• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Nvidia GTX 970 problems: This isn't acceptable.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 6, 2005
Messages
2,792 (0.40/day)
Location
Tre, Suomi Finland
System Name Ladpot ◦◦◦ Desktop
Processor R7 5800H ◦◦◦ i7 4770K, watercooled
Motherboard HP 88D2 ◦◦◦ Asus Z87-C2 Maximus VI Formula
Cooling Mixed gases ◦◦◦ Fuzion V1, MCW60/R2, DDC1/DDCT-01s top, PA120.3, EK200, D12SL-12, liq.metal TIM
Memory 2× 8GB DDR4-3200 ◦◦◦ 2× 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) RTX 3070 ◦◦◦ heaps of dead GPUs in the garage
Storage Samsung 980 PRO 2TB ◦◦◦ Samsung 840Pro 256@178GB + 4× WD Red 2TB in RAID10 + LaCie Blade Runner 4TB
Display(s) HP ZR30w 30" 2560×1600 (WQXGA) H2-IPS
Case Lian Li PC-A16B
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair AX860i
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S / Contour RollerMouse Red+
Keyboard Logitech Elite Keyboard from 2006 / Contour Balance Keyboard / Logitech diNovo Edge
Software W11 x64 ◦◦◦ W10 x64
Benchmark Scores It does boot up? I think.
I'm prolly too lazy to bother to return my card but it looks like I did not get what was advertised and what I paid for:

- 64ROPs
===> 56ROPs

- 4GB VRAM, 256bit
===> 3.5GB L1 VRAM, 224bit + ½GB L2 VRAM, 32bit

The matter of the number of ROPs is not concrete. Knowing the truth doesn't reduce performance or affect user experience.
Butts! The product was advertised as having 64ROPs when it actually doesn't - and that makes nVIDIA look like a fool in my eyes.
The matter of VRAM is more serious as this hack-job-of-a-design-feature has risk of deteriorating user experience if VRAM usage goes >3.5GB.
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.61/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
I'm prolly too lazy to bother to return my card but it looks like I did not get what was advertised and what I paid for:

- 64ROPs
===> 56ROPs

- 4GB VRAM, 256bit
===> 3.5GB L1 VRAM, 224bit + ½GB L2 VRAM, 32bit

The matter of the number of ROPs is not concrete. Knowing the truth doesn't reduce performance or affect user experience.
Butts! The product was advertised as having 64ROPs when it actually doesn't - and that makes nVIDIA look like a fool in my eyes.
The matter of VRAM is more serious as this hack-job-of-a-design-feature has risk of deteriorating user experience if VRAM usage goes >3.5GB.

What people keep mixing up, is the fact it does have all 64 ROPs enabled, but because of the couple SMX clusters that have been disabled for the GPU the last 8 are idle and don't actually do anything. They are not disabled, or anything like that so the card DOES have them.
 
Joined
May 6, 2005
Messages
2,792 (0.40/day)
Location
Tre, Suomi Finland
System Name Ladpot ◦◦◦ Desktop
Processor R7 5800H ◦◦◦ i7 4770K, watercooled
Motherboard HP 88D2 ◦◦◦ Asus Z87-C2 Maximus VI Formula
Cooling Mixed gases ◦◦◦ Fuzion V1, MCW60/R2, DDC1/DDCT-01s top, PA120.3, EK200, D12SL-12, liq.metal TIM
Memory 2× 8GB DDR4-3200 ◦◦◦ 2× 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical LP DDR3-1600
Video Card(s) RTX 3070 ◦◦◦ heaps of dead GPUs in the garage
Storage Samsung 980 PRO 2TB ◦◦◦ Samsung 840Pro 256@178GB + 4× WD Red 2TB in RAID10 + LaCie Blade Runner 4TB
Display(s) HP ZR30w 30" 2560×1600 (WQXGA) H2-IPS
Case Lian Li PC-A16B
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair AX860i
Mouse Logitech MX Master 2S / Contour RollerMouse Red+
Keyboard Logitech Elite Keyboard from 2006 / Contour Balance Keyboard / Logitech diNovo Edge
Software W11 x64 ◦◦◦ W10 x64
Benchmark Scores It does boot up? I think.
What people keep mixing up, is the fact it does have all 64 ROPs enabled, but because of the couple SMX clusters that have been disabled for the GPU the last 8 are idle and don't actually do anything. They are not disabled, or anything like that so the card DOES have them.
Incorrect - and it would be irrelevant even if it were true.
The ROPs are disabled.
Ryan Smith said:
GTX 970 only has 56 of 64 ROPs and 1.75MB of 2MB of L2 cache enabled [...] starting with Maxwell, NVIDIA has gained the ability to disable the individual ROP/L2 units within a partition, allowing one of the two ROP/L2 units to be disabled.
-Anandtech
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.61/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
Incorrect - and it would be irrelevant even if it were true.
The ROPs are disabled.

