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[Marceles]

I wish my tax return wasn't burning a hole in my wallet in April. I could've been building a new rig with a 980 in it instead of a 780

 

[Seanspeed]

Guys make me feel better about going 680 > 970. I couldn't stomach the extra $200.

You're buying high end performance at a midrange price.

 

[Vossler]

I wonder if an upgrade from sli 670 to a single 980 would be worth it

That's' what I'm doing - sli'd Asus 670 TOP editions - moving to EVGA SC 980. Been having some issues with sli and downsampling recently.

 

[Alcoholikaust]

My psu is only 750w. I don't know if I should push it

ah gotcha- from what Im reading-it may be worth it to wait for an OC'd 970- bet it will be close to the 980 and still cheaper...however...

 

[Dysun]

Pulled the trigger on the $339 EVGA GTX 970 from Newegg.
Price point is too compelling to resist

 

[Windom Earle]

Gonna make good use of this right away (really EVGA?)

Poster isn't that bad:

And finally finished putting them in:

Did a quick run in Heaven and the performance is outstanding compared to my single 680. Probably gonna try Watch Dogs now. One question to the SLI pros, is it ok that I installed the cards into slot 1 and 2? EVGA manual says to use the outer slots, but the bridge (and space in the case) didn't really allow that.

What retailer if I might ask? Alternate by any chance?

Caseking. Tried getting the Gigabyte model from Alternate, but the order status was in constant limbo.

 

[mephixto]

Guys make me feel better about going 680 > 970. I couldn't stomach the extra $200.

I'm on the same boat as you, have a pair of 680 and I think im gonna bite 2x970 OC.

 

[wwm0nkey]

980 or SLI 970s that is my dilemma right now

 

[CaptainGyro]

Just pulled the trigger on the MSI 970 Gaming 4G. I told myself, I'd wait until Witcher 3, but it's done now.

I'm planning on holding out till the Witcher 3 too

 

[Rootbeer]

Thanks for all the answers all!

Well, ordered a Gigabyte GTX 970. One should be fine for my needs, but it's nice knowing this is probably the best choice for a SLI card you can buy right now, so adding a second one is totally an option if I need one over the next year.

Again I am on an i7 920 based PC right now, which will be scrapped for parts as I build an all-new PC in early 2015 for broadwell. I hope this card can give me a little boost from my GTX 570 even if it is going to be bottlenecked until the new PC is up and running.

I guess rather it bottlenecks or not will depend on the game and how CPU bound it is. Am I making a bad choice here? Thanks

 

[mr stroke]

980 or SLI 970s that is my dilemma right now

single 980

 

[Kezen]

So is there a general consensus as to which 970 is the best one to pick up for heat/overclockability/loudness?

I am 100% grabbing my brother SLI 970s.

The MSI Gaming is really nice, the ASUS Strix is slick as well.

 

[kharma45]

Gonna make good use of this right away (really EVGA?)



Poster isn't that bad:



And finally finished putting them in:





Did a quick run in Heaven and the performance is outstanding compared to my single 680. Probably gonna try Watch Dogs now. One question to the SLI pros, is it ok that I installed the cards into slot 1 and 2? EVGA manual says to use the outer slots, but the bridge (and space in the case) didn't really allow that.



Caseking. Tried getting the Gigabyte model from Alternate, but the order status was in constant limbo.

blue on the cooler looks fucking great

 

[Upinsmoke]

Mad to think I paid 260 for a 660ti not too long back and now i can get a 970 for that

 

[brain_stew]

Is there a rational reason to go with the 980? I want it, but I'm having a bit of trouble justifying it because I will be sticking to 1080p.

If you want the fastest single GPU available then the GTX 980 is it. As long as you're comfortable paying the $150 "prestige tax" and know what you're buying then go for it. The 970 offers far more bang for your buck but if you want the best then the 980 is it.

 

[Paragon Pariah]

How does SLI compare to Crossfire? I have a Crossfire setup right now and I haven't liked it. A lot of games will have bad support for it at release and sometimes issues aren't fixed for months (sometimes never, cutscenes never worked correctly for me in Max Payne 3). Plus, microstutter is noticeable in a lot of games.

I recently got my hands on a ROG Swift monitor so I am switching to Nvidia to take advantage of G-Sync, but I'm debating whether I go SLI 970s or a single 980. I'm just afraid I would run into more dual GPU woes with SLI.

 

[Gumbie]

So damn tempted to replace my 780ti with SLI 970s after seeing that price point and this is after I sold my 770s earlier this year and swore off SLI. I think I'm gonna try and resist so I can see what the inevitable 980ti or Titan 2 does.

