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MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC Graphics Cards GTX 970 4GD5T OC

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#1 ·
MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC Graphics Cards GTX 970 4GD5T OC

Description:
MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Gaming OC 4GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card

Details:
DetailValue
BindingPersonal Computers
BrandMSI
EAN0733590191697
FeatureArmor 2X thermal design
Propeller Blade technology
Airflow Control technology
Chipset: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
Video Memory: 4GB GDDR5
Max. Resolution: 4096 x 2160, Support 4x Display Monitors
500W System Power Supply Requirement
LabelMSI COMPUTER
ManufacturerMSI COMPUTER
ModelGTX 970 4GD5T OC
MPNGTX 970 4GD5T OC
PublisherMSI COMPUTER
StudioMSI COMPUTER
TitleMSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC Graphics Cards GTX 970 4GD5T OC
UPC824142028049
CatalogNumberList - CatalogNumberListElementGTX 970 4GD5T OC
Item Height1.5 inches
Item Length10.9 inches
Item Width5 inches
Package Height3.2 inches
Package Length13.6 inches
Package Weight2.45 pounds
Package Width10.4 inches
PackageQuantity1
PartNumberGTX 970 4GD5T OC
ProductGroupPersonal Computer
ProductTypeNameVIDEO_CARD
UPCList - UPCListElement824142028049
733590191697
Item Weight2.4 pounds
 

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#2 ·
An entry level custom GTX970

review by syl1979

I was looking for a GTX970 with a custom cooler without having to pay the full price.
Found this one on Taiwan for 10900 NTD, lower price for custom cards. At the same time the MSI 970 GAMING was 12500NTD.

The cardbox shows a nice tiger...


When opening the card is well protected. Very light bundle , only a DVI to VGA adapter, driver disc and quick installation notice.


According to MSI website, this card is 27.5cm long and weights only 610g, when the GAMING edition card weights 814g.


The length is too much for standard medium tower from a few years ago. Before buying an Antec P280 case I had an Antec NSK4400 and I had to "modify" (censored) the HDD cage to give enough space.

The Layout of the card is quite simple... they were lazy and could have made a much smaller card....
BARE CARD

The card weight much less than the MSI Gaming, the main reason is the cooler is very simple, thus having some negative effect on the cooling performance.


COOLER

It uses 2x6pins connectors, meaning that in theory the card should be able to use up to 225W


The card is using ELPIDA memory


The VRM are cooled with an additional heatsink


The card has a base clock of 1101Mhz, with theoretical boost at 1241Mhz. The 3.5+0.5 GB of GDDR5 are clocked at 7010Mhz (1753*4). This card came with BIOS revision 84.04.36.00.59, that was the latest one in early May (didn't checked since I uninstalled MSI LiveUpdate)
GPUZ BASE

The "Quality" of the chip is not very good, ASIC is only 69.1%.
ASIC

I have taken some time to evaluate the behavior of the card under normal gaming load, so here are the results of some loads with Unigine Heaven. Running with Ultra Quality, Extreme Tesselation, 8XAA and Resolution 1600*900 (windowed)

My first result is that the real boost frequency of the card is 1278 Mhz. It appears also that the TDP limit is reached very easily
The temperature is quite high at 75degC but still acceptable (test in closed Antec P280, ambiant temp is 25C), the limit in the bios being79decC.
GTX970_GPUZ_BASE_Heaven

After opening the BIOS with Maxwell II Bios Tweaker, it appears that the default power draw is only 170W, with maximum authorized limit 187W (+10%). For comparison the MSI Gaming is 200/220 (but carries 1x6pin and 1x8pin connectors, so up to 300W)
Base bios Power Table

Let's talk of overclock. Using MSI afterburner, bumping voltage by 30mv and Power to 110%, the maximum clock boost acceptable is 204Mhz, at + 217Mhz I was seeing artefacts in the Heaven Demo.
The memory is capable of reaching 8200Mhz, but I kept it at 8000Mhz (+500 in afterburner), as it impacts power draw and already reduces effective clock by around 10 Mhz

GPU at +204 , effective boost is 1504Mhz (average)
GTX970_GPUZ_BASE_UPLIMIT_v30_f204_Heaven

GPU at +204 , Memory at +500, effective boost is 1496 Mhz
GTX970_GPUZ_BASE_UPLIMIT_v30_f204_m500_Heaven
GTX970 UPLIMIT v30 f204 m500

I have then decided to tweak a little my Bios. I upped the reference temperature limit to 85degC. Also moved the base TDP to 187W (initial max limit) and max up to 196W (+5%). I tried to go higher but I get some electrical noise if limit set over 210W. I prefer to play safe for now... I just want the card to be only limited by voltage at base clock.

So without overclock , this tweaked bios brings me to 1296Mhz as average real boost.
GTX970 BIOS2 BASE

And with the overclock at the same parameters, I now reach the average 1500Mhz. Target achieved
thumb.gif

You can see the temperature goes up to 81degC, with the fans at 76%, but without too much noise.
GTX970 BIOS2 v30 f204 m500

So as conclusion, this card performs quite well, but is restricted in overclock by the 2x6 pins power. But if you can have it at a fair price it is a good choice.

ProsCons
GTX970 Performance , Silent, Nice White look. Reasonnable WeightHigh temperatures, Low Power Limit, Long card

Ratings
Overall4
 
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