Which 970 brand to go for ?

[shambles1980]

gigabyte have a good rma so id usually opt for them if i could

 

[jezza]

It looks really cool. The ACX 1.0 cooler was a bit hot or miss, but this one might be different. If you like it, go for it as EVGA is generally great with RMAs and warranties

Yeah I did start to read about the ACX 1.0 cooler and it's problems. I saw a review that the 970 came with the ACX 2.0 but I can't find it anywhere for sale, Overclockers, Skan etc. It seems that it's only the States that sells the ACX 2.0 for the time being?

 

[Vibe]

I think the evga cards in the 970 have really under performed compare to usual.. I really want to see some reviews on this one though looks absolutely awesome zotac extreme edition

 

[SieB]

I think the evga cards in the 970 have really under performed compare to usual..

Just saw this on another site

The images of the new card and its cooler suggest that they’ve used the cooler from a bigger card to save on manufacturing costs; the problem here being that one of the three heat-pipes barely makes any contact with the GPU. Rival cards are out pacing the EVGA card in the cooling department and it’s likely that the card could be performing better in benchmarks if the cooler was used to its full potential.

As you can see in the picture below the chip is barely touching the first heat pipe, although it may not be touching at all as most of the thermal paste on the pipe looks like excess from around the edge of the chip. The 2nd (middle) heat pipe is fine and so is the 3rd on the right; but you can clearly see that the chip is overhanging the heat-pipes by several millimetres on the right. It definitely appears that the chip and the pipes are poorly aligned.

Source: Eteknix

 

[Vibe]

Just saw this on another site

Source: Eteknix

I think that could be a huge part why there unperforming i checked some side by side comparisons and the temperatures on the evga were really high but performing so low. Does anyone have any opinions on the gainward cards the phantom 970 looks pretty interesting. Thanks for the info too i will definetly be avoiding the evga 970 now

 

[nepas]

Just saw this on another site

Told ya,(see my post from yesterday).

heatsink that does not fit properly

 

[Dark NighT]

http://www.eteknix.com/evga-gtx-970-feature-manufacturing-defect/

I am shocked, come on evga this is unacceptable.

 

[SieB]

Told ya,(see my post from yesterday).

Looks like you were right

I am shocked, come on evga this is unacceptable.

It is shocking, you would have though they would have noticed with their own testing that something wasn't right.

 

[jezza]

Just saw this on another site

Source: Eteknix

I think I now may look at another card seeing this. It would be nice to have a reference cooler on the 970. It would make my MATX build a lot easier but there is no point my forking out for a 980.

 

[Dark NighT]

Looks like you were right



It is shocking, you would have though they would have noticed with their own testing that something wasn't right.

Well Evga also thought it was a good idea to release the SR-X with samon pink pci-e slots, so this sort of matches their quality control.

 

[Kushiro]

Source: Eteknix

This is quite a shame, as EVGA used to be the main manufacturer I went to for my Nvidia cards, and their PSU's etc are awesome too... Seems like many reputable companies going downhill in QC and all lately.

Though I only really buy from them cause they provide warranty even if I watercool

 

[SieB]

Quote from an EVGA rep on Reddit about the EVGA card issue.

I'm not sure what to make of it though because the reviews of the EVGA cards show them all running hotter and louder than all the other 970s as well as performing lower in some test.

If what he says is true about the aggressive fan profile then that should make them cooler than the others (which they aren't) if the rest of what he says is true... Seen as the fans would be working harder than the other 970s which are all running cooler and quieter :\

The way the EVGA GTX 970 ACX heat sink was designed is based on the GTX 970 wattage plus an additional 40% cooling headroom on top of it. There are 3 heat pipes on the heatsink – 2 x 8mm major heat pipes to distribute the majority of the heat from the GPU to the heatsink, and a 3rd 6mm heatpipe is used as a supplement to the design to reduce another 2-3 degrees Celsius. Also we would like to mention that the cooler passed NVIDIA Greenlight specifications.
Due to the GPU small die size, we intended for the GPU to contact two major heat pipes with direct touch to make the best heat dissipation without any other material in between.
We all know the Maxwell GPU is an extremely power efficient GPU, our SC cooler was overbuilt for it and allowed us to provide cards with boost clocks at over 1300MHz. EVGA also has an “FTW” version for those users who want even higher clocks.
http://www.evga.com/images/forum/precision_gtx970sc.png
Regarding fan noise, we understand that some have expressed concerns over the fan noise on the EVGA GTX 970 cards, this is not a fan noise issue but it is more of an aggressive fan curve set by the default BIOS. The fan curve can be easily adjusted in EVGA PrecisionX or any other overclocking software. Regardless, we have heard the concerns and will provide a BIOS update to reduce the fan noise during idle.
Thanks, EVGA

Source - Reddit

 

[barnsley]

EVGA are just making excuses because they're a sh*t company. The one thing they actually design themselves they still cheap out on.

 

[SieB]

EVGA are just making excuses because they're a sh*t company. The one thing they actually design themselves they still cheap out on.

Yep, sounds like they are making excuses to me as well. The reviews showing them running hotter and louder pretty much prove that the cooler isn't doing its job properly.
And the fact that they are saying they have an over aggressive fan profile doesn't make sense either because temps should be lower with a more aggressive fan profile and not higher.

 

[n0ave]

I would say ASUS, the Strix video cards design is awesome, not sure about their performances when paired vs other high end GPUs.

I'll go for a ASUS 970 for my new build

 

[piezor]

Wow that is pretty terrible by EVGA. I was looking at getting that card too for the same reason as Jezza.

So few reference height 970s out there (or ones that will fit in an Air 240 at least)

Back to the drawing board