 

[Damerman]

Pulled the trigger on the MSI 970 for 350€ incl shipping. Now to see if somebody wants to buy my 7870 GHz.

upgrade from a 7870? if its not too much trouble, can you post your impressions on the boost you get and driver installs/uninstalls. I'd appreciate it. thnx.

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

So damn tempted to replace my 780ti with SLI 970s after seeing that price point. I think I'm gonna try and resist so I can see what the inevitable 980ti or Titan 2 does.

Same boat. I'm gonna try to score a second 780ti for under $400.

 

[mrklaw]

My psu is only 750w. I don't know if I should push it

it'll be fine with SLI 970s

 

[opticalmace]

What performance will I see if I upgrade from two 6950 CF to a 970?

I'm guessing 20-30%. From my googling I think a 6950 CF setup is kind of on par with a 7970, which AT has benched against the 780, which I think is sort of comparable to a 970? Maybe a bit slower.

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1032?vs=1036

Just guessing though.

 

[shuri]

That's' what I'm doing - sli'd Asus 670 TOP editions - moving to EVGA SC 980. Been having some issues with sli and downsampling recently.

I'm having heat issues with my sli setup. It's air cooled and I think it was a mistake. In the future I will go with a water cooling solution if i go with sli again, but right now, with very intensive games, seeing my cards hovering at 90 degrees is annoying

 

[AgentP]

When is the street date for the 980? We could really use them at work, the 780 might not be enough for our CUDA stuff.

 

[Felspawn]

Pulled the trigger on the Asus 970 Strix this morning. Cant wait till it shows up. At that kind of price point i might even go for a 2nd one to SLI down the road.... though that will really depend on if i get a higher res monitor. SLI for just 1200p would be a waste at this point...

 

[Salty Hippo]

Guys, a couple of noob questions:

1. Do the non reference cards already come overclocked to their maximum potential? How do I know what's the maximum clock the card can do (at safe temperatures)? I'm seeing so many cards and so many variants that I have absolutely no idea which to choose and why one is better than the other.

2. If I SLI in the future, do both cards need to be exactly the same? (Model, brand, clock speed, etc)?

Thanks.

 

[Vossler]

I'm having heat issues with my sli setup. It's air cooled and I think it was a mistake. In the future I will go with a water cooling solution if i go with sli again, but right now, with very intensive games, seeing my cards hovering at 90 degrees is annoying

Mine have been quite high as well - another reason to go single card (mine are air cooled too)

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

4GB 770 -> 970 probably isn't worth it, huh?

 

[Qassim]

How does SLI compare to Crossfire? I have a Crossfire setup right now and I haven't liked it. A lot of games will have bad support for it at release and sometimes issues aren't fixed for months (sometimes never, cutscenes never worked correctly for me in Max Payne 3). Plus, microstutter is noticeable in a lot of games.

I recently got my hands on a ROG Swift monitor so I am switching to Nvidia to take advantage of G-Sync, but I'm debating whether I go SLI 970s or a single 980. I'm just afraid I would run into more dual GPU woes with SLI.

I went from a crossfire setup to an SLI setup and the experience for me was much better. However this was before crossfire was exposed to be pretty much broken for years and before AMD released fixes for it, so maybe my perception on that isn't worth much.

However, I'm on 2x 780 SLI, and whilst (noticeable) microstutter is there in certain rare scenarios, it's generally a good experience for me. I also have a G-Sync monitor and it seems to massively reduce the effect in the scenarios where microstutter is noticeable for me.

 

[RCSI]

So I should expect to receive a massive boost in performance if I go from a HD 6950 to a GTX 970, correct? Because $329 is tempting.

 

[Vuze]

upgrade from a 7870? if its not too much trouble, can you post your impressions on the boost you get and driver installs/uninstalls. I'd appreciate it. thnx.

Will do! I'm not quite sure when the card will arrive tho, so it might take a bit.
Gotta figure out how to do a clean-as-possible driver uninstall.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Just out of curiosity, I checked to see what kind of upgrade this would be for my 4850

It looks like performance would be about 10 times better. I had to ballpark it because none of the benchmarks in the reviews actually include the 4850 as a point of comparison, but it seems like the 970 is around 8 times as better performing as the GT 640, and the GT 640 performs maybe 20% better than my 4850.

Wow.

 

[AnotherCastle]

4GB 770 -> 970 probably isn't worth it, huh?

I would wait another generation or two, but it all depends on how important it is for you to be on the "cutting edge" graphics wise.

 

[Gumbie]

Same boat. I'm gonna try to score a second 780ti for under $400.

That's a really good idea that I wasn't even thinking about. I think that's what I'm gonna try for as well.

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

I would wait another generation or two, but it all depends on how important it is for you to be on the "cutting edge" graphics wise.

I'm probably just going to wait for 20nm, Skylake, and DDR4 before I upgrade.

