My computer specs:
-i5 4460 3.20GHz
-Msi Nvidia GTX 970 (previous card > Sapphire R9 270 2gb)
-Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600Mhz 2x4GB Dual Channel 8GB kit
-1920x1080 LG monitor
-500w Corsair Bronze
-1TB WCD Hard drive
-ASRock Z97 Anniversary Motherboard
-Windows 7 Ultimate
-Bit Fenix Mid-tower case
I have to say I am very happy about this cards performance as I can play all my games on Steam now on ultra pretty much as most of the time I may just have to turn down ambient occlusion or antialiasing down a bit but other than that this card sticks to 60fps when vysnced and can over 100fps on some games when they are maxed.
Installation:
The night before I got the card I did a load of cable tying so the card had room and no wires would get in the way.
When I got the card the next day I made a restore point on my pc, removed my old R9 270, then I put in the 27cm long heavy monster of a card in. It certainly weighted a lot more than my older card and it took a bit to slotted it in with about 5cms left of room, I screwed in the screws at the end then put the 8pin cable and the 6 pin cable into the card as it requires 2 different power cables.
I turned on the power a VOLA the card was running and displaying fine, I installed the standard drivers and had a go with a few games.
Gameplay/ Performance:
Now I have had a week with the card running I can now say that you do not get the cards full power until you update its driver to the absolute newest driver as when I used NVidia's experience to get the right settings to play Borderlands 2 it set everything to max and when I play It dipped to 45 fps in big major battles and I was baffled.
So I updated my driver via NVidia's experience software and then tried the game again and it played silky smooth but I did put the view distance down from extra far to just far. I am mostly play Killing Floor 2 now and on high settings due to ultra being a big hog and causes frame stutter even if I did get a constant 60fps.
I have also being playing Metal Gear The Phantom on Ultra with only the effects setting put to high instead of extra high as for some reason when I use a fulton on cargo containers and vehicles and are lifted up smoke comes up and my frames dip about 5fps for a second then is fine, feels like a stutter really.
Sound/noise:
Now I hear ALOT of people complaining about coil whine on high end cards and I can easily say my card has never whined... it has got slightly loud after being used for 6 hours straight gaming and that is understandable.
I do love that the fans are off when I am not gaming or as it is called idle mode, so the cards fans only turn on when it is required to render demanding games. So if I played terraria it would not need to use the fans but if I played Fallout 3 or Killing Floor 2 the fans would start.
Key points
-Powerful card for ultra 1080p gaming and light 4k gaming
-Quiet when idle
-Hums nicely when rendering game, not noisy
-Looks badass,
-Driver support is brilliant
-Awesome power for the price ratio
-I won't need to upgrade for about 2-3 years
Absolutely brilliant card
FWI you get the free game code via email from amazon as a promotional code where you are then sent to the GeForce site to pick the new assassins creed game or rainbow six siege. I pick assassins creed as I don't like competitive co-op/multiplayer such as rainbow six.
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This item  MSI NVIDIA Gtx 960 Gaming 2 GB PCI-E Graphics Card | Recommendations  |  |  | |
| Price | — | £295.62 | £64.49 | -7% £268.99 RRP: £289.00 |
| Delivery | — | — | — | — |
| Customer Ratings | ||||
| Sold by | — | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon |
| graphics coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GeForce GT 730 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 4060 |
| card interface | pci e | pci e x16 | pci e | pci e |
| graphics RAM type | gddr5 | gddr6 | gddr5 | gddr6 |
| graphics RAM size | 2 GB | 12 GB | 2 GB | 8 GB |
| output interface | DisplayPort | HDMI, DisplayPort | HDMI | HDMI |
| memory clock speed | 7010 MHz | 7500 MHz | 5010 MHz | 2565 MHz |
| GPU clock speed | 1241 MHz | 1807 MHz | 927 MHz | 2505 MHz |
| fan count | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| GPU manufacturer | NVIDIA | NVIDIA | NVIDIA | NVIDIA |
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Unleash the dragon with the GTX 970!
