Planning to get a 970 GTX.. whats the best make to get?

[Siveria]

So I am looking to get one of those geforce 970 gtx cards, but I am curious which do you think is the best maker? here is the selection I have to choose from: https://www.mikescomputershop.com/catalog/151/?a=214525

Which do you all reccomend? Ordering it tonight or tomorrow most likely.

 

[Layback Bear]

EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Graphic Card - 1.17 GHz Core - 4GB GDDR5 SDRAM - PCI Express 3.0 x16

 

[Siveria]

Evga a decent manufacturer I guess then? Looking for one that will last.

 

[RoasterMen]

EVGA is the real deal my friend. Plus, they have a good customer service.

 

[boogieboy]

If you can get your hands on the Zotac Geforce GTX 970 AMP Omega 4GB GDDR5 than I would suggest you to consider it for buying as they have definitely stepped a head of everyone this time as far as the build quality and performance goes. Do check it out!

This Card has 2x 8pin power connectors which means more room for heavy OC'ing! This card is Tri-Slot Giant and is a Beast and left all MSI, EVGA, GIGABYTE behind...

 

[Siveria]

Well for the EVGA card do you think a 450w psu is sufficent? I currently run a geforce gtx 560 that actually uses more power than the Evga that was linked in here. I really don't wanna have to buy a new psu as well.

I was also looking at a MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G https://www.mikescomputershop.com/product/4012705 but worried about it fitting in my case, I have a geforce 560 gtx in there now, how much bigger is this card?

Also what is a decent upgrade from a 560 Gtx thats not so expensive if I wanted to make a bit of a smaller leap?

 

[boogieboy]

Well for the EVGA card do you think a 450w psu is sufficent? I currently run a geforce gtx 560 that actually uses more power than the Evga that was linked in here. I really don't wanna have to buy a new psu as well.

I was also looking at a MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G https://www.mikescomputershop.com/product/4012705 but worried about it fitting in my case, I have a geforce 560 gtx in there now, how much bigger is this card?

Also what is a decent upgrade from a 560 Gtx thats not so expensive if I wanted to make a bit of a smaller leap?

For EVGA or any other company the power consumption of all GTX 970/980's are very low as compared to all previous models thanks to the new Maxwell Architecture. If your able to run 560 GTX without any problems then you shouldn't be worried about running GTX 970.

Here's the link where you can find TDP of each card:
Graphics Cards Thermal Design Power (TDP) Database | Geeks3D

If you get MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G so that will be another sweet deal for you as MSI 970's already selling like Hot Cakes everywhere. As far as the size of the physical card is concerned I guess they are almost equal in length but do search for reviews on google or youtube and you shall find the their exact measurements.

If you want to make a bit of smaller leap so I personally used a ASUS GTX 760 OC 2GB and I loved it and it easily outperforms GTX 560 even the Ti version as well and the performance gap is quiet good between the two but I wouldn't recommend you to get GTX 760 or 770 as new games which already been released like AC Unity, Shadow of Mordor, Watch Dogs, FC4 etc. they require more VRAM in order to run on ULTRA settings although that can be done if you get the GTX 760 4GB version but still the performance gap between GTX 970 and 760/770 is huge so why not just save up some bucks and get your self a nice treat?

If your not much of a big Overclocker like my self so you can take a look into ASUS Geforce GTX 970 Strix 4GB that just requires 1x 8pin power connector so that might interest you. I've already ordered one and waiting for delivery

Hope it helps.

 

[AddRAM]

EVGA - Products - Graphics - GeForce 900 Series Family - GTX 970

The MSI card is nice too, your power supply is fine for now, but I would get a new one soon.

http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=10

Corsair Power Supply Units â

 

[MagusMagnus]

The reason I chose EVGA and will, in future, also choose EVGA is because of their warranty and support (stellar rated all over). If ASUS could have competed with EVGA’s warranty and support (I have not seen good things anywhere really), I’d have bought my 760 SC from ASUS. But EVGA truly does have the superior warranty and support (by very far). I was only considering the ASUS because they actually do have the superior cooling solution. But their support and warranty really blow. So yeah (and actually, temperature on the EVGA ACX 2.0 isn't an issue anyway).

As to the PSU, it depends on what the manufacturer’s minimum requirements are.

EVGA’s for their 970’s is: 500W and two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors.

So, unfortunately, the 450W won’t do it. The good news is that PSU’s are relatively inexpensive right now. For example, Amazon has the RM 850 for the same that I’d paid for my RM 750 back in March. Or, a great deal, IMHO.

So anyway, EVGA doesn’t specify anything about the minimum amperes on the 12V rail. However, any quality PSU (e.g. Corsair or Seasonic) nowadays will be at least 60A on a single 12V rail (I think my RM 750 has 63A), or more than enough.

Also, I wouldn't recommend a 500-650 PSU because that's rock-bottom minimum, or for those who don't have any plans to make any expansions at all. If you want to add SSD/HDD's or anything else, you really need a little beefier of power for it (not to mention cushioning for capacitor aging).

 

[AddRAM]

750 to 1000 watt is overkill, but you`ll be set for a long time.

I like to recommend what I use

EVGA - Products - EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 Power Supply - 220-P2-1000-XR

HX Series HX750 Power Supply â

 

[Faladu]

Expectations on video card life depends on luck, user maintenance, and quality of the video card/quality control.

I tend to take the video card apart and replace the thermal paste between the GPU and heatsink with superior quality paste before installing it.
^major failure point here, the stuff wears out, what they used is unknown. (and if they forgot to use it, saved the card)

If paranoid, read the reviews for the card on online seller web sites, normally like most electronics they fail early (or way past the warranty period).

So like others have said, you probably want a strong warranty, but also a backup working card, if you have to go that route.

Check your case at least every 3 months and clear the dust and debris in the video card fans and CPU fan/heatsink for a reasonable user maintenance plan.

Power supplies degrade over time, so I suggest going 200W+ over the rating a PSU calculator gives you for a whole system requirement, it only draws what is needed, a 1000W PSU is not using 1000W per hour unless you are using 1000W per hour (very unlikely).

I have a MSI brand video card, I am past 2 years on it, no issues, my still working last 2 video cards, are Diamond and XFX.

I would take solace in the fact that these video card manufacturers can't stay in business if their product is complete junk, far too much competition, having said that if you haven't heard of a brand or their web presence looks sloppy, I would avoid them.

 

[Layback Bear]

I wait about 3 months and watch temps of video card. If things are okay then I replace the thermo paste. I still use the old faithful Arctic Silver 5.

I also believe in more power supply than required.
They have to work less to get the job done. Therefore run cool,quite and longer.