They claim if the card is running below 50c then the fans will not spin at all, eliminating noise. MSI point out that the new cooler is a ‘Hybrid' design and that they came up with this before ASUS did on their StriX Edition cards – which we really rate highly. MSI claim the independent GPU and PWM cooling reduces noise by up to 1.9dBa. MSI have also implemented a similar feature seen on their high end Lightning models – the fans are controlled independently by IC's on the PCB and GPU. The company have finally replaced their fans – and they are reportedly producing 19% ‘better' airflow than the fans used on the Twin Frozr 4 cooler. We can see the overhanging cooling heatpipes from the rear. Power is delivered via a 6-phase +2 configuration. It is built around a black PCB, which earns it bonus points (We don't like the nasty dark brown PCB's). This is the Cameron Diaz of graphics cards. The only MSI software I like to run is MSI Afterburner (more on this later in the review). I have to admit after playing with it for a few minutes I de-installed it completely. MSI also include a ‘Gaming App' on this disc which may prove useful for some people. The bundle includes a power converter, literature on the product, and a software disc. MSI highlight their cooling system on the back of the box, including information on the Torx Fan and SuperSU Pipes built into the heatsink. MSI list some technical information along the bottom of the MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G box. MSI box artwork is immediately distinguishable – their Dragon logo takes pride of place across the front of the box. The GDDR5 memory remains untouched, as we would expect – its certainly not going to be a bottleneck. The MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G has received a core clock enhancement to 1,140mhz, from 1,050mhz on the reference design. Nvidia have added a new compression engine to reduce the demand on DRAM bandwidth. Those of you with higher resolution monitors, or running in a multi screen configuration will also be pleased to hear that there is 4GB of GDDR5 memory on the card, not 3GB – this memory will push 224 GB/s sec. The Geforce GTX 970 is equipped with 7Gbps memory. The addition of extra cache means that fewer requests to the GPU memory are needed – again reducing power consumption and pushing more performance. The L2 cache size in the GM204 is 2MB, or four times larger than the GK104. Doing so saves power and enhances overall performance. The Maxwell SM has been rebalanced so that the CUDA cores are fully utilised more often. It sounds easy enough on paper to achieve, but the real world challenges for Nvidia have been complex. The Maxwell architecture has been designed to deliver twice the performance per watt of previous generation Geforce hardware. Competition is good for us, the consumer. Not an easy thing to do overnight, but we hope they can become competitive again in the coming months. It produces such a modest heat emission that the Asus GTX750Ti Strix OC we reviewed recently didn't need to spin the fans most of the time, even when gaming.ĪMD really are so far behind now when it comes to power consumption that they will need to release a new architecture to compete. The GTX750ti has been one of the most exciting cards that Nvidia have released in recent years – performance is close to the HD7850 while consuming half the power at the socket – and all without the need for a PCIe power cable. If you are a regular reader of KitGuru then you will already have studied our multiple analysis of the lower level GTX750Ti solution throughout the year. The two tone red and black colour scheme looks fantastic and we love the red vertical ‘flashes' over the black section of the cooler.Įven though we have a handful of reviews ready for the launch today, Nvidia's Maxwell architecture deserves a little discussion before we get into testing the MSI GTX970. The MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G is undoubtedly a looker. Not only does this card ship with a tasty overclock, but it is one of the prettiest graphics cards we have ever seen. In this review we look at a modified, overclocked solution from partner MSI – the GTX970 Gaming 4G. This week Nvidia launch their new GTX970 and GTX980 GPU's – based on the exceptionally efficient Maxwell architecture.
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