Gigabyte gtx 970 gaming g1. Another review of the video card Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming

Test bench and software

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Configuration

• Motherboard: Asus maximus VII Hero (BIOS v 0904);
• Processor: Intel Core i7-4770K 3800 MHz (100x38, 1.132 V) or 800 MHz when measuring the noise of the cooling system;
• Processor cooling system: Thermalright Archon (Thermalright TY-140 fan, 140 mm, 500 rpm);
• RAM: Kingston PC3-17000 (DDR3-2133, 9-10-10-27, 2x4 GB, dual-channel mode);
• Hard drive: OCZ Vertex 4, 128 GB;
• Power supply unit: ETG Premium, 1200 watts;
• Case: Cooler Master HAF 922.

Software

• Operating system: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate;
• Video card driver: Nvidia ForceWare WHQL 344.48;
• Supporting utilities:
• GPU-z v. 0.8.0;
• Heaven Benchmark 4.0;
• MSI Afterburner v4.0.0 Final;
• MSI Kombustor 2.5;
• Evga PrecisionX 16 v5.2.4.

Testing tools and methodology

For overclocking video cards, as well as monitoring temperatures and fan speeds, we used a proprietary utility MSI Afterburner v4.0.0 Final.

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The stability of the accelerators during overclocking was checked using the MSI Kombustor 2.5 utility (GPU Burn-in mode, 1920 x 1080). The frequencies obtained were additionally checked by running Heaven Benchmark v 4.0 with an extreme level of tessellation and graphics tests from the 3DMark 2013, 3DMark 11 and 3DMark Vantage packages.

Heaven BenchMark v4.0 (quality: ultra, tessellation: extreme, AA8x, 1920 x 1080) was used to check the temperature regime of video cards in conditions close to everyday ones.

The noise level was measured using a TM-102 digital sound level meter with a measurement error of no more than 0.5 dB. The measurements were carried out from a distance of 0.5 m. The background noise level in the room was no more than 28 dB. All system fans, including the one installed in the power supply, were turned off. The room temperature was 26 degrees Celsius.

Standard frequencies and overclocking

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card, in addition to a high-quality cooling system, received another indisputable plus - factory overclocking. So, the frequency GPU was increased from 1050 MHz in the core to 1178 MHz, in Boost mode it is 1329 MHz at a voltage of 1.218 V. The memory frequency remains unchanged - 1753 MHz.

Without load, these values ​​are reduced to the reference 135/162 MHz. In this state, the model runs quietly, despite the fact that the fan impellers rotate at approximately 1630 rpm (40% of maximum) and the temperature drops to 32 ° C. If you don’t believe me in terms of noise, then at least trust the device, the indicators of which were recorded in the final graph. But once again, one may wonder why the value of 1600 rpm was chosen in idle, and not, say, 1000 rpm?

In gaming applications, thanks to the GPU Boost 2.0 algorithm, the clock frequency of the video core is increased up to 1392 MHz. This is an excellent indicator, some models cannot achieve this even after overclocking.

The applied cooling system did not allow the GPU to heat up above 63 ° C, which is an excellent result. The developers did not invent anything, and set the fan speed values ​​in percent equal to the same temperature indicator, but in degrees. This gives us 63 ° C at 63%. The noise level was comfortable for extended work.

Smoothly moving on to overclocking. It would be more correct to use the official Gigabyte Guru OC utility, but from my point of view, its interface is not very welcoming, and the functionality does not differ from third-party programs.

Therefore, the more interesting Evga PrecisionX 16 was used to increase the frequencies.

Let's start with overclocking without raising the voltage. With the reference 1.218 V, we managed to increase the clock frequencies of the core and video memory up to 1310 MHz and 2028 MHz, respectively. The aggressive behavior of GPU Boost 2.0 also showed itself here: in gaming applications, the maximum frequency was equal to 1518 MHz! A result that is still unattainable for models from other manufacturers.

It is worth noting that the cooling system did not increase the fan speed, and the GPU only warmed up to 65 ° C.

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Gigabyte announces selected GPUs for its line of graphics cards. Who knows if this is a marketing move or it really is, but we continued to overclock the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, and she, in turn, continued to delight.

An increase in voltage by 87 mV led to a quick overheating and reset of the video driver. After a dozen trials and errors, it was necessary to fix the rotational speed of the impellers at 2300 rpm, and then things got going. After selecting the necessary values, I managed to overcome the 1.6 GHz bar on the core using standard air cooling.

The results are impressive, the processor temperature is only 62 ° C, although there is not much left until the local overheating of the power subsystem.

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Study of the potential of the cooling system

First of all, the study of the capabilities of the CO was carried out in an automatic mode of operation with the removal of temperature and noise indicators. The graphs show the results of all previously tested GeForce GTX 970 video cards. Over time, the list of models presented on it will be expanded.

Idle temperature.

Idle temperature

Standard settings
° C

You shouldn't be intimidated by the temperatures on your MSI graphics card as it operates in passive mode.

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Fan impeller rotation speed (in all cases, percentages of the maximum according to program monitoring data are indicated in parentheses).

Fan speed

Standard settings
rpm

Please enable JavaScript to see graphs

The load was carried out in three runs in Heaven Benchmark 4.0, then the fixed maximum temperature and fan revolutions were plotted on graphs; noise values ​​are shown in a separate graph.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card is the most resourceful, and without modifying the BIOS, the 40% bar cannot be overcome. But even at its 1600 rpm, it did not stand out against the background of the work of other components in a closed case.

Load temperature

Heaven Benchmark
° C

Please enable JavaScript to see graphs

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Cooling system WindForce 3X shows excellent results against the background of its competitors. There is a certain margin that allows you to reduce the rotation speed of the turntables.

Fan impeller speed data.

Fan speed

Standard settings
rpm

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Load temperature

Maximum acceleration
Heaven Benchmark
° C

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At the stage of the maximum achieved overclocking, I had to intervene in the algorithm for controlling the speed of rotation of the impellers, since the power subsystem was overheating, so you should not be confused by the dropped temperature of the GPU.

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Fan impeller speed data.

Fan speed

Maximum acceleration
rpm

Please enable JavaScript to see graphs

For a complete assessment of the efficiency of the WindForce 3X cooling system, I will give a graph of temperature and noise versus fan speed.

As for me, comments are superfluous. At automatic operation cooling systems and factory frequencies Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming can operate at the minimum rotational speed of the turntables.

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Conclusion

I cannot be called an adherent of any vendor, but I will be honest, Gigabyte graphics cards did not always delight users with their design or implementation of the cooling system. Over time, in the minds of buyers, models released under this brand have firmly established themselves in the category of mid-range solutions. This happened with Gigabyte GTX 700 series graphics accelerators. Nevertheless, the company's engineers took full advantage of the chance that the announcement of the GeForce GTX 970 / GTX 980 line gave, trying to regain the lost confidence. And Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming succeeded.

