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For the review today we are using the latest Nvidia Forceware 344.07 and AMD Catalyst 14.7 beta drivers. All of the AMD and Nvidia hardware in our reviews today used these drivers – tested this week before launch.
We are using one of our brand new test rigs supplied by DINOPC and built to our specifications. If you want to read more about this, or are interested in buying the same Kitguru Test Rig, check out our article with links on this page. We are using an Asus PB287Q 4k and Apple 30 inch Cinema HD monitor for this review today.
Comparison cards:
Asus GTX780 Ti Direct CU II OC (954mhz core / 1750 mhz memory)
Sapphire R9 290X Tri-X OC (1040 mhz core / 1300 mhz memory)
Nvidia GTX980 (1127 mhz core / 1753 mhz memory)
Palit GTX780 6GB (902 mhz core / 1502mhz memory)
Asus R9 290 Direct CU II OC (1000 mhz core / 1260 mhz memory)
Software:
Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit
Unigine Heaven Benchmark
Unigine Valley Benchmark
3DMark Vantage
3DMark 11
3DMark
Fraps Professional
Steam Client
FurMark
Games:
Grid AutoSport
Tomb Raider
Metro Last Light Redux
Thief 2014
All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page.
Game descriptions edited with courtesy from Wikipedia.
Looking good so far. Expecting even better performance after 2-3 driver releases 🙂
I like the price point. The performance it pretty excellent.
This is a future proof card meaning you probably shouldn’t get this just for 1080p gaming since there are a lot of other cheaper cards out there that does just fine at 1080p.
I’m curious, were you able to run the MSI 970 on just the single 8-pin like you can on the ASUS 970? If so then I don’t think you can consider the extra 6-pin a con. And if it can’t, then oh well, at least there should be some extra stability benefits to it.
I can totally understand the ‘lower than they could be’ clocks out of the box, as if they are clocked to high out of the box and they get a few defunct chips that can’t handle it, it would be far worse PR than ‘look there might be even more potential in your chips’.
I understand the drop of the half star as nothing is perfect but goddamn the 970 looks like it comes about as close a it gets!
So far MSI Twin Frozr V is the best cooler.
So far MSI Twin Frozr V is the best cooler.
Why are the stats compared to the GTX 680 and not the 780/ 780Ti etc?
The issue is, other than looks, what separates these two cards? Performance is almost identical across the board from FPS to temps and thermals.
i cant decide between the msi and asus 970. I prefer the single 8 pin connector and backplate on the asus but the MSI has better cooling is cheaper and is slightly faster =/
Msi site says the hdmi is 1.4 not 2.0
What gives?
you have cash or not, must get it, performance better than 780 + 150Watts + cheaper? OMFGGG
To be fair, the MSI seems to beat the Asus by a couple of fps in every game that I looked at.
Is the extra 6pin for overclocking? I read on another article that the 900 series can handle a lot of overclocking. So, would it be for overclocking stability if it’s able to surpass the amount the 8 pin can handle?
So for 700$ (two GTX 970), we can play in 4K without problems.
Official Certification by the HDMI consortium. The components are 2.0 (NVIDIA spec) just the card itself hasn’t passed the certification yet. No issue.
We actually use the 6 and 8-pin to separate the voltage between the GPU VRM and the memory/io/fan vrm. so, no, it doesn’t guzzle more power when connected, but does allow us to deliver cleaner power to the card.
I suspected that, but thank you for confirming since i had no 4k monitor here to confirm.
The card rocks.
This information should have been delivered to reddit/r/buildapc as that is where most conversation surrounding components and sales occur. Many people were concerned about the 1.4 listing and bought a different brand instead. At a minimum, if should have been mentioned to your selected YouTube reviewers so they could have clarified.
the MSI GTX 970 Gaming is by a long shot better than asus and especially the EVGA cards.
the reference design for the GTX 970 uses a 4+1 power phase design. 4 for the GPU, 1 for the memory. asus uses a 5+2 phase design while MSI beats them all with a 6+2 configuration.
also, asus strix GTX 970 uses a single 8 pin PCE I power input while MSI uses two power inputs, 8 pin and another 6 pin. this will allow much higher overclocks, assuming the chip on your card can handle it.
i have a pair of MSI GTX 970 Gaming cards. one overclocks to 1500MHz the other to 1560MHz with no voltage mods. in SLI they are about one and half times faster than the R9 295×2 i returned last week. they are also dead silent, use less power and produce less heat.
i paid about $680 for the two of them. at this price the performance is just incredible. i’ve been a long time fan of nvidia (but i have owned ATI/AMD cards) but i did not expect them to price this card so low.
Having looked at further benchmarks, the MSI GTX 970 blows the competition away – cheaper than the Strix, more powerful, just as quiet, bigger OC headroom. Unless AMD come out with something amazing, it’ll be my next gpu.
I think the Min and Average values in the Metro: LL benchmark are incorrect and have been confused for the Average and Max values respectively.
I just tested my MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G (at stock like here with exactly the same settings) and my Average: 45 fps and Max: 118. You show the same numbers as the Min and Average respectively.
Shut up
Crazy how this beast rivals the GTX 980 stock AND is ultra efficient/silent. Madness!