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afkmacro posted:Yeah I can't find it on the site either. Fairfax VA store if that matters. Seeing as I picked 'the last one' (according to the guy who was more than happy to stick his associate sticker on it) up last night, consider having dodged a bullet. Fairfax only has (or had) the ACX 1.0 cards in stock. As it stands, I think I'll hold onto this ACX 1.0 for ~2 months and 'step up' to the FTW version as a cheap Christmas gift for myself for the better cooler, higher clocks, double BIOS, and voltage boost. I don't really care about the 980. One can also hope they might put out a 6GB 970 or something that I could also 'step up' to in the next two months or so. everythingWasBees posted:Is there a good comparison of the MSI Gaming 970 and the Asus Strix? Compare these: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/ http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-geforce-gtx-970-gaming-review,1.html BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Sep 21, 2014 |
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Sep 21, 2014 00:14
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TigerDirect had the MSI Gaming 4G in stock Watch, I'll get a bad MSI card. =/ EDIT: They still have the non-Gaming one in stock at present. Here's the HSF eVGA is evidently putting on their 'FTW' (and possibly SSC) 970s: 
BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 22:26
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Another interesting tidbit about the MSI 970 - it uses a 6+8 power connection instead of 6+6. The ASUS uses a single 8-pin. A review that took pretty decent pictures of the HSF assemblage: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/msi-gtx-970-gaming-4g-review/2/ Evidently the 'blue' one has twin heatpipes while the ~Gaming~ has three. The GDDR5 on the MSI seems to be covered with a heat plate - since you can't really call that a heatsink per se. Still, it's better than them being bare like they are on the eVGA SKUs. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 22:51 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 22:39
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r0ck0 posted:Would a 560 be worth it to leave in as a physx card? I've been considering this as well - prior to dropping the 970 in, I was running twin 560/448s. I am concerned about 1) the extra fan noise, and 2) extra heat. I'm hoping nVidia's drivers are smart enough to disable or idle a dedicated PhysX card, but I'd like to know otherwise before I drop it in. If anything, I'd imagine having a spare card you could make the primary just for backup's sake might be nice.
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Sep 25, 2014 22:48
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I'm on a late-revision ASUS Z68 with a PCIe 3.0 bus. I was going to upgrade to a Haswell-E plus a 970 as a rather pricey self-bought Christmas gift, but damned if my 2500K @ 4.4Ghz still isn't purring like a kitten and doing everything I need it to (most of the credit probably going to the Silver Arrow I have cooling it). Intel just made these chips too damned well. Maybe I'll bite with Broadwell - who knows. I do know this 970 is the only significant piece of new hardware I've had to buy in close to three years' time - and I really like that.
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Sep 26, 2014 03:36
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PC LOAD LETTER posted:For desktop though I think most people, certainly myself, would be willing to tolerate higher power usage* if it meant getting 20-30% performance improvements for new revision/arch. instead of the meager 5-10% we've been getting. And that is for general purpose use. For games its been more like 2-5% performance improvement per new revision/arch. which is basically unnoticeable. *We* wouldn't mind. OEMs and corporate PC builders would. An entire floor of PCs (granted, none of which are operating near peak) can serve to heat an office building floor to the point where it becomes something that needs to be taken into consideration when designing the HVAC system that'll cool said floors to a constant ~72-74F without costing a fortune. Heat also serves to cause computers/electronics to break down faster, and Dell has to assume Random Grandma is going to stick the PC her kids bought her to play Internet Bridge and Mahjong on in a dusty unventilated cubbyhole of an antique mahogany desk her father brought back from Nazi Germany with the swastikas still emblazoned on it because the idea of something needing decent airflow is a wholly foreign concept to her. It works out for us only because the lower the TDP, coupled with Intel's ~generosity~ in putting out the K-coded processors, means we can milk more out of them.