Among the advantages demonstrated by the video card, it is worth noting the excellent efficiency of the cooling system, its low noise level during automatic operation, factory overclocking and the use of high-quality element base. What else does an ordinary user need who wants to play quietly? And enthusiasts Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming will delight the enhanced power subsystem and excellent overclocking potential, for the disclosure of which a lot of work has been done.

True, everything is not simply forgotten, and many still remember the unsuccessful decisions of the Gigabyte developers. So has anything changed for the better? And is there a chance for the updated WindForce 3X (G1 Gaming) lineup? In my opinion, yes. At the moment, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming looks like a good choice that deserves the attention of not only ordinary users, but also enthusiasts who want to get to know the Maxwell processor better and squeeze the last megahertz out of it.

Nefedov Peter aka Go.d-bq

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We express our gratitude:

• Regard for the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card provided for the test.

For a long time I was going to not knowing what to write in my first review about a video card based on a chip that has been on the market for a year and a half and has been written about more than once or twice. About the Steam leader among discrete video cards. About the card which is on this moment is the benchmark for the middle segment of graphics accelerators. I was going for a long time, and I was going. Greetings gentlemen! GTX970. And, perhaps, the best incarnation of it is Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming!

This is not my first experience with the GTX970 series cards, but all hands did not reach one of the top representatives of the famous Taiwanese brand. But now that I have the first representative of the G1 Gaming line in my hands, I propose to take a closer look at it.

Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming greets us with a box in the classic Gigabyte style, black. On the front side, we see a description of the techniques used and the supported technologies. On the back side, we are told about the advantages of the Windforce3X cooling system, the use of Flex display technology for displaying images on multiple monitors, dual BIOS (GIGABYTE DualBIOS), the use of an ultra-reliable elementary base (Ultra Durable VGA), and, attention (!!!), manual selection of chips in quality for the G1 Gaming line. Those. this promises us high-quality crystals inside and a decent overclocking potential at the output ... Well, let's see!
Inside, again, there is a classic black box with a video card, under which there is a compartment with an additional kit. Which, it should be noted, is very modest for the top-end (at the time of release) card in the line. Two adapters for 6pin and 8pin, CD with drivers and manual. Why this kit did not include at least a DVI-D-Sub adapter and a sticker I personally do not understand. You are expecting something more interesting from the top gaming line of the top company!
Opening up!


Visually, the card looks very nice! Windforce3X has updated the casing since the days of the GTX 7XX series and has become so brutal, and the back plate gives out a premium product. The set of outputs is also classic for modern video adapters: 1 x DVI-I, 1 x DVI-D, 1 x HDMI, 3 x DisplayPort. Upon further consideration, the following feature is noteworthy - length. The map is very long! Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Occupying two slots in height, the length is stated within 312 mm! For comparison, the dual-GPU (!) HD7990 and GTX690 were 315mm maximum in their longest versions. On the one hand, such a card's length makes us think about the possibility of placing it inside its own case, but on the other hand, it seems to indicate that the cooling of our chip will be at the level!

Separately, I would like to say about the so-called backplat, or back plate. This structural element, in its current design, carries the same brutal style as the casing of the cooling system. Moreover, in addition to the visual pleasure of contemplating such beauty in its system unit, this device has only one practical value, it does not allow the card to bend in the pci-e slot under the weight of the cooling system. There is no question of any cooling of the power supply and memory system elements, since there is a decent gap between the backplate and the printed circuit board of the video card.

The fans have also undergone changes with the release of the 9th series. Now the design of the fans has been improved towards reducing air turbulence, which should lead to better cooling of the video card. I am always very careful about such statements of manufacturers, preferring to test all this in practice.

Before starting gaming testing (we will not have benchmarks, due to their complete uselessness for ordinary users, and they have been tested more than a dozen times already), I would like to draw your attention to the place of this video card in the GTX970 family from Gygabyte.

As you can see from the table, before the release of the Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming line, our card was the top-end in the gtx970 series from Gigabyte, now it is ahead of Gigabyte Xtreme Gaming GTX 970 in terms of GPU frequency in nominal / boost. But everyone understands that +13 MHz in the core is purely digital superiority that will not affect the fact that in games these cards will be equal. And the actual difference between the Xtreme Gaming line is the increased number of heat pipes, reduced length and RGB lighting of the fans, which is certainly not small, but, as they say, does not affect the speed!

Now let's move on to gaming tests. And today we have a lot of them! The test is pretty straightforward. A half-hour run with measurements of the minimum, maximum and average fps and maximum temperature of the video card. We will also check how one of the latest processors from Intel i5 6600 will work in tandem with the Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming. The measurements will be made using the MSI Afterburner program.

Computer configuration:

• I5 6600 + Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. C + 2X Noctua NF-P12
• MSI B150 Night Elf
• Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming
• G.Skill 16 GB 2133MHz
• Sea Sonic 460W Fanless Platinum
• Crucial MX200 240GB
• HGST 500Gb
• Fractal Design Core 1500 + Lamptron FC2

As we can see, despite its size, Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming fits perfectly into a compact system, and feels great in it!
GAMES:
Among the games we have today:

• Battlefield 4,
• World Of Tanks,
• Witcher 3,
• Fallout 4,
• Assassins creed: Syndicate,
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

All games were tested at 1920 x 1080 resolution.

Battlefield 4

It would seem that more than one year has passed since the release of Battlefield 4, but it still loads the video card by 100%! But on maximum settings FPS is as playable as possible. Minimum 60, Maximum about 120. Average about 80.

World of tanks

One of the most popular online games is famous for its demands on processors, but even with an HD client, the requirements for a video card are set to the highest. But, oddly enough, at maximum graphics settings, neither the processor nor the video card was fully loaded during the entire session, which means that the power of our system is more than enough for this game. Naturally, on different maps, due to the different number of objects to draw, we got different fps values. The minimum fps is 60, the average is 90, and the maximum is 110.

The Witcher 3

The Witcher is one of the best, if not the best, game of 2015, distinguished not only by high-quality gameplay and an exciting plot, but also by its exactingness to the components of the game system. At maximum graphics settings with high Nvidia Hairworks settings, we get at least 45 fps in the most difficult places for a video card. The average fps is 60, the maximum fps can be seen in enclosed spaces and a cave, where it exceeds 90.

Fallout 4

One of the latest big novelties in the gaming industry was also easily submitted to Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming. Also, at maximum settings, the card gets full load only in large open spaces. And even in such conditions, we have at least 55 fps at our disposal. Average fps - 75, maximum - 95.

