

 

[Jiraiza]

So bought 3dmark in the recent sale and ran a few firestrike bechmarks. Pretty much getting the same score and all the runs. Seems in line with everyone else's score I think.

1308MHZ core clock and 1930MHZ memory OC. I'm pretty sure I can OC this further by cranking up the voltage to max but I'd rather not risk damaging my card.

Sometimes, it feels like I should OC my stuff despite having such a nice rig, but the amount of /effort. Cool results though, gives me an idea of how my system will run.

 

[XBP]

Sometimes, it feels like I should OC my stuff despite having such a nice rig, but the amount of /effort. Cool results though, gives me an idea of how my system will run.

You can always do a modest OC and not push the card to its limits . I know I can easily get a couple of frames more out of this thing but I'm not sure if overvolting the card to get that 1-2 fps boost is that useful.

 

[hwalker84]

Still no word on a 980TI?

 

[Naked Snake]

Still no word on a 980TI?

 

[Dictator93]

Still no word on a 980TI?

Pretty sure GM104 is maxed out by the 980.

 

[Kieli]

Still no word on a 980TI?

It's the same word as the 8 GB versions.

Spoiler

They don't exist.

 

[toastyToast]

Is there any way to stop games that don't require much processing power from crashing my overclock? Tried Alien Isolation and it's at 35% usage most of the time but then it'll creep up and clock to my OC settings and it'll just fold. The voltage it's operating at is like the resting voltage playing this game so once it jumps up the clocks and needs 1.2V or whatever it doesn't get it. I could just make a stock profile in Afterburner for when I play it but I'd like a simple solution that covers everything if it exists.

Anyone have experience with this?

edit: setting power saving mode to high performance seems to have fixed it. could barely play 2 minutes before.

 

[TC McQueen]

Well, I'm going to finally jump on the GTX 970 train, but I just can't choose between the Gigabyte G1 Gaming and the EVGA FTW (especially since the FTW has a rebate that drops it to the G1's price). Anybody got any advice on which to choose?

(I am totally aware of the size difference between the cards and it doesn't matter, since I'll be plugging them into a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot running at x8 speeds, because my actual x16 slot is way too close to my Hyper 212 Evo for comfort.)

 

[Durante]

Is there any way to stop games that don't require much processing power from crashing my overclock? Tried Alien Isolation and it's at 35% usage most of the time but then it'll creep up and clock to my OC settings and it'll just fold. The voltage it's operating at is like the resting voltage playing this game so once it jumps up the clocks and needs 1.2V or whatever it doesn't get it. I could just make a stock profile in Afterburner for when I play it but I'd like a simple solution that covers everything if it exists.

The simple solution is to not run unstable overclocks.

 

[Deleted member 102362]

Well, I'm going to finally jump on the GTX 970 train, but I just can't choose between the Gigabyte G1 Gaming and the EVGA FTW (especially since the FTW has a rebate that drops it to the G1's price). Anybody got any advice on which to choose?

(I am totally aware of the size difference between the cards and it doesn't matter, since I'll be plugging them into a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot running at x8 speeds, because my actual x16 slot is way too close to my Hyper 212 Evo for comfort.)

I can't speak for Gigabyte, but I have the EVGA FTW card, and I'm pretty happy with it. The cooling on it is good, especially when controlled with EVGA's Precision X tool.

This Anandtech article has some more information on the FTW card.

 

[Shadow Hog]

Just got a stock GTX 970 for Christmas

Although I'm gonna have to switch from AMD drivers to nVidia, which is gonna be fun. Better hope I DL'd Driver Sweeper at some point...

 

[Naked Snake]

Well, I'm going to finally jump on the GTX 970 train, but I just can't choose between the Gigabyte G1 Gaming and the EVGA FTW (especially since the FTW has a rebate that drops it to the G1's price). Anybody got any advice on which to choose?

(I am totally aware of the size difference between the cards and it doesn't matter, since I'll be plugging them into a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot running at x8 speeds, because my actual x16 slot is way too close to my Hyper 212 Evo for comfort.)

I have the G1, but if you can get the FTW for less go for that. I would. The FTW has higher default clocks and you can make the fans stop idle with an official bios update (or just make them run quieter maybe, I forgot). But if you need 3 DisplayPorts (or think you might later) then you need the G1.

