March 19, 2024

Mirabilia Reviews & Ratings

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nvidia GTX 970 Graphics Card

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming GDDR5 Pcie Video Graphics Card

Review of Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 G1 Gaming GDDR5 Pcie Video Graphics Card which delivers high performance and unmatched power efficiency with its cutting-edge features such as advanced sampling, Multi-Frame sampled Anti-Aliasing (MFAA), and Dynamic Super Resolution technology that delivers 4K-quality gaming—even on 1080p displays is designed for serious gaming.

  • Editor Rating

  • Rated 5 stars
  • Spectacular

  • Quality
    Editor: 100%
  • Price
    Editor: 100%
  • Overall
    Editor: 100%

Review Summary:

A good PC gaming experience is contingent on two things: a sufficient amount of RAM, and an amazing video card. RAM is fairly easy to get, but picking the perfect graphics card should take some thought and consideration. Thankfully, I’ve done all the thinking and considering for you, and I’m happy to tell you that the Nvidia GTX 970 Graphics Card is easily one of the best choices on the market today, whether you’re building a new rig or simply upgrading your current machine.

The GTX 970 is a moderately priced graphics card that clocks in at $379 dollars from most major retailers, but don’t let the price scare you. This PCI Express 3.0 card carries a fantastic 4GB of GDDR5 RAM designed to deliver the best gaming experience possible. It was released early in 2015 as a replacement for a number of cards that were discontinued late in 2014.

The video quality provided by this card is, in a word, phenomenal. Recently released graphics heavy games like Dragon Age: Inquisition load quickly and run smoothly, even on the highest graphic settings.

The two powerful cooling fans are a fantastic addition, but they are also designed to save power. The onboard temperature control determines when the fans need to be turned on and how fast they need to spin, rather than leaving them spinning 24/7 like most case fans and other cooling systems. Even when the card has been overclocked (or pushed beyond its stock capabilities for those not in to computer modding) the ambient temperature remained steady when playing graphics intensive games like the new Tomb Raider, and Batman: Arkham Origins.

The only negative to this card is the odd way that the memory is partitioned. While it does have 4GB of dedicated video RAM, it is split between two partitions. The first and largest is 3.5GB and the remaining 0.5GB is separated into a second smaller partition. Games that don’t require more than 3.5 GB of video ram run beautifully, but some overclocking gamers have found that games that require that extra 0.5 GB of RAM tend to slow when the second partition is being accessed. I haven’t experienced this personally, though, so it doesn’t affect my review.

While it doesn’t quite match up to its overbearing brother, the GTX 980, it is definitely one of the best choices on the market today for someone who wants to upgrade their video card and level up their gaming experience. The GTX 970 was my first choice for the new gaming rig that I built earlier this year and when paired with 16GB of DDR3 ram, it has yet to disappoint.




Pros

  • 4GB dedicated video ram provides fantastic video and gaming quality.
  • Heavy duty cooling fans keep the card at proper temperature without being noisy
  • Power save mode for the fans – they only engage when needed.
  • Cons

  • RAM partition can affect overclocked gaming experience.