Set on getting a GTX970 but which brand?

[LightningJC]

I'm currently building my new gaming PC from scratch and after a lot of thinking I'm going to stick with the 970 because I think the 980 isn't worth the extra cost.

I'm fairly new to PC gaming and I have no idea which one to choose. I've been leaning towards EVGA FTW but was just wondering what everyone would recommend. Also heard a lot about coil whine, not sure how annoying that is but it would probably sway my decision if it is really bad.

[Marcvs]

Most Top Tier Manufactuerers are solid. You will probably hate me for saying this but wait a couple of weeks for the AMD 300 Series to come out, If nothing else should be a nice price drop - Also take a look at the radeon R9 290X. They can be had for ~£160-200 if you keep an eye and get a bit lucky.

Myself, I have had ASUS, EVGA, Sapphire and XFX Cards (BUT AVOID XFX Like the plague). EVGA Would probably be my choice as long as cost isnt too much higher.

If you look there is an RMA Thread somewhere on the forums.

[LightningJC]

Thanks for the advice, have they announced a release date for the 300 series?

I had an XFX 7900 about 7-8 years ago and that killed itself so I will definately be avoiding them. I like the EVGA but have also seen the galax card which looks pretty good.

I'll leave it a couple weeks but need to get something soon as I am borrowing a card from my friend at the minute.

[Noxvayl]

I would choose between Asus, Gigabyte and EVGA for an nVidia card. Use whatever preference you like to differentiate between them because they are all really good. I tend to use bundled games and appealing design to choose GPU manufacturer.

[Biscuit]

Thanks for the advice, have they announced a release date for the 300 series?

I had an XFX 7900 about 7-8 years ago and that killed itself so I will definately be avoiding them. I like the EVGA but have also seen the galax card which looks pretty good.

I'll leave it a couple weeks but need to get something soon as I am borrowing a card from my friend at the minute.

Computex is this following week. IIRC both AMD and Nvidia are rumoured to be releasing some flagship products.

[Kovoet]

EVGA is doing me just fine and you cannot go wrong with the warranty.

[Revvvhead]

The EVGA FTW looks like a good choice under £300 at Scan.
Personally I would avoid ASUS cards, my last 2 from them had terrible artifacts.
So never again on an ASUS card for me.

[mynameissi]

I would agree with the EVGA shout, its a solid card.
Don't forget about the msi twin frozr 970, its also really good, and runs very quiet.

[D-T]

The EVGA FTW looks like a good choice under £300 at Scan.
Personally I would avoid ASUS cards, my last 2 from them had terrible artifacts.
So never again on an ASUS card for me.

Just to potentially complicate things with more anecdotal evidence: the last EVGA card I ordered (GTX 580) was DOA, however I've got to say that their customer service was top-notch through the RMA. I ended up replacing it with an ASUS GTX 580 DirectCU II which I was made up with, that served me well for 5 years before I replaced it with an ASUS GTX 970 STRIX OC last September/October -- the 580's still going strong in another PC. I've also put 2 ASUS 970s and a GIGABYTE 970 into friends' builds recently and they've been very happy.

Personally, if I was choosing again I'd probably go with GIGABYTE as their 970s seem to report marginally greater OC headroom than other board partners and their windforce cooler is spot-on, if not the quietest. After that, I'd go with ASUS because of my positive experience with them and the fact that I'm a big fan of the STRIX cooler -- the 0dB fan is a nice touch, although it's nothing that can't be achieved on other cards by tweaking your fan profile in Afterburner.

In all honesty, I don't think there's much difference between EVGA, ASUS, GIGABYTE and MSI; they've all got solid reputations and there's very little to separate the cards in terms of performance. Go with your personal preference or whatever you can get the best deal on at the time.

Of course, if I was buying now I'd definitely wait for AMD's Fiji GPU launch -- at least to see if it forces NVIDIA to revise prices/promotions, if nothing else.

[Mister]

MSI are OK. Their warranty can be a nightmare as it has to go through the vendor, not directly to them. Also I found their factory OCed cards are often unstable (other brands may have this issue, but I've not experienced it with them).

The only XFX card I had came DOA. EVGA are good because of the step-up program, which lets you upgrade by just paying the difference. Their support is one of the best too.

Asus used to be good back in the day and I always used them. But recently their products seem to lack quality control. The last 3 Asus products I bought had to go back :/

[Mr. G]

Not to thread hijack but I'm also after one. The MSI seems to be quite popular so that's the one I have my eyes set on. Though with AMD's recent unveilings, am I better off waiting a little longer for price drops on the 970?

[GuidoLS]

Thanks for the advice, have they announced a release date for the 300 series?

I had an XFX 7900 about 7-8 years ago and that killed itself so I will definately be avoiding them. I like the EVGA but have also seen the galax card which looks pretty good.

I'll leave it a couple weeks but need to get something soon as I am borrowing a card from my friend at the minute.

If you're going Team Green, no need to worry about XFX anyway - they've since gone exclusively AMD. All the major players make a good card - of them all, MSI usually gets the most praise for the best air cooling solutions, and they just don't break.

[Thorsson]

Computerbase.de did a noise comparison video of 10 GTX970s

http://www.computerbase.de/videos/20...rke-vergleich/

Overall winner was the MSI, but elsewhere, people complain about a fan bug (1st fan runs on full blast, 2nd one stops completely and the only way to fix it is turning off the system completely)

So who came second?

[DAV5]

I've always had MSI cards and I've yet to have any issues with them, have a look at some reviews for their 970.

[Thorsson]

I've always had MSI cards and I've yet to have any issues with them, have a look at some reviews for their 970.

So have I; however there have been issues with MSI gear before; just like most manufacturers they get it wrong sometimes. I see that this was an issue with some drivers and the BIOS. Apparently MSI have done a BIOS update last November. I presume current cards already have the new BIOS and so won't need updating. Might be worth checking.