I read a different article saying they are not disable, just idle.
 

HTC

Joined
Apr 1, 2008
Messages
4,601 (0.79/day)
Location
Portugal
System Name HTC's System
Processor Ryzen 5 2600X
Motherboard Asrock Taichi X370
Cooling NH-C14, with the AM4 mounting kit
Memory G.Skill Kit 16GB DDR4 F4 - 3200 C16D - 16 GTZB
Video Card(s) Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX 480 OC 4 GB
Storage 1 Samsung NVMe 960 EVO 250 GB + 1 3.5" Seagate IronWolf Pro 6TB 7200RPM 256MB SATA III
Display(s) LG 27UD58
Case Fractal Design Define R6 USB-C
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair TX 850M 80+ Gold
Mouse Razer Deathadder Elite
Software Ubuntu 19.04 LTS
The matter of the number of ROPs is not concrete. Knowing the truth doesn't reduce performance or affect user experience.
Butts! The product was advertised as having 64ROPs when it actually doesn't - and that makes nVIDIA look like a fool in my eyes.
The matter of VRAM is more serious as this hack-job-of-a-design-feature has risk of deteriorating user experience if VRAM usage goes >3.5GB.

If your aim with this card is not best graphics @ resolutions you monitor supports, then this card will serve you for quite a while before you experience it's VRAM limitations, otherwise you should be experiencing it already in a very few titles, from what i've read.
 

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
15,436 (2.43/day)
Location
Mid-Atlantic
System Name Desktop
Processor i5 13600KF
Motherboard AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Noctua NH-U9S
Memory 4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s) Gigabye M32U
Case Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse MX Master 3s
Keyboard Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software The Matrix
if i owned this 970 i would probably bitch just to see what free stuff i could get out of it. i don't care if the card utilizes that last bit of ram slightly differently creating effectively no difference in performance compared with other cards. but since i am a pc gamer my job is to act entitled and complain all the time and try and raise a raucous and look and sound important. if that gets me a new card or a discount on something then so be it. that is how i roll.
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2010
Messages
225 (0.05/day)
Location
Latvia
if i owned this 970 i would probably bitch just to see what free stuff i could get out of it. i don't care if the card utilizes that last bit of ram slightly differently creating effectively no difference in performance compared with other cards. but since i am a pc gamer my job is to act entitled and complain all the time and try and raise a raucous and look and sound important. if that gets me a new card or a discount on something then so be it. that is how i roll.

yeah, better keep quite and get screwed by companies even more. Grow some backbone. Today it is 500MB, tomorrow completely different card comparing to what was advertised. Of course I'm not saying that crying on forums all the time will change anything. But demanding full refund - sure.
 

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer
Joined
Aug 31, 2010
Messages
12,944 (2.61/day)
Location
Loveland, CO
System Name Ryzen Reflection
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
Cooling 2x EK PE360 | TechN AM4 AMD Block Black | EK Quantum Vector Trinity GPU Nickel + Plexi
Memory Teamgroup T-Force Xtreem 2x16GB B-Die 3600 @ 14-14-14-28-42-288-2T 1.45v
Video Card(s) Zotac AMP HoloBlack RTX 3080Ti 12G | 950mV 1950Mhz
Storage WD SN850 500GB (OS) | Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (Games_1) | Samsung 970 Evo 1TB (Games_2)
Display(s) Asus XG27AQM 240Hz G-Sync Fast-IPS | Gigabyte M27Q-P 165Hz 1440P IPS | Asus 24" IPS (portrait mode)
Case Lian Li PC-011D XL | Custom cables by Cablemodz
Audio Device(s) FiiO K7 | Sennheiser HD650 + Beyerdynamic FOX Mic
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Ultra Platinum 850
Mouse Razer Viper v2 Pro
Keyboard Razer Huntsman Tournament Edition
Software Windows 11 Pro 64-Bit
if i owned this 970 i would probably bitch just to see what free stuff i could get out of it. i don't care if the card utilizes that last bit of ram slightly differently creating effectively no difference in performance compared with other cards. but since i am a pc gamer my job is to act entitled and complain all the time and try and raise a raucous and look and sound important. if that gets me a new card or a discount on something then so be it. that is how i roll.

