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In our final review for the Nvidia launch today – we have analysed the new ASUS GTX970 Strix OC. We have reviewed a handful of ASUS Strix solutions already and have been impressed with their ‘hybrid' configuration which disables the fans when a specific core temperature is achieved.
On a hot running AMD card, this hybrid fan solution wouldn't be so effective but when paired up with the new Nvidia Maxwell architecture the results are extremely beneficial in the real world.
Our analysis of the Asus Strix GTX750 Ti OC last week was a key indicator of what is possible. The low priced solution has enough grunt to power the latest Direct X 11 games at 1080p but thanks to the cool running GM107 core, the fans barely activated at all, even when gaming.
The Asus Strix cooler pairs up well on the technically more advanced GM204 Maxwell core incorporated into the GTX970, although the fans do spin when the solution is powering a game. Fortunately they do spin slowly and noise levels are never a concern – in fact this is one of the quietest high performance graphics card we have ever tested.
As with all Maxwell oriented cards we have analysed to date, there is plenty of overclocking headroom available with the Asus GTX970 Strix OC. We managed to push the boost speeds past 1,400mhz generating performance past the level of an overclocked Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC. At these speeds even the Asus GTX780Ti Direct CU II OC was outperformed.
Nvidia are launching the reference GTX970 in the United Kingdom for only £259.99 inc vat, a price point that surprised us greatly, especially when factoring in the fantastic performance, low power demand and cool operation. This Asus GTX970 Strix OC model is a little more expensive, hitting retail at £299.99 inc vat. Considering the extremely low noise levels and huge overclocking headroom, it earns our highest award today.
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Pros:
- 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
- tons of overclocking potential.
- almost silent even when gaming.
- requires only a single 8 pin power connector.
- outperforms an AMD R9 290X when overclocked.
- runs cool under load.
Cons:
- core clock could be higher out of the box without compromising stability.
Kitguru says: The Asus GTX970 Strix OC is extremely quiet and cool running. Loads of overclocking headroom to deliver AMD R9 290X beating frame rates.
Have been in the market for a R9 280x for the past several months…
After reading this review, whelp, I’m sold; Asus 970 Strix it is.
Dude no go for the MSI 4G it performs better and is £20 cheaper in the UK been doing a ton of research this morning. Also be have managed overclocks of 1502 ON THE BASE CLOCK. Without much effort. 1400 WITHOUT ADJUSTING VOLTAGES o_o
The MSI is 2fps faster, sorry but i’d rather have a better cooler who stays silent until the card reaches 60° and oc it myself if i need to. Even a 50mhz boost, which is nothing, is more than enough to get more than those 2fps. MSI solutions remains fantastic though, you can’t really go wrong with both of them.
True but the MSI one also stays incredibly cool, some reviewers go tit to 1567 with no voltage increase and does not go above 65c. That is damn impressive. The MSI cooler is also really well designed to be fair.
MSI disable fans under 50C as well…
http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/msi-gtx-970-gaming-4g-review/22/
Link?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-msi-gtx-970-gaming-twin-frozr-5-pcie-30-%28×16%29-7010-mhz-gddr5-gpu-1140-mhz-cores-1664-dp-dvi-hdmi
I actually got mine £5 cheaper from them, they just upped their price.
Hello people Kitguru, you have an error in the selection list, says MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
instead of ASUS Strix GTX 970. Please fix that, thanks!
Thanks!
Hey Kitguru, I am wondering what your opinion on the different partner cooling solutions is. TwinFrozr (MSI), Windforce (Gigabyte), ACX (eVGA), and Strix (?, ASUS) – all seem to be formidable choices. I am personally a fan of the Gigabyte Windforce one, but what about the other selections? How do they compare?
So just to be sure, I should definitely look into MSI cards if I want to build a silent system right?
Not really ASUS are also silent, but this MSI card is insanely silent I am amazed and it is cheaper. to it with a bit of an OC max temp of 70 and it is silent. Nothign wrong with ASUS. I like them a lot but MSI are also solid, and this is £20 cheaper so no brainer for me.
Gotcha. What if I wanted to buy a relatively silent gpu in the $150-200 range? Would you recommend ASUS and MSI for their silence (even at the price range)?
Hard one would need to do your research on that front. Thing is the 900 Series seems to be the quietest of them all due to the lower power consumptions fans turning off below 60c etc. Silence in that range may not be achievable. Would have to look back at the 700 series to try and find a quiet solution.
I wonder If this type of system fan doesnt die through the years, all those constant changes from 0 to X rpms makes me wonder, thats my only concern about this card. Even if MSI is faster and more silent I wouldnt go with them. Asus has better quality components all the way. Comes to my mind the cheap ass mosfets that MSI use in their 970 Gaming mobos, so NO MSI. This is a must have as Kit Guru says. Bad thing is al re-sellers here in Latín America are gonna raise the price of this model for a while. Greedy basterds…