Assassins creed: Syndicate

But the latest series of adventures of the assassin made our card capitulate at maximum settings with msaa x8 anti-aliasing. If fps did not fall below 40 indoors, then when I went outside, I saw sad numbers in the fps graph, the minimum of which was 9. I had to go back to the msaa x2 recommended by the system. In such conditions, fps did not fall below 45, on average it was 60, and did not grow above this mark.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

The last part of the famous franchise could be safely skipped, since at maximum settings the video card constantly produces the maximum 60 fps. If not for one fact: the load of video memory does not drop below 4000MB. Knowing the old scandalous problem with the gtx970 with 0.5GB of slow memory, we were right to expect any performance drops, but there are none. Card with 4GB paired with 16GB random access memory digests the game with a bang. What happens if the card has 2 GB of memory available is anyone's guess.


P.S. As a bonus, we can mention the now popular game Armored Warfare, which, at maximum settings, conquered our map with the same constant, artificially limited by the 60 FPS system.
Overclocking + cooling system:
Not the most necessary for the average user, but nevertheless, a very interesting function - overclocking!
We all remember the promise of manual selection of chips for this line, and a high asic 72,% shows us that, most likely, some sort of selection is actually underway. Previously, having in stock 2 pieces of GTX970 from other asic vendors above 63%, I have not seen. As you can see from the picture, the high asic promises good overclocking with air cooling.
After performing several (about 10) unsuccessful runs in FurMark, the memory core frequency indicators froze at the following numbers:


I want to note right away that raising the voltage on the core did not help me in this case. Above 1489 on boost, the card did not want to pass the benchmark.
Of course, 1489 is a very good result, the previous cards started at 1435 maximum, but I really wanted to overcome the 1500 mark.

At the same time, the card warmed up to a maximum of 68 degrees, the fans worked in normal mode, and their speed did not rise above 60%, which, despite the small size of the case, did not affect the background noise in any way, and the computer continued to remain almost silent. In games, the temperature did not exceed 65 degrees and the sound background also remained comfortable.
In games, this 15% overclocking led to an approximately equal increase in the frame rate, in the same Witcher it is about + 10%, from 45 to 49 in the same conditions. Very good in my opinion.

Output:

And the conclusion is simple. With the GTX970 G1 Gaming, Gigabyte has launched one of the best and most balanced video cards for gaming in FullHD resolution at maximum graphics settings. The highest level of factory overclocking, a productive and quiet cooling system, the possibility of high manual overclocking, excellent performance in games, all with it.
From what the end user may not like in this map, it is the length. Of course, 312 mm is a lot for modern video cards, especially in non-top series, but the cooling system justifies every centimeter of length with its quiet and efficient operation. In our example, you could also see that cards with this length can be placed in compact gaming systems.
Also in our review we could see that the fresh, but not the top-end Intel Skylake i5 6600 processor was more than enough to fully load our card where it was needed.
In total, even though Gigabyte has released a new XtremeGaming gaming line and a new GTX970 series card in it, Gigabyte GTX970 G1 Gaming also remains in the top segment of this series, and the lack of fan illumination and the absence of additional heat pipes make its price in retail more attractive in relation to the new product.

Information portal readers i2HARD We could already get acquainted with the very successful GTX 970 by Gainward. But we must admit that the Phantom model, and indeed the products of this company, are extremely rare in the vastness of our homeland. In this material we will test GTX 970 from a more famous brand Gigabyte, whose products everyone can buy in the shops of their city right now.

Specification

• Manufacturer: Gigabyte;
• Model: GV-N970WF3OC-4GD;
• GPU: GM204;
• Process technology: 28 nm;
• GPU frequency: 1114 MHz (1253 MHz in GPU Boost mode);
• Number of shader processors: 1664;
• Video memory: 4 GB;
• Video memory type: GDDR5;
• Video memory bus width: 256 bit;
• Video memory frequency: 1750 MHz (7.0 GHz QDR);
• SLI support: yes;
• HDCP support: yes;
• Ports: 3 x DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, DVI-I;
• Max. number of connected monitors: 4;
• Additional power connector: 8-pin + 6-pin;
• Length: 295 mm.

Packaging and equipment

When it comes to Gigabyte products, the packaging remains unchanged, even with the separation of models from AMD and nVidia. Only the accompanying inscriptions on the box and the description of key features change.

This approach helps the company to cut costs. The logic here is simple, if you develop a universal package size and design, then in the future a minimum of effort is spent to match the required model. In fact, only the shape changes, which fixes the video card inside and protects it from damage during delivery.

The package bundle is modest, here you will find a user manual and a couple of adapters with 8 and 6-pin molex connectors for additional power supply to the video card.

The example of this model shows that the company tried to reduce production costs as much as possible in order to GV-N970WF3OC-4GD you got it at a more pleasant price.

Product appearance

An important parameter here is the length of 295 mm, which slightly limits lovers of compact systems and owners of outdated models of cases from thinking about buying. When assembling a new computer, problems can be avoided, since most modern cases allow using video cards up to 300 mm long.

There is no plate on the reverse side, and along with the absence of side lighting, these are the most noticeable differences from the more expensive model. GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD.

When oriented to the motherboard, we see large slots in the sidewall, one might even say that it is almost absent.

On the other side, there are power connectors, and the shroud covers more of the central part of the radiator.

To function properly, you need a quality 550W PSU or higher. It is desirable to have 6 and 8-pin connectors for additional power supply.

It can also be noted that the heatsink is noticeably longer than the PCB.

To connect multiple displays, the video card is equipped with up-to-date interfaces: 3 x DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI-D, DVI-I.

Cooling system

Model GV-N970WF3OC-4GD equipped with a two-slot cooling system Windforce 3X. The manufacturer decided to sacrifice the length instead of covering the third slot. The plastic casing is a little flimsy, I highly do not recommend holding the card by it, it is easy to damage it.

The absence of warranty seals on the screws has become a pleasant tradition, so enthusiasts will replace the thermal interface with a better one immediately after purchase.

Unlike the older model GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD, there are not four, but two heat pipes... To increase efficiency, the radiator is divided into three compartments, each of which is cooled by a personal fan.

One part is used to remove heat from the load cells.

The central heat sink is supposed to cool the graphics chip using direct contact technology, where the tubes are in direct contact with the GPU. A separate plate equipped with thermal spacers is used to remove heat from memory microcircuits. It is important to note that not all chips are cooled, as some of them are located on the reverse side of the board.

And the third section, which can be called auxiliary, completes the engineering thought. A recess is noticeable here, covering the top of the add-on connectors. power supply on the board.

All fans are mounted on three screws, while the design of the blades vaguely resembles Aerocool Shark fans. Such tweaks increase the efficiency of the air flow.