Probably one of the best posts you have ever made on this forum EVER.
 
Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Messages
2,304 (0.52/day)
System Name msdos
Processor 8086
Motherboard mainboard
Cooling passive
Memory 640KB + 384KB extended
Video Card(s) EGA
Storage 5.25"
Display(s) 80x25
Case plastic
Audio Device(s) modchip
Power Supply 45 watts
Mouse serial
Keyboard yes
Software disk commander
Benchmark Scores still running
I read a different article saying they are not disable, just idle.

They are idle because they are effectively disabled, with no way to enable for usage. It's just word weaseling. Do you really support advertising of inaccessible features?
 

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
15,436 (2.43/day)
Location
Mid-Atlantic
System Name Desktop
Processor i5 13600KF
Motherboard AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Noctua NH-U9S
Memory 4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s) Gigabye M32U
Case Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse MX Master 3s
Keyboard Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software The Matrix
They are idle because they are effectively disabled, with no way to enable for usage. It's just word weaseling. Do you really support advertising of inaccessible features?

Can you show me this article that says you cannot access the amount of RAM advertised? Extra points if it includes technical specs and not FUD.
 
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
20,780 (5.97/day)
Location
The Washing Machine
Processor i7 8700k 4.6Ghz @ 1.24V
Motherboard AsRock Fatal1ty K6 Z370
Cooling beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Memory 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200/C16
Video Card(s) ASRock RX7900XT Phantom Gaming
Storage Samsung 850 EVO 1TB + Samsung 830 256GB + Crucial BX100 250GB + Toshiba 1TB HDD
Display(s) Gigabyte G34QWC (3440x1440)
Case Fractal Design Define R5
Audio Device(s) Harman Kardon AVR137 + 2.1
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse XTRFY M42
Keyboard Lenovo Thinkpad Trackpoint II
Software W10 x64
They were talking about the ROPS, and the additional ROP count would not scale properly with the SM units that are activated. So the ROPs are probably on there, but whether they are 'active' or 'idle' won't matter because your throughput is already capped at 52 ROPs, while there are 56 in the 970.

So losing those ROPs on the spec sheet won't influence the performance of the card in any way. Having the last 0.5Gb at 29Gbps bandwidth however, does. The lower amount of L2 cache may also be noticeable, but it is impossible to say which of the two causes stutter. You can be certain however that the cause is not due to a lower ROP count.
 

the54thvoid

Intoxicated Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Dec 14, 2009
Messages
12,378 (2.37/day)
Location
Glasgow - home of formal profanity
Processor Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard MSI MAG Mortar B650 (wifi)
Cooling be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Memory 32GB Kingston Fury
Video Card(s) Gainward RTX4070ti
Storage Seagate FireCuda 530 M.2 1TB / Samsumg 960 Pro M.2 512Gb
Display(s) LG 32" 165Hz 1440p GSYNC
Case Asus Prime AP201
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply be quiet! Pure POwer M12 850w Gold (ATX3.0)
Software W10
Can you show me this article that says you cannot access the amount of RAM advertised? Extra points if it includes technical specs and not FUD.

This does quite well:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8935/...cting-the-specs-exploring-memory-allocation/4

They were talking about the ROPS, and the additional ROP count would not scale properly with the SM units that are activated. So the ROPs are probably on there, but whether they are 'active' or 'idle' won't matter because your throughput is already capped at 52 ROPs, while there are 56 in the 970.

So losing those ROPs on the spec sheet won't influence the performance of the card in any way. Having the last 0.5Gb at 29Gbps bandwidth however, does. The lower amount of L2 cache may also be noticeable, but it is impossible to say which of the two causes stutter. You can be certain however that the cause is not due to a lower ROP count.

Yup, as the Anandtech article says, it's already bottle-necked at 52 ROPs. They're also having a hard time finding a real life situation using the memory allocation between 3.5&4Gb that isn't already tanking the performance due to the inherent limitations of the card.
 

