New GTX 970 & 980: Dream GPUs for Skyrim modders?

[Neovalen]

From the rumor mill online evga is not making the 900 series that high quality and there are complaints about the coolers.

 

Might have to go MSI, Gigabyte, or ASUS this time around.

[Heliadhel]

Mine is a gigabyte reference card. Cooler is inaudible during normal use and can barely be heard during gaming. I've not found anything to max the card out with yet tho so it's only hit 70c.

 

I expect you want a card(s) for over clocking tho with coolers to cope.

 

I did read somewhere tho that whilst the 970 can be over clocked to or past the clock speed of the 980 the number of cores the 970 has deactivated means it will not perform comparatively even oc'd. It seems this was part on nvidia strategy and hence the very good price of the 970.

[PingouinMalin]

The OC Zotac 970 is said to be only 1 to 3% less performing than regular 980 by some of the reviews I read.

[Heliadhel]

Wow then. Once that news is out nvidia won't be selling many 980s!

[Nearox]

The 980 comes for a 200 euro premium compared to the 970. Not worth the few percentage increase in performance at resolutions under 4k imho. 

 

Also read about the EVGA cooler issues. Apparently the coolers don't fit well on the VRMs so those parts get a bit too hot. 

 

Btw don't forget that there are no reference 970s, only aftermarket. There are reference 980s though, so hopefully the distributors will manage to still pump out some more performance for that card. 

 

Still, I'll be grabbing a 970 in november/december. 

[darkside]

I wish I have desktop to upgrade!

[WilliamImm]

Great, now I'm torn between getting this to upgrade my 660 GTX, or getting a new processor + mobo + memory. I would sure love to get both at once, but I'm not even sure if I can squeeze it.

[Spock]

From the rumor mill online evga is not making the 900 series that high quality and there are complaints about the coolers.Might have to go MSI, Gigabyte, or ASUS this time around.

From the techreport review the Strix (Asus) one is insanely quiet. The EVGA is still ok I guess, but the Strix is rediculously quiet.

[phazer11]

Don't worry about it too much Will, we can discuss it some later.

[Neovalen]

Got my pair on order, unknown ship date from Amazon though due to supply. I'm keeping an eye out for some to pop up elsewhere though mean time.

[Glanzer]

wow and just to think that I bought my 780 for over $600 about a year ago.  8-O

[Marthenil]

Got my pair on order, unknown ship date from Amazon though due to supply. I'm keeping an eye out for some to pop up elsewhere though mean time.

I wouldn't get the Windforce cooler for SLI though. I have the 780TI WF3 from gigabyte (essentially the same cooler) and the thing doesn't exhaust from the back AT ALL. It all goes back in the case.

So you'll need some nice case cooling or temps might get a bit on the high side.

[Neovalen]

From what I read it has one of the lowest profiles for SLI height wise. So more room between cards. Also the lowest temp of all the current 970s with 65c max....

 

I think the spec doesn't down clock until 80c so even with any flow issues (should be none for my case) it shouldn't hit that threshold.

[Marthenil]

From what I read it has one of the lowest profiles for SLI height wise. So more room between cards. Also the lowest temp of all the current 970s with 65c max....I think the spec doesn't down clock until 80c so even with any flow issues (should be none for my case) it shouldn't hit that threshold.

Yeah the 970s seem to run pretty cool.

 

Still, the way the heat dissipates from the WF3 cooler (below and in front of it), I wouldn't like two of them even with a small profile.

But yeah, if your flow is ok it shouldn't be that much of an issue. 

 

I'm a bit of a cooling junkie, so I might be overreacting in the end.

[Neovalen]

Cards are available on newegg... My order is confirmed. :D

 

Amazon order cancelled.