Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming review (Page 27)

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming review

Graphics cards 1049 Page 27 of 27 Published 2014-09-19 04:31 by Hilbert Hagedoorn

Conclusion

I stated in our reference review already that for the money the GeForce GTX 970 kicks ass, I mean overall the product series offers GTX 780 to Titan performance levels. Yeah, it is rather amazing what Nvidia can get performance wise from that little GPU. Gigabyte on their end started improving on Nvidia's design, the end result being the SOC edition of the new G1 gaming series and man, this is pretty nice isn't it? It is silent, it cools very well with a hefty cooler, it comes factory overclocked at a boost frequency of 1329 MHz already -- just like its bigger brother. Sure, you have three shader clusters less than the 980, but overall for gaming at say 2560x1440 this card will make a lot of sense. Gigabyte offers a product that has been further improved, has nice looks, a 6 and 8-pin power header on a 6 phase VRM design, it's all fairly impressive really. And again, much like I stated in the 980 review, I know that some of you will be worried after what happened to some of you with the previous GHz model from Gigabyte. We tested and stressed these cards extensively, seriously extensively and you guys should not be worried.

Maxwell GM 204 GPU experience overall

Both the GeForce GTX 970 and 980 leave a very solid impression. One offers good, the other exceptional performance within its range. It’s not heaps faster than the aforementioned 780 series though. So I do not expect Geforce 780 range product owners upgrading anytime soon. However, if you are in say the GeForce GTX 680 range, then this might be a very nice time to jump on-board with a new card. It is interesting to see that 10 years ago performance per generation nearly doubled. With current release schedules we continuously see 20 to 30% performance increases across the board over the last-gen products. That is still respectable as you need to keep in mind that the GM204 is still on 28nm much like Kepler. Injecting more transistors on a GPU created yield issues, heat and high power consumption. The GK110 (GTX Titan / Black), whilst being a true beast of a GPU, is testimony to that. With that in mind Nvidia tried to create a product series that is affordable and plays the most high-end and latest games perfectly fine at an acceptable price level. When you look at it from that point of view the Maxwell release is a successful one. This is probably the maximum that Nvidia should and can do on 28nm in terms of improved performance and power consumption versus price.

Thermals

The reference design of the GTX 970 and 980 are the very same cooling wise. The reference products are set at an offset threshold of 80 degrees C. Once the GPU gets warmer the card will clock down and lower its voltage. That wasn't good enough for Gigabyte, and even with a lower heat wattage, they applied the WindForce X3 cooler. It is a serious cooler that offers more cooling performance than the GM204 really needs. That shows in gaming, you can expect to hover at 60 to 65 Degrees C with hefty games and this GeForce GTX 970. Remember, that is factory overclocked cooling performance for you. So Gigabyte shaved off a good 15~20 Degrees C over reference. The cooler looks sturdy and bloke like as well, aesthetically it is a product that is easy on the eyes and will fit any dark/white themed gaming PC perfectly.

Cooling versus noise levels

With WindoForce cooling we can’t complain, period. It is way more cooling compared to what this GPU really needs. Expect sound pressure values in the 39 to 40 dBA range at max under load and warm circumstances. That's measured 75 CM away from the PC. At best you can slightly hear the card while using it heavily. For those that require sheer silence like yours truly, this is the way to go. And in IDLE or normal desktop PC usage, you will not be able to hear this card.

Performance

A nice advantage for the cards is that they now come standard with 4 GB of DDR5 graphics memory, this means gaming sweetness at even the highest resolutions. All games play perfectly at up-to WHQD at 2560x1440. The GeForce GTX 970 is a nice Full HD to WHQD card that certainly offers a nice chunk of performance in these resolutions. Overall you can play all the modern and latest games with nice AA levels and excellent image quality, the PC gaming way. So that's the 970, the GTX 980 I would recommend with Ultra HD, especially with MFAA (pending a driver release) you'll be able to play games quite well. The GeForce GTX 970 I'd call a very solid WQHD card, e.g. it is great for gaming up-to 2560x1440 and actually truly perfect for Full HD gaming.

Tweaking

Man oh man these cards overclock alright. Without extra voltage tweaking you can expect a 1350~1400 MHz range for the Turbo clock frequency. Depending on how much your board will take and allow, with voltage tweaking you’ll pass the 1400 MHz range. 1500 MHz is in sight but it might depend per production batch, but also variables like your PC stability, power supply and so on. We ended up at a stable 1512 MHz, which is very nice. But again, our overclock is not a guarantee for your results. The memory is clocked standard at 7.0 GHz, you'll fairly easily achieve 7.5 GHz and we even reached 8.0 GHz stable. Overall you’ll see a nice gain in extra gaming performance.

Pricing

Prices have been shifting all over the place up-to even 12 hours before the launch. The GeForce GTX 970 and 980 seem to be priced fairly overall, and the GTX 760 will see a price drop as well:

Effective for launch, the new lineup looks like this:

GTX 980: $549 / 452 EUR (ex VAT)
GTX 970: $329 / 270 EUR (ex VAT)
GTX 760: moves to $219

Please note, that this an MSRP, final E-tail and Retail prices at launch and after launch varies and can be lower, depending on the market conditions etc. There are no other changes to any other products. In addition, please note that the GTX 780 Ti, 780 and 770 have been discontinued with this launch.

Final Words

You know, when I first learned about the GeForce 970, I was a little skeptical. Yes, the card performs in the GTX 780 to Titan range and as such I figured it would become a bit of an expensive replacement product for these cards. Days prior to the embargo lift date of the 970 and 980 the initial price indication started to shift. The GeForce GTX 970 series is going to offer intensely good value at 329 USD (add a few tenners for the AIB cards). Board partners like Gigabyte have advanced on the reference design and the end result is what you have been able to see today. The G1 Gaming series SOC card is customized, has extra power phases, offers a fantastic cooler, and comes at very high default clocks. Next to all that the card still remains silent and at cool temperature levels. I mean look at our thermal images, did you see a red spot like anywhere? So all these facts combined make the 970 a very interesting product series. The product comes with all the feaures you want, from connectivity for your monitor to the heavy duty cooler, from low noise levels and a nice factory overclock to the sheer aesthetics. Performance increases up-to say ~20% with the 980 compared to a Titan Black. But numbers will vary here and there due to the complexity of having less shaders, more ROPs, higher clock frequencies and then a narrower memory bus. A nice plus is the lower power consumption, though that alone would obviously not justify an upgrade from the 780 series, but is testimony to less heat and thus better clock frequencies and higher overclock results. We consider the GeForce GTX 970 and 980 to be a first run in the new high-end performance cards. It is very likely we’ll see a Ti or even Titan version somewhere down the road. The Maxwell architecture is very sound and proves it can deliver big-time whilst remaining in line power consumption, heat and noise wise and we can only imagine what it would have been like on 20nm.

Yes, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming SOC edition is absolutely lovely. Now let this be said though, the GeForce 970 G1 Gaming SOC doesn't have the extra bite that its big broither the 980 SOC offers, but value for money wise this card is the way to go. We have no doubt that if you opt for this product you'll be a happy savvy puppy. It is looking good on all levels, it is a little beast for Full HD and WHQD gaming combined with the best image quality settings. If you can pick it up for the right price, then the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming SOC graphics card comes recommended by Guru3D.com

Conclusion

Conclusion

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