All fans are marked PowerLogic PLD08010S12H, the impeller diameter is 75 mm.

Printed circuit board

In case of printed circuit board, differences between models GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD and GV-N970WF3OC-4GD no, which is a plus in the direction of the latter. The layout of the elements on the board differs from the reference one.

In the center is the most popular GM204 graphics chip, which is economical in consumption and high performance.

The memory is represented by chips made by Samsung, which should have a positive effect on overclocking. All microcircuits are marked K4G41325FC-HC28. The volume of 4 GB is recruited by 8 modules of 512 MB each.

In contrast to the reference sample with four phases of GPU power supply, it uses an amplified circuit with six phases.

A PWM controller manufactured by ON Semiconductor, marked NCP81174, controls the power phases, it is wired from back side boards.

Next to the 27 MHz quartz resonator, there are two microcircuits labeled PI3WVR12412. These are video signal switches that switch between DisplayPort and HDMI.

On the reverse side, in addition to memory chips, there are two linear stabilizers, which are distinguished by a low voltage drop across the regulating element (marking uP0104P).

Two power phases are reserved for memory. Empty landing pads can come in handy so that each phase delivers more power and will probably be used on a more advanced model. In addition, a p-channel field-effect transistor AP3310GH and a linear stabilizer L1117LG can be seen nearby.

Test bench configuration

• Processor: (4000 MHz);
• Motherboard: BIOS version 1304;
• Cooler: Corsair H-110;
• Thermal interface: Arctic Cooling MX-2;
• Memory:, 2 x 8 GB DDR3 2400;
• Video card: Gigabyte GTX 970 (1114/7000 MHz (core / memory));
• SSD storage: Samsung 840 Pro 256 GB;
• Fan rotation regulator: Schyte Kaze Q-12;
• Power supply: Corsair AX860, 860 watts;
• Case: NZXT Switch 810;
• Monitor: VIEWSONIC VP2770-LED;
• Operating system: Windows 7 64-bit Service Pack 1;
• Drivers: GeForce 344.75

An Intel Core i7-4790K was installed as a central processor, while the processor frequency was nominal. HyperThreading and TurboBoost were enabled during testing. The motherboard SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1 (BIOS version 1304) was used as a system platform. The factory graphics chip-based thermal interface has been replaced with Arctic Cooling MX-2.

From analogs Gigabyte GV-N970WF3OC-4GD features a proprietary cooling system with three fans, a modest factory overclocked GPU and a modified PCB.

Synthetic tests

To assess performance in synthetics, we used the Valley Benchmark, Heaven Benchmark, 3DMark11, 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark13 tests.

Game tests

Let's move on to gaming applications and focus on the testing methodology. The FPS was measured using the FRAPS utility, the resolution in all games was set to 2560x1440 pixels. The following options are manually disabled:

• VSync (vertical sync)

All other settings in the games were set to the maximum possible.

ShadowPlay

ShadowPlay is arguably the most useful additional option available through the driver. With this function, you will not miss an important game moment, just press the hotkey and everything will be written to the specified location. Thus, it is no longer necessary to buy a separate device for recording, because with ShadowPlay there is no longer a drop in the performance of the recorded application, as, for example, happened with FRAPS.

It's easy to activate this option, first go to GeForce Experience and make sure your computer meets the minimum system requirements.

Then go to the parameters and in the upper right corner, after activation, you can change all the necessary settings.

It can be seen that nVidia tried to take into account all the wishes of the players and make the recording process as comfortable and convenient as possible. You can select the manual recording mode, which is unlimited in time, or you can resort to using the automation and set the required time interval. In the quality tab, recording is available with support for resolutions up to 4K, and as a soundtrack, you can record sound from the game and provide it with your comments. Using ShadowPlay as an example, you get a great video creation tool like Let’s Play.

I will give an example of shooting a gameplay using this technology, while for informational content FRAPS was launched and you can compare the FPS level with the one indicated earlier in the tests.

Temperature and overclocking

For overclocking, the MSI Afterburner utility was used, overclocking was carried out with an increase in voltage:

• The GPU frequency was increased by 190 MHz, which in the final version was 1304 MHz. At the same time, the value of the dynamic frequency reached 1443 MHz.
• The memory frequency was increased by 465 MHz and the value was 1985 MHz (7.94 GHz QDR).

Despite the factory overclocking of the graphics core by 64 MHz, by manually changing the parameters, we managed to achieve much more impressive results. Such a significant increase in the frequency of the GPU and MEM will have a noticeable impact on the level of performance.

Testing took place in an open case at a room temperature of 26 degrees. In idle mode, the frequency of the GPU and memory is reduced to 135/324 MHz, this directly affects energy efficiency and improves temperature performance.

The cooling system does an excellent job of its direct task and even under load the temperature does not go beyond 62 degrees, this is just an excellent indicator even taking into account the low consumption of the chip.

The fan speed varies depending on the workload of the video card (from 1529 to 1927 rpm). Despite the seemingly high tachometer values, the fans run very quietly both at idle and under load. In this case, there is no compromise, the low temperature under load and at the same time the quiet operation of the cooling system causes only positive emotions.

Conclusion

For example GV-N970WF3OC-4GD the Gigabyte company has turned out to be a very successful product, which is devoid of any noticeable drawbacks. The only drawback is the length of the video card, which introduces some restrictions on compatibility with compact or outdated cases. Otherwise, we see only positive aspects: a good cooling system, impressive results of manual overclocking, low operating temperature, low chip consumption and support for a number of proprietary technologies from nVidia.

Some are tormented by the question of choosing, buy GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD or GV-N970WF3OC-4GD... Does it make sense to overpay for a more expensive model? The answer will be this: there are no significant differences between video cards, and whether it is worth paying extra for two additional heat pipes, backplate and backlighting is up to you.

Pros:

• Efficient cooling system WINDFORCE 3X;
• Quiet, even under load;
• Good GPU and memory overclocking results;
• Low consumption;
• Supports TXAA, GPU Boost, Adaptive V-Sync, ShadowPlay;
• Excellent performance.

Minuses:

According to the editorial board, considering all the pros and cons, the Gigabyte GTX 970 (GV-N970WF3OC-4GD) receives the Gold award.

Foreword

Not having time to fully taste all the delights of the flagship Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming 4 GB, we had to very quickly start testing the younger model of the original Gigabyte video card on the NVIDIA GM204 GPU - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4 GB.

It is not difficult to notice that these video cards differ in the name by only one digit, as well as in the model marking: “GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD” versus “GV-N980G1 GAMING-4GD”. How many different differences between these video cards lie in just one figure, and, most importantly, is the difference in performance big?