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Sep 26, 2014 05:16
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Loquitor posted:...if I really will be better off getting the Z97 over the H97 board? Google is hard, but here you go: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Z97-vs-H97-What-is-the-Difference-562/ ASRock makes a bare-bones Z97 they designed for the G3258 Anniversary CPU that's about as cheap as you're going to find a Z97 board for: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157528 The downside is, it only has one graphics-capable PCIe 3.0 slot. =/ Hell, even the "Fata1ity" one has a PCIe 3.0 x16/PCIe 2.0 x4 setup. Here's one with twin PCIe 3.0 slots (see below): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130775 And another: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130771 Also, bear in mind that in SLI/Crossfire, even the boards with twin PCIe 3.0 lanes are going to be running 2x8, not 2x16, and if you run cards in all ports (theoretically - since the lower card would probably block the bottom PCIe 2.0 slot), you'd be getting 1x8 + 2x4. They only claim they're x16 slots because they function that way when used singularly, and you'll probably never notice the difference - at present - between 2x8 and 2x16. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 07:40 on Sep 26, 2014 |
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Sep 26, 2014 06:16
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My guess is that on a "Crossfire-capable" H97 board, one card would run at x8, and the other probably at x4.
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Sep 26, 2014 10:29
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spasticColon posted:So I was right the MSI card with the red cooler on it is better but its currently sold out. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...aKsnSwYbowE7tog Sign up for their emails and get $15 off - before ~$8 in shipping. Note that it doesn't explicitly say "In Stock," but allows you to order it. This is a change from "Currently Out of Stock."
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Sep 26, 2014 22:02
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Ralith posted:The Gigabyte 970 seems to have higher clocks and, on the surface of it, a better cooler (albeit no idle fan shutoff). I'm not sure why it hasn't gotten attention compared to the MSI. I think the criticisms of the Gigabyte are that even though there are three fans and a beefy heatsink, the fans are incredibly thin and don't move as much air. Again - none of this really matters since the 970 runs so cool on its own.
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Sep 26, 2014 22:04
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Fanelien posted:Got an EVGA 970 yesterday, no coil whine and it's positively quiet compared to my SLI 570s it replaced. Definitely going to do SLI again for surround res though, when pushing the massive amount of pixels required for surround it struggles a little bit. Yeah, mine's currently perfect as well, even with the ~worse than Satan~ ACX 1.0 cooler on it, but the reason I'm going to go MSI anyway is simply because it seems to be made with "better stuff," and since I got ~3 years worth out of my 560/448s, I want to be reasonably sure I'll get the same out of the 970, which I'll probably SLI the first time their price drops (which'll probably be 9-12 months from now).
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Sep 27, 2014 02:57
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Zarcnest posted:I bought an amd 7850 today. Needed an upgrade from my old 5770. It costed under 100 usd; did I make a good choice or should I return it and get something better? Budget is around 150. Look for an R7 265 (Newegg has the XFX for $130 after rebate plus the 'silver' game card voucher - the card has a lifetime warranty) or spend a little more (~$30) for a R9 270X, which comes with the 'gold' voucher for three games. The XFX one is $160 after rebate and also comes with a lifetime warranty. XFX R7 265: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150719 XFX R9 270X: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150686 Comparison between the two: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-270X-vs-Radeon-R7-265 BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Sep 28, 2014 |
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Sep 28, 2014 04:02
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Hace posted:The R7 265 is literally just a 7850 with higher clock. Why would he pay $30+ for that? The case I'm making is he should put out a little more and get the 270X, using the voucher and rebate to get him under $150. I'm also assuming he paid ~$150 for the 7850 at a local B&M, so there's no reason he shouldn't get the 265 if he really needs to make that $150 ceiling. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Sep 28, 2014 |
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Sep 28, 2014 04:06
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Gotta say, as nice as the 'silent fan' thing on the MSI sounds, I don't like a GPU that idles in the high 50s, even if MSI swears up and down this thing can exist at 60C almost indefinitely. I'll live with rotating fans and a 39-40C 'normal' running temperature (like running Hearthstone/low-cap stuff), and a ~32C idle. I also had my first driver 'quit and recover,' but I'm willing to chalk it up to a fluke since I popped out my eVGA and dropped in my MSI without reinstalling drivers. If it happens again or persists I'll do a fresh driver install. I should note also that ~40% fan speed is drat near silent, or at least can't be heard over the other case fans. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 07:34 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 07:23
