Is there any cons in buying the NVIDIA reference GTX 970 card over non-ref ?

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Subzerok11

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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814132038

It being only one fan instead of the typical 2 fan setup would it be running at a higher rpm and be louder ? I would assume too that at desktop idle the fan would be at a very low rpm cause when I'm not gaming I don't any extra noise from the tower. By the way I'm not planning to OC either. This maybe a noob question but I'm concerned about coil whine and was wondering because this one is made by Nvidia if maybe they took steps in making this card that it would not have this problem. Thanks
 
If you're not going to overclock I'd get one of the preoverclocked ones and just ask around to see which ones don't have the whine.
 
great card. memory 4001 core 1528, no voltage changes , fan on 60% full load keeps temps under 70. its the ideal card for sli and seem to be binned high
 
In my experience reference cards are louder and don''t cool as well as aftermarket coolers. I swore them off years ago.
 
The coil whine seemed to be isolated to certain setups, resulting from the system running at too high FPS (over 200 I think). At least that is what I read.

I too was worried about it but ended up buying one for my son for his computer for Christmas. As most were sold out I ended up getting a Zotac and I am happy to say there has been absolutely no coil whine on any games he has played. Plus, it's very quiet. Haven't tried to overclock so perhaps that would change things...
 
Simmonz said:
In my experience reference cards are louder and don''t cool as well as aftermarket coolers. I swore them off years ago.
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this case is a little different. 970 are already very cool cards so you wont see much noise and high temps from the good models. also this cooler was rated for the gtx 980 so it performs even better on the 970. this card has actually better than most coolers ive seen especially the evga.
 
I have this very card, bought it from BestBuy, and it stays real cool with a fan profile set to max out at about 60%. It's a blower so yes it's louder, but it never gets hotter than 72C with a modest OC (1442 core and 7400 mem). Plus its damn sexy
 
The 970 is about the only GPU you could use a reference cooler and not have it suck in regards to temps and noise due to the lower heat output vs the Kepler cards, they royally sucked on reference blowers.
 
Arct1c0n said:
The 970 is about the only GPU you could use a reference cooler and not have it suck in regards to temps and noise due to the lower heat output vs the Kepler cards, they royally sucked on reference blowers.
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In my experience the Titan cooler has been amazing. I've had a gtx 690 and gtx 780 which are vapor chambers and temps and noise weren't an issue
 
Non reference is definitely the way to go if your case has sufficient cooling (especially exhaust). I've got an NZXT H440 which is notorious for bad airflow but with static fans I can run 2 x GTX 980 w/the ACX 2.0 cooler and get really nice temps (e.g. 1500+ MHz core and max GPU temps of 78 and 70C respectively). Compare that w/the Titans using reference blowers where a small OC + voltage bump would hit the high 80s to low 90s using my better ventilated C70 case.
 
Everyone seems to say that the refernce 970 from Best Buy seems to not suffer from coil whine, but I couldn't tell you about others. My Strix doesn't whine but I also play Vsync'd to 60.
 
No coil whine from my best buy reference 970. Reference cooler is a lot quieter and less annoying sounding than the evga/pny coolers as well.
 
I may just get a reference 970 from best buy. This maybe a tough question but at idle will it make about the same noise at my current 660 MSI twin forza card which at idle is silent ? Also for those of you who got the best buy one any coil whine ? By the way I'm not planning to OC it.
 
I do experience coil whine in my BB one. It's not the end of the world, but at higher FPS it's there. Its silent at idle though and idles around 30C. From what I have heard though the coil while may be in part due to the PSU you are using. In other words, any 970 is a crap shoot for coil whine.
 
With a 970 G1 coil whine is there if I minimize Kombuster whilst stress testing, when maximized back and card presumably returns to load coil whine is not really there.
 
I can test mine for coil while when I get home tonight....what's the best way to check for it? I played Dying Light for a couple of hours last night after overclock in and couldn't hear the card over my pretty quite case fans.
 
Haven't heard any coil whine on mine either, willing to test.

How is everyone best buy 970 overclocking? Mine seems to OC like mad
 
I have the reference 980 which is the same components and the only way I can hear any coil whine is if I stick my ear right beside the card under heavy load and even then its faint. I move another 6 inches away and I hear none at all.
 
Bought the BB 970. I thought it was quiet. To warn you the default TDP is quite low. Not hard to fix if you're into BIOs flashing.

I easily got up to 1500Mhz, but bios locked it at 1380 (automatically booted up to it) because it was going to a family member in an ITX build 1000 miles away for Christmas. :)

Also my understanding is for coil whine generally happens when you have hundreds of fps. I Vsync lock so I didn't even give it a chance to do it.
 
I think mine was running at 1480 last night...but I'd have to double check to be sure.
 
Subzerok11 said:
I may just get a reference 970 from best buy. This maybe a tough question but at idle will it make about the same noise at my current 660 MSI twin forza card which at idle is silent ? Also for those of you who got the best buy one any coil whine ? By the way I'm not planning to OC it.
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If you want a card that is actually completely silent at idle..EDIT:...I actually forget which one that is but at least one of the cards turns the fan off....looks like maybe the MSI one.

EDIT: yeah the MSI 970 gaming turns the fans off at idle. I think that's probably the card you're looking for.
 
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Cabezone said:
If you want a card that is actually completely silent at idle..EDIT:...I actually forget which one that is but at least one of the cards turns the fan off....looks like maybe the MSI one.

EDIT: yeah the MSI 970 gaming turns the fans off at idle. I think that's probably the card you're looking for.
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Asus's and Gigabytes do as well
 
Cabezone said:
If you want a card that is actually completely silent at idle..EDIT:...I actually forget which one that is but at least one of the cards turns the fan off....looks like maybe the MSI one.

EDIT: yeah the MSI 970 gaming turns the fans off at idle. I think that's probably the card you're looking for.
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If you don't mind modding the BIOS you can make the reference cards passive at idle too.
 
Aibohphobia said:
If you don't mind modding the BIOS you can make the reference cards passive at idle too.
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Not a real good idea with that particular blower and heatsink style, its gonna overheat real quick and kick on the blower fan anyway after 62c is hit which is easy, even with my open air STRIX 980


GTX-980-View-ISO_w_600.jpg
 
I love mine for a few reasons. It overclocks great and it blows most of the hot air out of the case.

Downside is the cost is most likely more expensive, if you have a great setup where you dont mind the GPU dumping heat inside the case, it can be louder then the typical GPU with 2-3 fans.
 
I like my GTX 980 reference card. Reference coolers are great for air flow purposes vs dumping heat in case.
 
Dont forget to price match, Got both of mine for $339 with amazon. Depends on the person you get, if they give you a hard time newegg has the exact model for $354
 
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