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Thoughts on the GTX 970?

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  • 22-05-2015 11:57am
    #1
    Cobbe354
    Registered Users Posts: 66 ✭✭


    Hi everyone.

    Sorry if this is in the wrong section, if it is maybe someone could redirect me to the correct Forum. :)

    I am in need of a GPU upgrade. I am currently running on an old GTX 550ti. It has served me well over the years, but I'm looking to upgrade. (mainly because of the Witcher 3)

    I have been looking at different cards and trying to compare, and the 970, despite the whole 3.5 ordeal, looks to be a solid card.
    I've also been considering the 960, a bit cheaper, but is it overall worth it, or should I just pay a bit more and go for the 970?

    I can't justify the 980 personally, as it's not much of an improvement over the 970 performance wise and price wise, I personally think.

    I'm not going to lie, I've always been with Nvidia, and have never thought about AMD.

    Was also wondering where some good places would be to buy a GTX 970 offline or online if I chose to go down that route? Any website name recommendation? (I hope discussion about this isn't prohibited, but if it is, pardon me)

    My specs currently:

    OS - Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
    CPU - Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz
    RAM - 8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
    GPU -1023MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (EVGA)



    And just a quick question about power supply. When I upgrade my GPU, will I need to upgrade the psu? I'm not even sure what the one I'm using is to be honest, a friend helped build my PC for me, how would I go about checking this?

    Many thanks.

    Regards, Dave


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    #2
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    You need to open the side of your case and just have a look at the power supply. 2 things - the wattage, and the brand name. The former means nothing if it's not a decent brand!

    The GTX960 is a lot cheaper and a massive upgrade on a 550Ti. Depends on your budget and willingness to spend obviously, GTX970 is also a solid card, or the R9 290 from AMD - or the R9 280X to compare with the GTX960 (280x would be my choice in that battle though).


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    #3
    Digiby
    Registered Users Posts: 101 ✭✭Digiby


    I just upgraded to a ASUS STRIX GTX 970 last week.
    My specs were very similar to yours.
    I have Win 8.1 Pro, Same 3570k CPU, same 8GB RAM but I had a GTX 560ti.

    There's a huge difference in performance. The new cards too can run silent depending on which model you buy. So the fans don't kick in until the card hits a certain temperature.

    I haven't tried The Witcher 3 with it yet but benchmarks say it should close to 60fps on Ultra with one or two graphics features turned down such as HairWorks and foilage detail.

    I did get to boot up The Witcher 2 with it though and I could run everything at Ultra with Uber sampling without a hiccup.

    I purchased mine from Dabs at the beginning of the month for €399 which came with 3 games. GTA V, The Witcher 3 and Batman Arkham Knight. They've increased the price since though and removed the GTAV offer from the bundle.

    In terms of Wattage, the new cards are pretty good when it comes to using it up. Here's a comparison between your card and a 970
    hwcompare.com/18075/geforce-gtx-550-ti-vs-geforce-gtx-970/

    With regards to the 980, from what I've read it only performs about 10% better than the 970 and it is possible to overclock the 970 to get the same performance of a stock 980.


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