Easy Rhino

Linux Advocate
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2006
Messages
15,436 (2.43/day)
Location
Mid-Atlantic
System Name Desktop
Processor i5 13600KF
Motherboard AsRock B760M Steel Legend Wifi
Cooling Noctua NH-U9S
Memory 4x 16 Gb Gskill S5 DDR5 @6000
Video Card(s) Gigabyte Gaming OC 6750 XT 12GB
Storage WD_BLACK 4TB SN850x
Display(s) Gigabye M32U
Case Corsair Carbide 400C
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 650 P2
Mouse MX Master 3s
Keyboard Logitech G915 Wireless Clicky
Software The Matrix
Joined
Oct 21, 2005
Messages
6,874 (1.02/day)
Location
USA
System Name Computer of Theseus
Processor Intel i9-12900KS: 50x Pcore multi @ 1.18Vcore (target 1.275V -100mv offset)
Motherboard EVGA Z690 Classified
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S, 2xThermalRight TY-143, 4xNoctua NF-A12x25,3xNF-A12x15, 2xAquacomputer Splitty9Active
Memory G-Skill Trident Z5 (32GB) DDR5-6000 C36 F5-6000J3636F16GX2-TZ5RK
Video Card(s) EVGA Geforce 3060 XC Black Gaming 12GB
Storage 1x Samsung 970 Pro 512GB NVMe (OS), 2x Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB (data 1 and 2), ASUS BW-16D1HT
Display(s) Dell S3220DGF 32" 2560x1440 165Hz Primary, Dell P2017H 19.5" 1600x900 Secondary, Ergotron LX arms.
Case Lian Li O11 Air Mini
Audio Device(s) Audiotechnica ATR2100X-USB, El Gato Wave XLR Mic Preamp, ATH M50X Headphones, Behringer 302USB Mixer
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex Platinum SE 1000W 80+ Platinum White
Mouse Zowie EC3-C
Keyboard Vortex Multix 87 Winter TKL (Gateron G Pro Yellow)
Software Win 10 LTSC 21H2
if i owned this 970 i would probably bitch just to see what free stuff i could get out of it. i don't care if the card utilizes that last bit of ram slightly differently creating effectively no difference in performance compared with other cards. but since i am a pc gamer my job is to act entitled and complain all the time and try and raise a raucous and look and sound important. if that gets me a new card or a discount on something then so be it. that is how i roll.
Agreed. If it performs well what difference does it make. I bet people would have bought it even if it was marketed as a 970 3.5GB and been perfectly happy with it. Its cheaper than a 980 and performs better than a 960 and the 770, therefore it is a 970.
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
2,388 (0.67/day)
Location
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia USA
System Name Home Brewed
Processor i9-7900X and i7-8700K
Motherboard ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme & ASUS Prime Z-370 A
Cooling Corsair 280mm AIO & Thermaltake Water 3.0
Memory 64GB DDR4-3000 GSKill RipJaws-V & 32GB DDR4-3466 GEIL Potenza
Video Card(s) 2X-GTX-1080 SLI & 2 GTX-1070Ti 8GB G1 Gaming in SLI
Storage Both have 2TB HDDs for storage, 480GB SSDs for OS, and 240GB SSDs for Steam Games
Display(s) ACER 28" B286HK 4K & Samsung 32" 1080P
Case NZXT Source 540 & Rosewill Rise Chassis
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply Corsair RM1000 & Corsair RM850
Mouse Generic
Keyboard Razer Blackwidow Tournament & Corsair K90
Software Win-10 Professional
Benchmark Scores yes
After reading all of the original reviews about the GTX-970s, I was impressed. Most people that I talked to about them only had one complaint, if at all. (coil whine)

A few days ago I bought an MSI R9-290X OC Gamer GPU. I chose it due to the low price and the fact that it (really) has 4GB of RAM. I plan to get another one for Crossfire in three weeks. (4K gaming)
If it's anything like my three R9-280X OC cards, I'll like it.

I still want to get a pair of GTX-970s this year.
 

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
23,312 (3.77/day)
Location
London,UK
System Name Codename: Icarus Mk.VI
Processor Intel 8600k@Stock -- pending tuning
Motherboard Asus ROG Strixx Z370-F
Cooling CPU: BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 {1xCorsair ML120 Pro|5xML140 Pro}
Memory 32GB XPG Gammix D10 {2x16GB}
Video Card(s) ASUS Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 512GB SSD (Boot)|WD SN770 (Gaming)|2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300|2x 2TB Crucial BX500
Display(s) LG GP850-B
Case Corsair 760T (White)
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V573|Speakers: JBL Control One|Auna 300-CN|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply Corsair AX760
Mouse Logitech G900
Keyboard Duckyshine Dead LED(s) III
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
I plan to get another one for Crossfire in three weeks. (4K gaming)
If it's anything like my three R9-280X OC cards, I'll like it.