1. Review of the video card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4 GB (GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD)

technical characteristics and recommended cost

The technical characteristics of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card are shown in the table in comparison with the older Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming and reference variants NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 with AMD Radeon R9 290X.

* - according to Yandex Market data as of 10.10.2014.

packaging and equipment

The box for the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming is exactly the same as for the older video card, indicating the model and series on the front side with a list of supported technologies.

The reverse side of the box is practically the same, some changes can only be found in the description of the design of the cooling system. The main characteristics of the video card are given on one of the ends of the box in nine languages, including Russian.

Since the design is identical, try not to confuse these models when buying, you never know what the manager will take out to you. In terms of the reliability of the packaging, there are also no differences, because inside there is an additional box made of thick cardboard with a foam polyethylene substrate inserted into it, in the center of which a video card is fixed.

The package bundle is the same extremely ascetic, including only two cables for connecting additional power.

But it is unlikely that serial video cards will be equipped as poorly as samples for the press.

The video card is produced in China and is accompanied by a three-year warranty. Unlike the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming, the heroine of today's testing can already be bought in Russian stores at a price of 18.8 thousand rubles, and abroad it is sold for 370 US dollars.

PCB design and features

If you compare the two original Gigabyte video cards visually, there are very few differences. As on the older Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming, the entire front side is covered with a cooling system, and a protective plate with curly perforation is fixed on the back. Even the dimensions of the video cards are identical to each other and amount to 298x106x40 mm.

However, there are still differences. First of all, this is the weight, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming is almost twice as light as the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming, although it would seem that this video card also announced the WINDFORCE 3X cooling system, albeit without "600W". In addition, the connectors for additional power supply differ - the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming has six and eight-pin connectors instead of two eight-pin connectors. Accordingly, the power requirements are more modest here: the limit is 145 watts for the video card and 550 watts for the system as a whole.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming also supports the proprietary Flex Display technology, when the company made another DVI-D (Dual Link) output with standard outputs DVI-I, HDMI 2.0 and three DisplayPort 1.2, which expands the possibilities of the owners of this video card in connection options. monitors.

At the same time, the number of monitors simultaneously connected to the video card is still limited to four.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming uses an original PCB with double-sided video memory chips.

To power the GPU, six phases are used on the DrMOS power transistors.

Like the older video card, the PCB is built using the proprietary Gigabyte Ultra Durable VGA concept.

It accumulates twice the thickness of the copper layers of the printed circuit board, Japanese solid-state capacitors with an extended service life, chokes with ferrite cores and field-effect transistors with a reduced channel resistance RDS (on) when switching states.

A four-channel NCP 81174 controller manufactured by ON Semiconductor and a three-channel controller INA3221 manufactured by Texas Instruments are responsible for power management of the video card.

The crystal of the GPU GM204 of our copy of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card belongs to revision A1 and was released in Taiwan on the 30th week of this year (mid-July).

It is equipped with 1664 shader processors versus 2048 on the GeForce GTX 980, 104 texture units versus 128, and 64 raster operations units (ROPs), as on the GTX 980. Fortunately, it was not without special program on the selection of crystals for graphics processors Gigabyte GPU Gauntlet, which allowed engineers to raise the base GPU frequency in 3D mode from the nominal 1050 MHz for the reference GeForce GTX 970 to 1178 MHz, and in the boosted mode it can automatically increase to 1329 MHz. By the way, the latter value is identical to the boost frequency of the GPU of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming video card, the more interesting the comparison in this pair will be. Note that the previously tested MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming video card had a GPU frequency of 1140-1279 MHz, so Gigabyte bypassed the competitor in this regard.

When switching to 2D mode, the GPU frequency drops to 100 MHz, and the ASIC quality of the graphics processor of our video card turned out to be 60.1%.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming has four gigabytes of GDDR5 video memory located in eight Samsung Semiconductor chips on the front and back of the PCB. The marking of the chips is K4G41325FC-HC28, that is, exactly the same as that of the memory of the older video card.

There is no factory overclocking here either, so the effective memory frequency is 7012 MHz, and a 256-bit memory bus can provide at this frequency throughput up to 224.4 GB / s. In 2D mode, the memory frequency is reduced to 648 MHz.

At the end of our design and PCB review, GPU-Z will tell us about the specs of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming.

And we move on to acquaintance with the cooling system.

cooling systems - efficiency and noise level

Unlike the flagship graphics card equipped with a WINDFORCE 3X 600W cooler, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming has a WINDFORCE 3X cooling system.

The cooling system consists of a three-section aluminum heatsink with the patented Triangle Cool technology on four six-mm heat pipes, an aluminum heatsink for VRM elements, three fans in a metal frame, and a protective plate on the back of the board.

Heatpipes run through a central aluminum heatsink and penetrate two differently sized sections.

Each of the sections is pierced with four heat pipes, but the large section contacts the VRM elements of the circuits through an additional aluminum plate and a thick thermal pad.

The description of the cooling system does not say whether composite tubes are used here or not, but they are also soldered to the radiator fins, like the older WINDFORCE 3X 600W system.

The base of the cooler is made using direct contact technology (GIGABYTE Direct Heat Pipe Touch), and the heat pipes are not only united with each other without gaps, but also ideally fit the GM204 crystal in terms of the total contact area.

To cool the radiator, three 77-mm fans from Power Logic (model PLD08010S12H) are used, fixed in a metal frame.

The original impeller blades with notches on the outer surface and an additional "fin" on the front end are designed to increase the volume of air flow and reduce the noise level.

Fan speed control is carried out by means of PWM-modulation in the range from 1500 to 3200 rpm. The service life of the improved plain bearing is not specified in the specifications. Like the older model, the cooling system of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming is equipped with blue backlighting on the upper edge of the fan shroud.

To check the temperature regime of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card, we used five test cycles of a very resource-intensive game Aliens vs. Predator (2010) at maximum quality graphics at 2560x1440 pixels with 16x anisotropic filtering and 4x MSAA anti-aliasing.

To monitor temperatures and all other parameters, MSI Afterburner version 4.0.0 and GPU-Z utility version 0.7.9 were used. All tests were carried out in a closed case system unit, the configuration of which you can see in the next section of the article, at an average room temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.

First of all, let's look at the efficiency of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming cooling system with automatic fan speed control.

Auto mode

Despite the noticeable simplification in comparison with WINDFORCE 3X 600W, Gigabyte WINDFORCE 3X is quite effective on this video card, because the GPU temperature did not exceed 61 degrees Celsius, and the fan speed increased only to 1940 rpm or 61% of the power. We should especially note that the frequency of the graphics processor was constantly kept at the 1342 MHz mark, which is slightly higher than the boost frequency of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming declared in the characteristics.