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Well, I also tried out their "Gaming App," and found it wholly useless save for a function that toggles your fans up to 100% in a metered burst for a quicker cooldown. Also, don't download the version on MSI's website - for some reason the only version of it, despite its uselessness, that works with the 970/980s at present is the one on the CD they give you - they haven't uploaded the newest version to their website. It also doesn't play very nicely with Afterburner. Every time you change to a new 'mode' it launches a temporary new instance of Afterburner in your system tray that you have to mouse-over to get rid of. At least it doesn't auto-start with Windows. And yeah, right now I'm at 31C and the fans are still running at 40%. I normally have a circulating fan on in my study that I've grown accustomed to drowning out, and it masks the sound of my open case (always run a new or 'new-ish' build open for the first few days) currently 2-3 feet from my ears, and I can't hear a thing. And this is with seven 140mm fans - five in the case, and two on the HSF. When I move the box to its fixed spot and button everything up, I doubt I'll ever hear it. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 07:45 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 07:39
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Skwee posted:So you are just using a custom fan curve on the msi card then? I just tried it out and yeah definitely cannot hear the fan at 40% but since the card already idles around 30-33 with the fan off I don't really need it. With it on the card goes down to 28, but I don't think I need it that low I'm using the stock fan curve, because every time I try to set a custom one or change what's already there, it tosses out: "CTaskSchedulerInterface::AddTask failed with error code -22!" I've just got the slider maxed at 100 with "User Defined" enabled. I'd even say I can stand the sound of the fans at 100%. My 'benchmark' for a loud fan is the 5800's notorious leaf-blower or - and this'll date me - Delta's old 120x38mm 'high flow' fans. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 07:53 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 07:50
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Skwee posted:Kind of want to check what the evga acx 1.0 cooler sounds like now, (after trying this one) but i already boxed it up to ship back Based on what I remember, the fans on the ACX 1.0 generally were at around 25-30% at idle and sounded comparable to the MSI's at 40%. Also, I figured out how to kill the error code - I had to set Afterburner to run with Admin privileges. I can set proper fan curves now. And for people still hunting: http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/gigabyte-releases-geforce-gtx-970-windforce-oc-graphics-card.html Gigabyte's page: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5212#ov Kind of blends the best of both worlds - the 6+8 power of the MSI with the Gigabyte cooler, plus three DP ports, if you can believe the release. Evidently clocked a bit lower than Gigabyte's 'Gaming' SKU. Nice alternative to the PNY for multi-DisplayPort, though. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Sep 30, 2014 |
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Sep 30, 2014 08:08
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Unlucky7 posted:I see the ZOTAC 970 is available on Newegg. I am not familiar with that manufacturer. Should I give them a shot, or hold out for an Msi card? Evidently the same company that owns Zotac owns Sapphire. I think Sapphire makes AMD's reference boards.
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Oct 1, 2014 01:28
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Unlucky7 posted:The only thing I noticed in the user reviews of the Zotac 970 is that the card apparently runs hot and the cooler slightly struggles with it. I don't have any additional fans in my PC, so should I wait for a MSI to be available? The Zotac 970 is also the smallest 970 available. Seriously, it's tiny. Unless you get their 'Extreme' edition - then it's pretty similarly-sized.
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Oct 1, 2014 07:19
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The bigger question concerning the Zotac is 'why is it smaller than all other cards,' and 'why does it have 8+8 power connectors?'
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Oct 2, 2014 06:18
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I've been having a few (two) driver stop issues with my MSI, but I did a straight swap of my eVGA to the MSI without cleaning and reinstalling the drivers first. I remedied that tonight after the second instance. I was also rather careful with removing the ~Sticker of Doom~ since I'd watched a video review that made mention of the adhesive's stickiness. When I started DDU, it not only had two mentions of GTX 970, but listed my twin 560/448s as well. Wiped everything and didn't load PhysX at all, since some people think some of the driver-related issues are related to it, then confirmed through DDU that my drivers *only* recognize the currently-installed 970 (and drivers for the Intel integrated that I have disabled in BIOS). I also went from .11 to .16, even though the issues .16 fixed don't pertain to me. Fingers crossed. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Oct 3, 2014 |
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Oct 3, 2014 08:33
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So my fresh-drivered no-PhysX-installed MSI 970 just had a stopped driver on *Hearthstone*, despite doing 2+ hours of Wolfenstein New Order without a hiccup. EDIT: Make that BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Oct 4, 2014 |
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Oct 3, 2014 23:32
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everythingWasBees posted:If a cord gets too close to one of those heat pipes on an MSI GTX 970, is there a chance it might melt? Not a chance in hell.
