There’s also a single HDMI port, and the other two outputs are DVI-one DVI-I and one DVI-D. Unlike Nvidia’s GTX 980 reference design, this card has only one DisplayPort ouput. Speaking of connectors, the Strix comes with a complement of display outputs that looks a bit old-school. However, not every power supply comes with an eight-pin PCIe power lead, so the Strix may require a dual-six-pin-to-single-eight-pin adapter. That plug should supply plenty to juice to drive the GPU and memory, and it’s certainly convenient during installation. To capitalize on that fact, the Strix doesn’t spin up its fans until the GPU reaches a certain threshold temperature.Īsus made the unusual choice of including only a single eight-pin power input on the Strix 970. This cooler is potent enough to keep the GM204 GPU from getting too warm at idle and during light gaming loads without spinning its fans at all. One of the best things about the Strix’s cooling isn’t apparent from pictures. The “gray goo” thermal paste application on the Strix isn’t bad, either, although the layer of goo is a little thicker than absolutely necessary. You can see from the leftover thermal paste above that all three pipes line up right above the GM204 die. Most modern PC cases of the mid-tower variety shouldn’t have any trouble swallowing this thing, but you’ll want to check the dimensions carefully if space is at a premium inside of your target enclosure.Īsus calls this cooler “DirectCU II” because it belongs to the second generation of Asus coolers whose copper heatpipes make direct contact with the top of the graphics chip. Also, the cooler’s heatpipes protrude about an inch and a half vertically above the top of the PCIe expansion slot covers. At over 11″, the Strix takes up more space than the GTX 980 reference design. At any rate, it’s a big, dual-slot cooler with twin fans, triple heat pipes, and a metal shroud coated with flat-black paint.Īsus has made sure the cooler has lots of heatsink surface area by giving it ample dimensions. Asus’ press materials say it’s 30% cooler and “3X quieter” than. They’re a bit of a hot item.Īside from the obvious GPU value, one of the Strix’s main attractions is that handsome DirectCU II custom cooler. Asus quotes a list of $339, but Newegg is asking $349 for the Strix right now-if you can find one in stock. The Strix offers somewhat higher base and boost GPU clock frequencies than Nvidia requires, and it sells for a little bit more than Nvidia’s suggested retail price. You see, Nvidia didn’t produce any reference boards for the GTX 970, so cards like the Strix are some of the earliest implementations. Trouble is, the idea of a “baseline” GTX 970 is a bit of a convenient fiction. The Strix is ostensibly a premium card with a higher price and faster clock speeds than the “standard” GTX 970. Let’s get down to it.Īsus’ Strix GTX 970 may be familiar to you from our initial review of the GeForce GTX 970. The two cards are incredibly similar on paper, but they’re more different than you might think in actual use. Today, that means sussing out the differences between a pair of hopped-up GeForce GTX 970 cards: the Asus Strix GTX 970 and the MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G. In that context, my happy task is to guide you through some of your options. In every other sense, they’re really easy, because it’s hard to go wrong and, at the end, you’ll be doing butt stomps on Elpis with fluid, stunning visuals. These are tough choices, in the sense that choosing can be difficult. Like, “Which one of these excellent video cards at an amazing price is the best one to get?” It’s good to be a PC gamer, is what I’m saying.īut if you’re going to be forking over less than price of an Xbox One for more than three times the GPU power-that is, if you’re you’re planning to buy a GeForce GTX 970-you may still be vexed by questions. Or the one about getting a vastly more powerful CPU than the consoles’ for $72. Later, around Christmastime, I’ll tell you the one about wanting to buy major AAA games for five to ten bucks, opening up Steam, and getting to take your pick. Because that’s how life as a PC gamer works. There comes a time in the life of every PC gamer when you say to yourself: “Self, I’d like to buy a graphics card with more than twice the shader power of a PlayStation 4 for less money.” Then you fire up a web browser, read our review of the GeForce GTX 970, and realize you can have what you want.
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