Better plan to get a more beefy power supply (we're talkin at least 1000W+) and also plan to get some AIO WC with retention clips to turn it into a hybrid GPU cooler cuz 290's OC better when watercooled and possibly plan for a new case too just incase (pardon the pun) you cant fit 3 AIO 120mm coolers in it - I see you already have a Corsair H80i, Also plan to keep more money in reserve to pay for your electric bill.

- Turn off any room heaters cuz you wont need one anymore with a pair of these inside your case.


I still want to get a pair of GTX-970s this year.

Great! send your 290X back for a refund and pick up two 970s and save on buying a new Power supply, 2x new AIO coolers+ Retention clips. new case & Electricity bill,
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
2,388 (0.67/day)
Location
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia USA
System Name Home Brewed
Processor i9-7900X and i7-8700K
Motherboard ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme & ASUS Prime Z-370 A
Cooling Corsair 280mm AIO & Thermaltake Water 3.0
Memory 64GB DDR4-3000 GSKill RipJaws-V & 32GB DDR4-3466 GEIL Potenza
Video Card(s) 2X-GTX-1080 SLI & 2 GTX-1070Ti 8GB G1 Gaming in SLI
Storage Both have 2TB HDDs for storage, 480GB SSDs for OS, and 240GB SSDs for Steam Games
Display(s) ACER 28" B286HK 4K & Samsung 32" 1080P
Case NZXT Source 540 & Rosewill Rise Chassis
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply Corsair RM1000 & Corsair RM850
Mouse Generic
Keyboard Razer Blackwidow Tournament & Corsair K90
Software Win-10 Professional
Benchmark Scores yes
Better plan to get a more beefy power supply (we're talkin at least 1000W+) and also plan to get some AIO WC with retention clips to turn it into a hybrid GPU cooler cuz 290's OC better when watercooled and possibly plan for a new case too just incase (pardon the pun) you cant fit 3 AIO 120mm coolers in it - I see you already have a Corsair H80i, Also plan to keep more money in reserve to pay for your electric bill.

- Turn off any room heaters cuz you wont need one anymore with a pair of these inside your case.




Great! send your 290X back for a refund and pick up two 970s and save on buying a new Power supply, 2x new AIO coolers+ Retention clips. new case & Electricity bill,

This gear is for a new build.
Power supply is 1300W.
Case is a Blackhawk Ultra. Almost big enough to park a Buick inside.
Both 290s will be air cooled (dual fan coolers) in the Blackhawk Ultra. It has outstanding airflow. The CPU is cooled with a 240mm AIO.
As for electric, I have that covered. It will be my third system.

The 970s are for the system with the GTX-570s in it now.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
13,791 (1.94/day)
But how, people say you don't need a 800W PSU for GTX 970. You can have a crap ass 350W unit and it'll be awesome. Dafaq...
 

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
23,312 (3.77/day)
Location
London,UK
System Name Codename: Icarus Mk.VI
Processor Intel 8600k@Stock -- pending tuning
Motherboard Asus ROG Strixx Z370-F
Cooling CPU: BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 {1xCorsair ML120 Pro|5xML140 Pro}
Memory 32GB XPG Gammix D10 {2x16GB}
Video Card(s) ASUS Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 512GB SSD (Boot)|WD SN770 (Gaming)|2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300|2x 2TB Crucial BX500
Display(s) LG GP850-B
Case Corsair 760T (White)
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V573|Speakers: JBL Control One|Auna 300-CN|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply Corsair AX760
Mouse Logitech G900
Keyboard Duckyshine Dead LED(s) III
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Both 290s will be air cooled (dual fan coolers) in the Blackhawk Ultra. It has outstanding airflow. .