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Oct 4, 2014 00:39
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Skwee posted:So you say you installed the MSI 970 after installing the EVGA 970? Because I did the exact same thing. I got my drivers from the nvidia website for the EVGA, and when my MSI came in, I just swapped them out and have been using it just like that with no problems yet. Mostly playing battlefield 4 and Shadow of Mordor so far. Seems like maybe a card problem instead of a driver problem? Not sure how you could test that though Well, it's finicky. I haven't overclocked the card past its stock settings, and I've got the fan running at 60% all the time now (still silent). It's definitely not a PSU issue, as I've got a 1kW Seasonic Platinum feeding it, and the Seasonic is effectively brand new, as I had to RMA it a month ago.
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Oct 4, 2014 01:01
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Part of me wants to RMA the 970 simply because I've still got valid stand-ins available. Also, MSI's stated policy (having just read it) is to replace RMAed products with 'certified refurbished' parts - and I'm thinking this soon after the launch, there's a good shot at getting just a new product...or a pool of returned ones that were damaged by sperglords with Christmas Morning hands ripping the sticker off and damaging their cards. That being said, at least when the driver fails in Hearthstone, it recovers in time for you to keep playing. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Oct 4, 2014 |
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Oct 4, 2014 04:36
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Hamburger Test posted:Check if the fans are actually turning, either by looking at them or go to GPU-Zs RPM readout. If your fan is stuck it will show that it's being fed the power but it will just twitch failing to spin up. If it does that give it a small nudge. Yeah, they're turning. Things have been rather stable for the past few hours. It's entirely possible the driver-stoppage is due to two applications (one being Hearthstone) being poorly coded, and the other being ancient, which would explain why Wolfenstein was fine. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 07:36 on Oct 4, 2014 |
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Oct 4, 2014 07:00
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Skwee posted:Is this the kind of thing you were getting? I got a similar (non-fatal) error message the first time I decided to fire up Arkham Origins to get "Cold, Cold Heart" done, but it was only once.
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Oct 4, 2014 21:25
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Senjuro posted:This feature isn't much of an advantage for MSI. The fans may be spinning but I still can't hear my Gigabyte G1 GTX 970 at idle. At all. Also, speaking as someone running an MSI 970, I far prefer running my fans constantly at ~60%. They're still practically silent at 70%, too.
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Oct 9, 2014 01:37
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Okay - so it's not 100% foolproof, since not enough time has passed to confirm whether or not it was the culprit, but turning off Afterburner seems to have spared me OpenGL/driver-stoppage crashes in at least ONE of the applications that was giving me grief. The downside of course being that my card is now doing the default 'roller coaster' up to the fan activation temperature rather than my being able to set it to run the fans all the time. EDIT: Just suffered a crash in Hearthstone, so that's not fixed, but others have reported crashes with 9xx cards and Hearthstone as well. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 07:47 on Oct 10, 2014 |
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Oct 10, 2014 06:21
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Smegma Princess X posted:I know i've seen it somewhere, but how does the 970 compare against the 980? I've got money coming in this week that would let me afford either one. The 980 is something like 10-15% more performance for ~210 bucks more. If you're absolutely dead-set against SLI and want the best single-card solution, the 980 is preferable if you're running 2560x1440+. Otherwise, you will get more value getting a 970 and buying a second to SLI later on when the fervor's died down. SLIed 970s will also be viable for 4K. Also, you'll hear an 8GB 980 is rumored to be out before the end of the year. If you would be inclined to wait for that, keep in mind that a very large chunk of the cost in the current cards is the GDDR5. So tacking on another 4GB of that will very likely add something like 150-200 dollars on top of what a 980 costs now. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Oct 11, 2014 |
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Oct 11, 2014 01:09
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dorkanoid posted:There was a BIOS update for my MSI Gaming 4G 970 today - v125 to v126 - but I'm not able to find any changelog. I found a mention of what it 'fixes' on that unofficial MSI forum - it's a Win 8.1 compatibility/stability fix. No other details are given. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 12:54 on Oct 12, 2014 |
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Oct 12, 2014 12:47
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It wouldn't shock me if nVidia and AMD are privately fighting it out for the rights to call their cards the AMD Radeon or nVidia Geforce 4Kx. The naming convention will have a 3-5 year lifespan as 4K gradually becomes the new 1080/1200p.
