Reviewed: Gigabyte GTX 970 & 960 G1 Gaming Graphics Cards

Pricing

The GTX 970 GPU isn’t cheap but it’s more affordable than its bigger brother the GTX980. The G1 Gaming series cards attract a premium for the guaranteed overclock, aftermarket cooling, increased odds of overclocking headroom and that awesome backplate. At the time of writing, the pricing is:

  • Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4GD : $519
  • Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming 2GD : $319 

Gigabyte also have the slightly lower spec WINFORCE 3X versions for about 10% less which are better value if you’re on a budget. Whether these cards are worth the money really depends on what you are upgrading from and what resolution and refresh rate you’re planning to use. If you’re upgrading from say a GTX 560 and use a 60Hz 1080P display, a GTX 960 might be worth it. On the other hand, if you’re looking at 2560×1440 or 144Hz display, then the extra video memory and GPU grunt of the GTX 970 is going to be closer to your needs.

Final Thoughts

These cards look like gaming cards on the outside and perform as we would expect where it counts. The back plate and solid cooler design should really help in the fight against PCB sag where longer graphics cards have a tendency to drop at the end where the PCIE power connectors attach. The WINDFORCE 3X cooler is a beast and these iterations are a further step forward in what has been an impressive cooler for at least the last 3 generations of NVIDIA GPUs.

Overclocking results were impressive on both of our samples and the GTX 970 G1 Gaming looks like great value in this regard. The GTX 960 received a nice boost from the overclock that will help at 1080p but I’d be hesitant to use any GTX 960 for 2560×1440 gaming as the primary resolution.

As a component for a console alternative PC, the GTX 960 G1 Gaming card is a solid option that is really quiet, delivers 1080p performance and won’t break the bank. For a desktop setup gaming at either 1080p or 2560×1440, the GTX 970 G1 Gaming is also a solid option in our experience.

   Gigabyte GTX 960 G1 Gaming 2GD Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 Gaming 4GD
  20150121114533 big   11183 big

PROS

Gaming at 1080p at an affordable price
Very quiet, semi passive at idle
Our sample overclocked to 1545 MHz
Low power consumption and heat
Awesome back plate and effective cooler
Good performance out of the box, ~15% improvement in gaming headroom if you’re happy to tweak it.
Nice Price compared to a GTX 980
Our sample overclocked to 1610 MHz
Low power consumption and heat
Awesome back plate and effective cooler

CONS

crossThe 295mm length might be an issue for compact builds crossThe 295mm length might be an issue for compact builds
crossPotential for coil whine and the ‘Memory Allocation Issue’ has tainted what is otherwise a great bang for buck GPU
Awards  HighlyRecommended  

HighlyRecommended

 

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