To get the 'best' out of the 290s, they need to be watercooled

But how, people say you don't need a 800W PSU for GTX 970. You can have a crap ass 350W unit and it'll be awesome. Dafaq...

a system like mine with 970 SLi draws under 650w
 
Joined
Jun 28, 2014
Messages
2,388 (0.67/day)
Location
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia USA
System Name Home Brewed
Processor i9-7900X and i7-8700K
Motherboard ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme & ASUS Prime Z-370 A
Cooling Corsair 280mm AIO & Thermaltake Water 3.0
Memory 64GB DDR4-3000 GSKill RipJaws-V & 32GB DDR4-3466 GEIL Potenza
Video Card(s) 2X-GTX-1080 SLI & 2 GTX-1070Ti 8GB G1 Gaming in SLI
Storage Both have 2TB HDDs for storage, 480GB SSDs for OS, and 240GB SSDs for Steam Games
Display(s) ACER 28" B286HK 4K & Samsung 32" 1080P
Case NZXT Source 540 & Rosewill Rise Chassis
Audio Device(s) onboard
Power Supply Corsair RM1000 & Corsair RM850
Mouse Generic
Keyboard Razer Blackwidow Tournament & Corsair K90
Software Win-10 Professional
Benchmark Scores yes
They'll be air cooled. If that doesn't work, I'll consider putting them under water.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
13,791 (1.94/day)
To get the 'best' out of the 290s, they need to be watercooled



a system like mine with 970 SLi draws under 650w

Well, I have an older overclocked quadcore which is very power thirsty, overclocke HD7950 which is also very power thirsty and I've never seen it go past 450W usage unless if I was hammering it with compute apps that place 100% load on all CPU cores and 100% on the GPU. Which never ever happens under gaming conditions.
 

FreedomEclipse

~Technological Technocrat~
Joined
Apr 20, 2007
Messages
23,312 (3.77/day)
Location
London,UK
System Name Codename: Icarus Mk.VI
Processor Intel 8600k@Stock -- pending tuning
Motherboard Asus ROG Strixx Z370-F
Cooling CPU: BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 {1xCorsair ML120 Pro|5xML140 Pro}
Memory 32GB XPG Gammix D10 {2x16GB}
Video Card(s) ASUS Dual Radeon™ RX 6700 XT OC Edition
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 512GB SSD (Boot)|WD SN770 (Gaming)|2x 3TB Toshiba DT01ACA300|2x 2TB Crucial BX500
Display(s) LG GP850-B
Case Corsair 760T (White)
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V573|Speakers: JBL Control One|Auna 300-CN|Wharfedale Diamond SW150
Power Supply Corsair AX760
Mouse Logitech G900
Keyboard Duckyshine Dead LED(s) III
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻
Well, I have an older overclocked quadcore which is very power thirsty, overclocke HD7950 which is also very power thirsty and I've never seen it go past 450W usage unless if I was hammering it with compute apps that place 100% load on all CPU cores and 100% on the GPU. Which never ever happens under gaming conditions.

you cant compare 970sli with a single 7950 for power usage. Maybe with CPU's we have something slightly in common as they are both rated at 130w TDP but i run close to 1.4v through mine to get 4.6Ghz. an OCd 7950 will hit around 280-300w so it all depends.
 
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Messages
13,791 (1.94/day)
I run mine at 1,35V and is more power hungry as it is afaik.

Either way, my only concern ever is noise. I've tuned my HD7950 to be really silent and Battlefield 4 was the only game to ever spin it beyond inaudible levels. This game really stressed it out apparently, even though it has been a super smooth experience using Ultra preset at 1080p. Using V-Sync doesn't help much since I have a 144Hz monitor which means the framerate can be really high, resulting in hardly any difference with or without V-Sync for the GPU load. With 60Hz, I guess the load would be lower...
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2013
Messages
41 (0.01/day)
System Name Dave
Processor AMD R7 7700X
Motherboard Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120
Memory 2x16GB Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 6000 Tuned
Video Card(s) Pailt Nvidia RTX 4080 Gamerock Omniblack
Storage 2x 500GB 1x 1TB NVME's
Display(s) iiyama ProLite XUB3493WQSU-B1
Case Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact
Audio Device(s) Couple of USB DAC's
Power Supply Be Quiet Pure Power 12M 850w
Mouse Logitech G305
Keyboard Wooting 2
Software Microshaft Winhoes 11
Benchmark Scores NO BENCH! ONLY GAME!
I just swapped my MSI 970 Gaming for a MSI 290x Gaming, performance wise I can't notice any difference, heat is only about 5 to 10c hotter and the build quality is a massive improvement.

I had to use a few zip-ties to hook up the rear of my 970 as it sagged very badly.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top