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Oct 13, 2014 03:43
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So I just ran a VRAM test on my MSI that's been having driver crash issues. I stopped counting at something around 55,000 memory errors.
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Oct 18, 2014 03:18
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DaNzA posted:What are you using to test your VRAM? The folding@home client? memtestg80, so yes. The first 11 runs or so were fine, but around there the errors started building on each other. Regardless, even if the test is wrong, I've got one of two of my old 560/448s in as a stopgap, and I'm able to multi-window games just fine (if choppily) which was causing the driver crashes. That alone tells me something's hosed with the 970. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 06:00 on Oct 18, 2014 |
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Oct 18, 2014 03:43
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Eddain posted:A third party merchant on Amazon has the MSI GTX 980 Gaming in stock. They kinda have a poor reputation online due to their poor custom laptop service though. Don't know if that extends to the rest of their business. I bought a Dell 2412M from a third-party seller in December 2011. Dell just wanted proof I'd bought it in December, since they sold it to the third-party in August. So if anything, when you buy something from a third-party, even though it's pretty safe to assume in the case of a GTX 980 they acquired it mid-September at the earliest, to keep a copy of your invoice so you can prove you're covered beyond what their records show. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 11:33 on Oct 18, 2014 |
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Oct 18, 2014 11:28
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Instant Grat posted:Are you using MemTestG80? I don't think that program works entirely correctly for GTX 970s. It reported over 100,000 errors on mine, even though I've had no issues with it (apart from GPU-Z causing crashes for not stopping the display driver before dumping the BIOS). Well, like I said - the errors I was having (OpenGL Type 3 crashes, kernel driver stops) have disappeared entirely with my old 560/448 plugged in instead of the 970, with everything else the same (even the same PCIe slot) - I didn't even uninstall the drivers, though I intend on clean-installing when I get the new 970. So *something* is wrong with the card, if not the memory. I ran DRAM diagnostics as well as the Intel CPU diagnostics to rule them out, even though I never expected either of issues. I also don't remember having issues with my eVGA 970 (which I returned) that I have with my MSI. That being said, never jinx yourself: BIG HEADLINE posted:Watch, I'll get a bad MSI card. =/ BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 13:39 on Oct 18, 2014 |
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Oct 18, 2014 12:23
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r0ck0 posted:Well you can get the MSI but you will be missing out on two extra display ports. He meant needlessly adding the word 'human being' to your post. We're living in a kinder, ~gentler~ time now.  And if you don't intend on ever using more than two displays, any 970 is fine - DVI-D will do everything DP does (at least until resolutions get high enough that our cards' DP ports no longer support them), the cable's just thicker and more of a bitch to route or negotiate. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 09:00 on Oct 19, 2014 |
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Oct 19, 2014 08:57
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Josh Lyman posted:Speaking of which, when this happens, is it a firmware thing (and therefore hackable) or are they disabled via hardware? I'm pretty sure nowadays that nVidia hobbles chips that are fundamentally no different than the flagship part by laser cuts made directly to the die. In that case the only 'firmware hack' you're going to get is to make the card *call* itself a 980 GTX and try to run at the 980's clock/mem speeds.
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Oct 19, 2014 13:17
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Endymion FRS MK1 posted:No, a handful of HD6950s, my old one included, unlocked into 6970s. Because they were 6970s to begin with. The 6950s were selling better, and to meet demand, AMD/ATI took their glutted inventory of 6970s and firmware-limited them, crossing their fingers that no one would notice, or bet on the fact that most end-users wouldn't risk violating their warranties.
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Oct 20, 2014 00:49
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Twerk from Home posted:How hard is it to get the exact specific card you want? I got an MSI 970 with some variety of aftermarket cooler at Microcenter for $329, but now that I see the mini-ITX 970 from Gigabyte with All the Gigabyte models have triple Displayport, so you don't have to wait for the mini-ITX version if that's the feature you want most. BIG HEADLINE fucked around with this message at 21:47 on Oct 21, 2014 |
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Oct 21, 2014 21:41
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three displayport