Asus GTX970 STRIX

They make noise, too.

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Abula
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Abula » Mon Nov 24, 2014 6:27 pm

Thanks for the feeback NWW, nice to see it work out good for you.... and its very tempting.... but i gotta resist...

Tzupy
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Tzupy » Tue Nov 25, 2014 2:43 pm

Gainward GTX 970 Phantom is a relatively short card but has coil whine:
http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/36294 ... d?start=14

NWW
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by NWW » Sun Nov 30, 2014 7:16 am

One week in impressions:

I heard the coil whine twice: Once as per my last post, and a second time trying furmark with the donut disabled. So yeah, that's a non issue.

The fan: I haven't messed with the fan curves, and I don't think I will. I heard it last night while I was playing some BF4 without my headset, but even then, it's much quieter than my older card. In day to day usage, it doesn't turn on once. This is amazing, and it's making me hate my case fans that I couldn't hear before. Damn you Asus. Also, while it wasn't my main focus, having my room not heating up while watching some Live TV via my computer is nice. NVidia really stepped up their game this gen.

I can only recommend this card. A friend of mine is picking it up as well, I'll have him test for coil whine as well, but his setup is different (144Hz Monitors, plays LoL, cheap case, 5 HDDs, no SSD00, sound doesn't bother him at all). I'll report back with our findings.

Abula
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Abula » Tue Dec 16, 2014 7:36 am

NWW wrote:One week in impressions:

I heard the coil whine twice: Once as per my last post, and a second time trying furmark with the donut disabled. So yeah, that's a non issue.

The fan: I haven't messed with the fan curves, and I don't think I will. I heard it last night while I was playing some BF4 without my headset, but even then, it's much quieter than my older card. In day to day usage, it doesn't turn on once. This is amazing, and it's making me hate my case fans that I couldn't hear before. Damn you Asus. Also, while it wasn't my main focus, having my room not heating up while watching some Live TV via my computer is nice. NVidia really stepped up their game this gen.

I can only recommend this card. A friend of mine is picking it up as well, I'll have him test for coil whine as well, but his setup is different (144Hz Monitors, plays LoL, cheap case, 5 HDDs, no SSD00, sound doesn't bother him at all). I'll report back with our findings.
Thanks again for the feedback NWW, ill post some in a week or two, i just bought two Asus GTX970, i was resisting.... but there was a sale on BH like $340, not much.... but something had to give =P. I wont run them SLI until the FT05 arrives.... probably another month.

PS Evil mike made me do it =P

Alex11223
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Alex11223 » Fri Dec 19, 2014 2:07 pm

Bought 970 Strix. Haven't heard any whine so far, in idle and when 60-80 fps.

The only problem that with my config (XL R2, 3x Antec True Quiet 140 400-500rpm, RM650, i7 Mugen) in "idle" (browser and other software, 2x 1920x1200) it can get kind of hot, 50-55 °C. Probably XL /R4/R5 are not the best cases for such semi passive components.

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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by MikeC » Fri Dec 19, 2014 2:27 pm

Alex11223 wrote:Bought 970 Strix. Haven't heard any whine so far, in idle and when 60-80 fps.

The only problem that with my config (XL R2, 3x Antec True Quiet 140 400-500rpm, RM650, i7 Mugen) in "idle" (browser and other software, 2x 1920x1200) it can get kind of hot, 50-55 °C. Probably XL /R4/R5 are not the best cases for such semi passive components.
There's nothing too hot about 50-55 °C. IRRC, the default fan profile is for it not to turn on till 60°C.

Krydel
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Krydel » Wed Dec 24, 2014 2:43 pm

I've been inspired by the recent silent ATX gamer define r5 edition article to experiment with fan curves. Am i to assume if i follow similar settings (obviously i will tailor it for my own system's cooling capabilities) i.e. try not to go over 85C then a GTX 970 is just as safe as a GTX 980 at those temps? I've got a strix version too.

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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by MikeC » Wed Dec 24, 2014 2:49 pm

Krydel wrote:I've been inspired by the recent silent ATX gamer article to experiment with fan curves. Am i to assume if i follow similar settings (obviously i will tailor it for my own system's cooling capabilities) i.e. try not to go over 85C then a GTX 970 is just as safe as a GTX 980 at those temps? I've got a strix version too.
Actually it seems perfectly safe to try any fan curve because all the new GTX 900 series cards appear to come from nVidia with that built-in fail-safe of fans going full blast at >90C. As long as you don't disconnect the stock fans, they seem almost impossible to overheat to the point of damage.