 

[-tetsuo-]

The $550 980 is better than my $700 780ti ;_;

 

[Kezen]

Just out of curiosity, I checked to see what kind of upgrade this would be for my 4850

It looks like performance would be about 10 times better. I had to ballpark it because none of the benchmarks in the reviews actually include the 4850 as a point of comparison, but it seems like the 970 is around 8 times as better performing as the GT 640, and the GT 640 performs maybe 20% better than my 4850.

Wow.

You know what you have to do. Don't hesitate.

 

[Shadowhaxor]

Alright, Microcenter has my GTX970, ready for pickup! Surprisely the wifey isn't too upset, likely due to me selling my Destiny: Ghost Edition and hopefully the GTX 660 ti.

Damn it Nvidia it was too soon, too soon!

 

[Kvik]

If you want the fastest single GPU available then the GTX 980 is it. As long as you're comfortable paying the $150 "prestige tax" and know what you're buying then go for it. The 970 offers far more bang for your buck but if you want the best then the 980 is it.

I went for the Gigabyte G1 because there's plenty of headroom for overclocking:

Original GTX 980
Core Clock: 1126 MHz
Boost Clock: 1216 MHz
Memory Clock: 7000 MHz

This sample
Core Clock: 1228 MHz
Boost Clock: 1329 MHz
Memory Clock: 7000 MHz

Overclocked
Core Clock 1383 MHz
Boost Clock: ~1547 MHz
Memory Clock: 8002 MHz

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_980_g1_gaming_review,26.html

Without extra voltage tweaking you can expect a 1350~1400 MHz range for the Turbo clock frequency. Depending on how much your board will take and allow, with Voltage tweaking you’ll pass the 1400 MHz range. 1500 MHz is in sight but it might depend per production batch, but also variables like your PC stability, power supply and so on. We ended up at a stable 1547 MHz, which is ridiculously nice when you think about it.

 

[Gumbie]

Just out of curiosity, I checked to see what kind of upgrade this would be for my 4850

It looks like performance would be about 10 times better. I had to ballpark it because none of the benchmarks in the reviews actually include the 4850 as a point of comparison, but it seems like the 970 is around 8 times as better performing as the GT 640, and the GT 640 performs maybe 20% better than my 4850.

Wow.

That's like going from floppy disk to blu ray.

 

[Dictator93]

The MSI Gaming is really nice, the ASUS Strix is slick as well.

Any idea how cards like this (blow exhaust into case) or like the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming work in SLI?

As long as you have good push pull case airflow, they should be fine right?

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

The $550 980 is better than my $700 780ti ;_;

Just remember all of the good times you shared with the 780ti.
He was too young !!
*sniffle*

 

[fifasnipe2224]

So I currently have:
Mobo: EVGA X58
CPU: Intel Core i7-960 3.20 GHz 8M
GPU: GTX 570 1.2GB
RAM: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz

Should I upgrade my GPU to a 970 first or will my CPU be holding me back too much?

 

[Netherscourge]

Need to see how the $329 version attacks up against my current 770. Should probably sit this round out though.

Definitely stick with the 770. Especially if you have one of those overclocked 4GB 770s.


I wouldn't upgrade unless you were getting a 780 Ti, THEN you'd see a crazy performance boost.

 

[Kezen]

Any idea how cards like this (blow exhaust into case) or like the Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming work in SLI?

As long as you have good push pull case airflow, they should be fine right?

Absolutely but if you are going SLI then a blower type cooler would be best.

 

[Dictator93]

So I currently have:
Mobo: EVGA X58
CPU: Intel Core i7-960 3.20 GHz 8M
GPU: GTX 570 1.2GB
RAM: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz

Should I upgrade my GPU to a 970 first or will my CPU be holding me back too much?

GPU, your CPU is still fanastic (seriously consider overclocking that CPU).

Absolutely but if you are going SLI then a blower type cooler would be best.

Hrm... decisions decisoins

 

[Netherscourge]

So I currently have:
Mobo: EVGA X58
CPU: Intel Core i7-960 3.20 GHz 8M
GPU: GTX 570 1.2GB
RAM: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz

Should I upgrade my GPU to a 970 first or will my CPU be holding me back too much?

Your CPU will not be a bottleneck for a couple more years.

In fact, I don't think any i7 CPUs will be a bottleneck for a couple more years. They are great CPUs.

 

[Majukun]

any idea what the price will be in europe?

 

[SUPARSTARX]

570 to a 970. Let's do this!!

I'm on the same boat. Bye bye 570!

 

[Windom Earle]

Just tried that infamous Metro 2033 opening scene. Very high + physics + SSAAx2 = Piece of cake.

 

[Twenty7KVN]

The wait for my card is going to be hell God dammit Nvidia why did you have to launch this on a Friday.