My current spec as of review with this card:Intel i7 4790kMSI GTX 97016 GB Corsair Vengeance Ram @ 2133mhz500gb Samsung 850 Evo SSDI have had this since Feb 2015, and gone on to play many games with it.I review using the "E.P.I.C" scale:E - Ease of Use (9/10)The card was very easy to install and drivers were updated quickly and efficiently thanks to Nvidia Experience software. One quick reboot and the card was up to date, fully recognised by the system and ready to rock.P - Price (10/10)The price for this card is fair judging by the performance. It's a very good "bang for buck". You can pay significantly more for a GTX980, which would offer little performance boosts. The GTX 970 is the best in the 9xx series of cards, primarily because of the performance at the price point. The most powerful card, GTX 980Ti, is hugely more expensive, and does offer a far more powerful performance boost over both the 970 and 980, but the "bang for buck" ratio just isn't the same. The 970 is truly a great value for such a card.I - Innovation (9/10)This card comes with MSI's innovative "Twin Frozr" technology, allowing for optimal cooling of the card. I can vouch for this as my card was consistently kept at a good temperature. Now this can vary on a few factors: your case, your case fan setup, cooling systems installed, etc... But typically, as a standard builder, my case and fans weren't optimal, so I'd like to think the card temperatures relied a lot on the Twin Frozr technology. As a general guide, gaming on this consistently over a year, the highest I ever got to was about 60 after a whole day on World of Warcraft. It tends to sit around 40-54 when gaming, and for day to day tasks it can happily sit in the 20's-low 30's.C - Content (9/10)This is a premium, quality looking product. The "MSI" brand light on the card lights up and can be altered to blink, stay static etc which is a nice touch. Gaming with the card promises great FPS returns, and I was running everything on Ultra, very smoothly. I tried it primarily on:World of WarcraftOverwatchCivilisation V and Beyond EarthDawn of War 1&2Crysis 3Call of Duty: Black Ops 3Rise of the Tomb RaiderQuantum BreakCS:GOAll of which ran super smooth and at a steady high FPS 40-60+ at Ultra settings.ConclusionThe card is an absolute beast. Bang for buck is far superior over the likes of the GTX980, and would recommend this. With the upcoming launch of the 1070 and 1080 though, you might find waiting a bit longer to be in your favour. If you can't wait though, and are after a 9xx series card... The 970 is your hero, and MSI have done well with their finishing touches on the card. This is future-proof and you'll be ready for VR and anything to come at least for the next few years.Thanks for reading, please do up vote if this helped. This is a completely independent and unbiased review.
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 October 2015
Style Name: MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 GAMING 4GBVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 May 2016
Style Name: MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 GAMING 4GBVerified Purchase
My current spec as of review with this card:
Intel i7 4790k
MSI GTX 970
16 GB Corsair Vengeance Ram @ 2133mhz
500gb Samsung 850 Evo SSD
I have had this since Feb 2015, and gone on to play many games with it.
I review using the "E.P.I.C" scale:
E - Ease of Use (9/10)
The card was very easy to install and drivers were updated quickly and efficiently thanks to Nvidia Experience software. One quick reboot and the card was up to date, fully recognised by the system and ready to rock.
P - Price (10/10)
The price for this card is fair judging by the performance. It's a very good "bang for buck". You can pay significantly more for a GTX980, which would offer little performance boosts. The GTX 970 is the best in the 9xx series of cards, primarily because of the performance at the price point. The most powerful card, GTX 980Ti, is hugely more expensive, and does offer a far more powerful performance boost over both the 970 and 980, but the "bang for buck" ratio just isn't the same. The 970 is truly a great value for such a card.
I - Innovation (9/10)
This card comes with MSI's innovative "Twin Frozr" technology, allowing for optimal cooling of the card. I can vouch for this as my card was consistently kept at a good temperature. Now this can vary on a few factors: your case, your case fan setup, cooling systems installed, etc... But typically, as a standard builder, my case and fans weren't optimal, so I'd like to think the card temperatures relied a lot on the Twin Frozr technology. As a general guide, gaming on this consistently over a year, the highest I ever got to was about 60 after a whole day on World of Warcraft. It tends to sit around 40-54 when gaming, and for day to day tasks it can happily sit in the 20's-low 30's.
