Possible video Card upgrade

[psypher]

So, BF/CM is almost here. I'm currently running an EVGA GTX 670. I've had good experiences with EVGA (last 2 cards were made by them). What would be a good upgrade that's <$400?

[Err]

For that price range, I'd go with a 970 (~$340 depending on the flavor of card):

Here is a 970 SC B stock with a 1 year warranty for $249.

If you want a bit more bang for your buck you could go with a http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2983-RX"]B stock 980 for $379:

Both cards have 4GB of RAM so you'll be fine at 1080. You may be able to get ~$130 from your 670 on ebay or you could dedicate it as a Physx card.

[wvjohn]

I agree with the 970. I have the MSI gaming which is slightly OC and it handles 1440 just fine, I can run 1080 with pretty much all eye candy enabled. I think I saw somehwere - maybe HardOCP in the deals section - regular 970s under $300 with a better warranty.

[psypher]

Anyone ever bought a B Stock card from them?

[Err]

Anyone ever bought a B Stock card from them?

I haven't mainly because EVGA's B-stock prices aren't that good for the cards I've wanted. I'd like a 980TI but $50 off the price isn't enough for me to jump on it.

I was looking at Amazon's deals for today (11/21/2015) ans they have an EVGA 970 SC ACX for $271.24. Hopefully this link still works when you see this:

http://smile.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Quieter-Graphics-04G-P4-2974-KR/dp/B00NVODXR4/ref=sr_1_3?m=A2L77EE7U53NWQ&s=warehouse-deals&ie=UTF8&qid=1448115072&sr=1-3

UPDATE: Sorry. I didn't look close enough at the card from Amazon. It's listed as used selling from Amazon's warehouse. I don't know what Amazon's policy is on returning items from their warehouse deals section. You'd be better off in my opinion getting the B-stock from EVGA. I'm always heard good things about their customer service although I've never had to use it.

[psypher]

For that price range, I'd go with a 970 (~$340 depending on the flavor of card):

Here is a 970 SC B stock with a 1 year warranty for $249.

If you want a bit more bang for your buck you could go with a http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2983-RX"]B stock 980 for $379:

Both cards have 4GB of RAM so you'll be fine at 1080. You may be able to get ~$130 from your 670 on ebay or you could dedicate it as a Physx card.

Dam, I should have jumped on that 980 for $380...now they're all $100 or more higher. Guess I'll keep waiting.

[Err]

Dam, I should have jumped on that 980 for $380...now their all $100 or more higher. Guess I'll keep waiting.

They have another 980 SC without the ACX cooling for $380: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2982-RX

You may also want to look at newegg and tiger direct in the next few days. NVidia is supposed to be dropping the retail pricing on the 900 series: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/48684/nvidias-geforce-gtx-900-series-price-drops-holidays/index.html

[psypher]

They have another 980 SC without the ACX cooling for $380: http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2982-RX

You may also want to look at newegg and tiger direct in the next few days. NVidia is supposed to be dropping the retail pricing on the 900 series: http://www.tweaktown.com/news/48684/nvidias-geforce-gtx-900-series-price-drops-holidays/index.html

Nope, just has an option for auto-notify. I'm not in a hurry, so I'll just keep looking around.

[psypher]

Any thoughts on this card? EVGA GeForce GTX 970 04G-P4-3978-KR 4GB FTW+ GAMING w/ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 38566&SID=

It's currently down to $328.99 shipped after a $20 rebate on Newegg.

EVGA also has the GTX 970 SSC GAMING ACX 2.0 B-Stock down to $259


I found this info on their forum:
"The 970 SSC and FTW have upgrade VRMs/SFCs. I believe they both have 4 SFC or whatever EVGA is calling them. Its possible that it has more power phases, but it looks like a 3+1, possible a 5+1 depending on how you look at it. I know that it was stated before that they upgraded the components which allowed allowed more voltage which allows higher stock overclocks. I believe there is 2/3 Bios switches on respective cards as well.

The only difference from the SSC and FTW is the cooler design. The SSC vents out the front and back with horizontal fin directions meaning some air will vent out the rear of the case and some will vent out the front of the card back into the case. The FTW has vertical fins meaning that no air is vented out the rear of the case, its vented out the top and bottom of the card (towards the mobo and away from mobo). With the addition of a solid plate that is connected to the heat pipes rather than heatpipes directly touching the gpu. In single card setups, this allow higher air flow over shorter distances which decreased temperatures by 4 degrees Celsius. Which lower temps usually are accompanied by slower fan speeds which nets you a quieter cooling solution"

Is the FTW even worth the extra $80?

[Genom]

Not if your keeping everything at stock speeds. And frankly, unless you are watercooling, the overclocks would be pretty small and not worth the hassle most of the time.

[Err]

I have the FTW EVGA 980ti and the cooler works very well. The default fan profile keeps the fans completely off under 60 degrees C. While it may not direct heat out of the back, there is a small vent. The reason I bought the FTW is that is was only $10 more than the SC at the time on Amazon and had a higher clock.

I also still have the EVGA 780 SC 3GB that it replaced for sale. Aside from the smaller VRAM, it runs pretty close to a stock 970.

[psypher]

Not if your keeping everything at stock speeds. And frankly, unless you are watercooling, the overclocks would be pretty small and not worth the hassle most of the time.

ok Thanks, that's what I figured.

[psypher]

Amazon dropped the price to $315 so I got Microcenter to match it on top of them having a $25 rebate. So I got a brand new GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0+ for essentially $290+tax. Even with the tax it was still cheaper than anywhere else. The bad thing is having to replace all my monitor cables that are DVI to DisplayPort and HDMI. I should have those on Friday, so hopefully I'll have it all running Friday night.