Unfortunately, on this model of the video card, using software methods, you cannot reduce the fan speed below 1500 rpm, you will have to wait for a new BIOS or edit it yourself. Nevertheless, we carried out an additional test of the temperature regime at such a minimum possible fan speed, fixing them at about 1500 rpm.

3х1500 rpm

The maximum GPU temperature has risen by only 4 degrees Celsius, eventually reaching 65 degrees Celsius, which is also an excellent figure for the new GPU at 1342 MHz.

With the maximum RPM of the cooling fans on the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, the peak GPU temperature reached 56 degrees Celsius, which is only 5 degrees Celsius better than with automatic adjustment.

Maximum speed

It turns out that the efficiency of this cooler is not strongly dependent on the fan speed, and in order to minimize the noise level, it is enough to simply set the fan speed to minimum, because even in this mode, a sufficiently high cooling efficiency will remain.

The measurement of the noise level of the video card cooling systems was carried out using an electronic sound level meter CENTER-321 after 1 am in a completely closed room with an area of ​​about 20 m² with double-glazed windows. The noise level was measured outside the case of the system unit, when the source of noise in the room was only the cooling system and its fans. The sound level meter, fixed on a tripod, was always located strictly at one point at a distance of exactly 150 mm from the fan / turbine rotor of the cooler. The motherboard, into which a video card with a cooling system installed on it was inserted, was placed at the very corner of the table on a polyurethane foam substrate. The lower limit of measurements of the sound level meter is 29.8 dBA, and the subjectively comfortable (not to be confused with low) noise level when measuring from such a distance is about 36 dBA. The fan speed was varied over the entire range of their operation using a special precise controller by changing the supply voltage with a step of 0.5 V.

We will assess the noise level of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card with the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming, reference video cards NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN Black and AMD Radeon R9 290X, as well as the original MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti Gaming video card with the Twin Frozr IV Advanced cooler. Let us add that the vertical dashed lines of the corresponding color mark the upper limits of the speed of cooling systems with their automatic PWM control.

Despite the external similarity of coolers Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming and Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming they make noise in different ways. In general, the noise level of the younger Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming is slightly lower with automatic speed control, but the sound of the WINDFORCE 3X cooler increases unevenly with increasing fan speed than on WINDFORCE 3X 600W. Most likely, this is caused not only by a different marking of the fans (in terms of power), but also by the design of the radiator itself. On WINDFORCE 3X it is lighter and has more rib-to-section spacing, so theoretically the noise level could be higher. Nevertheless, in general, it was the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming that became the quietest graphics card with automatic fan speed control. The only pity is that the lower limit of this very speed turned out to be so high (1500 rpm). Correcting the BIOS of the video card in this regard is simply necessary.

overclocking potential

The overclocking potential of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming video card turned out to be somewhat more modest than that of a similar MSI model. We managed to raise the frequency of the graphics processor from the base 1178 MHz by only 135 MHz, or by 11.4%, and we increased the effective memory frequency by 1200 MHz, or 17.1%.

Thus, without loss of stability and the appearance of image defects, the final frequencies of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming amounted to 1313-1464 / 8212 MHz.

After overclocking the video card, according to monitoring data, the frequency of the GPU reached 1477 MHz, and its maximum temperature was 65 degrees Celsius.

Auto mode

The fan speed in automatic mode also increased slightly and amounted to 2060 rpm. We add that even at the lowest possible 1500 rpm, the WINDFORCE 3X cooling system coped with the cooling of the overclocked video card, not allowing the temperature of the GPU to rise above 69 degrees Celsius.

2. Test configuration, tools and testing methodology

Testing the performance of video cards was carried out in a closed case of the system unit on a system with the following configuration:

Motherboard: Intel Siler DX79SR (Intel X79 Express, LGA 2011, BIOS 0594 dated 06/08/2013);
CPU: Intel Core i7-3970X Extreme Edition 3.5 / 4.0 GHz(Sandy Bridge-E, C2, 1.1 V, 6x256 KB L2, 15 MB L3);
CPU cooling system: Phanteks PH-TC14PЕ (2xCorsair AF140, 900 rpm);
Thermal interface: ARCTIC MX-4;
Video Cards:

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming 4 GB 1228-1329 / 7012 MHz;
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 4 GB 1127-1216 / 7012 MHz;
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4 GB 1178-1329 / 7012 MHz;
MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4 GB 1140-1279 / 7012 MHz;
AMD Radeon R9 290X 4 GB 1000/5000 MHz;

RAM: DDR3 4x8 GB G.SKILL TridentX F3-2133C9Q-32GTX(XMP 2133 MHz, 9-11-11-31, 1.6 V);
System disk: Intel SSD 730 480GB (SATA-III, BIOS vL2010400);
Disk for programs and games: Western Digital VelociRaptor (SATA-II, 300 GB, 10,000 rpm, 16 MB, NCQ) in a Scythe Quiet Drive 3.5 "box;
Archive disk: Samsung Ecogreen F4 HD204UI (SATA-II, 2 TB, 5400 rpm, 32 MB, NCQ);
Sound Card: Auzen X-Fi HomeTheater HD;
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred (front wall - three Noiseblocker NB-BlackSilentPRO PL-1 at 1020 rpm; top - standard 200 mm fan at 400 rpm);
Control and monitoring panel: Zalman ZM-MFC3;
PSU: Corsair AX1200i (1200W), 120mm fan
Monitor: Samsung S27A850D (DVI-I, 2560x1440, 60 Hz).

Today we will have our fourth video card test on the new NVIDIA GM204 processor, so in order not to repeat the same results and to make the article more interesting, we introduced two new video cards to the list of participants. But, according to tradition, starting with more expensive products, let's first say about the participation in testing of such video cards as Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 at their nominal frequencies.

Directly with the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, the MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming will compete, since we do not have a reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970.

And the same reference AMD Radeon R9 290 was added to the reference AMD Radeon R9 290X at nominal frequencies and without manual adjustment of the fan speed.

Let's add that the "Power Limit" value on all video cards was set to the maximum.

As usual, to reduce the dependence of the performance of video cards on the platform speed, a 32-nm six-core processor with a multiplier of 48, a reference frequency of 100 MHz and an activated Load-Line Calibration function was overclocked to 4.8 GHz when the voltage in the motherboard BIOS was raised to 1.380 V.

Hyper-Threading Technology is activated. At the same time, 32 GB of RAM operated at a frequency of 2.133 GHz with timings 9-11-11-20_CR1 at a voltage of 1.6125 V.