C - Content (9/10)
This is a premium, quality looking product. The "MSI" brand light on the card lights up and can be altered to blink, stay static etc which is a nice touch. Gaming with the card promises great FPS returns, and I was running everything on Ultra, very smoothly. I tried it primarily on:
World of Warcraft
Overwatch
Civilisation V and Beyond Earth
Dawn of War 1&2
Crysis 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Quantum Break
CS:GO
All of which ran super smooth and at a steady high FPS 40-60+ at Ultra settings.
Conclusion
The card is an absolute beast. Bang for buck is far superior over the likes of the GTX980, and would recommend this. With the upcoming launch of the 1070 and 1080 though, you might find waiting a bit longer to be in your favour. If you can't wait though, and are after a 9xx series card... The 970 is your hero, and MSI have done well with their finishing touches on the card. This is future-proof and you'll be ready for VR and anything to come at least for the next few years.
Thanks for reading, please do up vote if this helped. This is a completely independent and unbiased review.
Intel i7 4790k
MSI GTX 970
16 GB Corsair Vengeance Ram @ 2133mhz
500gb Samsung 850 Evo SSD
I have had this since Feb 2015, and gone on to play many games with it.
I review using the "E.P.I.C" scale:
E - Ease of Use (9/10)
The card was very easy to install and drivers were updated quickly and efficiently thanks to Nvidia Experience software. One quick reboot and the card was up to date, fully recognised by the system and ready to rock.
P - Price (10/10)
The price for this card is fair judging by the performance. It's a very good "bang for buck". You can pay significantly more for a GTX980, which would offer little performance boosts. The GTX 970 is the best in the 9xx series of cards, primarily because of the performance at the price point. The most powerful card, GTX 980Ti, is hugely more expensive, and does offer a far more powerful performance boost over both the 970 and 980, but the "bang for buck" ratio just isn't the same. The 970 is truly a great value for such a card.
I - Innovation (9/10)
This card comes with MSI's innovative "Twin Frozr" technology, allowing for optimal cooling of the card. I can vouch for this as my card was consistently kept at a good temperature. Now this can vary on a few factors: your case, your case fan setup, cooling systems installed, etc... But typically, as a standard builder, my case and fans weren't optimal, so I'd like to think the card temperatures relied a lot on the Twin Frozr technology. As a general guide, gaming on this consistently over a year, the highest I ever got to was about 60 after a whole day on World of Warcraft. It tends to sit around 40-54 when gaming, and for day to day tasks it can happily sit in the 20's-low 30's.
C - Content (9/10)
This is a premium, quality looking product. The "MSI" brand light on the card lights up and can be altered to blink, stay static etc which is a nice touch. Gaming with the card promises great FPS returns, and I was running everything on Ultra, very smoothly. I tried it primarily on:
World of Warcraft
Overwatch
Civilisation V and Beyond Earth
Dawn of War 1&2
Crysis 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Quantum Break
CS:GO
All of which ran super smooth and at a steady high FPS 40-60+ at Ultra settings.
Conclusion
The card is an absolute beast. Bang for buck is far superior over the likes of the GTX980, and would recommend this. With the upcoming launch of the 1070 and 1080 though, you might find waiting a bit longer to be in your favour. If you can't wait though, and are after a 9xx series card... The 970 is your hero, and MSI have done well with their finishing touches on the card. This is future-proof and you'll be ready for VR and anything to come at least for the next few years.
Thanks for reading, please do up vote if this helped. This is a completely independent and unbiased review.
Images in this review
Top reviews from other countries
CyberGoddessJesycaLondini
Speed
Reviewed in the United States on 12 December 2018Style Name: MSI NVIDIA GTX 970 GAMING 4GBVerified Purchase
Greg Briggs
Great value, and very quiet.
Reviewed in the United States on 4 May 2016