 

[TC McQueen]

I have the G1, but if you can get the FTW for less go for that. I would. The FTW has higher default clocks and you can make the fans stop idle with an official bios update (or just make them run quieter maybe, I forgot). But if you need 3 DisplayPorts (or think you might later) then you need the G1.

Is it weird that the fact that the G1 has a backplate is making me lean more towards it than the FTW? Because I think I can deal with lower out of the box clocks in exchange for not spending $20+ on a backplate.

I don't even know why backplates seem to be a thing for me. Might have to do with my old card's board warping a bit and not liking exposed circuitry.

 

[Naked Snake]

Is it weird that the fact that the G1 has a backplate is making me lean more towards it than the FTW? Because I think I can deal with lower out of the box clocks in exchange for not spending $20+ on a backplate.

I don't even know why backplates seem to be a thing for me. Might have to do with my old card's board warping a bit and not liking exposed circuitry.

A lot of people care about backplates (which must be why manufacturers keep offering them), so it's not entirely weird. I didn't care for backplates at all (never had a card with one before), but after I got the G1 I came to kind of appreciate the fact that it has a backplate. It looks and feels nice (I had to take the card out a couple of times and it felt nice to hold). But I don't think I would ever trade it over performance, price or other features.

Then again, when it comes to buying (and most things probably), humans often decide emotionally and not rationally, so...

 

[Blitzhex]

I just ordered an Asus 970 dcu2 (strix). Does it have any coil whine issues?

 

[Addnan]

I just ordered an Asus 970 dcu2 (strix). Does it have any coil whine issues?

As with any of the cards, it is hit and miss.

 

[Deleted member 325805]

Ordered a MSI GTX 970 G4 gaming today, it really impressed me with it's temp to fan speed radio, plus it's purty. I should get it on Monday.

 

[Rnr1224]

Got money for a new card today so I ordered the MSI GTX 970. Super excited to get it! First time I'll have an nvidia card.

 

[PerezDeCorcho]

Ordered two SC'd EVGA 970s over a single 980. Anyone else rocking a similar set-up?

 

[KePoW]

Is there any way to stop games that don't require much processing power from crashing my overclock? Tried Alien Isolation and it's at 35% usage most of the time but then it'll creep up and clock to my OC settings and it'll just fold. The voltage it's operating at is like the resting voltage playing this game so once it jumps up the clocks and needs 1.2V or whatever it doesn't get it. I could just make a stock profile in Afterburner for when I play it but I'd like a simple solution that covers everything if it exists.

Anyone have experience with this?

edit: setting power saving mode to high performance seems to have fixed it. could barely play 2 minutes before.

I could be wrong, but I think that Windows power profile setting only affects CPU, not GPU

 

[toastyToast]

I could be wrong, but I think that Windows power profile setting only affects CPU, not GPU

I did it in Nvidia Control Panel. This is the description which describes what I was experiencing.

On adaptive my clocks were flying all over the place along with my voltage. On high performance it pretty much stays in place once it gets going.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Is there any way to stop games that don't require much processing power from crashing my overclock? Tried Alien Isolation and it's at 35% usage most of the time but then it'll creep up and clock to my OC settings and it'll just fold. The voltage it's operating at is like the resting voltage playing this game so once it jumps up the clocks and needs 1.2V or whatever it doesn't get it. I could just make a stock profile in Afterburner for when I play it but I'd like a simple solution that covers everything if it exists.

Anyone have experience with this?

edit: setting power saving mode to high performance seems to have fixed it. could barely play 2 minutes before.

What High Performance does is always force the highest available power state. So it's not solving the problem really but bypassing it by always using the max boost clock.

Unfortunately the 'simple' solution, which actually isn't that simple, is to modify your BIOS and set higher voltages for all the lower power states individually so no matter what clock the card uses, it won't crash.

 

[KePoW]

I did it in Nvidia Control Panel. This is the description which describes what I was experiencing.

On adaptive my clocks were flying all over the place along with my voltage. On high performance it pretty much stays in place once it gets going.

ah thx for that tidbit, I did not know there was a Power setting in Nvidia's control panel

 

[UpDownLeftRight]

Any idea how much of a jump I'd get switching from a 3gb MSI GTX 580 LE to another MSI, either 970 or 980? I'm starting to get pretty tempted to pounce on one of these but at the same time I'm getting the feeling the next model may be worth the wait. Has anything been said about what Nvidia have up their sleeve for the next range or is it still to early to tell?