Testing of video cards, which took place from September 20 to October 8, 2014, was carried out under the control of operating system Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 with all critical updates as of the specified date and with the following drivers installed:

motherboard chipset Intel Chipset Drivers - 10.0.22 WHQL from 08/05/2014;
DirectX End-User Runtimes libraries, released on November 30, 2010;
drivers for video cards on NVIDIA GPUs - GeForce 344.11 WHQL from 09/18/2014 and 344.16 for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980.
video card drivers on AMD GPUs - AMD Catalyst 14.9.1 Beta (14.301.1004.0) dated 06.10.2014.

The performance of the video cards was tested in two resolutions: 1920x1080 and 2560x1440 pixels. Two modes of graphics quality were used for the tests: "Quality + AF16x" - the quality of textures in the drivers by default with anisotropic filtering at 16x level, and "Quality + AF16x + MSAA 4x (8x)" with anisotropic filtering at 16x level and full-screen anti-aliasing. 4x or 8x, in cases where the average frames per second remained high enough for comfortable gaming. In some games, due to the specifics of the game engines, other anti-aliasing algorithms were used, which will be indicated later in the methodology and in the diagrams. Anisotropic filtering and full-screen anti-aliasing was enabled directly in the game settings. If these settings were absent in the games, then the parameters were changed in the control panel Catalyst drivers or GeForce. V-Sync was also forcibly disabled there. Apart from the above, no additional changes were made to the driver settings.

The video cards were tested in two graphics tests and fourteen games, updated to the latest versions as of the date of the start of this article. Here's what the list of test applications looks like (games are listed in the order they were officially released):

3DMark (2013)(DirectX 9/11) - version 1.3.708, testing in the scenes "Cloud Gate", "Fire Strike" and "Fire Strike Extreme";
Unigine Valley Bench(DirectX 11) - version 1.0, maximum quality settings, AF16x and (or) MSAA 4x, resolution 1920x1080;
(DirectX 11) - version 1.1.0, built-in test (battle at Sekigahara) at maximum graphics quality settings and using one of the MSAA 8x modes;
Sniper elite v2 benchmark(DirectX 11) - version 1.05, used Adrenaline Sniper Elite V2 Benchmark Tool v1.0.0.2 BETA maximum graphics quality settings ("Ultra"), Advanced Shadows: HIGH, Ambient Occlusion: ON, Stereo 3D: OFF, Supersampling: OFF, double sequential test run;
Sleeping dogs(DirectX 11) - version 1.5, used Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool v1.0.2.1, maximum graphics quality settings for all items, Hi-Res Textures pack installed, FPS Limiter and V-Sync disabled, double sequential test run with total anti-aliasing at "Normal" and "Extreme" levels;
Hitman: Absolution(DirectX 11) - version 1.0.447.0, built-in test with graphics quality settings at "Ultra" level, tessellation, FXAA and global illumination are enabled.
Crysis 3(DirectX 11) - version 1.2.0.1000, all graphics quality settings to maximum, blur degree - medium, glare enabled, modes with FXAA and with MSAA4x anti-aliasing, double sequential pass of the scripted scene from the beginning of the "Swamp" mission lasting 110 seconds;
Tomb Raider (2013)(DirectX 11) - version 1.1.748.0, Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool used, quality settings at Ultra level, V-Sync disabled, modes with FXAA and 2xSSAA anti-aliasing, TressFX technology enabled, double sequential pass of the test built into the game;
BioShock Infinite(DirectX 11) - version 1.1.25.5165, Adrenaline Action Benchmark Tool with "Ultra" and "Ultra + DOF" quality settings, double run of the test built into the game;
Metro: Last Light(DirectX 11) - version 1.0.0.15, the built-in game test was used, graphics quality and tessellation settings were set to "Very High", Advanced PhysX technology was enabled, tests with and without SSAA anti-aliasing, double sequential scene pass "D6".
Company of Heroes 2(DirectX 11) - version 3.0.0.15370, double sequential run of the test built into the game with the maximum settings for graphics quality and physical effects;
Total War: Rome II(DirectX 11) - version 2.0.0.0, quality settings at “Extreme” level, V-Sync disabled, SSAA anti-aliasing enabled, double sequential pass of the test built into the game;
Batman: arkham origins(DirectX 11) - version 1.0 (update 8), quality settings at "Ultra" level, V-Sync disabled, all effects enabled, all "DX11 Enhanced" functions enabled, Hardware Accelerated PhysX = Normal, double sequential pass of the test built into the game ;
Battlefield 4(DirectX 11) - version 111433, all graphics quality settings to "Ultra", double sequential pass of the scripted scene from the beginning of the "TASHGAR" mission lasting 110 seconds (for video cards based on AMD GPUs, API Mantle was used);
Thief(DirectX 11) - version 1.6 build 4158.14, graphics quality settings to the maximum level, Paralax Occlusion Mapping and Tessellation technologies are activated, double sequential pass of the benchmark built into the game (for video cards based on AMD GPUs, API Mantle was used);
GRID Autosport(DirectX 11) - version 1.101.7026, we used a test built into the game on the San Francisco track (ten cars), graphics quality settings to the maximum level for all points, tests with and without MSAA8x anti-aliasing.

If the games implemented the ability to fix the minimum number of frames per second, then it was also reflected in the diagrams. Each test was carried out twice, the best of the two obtained values ​​was taken as the final result, but only if the difference between them did not exceed 1%. If the deviations of the test runs exceeded 1%, then the testing was repeated at least one more time to get a reliable result.

3. Results of performance tests

In the diagrams, the results of all video cards on NVIDIA GPUs, with the exception of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, are displayed in light green, and on AMD GPUs, in red. To highlight the results of the heroine of today's article, we marked them with a dark turquoise color. The results of testing video cards in each quality mode are sorted from top to bottom in descending order of their cost.

The study and analysis of the results, according to the established tradition, will start with semi-synthetic benchmarks.

3DMark (2013)

The results of the first semi-synthetic test look quite natural. Thanks to a slightly higher GPU frequency, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming is several points faster than the MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming. The lag from NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 is 4 to 13%, depending on the test scene and its quality settings. As we have already seen from the tests of the original MSI graphics card, it is not difficult to compensate for this difference by overclocking the GeForce GTX 970. Let us add that both video cards based on AMD graphics processors, although they occupy the last places in 3DMark (2013), lose quite a bit.

Unigine Valley Bench

In the semi-synthetic benchmark Unigine Valley, the difference between the video cards is more noticeable.

First of all, this concerns the mode without using anti-aliasing, but it does not apply to the two original GeForce GTX 970s, which still go together as a "flying" pair, yielding to the reference GeForce GTX 980 from 14 to 16%. Both AMD Radeon R9s are noticeably slower than all video cards based on NVIDIA GPUs in modes without anti-aliasing and are worthy competitors when activated.

Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Fall of the Samurai

In Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Fall of the Samurai, note the minimal difference between the two original GeForce video cards GTX 970, as well as a very small gap between AMD Radeon R9 290 and the older Radeon R9 290X. The new Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming lags behind the reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 by 9-12%, while its sister Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming loses 12-17%, which, however, is significantly less than the difference in the cost of these video cards.

Sniper elite v2 benchmark

We can observe the same picture in the Sniper Elite V2 test.

True, here the lag of AMD video cards from NVIDIA is more noticeable than in Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Fall of the Samurai.

Sleeping dogs

The alignment of forces does not change in the Sleeping Dogs game either.

Hitman: Absolution

A distinctive feature of the Hitman: Absolution test is worthy competition from video cards based on AMD GPUs, the difference between which is negligible. Everything is the same in NVIDIA's "camp".

Crysis 3

Look good AMD graphics cards and in the test game Crysis 3.

In turn, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming is slightly faster than the MSI video card of the same model, 11-13% slower than the reference version NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and 15-19% behind the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming.

Tomb Raider (2013)

We can observe the same alignment of forces in the game Tomb Raider, with the only difference that performance differs more significantly between video cards on AMD GPUs.

BioShock Infinite

There are no major changes in BioShock Infinite.

Due to a slightly higher core frequency, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming outperforms the original MSI graphics card by 1 frame per second in each of the quality modes. Lagging behind older models remains the same as in previous games.

Metro: Last Light

With Advanced PhysX technology activated, video cards based on AMD GPUs have nothing to oppose to NVIDIA products, the balance of power between which does not change.

But without the use of additional physical effects, the reference AMD Radeon R9 290X is quite ready to compete with the original GeForce GTX 970.

Note the minimal difference between Gigabyte and MSI video cards, as well as 8-9% lag of Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming from NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 and 13-14% from Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming.

Company of Heroes 2

There are no major changes in the balance of power in Company of Heroes 2.

Total War: Rome II

Total War: Rome II was also not noted for originality.

Batman: arkham origins

Batman: Arkham Origins traditionally stands out for the difference in results between modes without anti-aliasing and when it is activated.

As for the performance of the heroine of testing - the video card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming - there are no peculiarities in comparison with the previous results.

Battlefield 4

So Battlefield 4 demonstrates the classic balance of power between the tested video cards.

Thief

Mantle support does not help AMD GPUs win Thief.

But, if we take into account the most resource-intensive mode, then the advantage of the same original GeForce GTX 970 is quite small.

GRID Autosport

In the game GRID Autosport, the Mantle technology is not supported, however, we can observe the alignment of forces in many ways similar to Thief.

Let's supplement the constructed diagrams with a summary table with test results with the final average and minimum FPS values ​​for each video card displayed.

Next, let's move on to pivot charts.

4. Pivot charts

First of all, let's compare the performance of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming with the reference version of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980.

The original Gigabyte video card lags fairly evenly and slightly in all tests, except for one Company of Heroes 2 mode. On average, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming is 7-10% slower at 1920 x 1080 pixels and 10-12% at 2560 x 1440 pixels.

Since the older Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming is even faster than the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming lags behind it more.

We got from 12 to 15% in 1920x1080 and 15-16% in 2560x1440 pixels. Nevertheless, taking into account the difference in the cost of these video cards, which is about 45-50% in favor of the older model, it is the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming that looks like a more profitable purchase, especially since the difference of 12-16% can be almost completely minimized by a good overclocking the video card.

At the time of this writing, the prices for video cards were formed in such a way that for the same price you can buy both the original GeForce GTX 970 and the original Radeon R9 290X. So in the next pair of pivot diagrams, we will bump into each other two such models (R9 290X in the reference version, unfortunately).

In general, the victory goes to the new Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming, but there are separate tests and modes where AMD Radeon R9 290X manages to win a little or maintain parity. Also, don't forget about the recent price cuts for AMD's two older graphics cards, with the Radeon R9 290X slated to start at just $ 399.

Finally, let's compare the performance of the reference AMD Radeon R9 290X and Radeon R9 290 - the advantage of the older video card during the tests seemed to us very small. Indeed it is.

The maximum difference between these video cards reaches 12.8%, and on average for all tests it was only 5.6-6% in favor of the Radeon R9 290X. Considering that, according to AMD's idea, the Radeon R9 290 should now cost from $ 300, this particular model in its original design may become a real bestseller on the market for some time.

5. Power consumption

The energy consumption of the system with various video cards was measured using the Zalman ZM-MFC3 multifunctional panel, which shows the system consumption "from the wall socket" as a whole (excluding the monitor). The measurement was carried out in 2D mode, during normal operation in Microsoft Word or "surfing the Internet", as well as in 3D mode. In the latter case, the load was created using four consecutive cycles of the opening scene of the “Swamp” level from Crysis 3 at 2560x1440 pixels at maximum graphics quality settings, but without using MSAA anti-aliasing.

Let's compare the power consumption of the systems with the graphics cards we tested today.

With a slight difference in the frequencies of the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming and MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming video cards, a slightly higher power consumption of the system with the video card from today's review is quite natural. Moreover, all new line on GPUs NVIDIA GM204 is noticeably more economical than two video cards on AMD Hawaii, including in 2D mode. Moreover, on the diagram, we always show the peak power consumption recorded during repeated runs of a resource-intensive test, and even in a system with an overclocked six-core processor. In most other games, including Battlefield 4 or Sniper Elite III, the typical power consumption of configurations with any of the graphics cards on the Maxwell 2.0 was around 450 watts. So we can say with confidence that a high-quality power supply unit with a capacity of 500-550 watts will be enough for such systems.

Conclusion

Differences in one digit in the model name, as we found out today, turned out to be very few. Following the older model Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming, the new Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming keeps its brand, but still has one problematic point in the form of overspeed fans at their lower border, when even without load in 2D mode they do not fall below 1500 rpm Therefore, even without a 3D load, there is no reason to talk about a low noise level, unfortunately. Let's hope that the manufacturer will fix this point as quickly as possible, because it is unlikely that something more will be needed here than a simple BIOS update. In all other respects, the video card has no shortcomings and, in our opinion, is a more profitable model in terms of price-performance ratio than the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 980 G1 Gaming. Its cooling system is efficient enough to ensure stability of the video card even at higher frequencies. Reinforced power system based on high quality and durable components is obliged to ensure Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming stable and long life, and proprietary Flex Display technology expands the possibilities of connecting multiple displays to the video card. Economical in terms of power consumption, completely non-hot, with already increased GPU frequencies and excellent overclocking potential, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming will be an excellent choice for a gaming system unit.

Thank you Gigabyte
and personally Natalia Lagunenko (IT Labs)
for the video card provided for testing.