Which 960 to get?

Squarewave

Hi guys,

I'm looking into upgrading my graphics card (mainly to play gta5) and I've settled on getting a 4gb gtx 960.

The two cheapest cards on hardwareversand at the moment are a Zotac and a Palit for €258ish each. I'm not familiar with either of these brands so I was wondering if anyone could recommend one over the other? Or should I splash out a bit extra and go with a Gigabyte or MSI card?
I'm planning on overclocking so the larger heatsink on the Palit would make it the more obvious choice to me but I'd like to go for whichever card is more reliable.

Here's my current setup if anyone's interested:
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K
RAM: 8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9
Mobo: ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX
PSU: Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W
GPU: Powercolor HD6870 1024MB Dual-DVI/HD1M2I5
1080p monitor

klub44

MSI Gaming and Asus ones are passive in idle, Gigabyte Windforce and G1 have much better radiators then stock one (4 heatpipes and backplate)so would recommend them ones.
Postage from hardvareversand is 30e, so compare card price with dabs.ie where they sending here for a 2e.

Squarewave

klub44 wrote: »

MSI Gaming and Asus ones are passive in idle, Gigabyte Windforce and G1 have much better radiators then stock one (4 heatpipes and backplate)so would recommend them ones.
Postage from hardvareversand is 30e, so compare card price with dabs.ie where they sending here for a 2e.

Thanks for the reply! Apparently the Palit does passive in idle as well, not sure about the Zotac though.
The Windforce is only €7 more than the Palit on geizhals.de though so I'm tempted to go for that.
Also shipping from hardvareversand is showing as only €11.99 for me, I think the €30 rate only applies for bulky orders.

Recurve360

Palit have always had a bad rep for cooling ability and noisy fans despite what the specs say. Im not sure if it applies to this model though, id personally go with the windforce

vlad2009

Can somebody explain how is there a 2gb and 4gb versions of 960?

SterlingArcher

vlad2009 wrote: »

Can somebody explain how is there a 2gb and 4gb versions of 960?

There has always been a 2 gig and 4 gig version of nvida cards. Hopefully this is the last gen of 2 gig cards we see.

Agreed on the WindForce.

My opinion keep on saving and get a 970.

Hyzepher

it would be crazy to buy a 960 at those prices when the 970 isn't too much more but gives a much better performance.

TerrorFirmer

You can get a 4GB R9 290 for just €30 more and it's a way faster card. I agree it wouldn't be worth getting a GTX960 at that high price point.

py2006

You may need to up your PSU aswell?

Squarewave

SterlingArcher wrote: »

My opinion keep on saving and get a 970.

Hyzepher wrote: »

it would be crazy to buy a 960 at those prices when the 970 isn't too much more but gives a much better performance.

The cheapest 970 I can find is still €80 more than the 960. I really don't think I game enough to justify spending that much extra. I could go for the 2GB 960 for ~€200 but there seems to be an increasing trend with games requiring at least 3GB vram for highest res textures these days..

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

You can get a 4GB R9 290 for just €30 more and it's a way faster card. I agree it wouldn't be worth getting a GTX960 at that high price point.

Yeah I had considered the 290 alright, the problem is my power supply is only 450W and I'm worried I wouldn't have much headroom left with a 290. So with the €30 extra and the price of a new PSU factored in then I might as well go with a 970 and keep my old PSU. Plus the 960 and 970 come with free Witcher 3 keys at the moment which is another thing in their favour! The 290 is definitely the better card, just not the best suited card for me.

py2006 wrote: »

You may need to up your PSU aswell?

The 960's power consumption is less than my current 6870's so I should be fine. If I went with a 290 though then I'd probably have to upgrade.

vlad2009

is the 970 still better than the 290 even though it doesn't have the full 4gb vram?

Digital Solitude

Very little difference Vlad, it comes down to a game by game comparison.

You only get the keys if you buy from an official nvidia partner or something like that, I think scan and OCers.co.UK are the two nearest for delivery and price

BloodBath

My advice is don't buy a gimped 960 at all unless silence and low power consumption are your main goals.

I'm not sure what Nvidia were thinking. They have pretty much messed up this entire generation of cards with greed but hey what else would you expect from Nvidia. They have been doing this kind of crap for decades.

The 4GB 960 makes more sense since 2GB is already being exceeded by some current gen games at 1080p resulting in large frame rate dips and overall lower average fps than 3gb and 4gb cards but for the same money you can get the superior R9 280/280x or for a little more the far superior R9 290.

The 4GB 960's are still using a gimped 128bit memory controller anyway.

GTA5 is one of the games with high res 4k textures which will result in large frame rate dips on a 2gb card if running the highest res textures.

The choice is a bit tougher for you because of the power supply issue so I'm not sure what the best advice is. A 280 or 280x should be fine on a decent 450w PSU.

Digital Solitude

I'm running a 280x on a 400w no issue, I'd recommend a 450w min though