Abula
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Abula » Wed Dec 24, 2014 6:27 pm

So i was suppose to wait for the FT05 to come but didn't make the deadline to the boat and the GTX970s came by air.... so i was burning inside to test them.

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I can say that neither of my cards have any coil that i can perceive, on single and SLI the Asus GTX970 are dead silent on idle, on single gpu on heaven benchmark its perceivable the noise, but its very low where i sit, i would probably not pick it if im not paying attention to it, now on SLI its loud, really loud, since the GTX480 days i never heard my PC so loud on load, the top card, as in most SLI setups, heats up a good 5-8C more than the bottom forcing the fans to work over 2k rpms where its way to loud for me.

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For now i would say the Fractal Design Define R4 is not good enough for a SLI setup, will see a month or so, if the FT05 + AP182 cools better.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by quest_for_silence » Thu Dec 25, 2014 3:01 am

Abula wrote:For now i would say the Fractal Design Define R4 is not good enough for a SLI setup, will see a month or so, if the FT05 + AP182 cools better.

Do you thoroughly mop your rigs before taking any photo?

By the way, merry Christmas Abula (even without that FT05 gift)! :mrgreen:

Sader
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Sader » Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:53 am

Guys thanks for informative tests and info !

Does anyone noticed VRM temps going high on these cards ?
I've had mine up to 86 during 30 min gaming sessions which is a bit high, considering Gigabyte G1 which has its VRMs cooled by same plate that touches the GPU and they are really cool !
And after I found this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E3Mc0oDvFQ Aren't such temps shorten cards lifetime ?
MSI and ASUS both has VRMs cooled by relatively small heatsink, but Strix has backplate, while MSI doesnt....

BTW this is my reason which I have returned this card - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsMXotF33mU couldn't stand coil whine and buzzling during gaming.....ugh

Abula
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Abula » Fri Dec 26, 2014 5:57 am

quest_for_silence wrote:By the way, merry Christmas Abula (even without that FT05 gift)! :mrgreen:
Merry christmas to you too my friend.
quest_for_silence wrote:Do you thoroughly mop your rigs before taking any photo?
Nope, i havent even air clean it in 6 months, but i do clean the filters every 2 months, they do work really well into helping keeping the dust out.
Sader wrote:Does anyone noticed VRM temps going high on these cards ?
I've had mine up to 86 during 30 min gaming sessions which is a bit high, considering Gigabyte G1 which has its VRMs cooled by same plate that touches the GPU and they are really cool !
TBH i havent seen yet. I didnt considered the G1 mostly because of the pipe design 90 rotation.
Sader wrote:And after I found this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E3Mc0oDvFQ Aren't such temps shorten cards lifetime ?
MSI and ASUS both has VRMs cooled by relatively small heatsink, but Strix has backplate, while MSI doesnt....
I can tell you that the STRIX backplate does get very warm, not hot or burning, but seems to be helping aid the cooling. Btw there is an MSI that does come with a backplate, just a little more expensive, MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G Golden Edition GM204-200 (Maxwell) 4GB GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ATX Video Card

CA_Steve
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Dec 26, 2014 6:51 am

VRM components always run warmer than the GPU and are spec'd that way. 86C isn't horrible. That said, it's still a factor when I compare gfx cards. HT4U's reviews show the VRM (Converter) temps in the bottom chart. Their 970 STRIX was closer to 80C.

bbalex
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by bbalex » Fri Jan 23, 2015 6:39 am

As I said in a previous post, I tried a GTX 980 after my bad experience with the two 970 Asus Strixes that were buzzing. In fact, I ended up trying two cards from different manufacturers: a MSI GTX 980 4G Gaming, and then later an ASUS GTX 980 STRIX.

I don't know how much merit is in the claim that buzzing is not an occurrence on the 980, but neither of the two 980 cards I tested had it. The cards are not dark silent - there is still some low level ticks or humming probably under load, but it is hard to distinguish that from the coil noise that the motherboard VRM circuitry makes under load (it's an Asus VII Gene).


My build is passive, with no mechanical hard-disks and no fans, except the one on the semi-passive PSU which never spins because I picked a 750W unit. The case is a Lian Li V359, which can have any of its panels removed, so that it can be used as an open-case and I use it as such, with its top panel and the side panel next to the graphics card removed.


My interest was to see if I could use the card and not hear any sound from it while under load (in my case, I used the Tomb Raider benchmark running continuously as the gaming load).

First I tried manually setting in AfterBurner the fans to spin at different fixed speeds to see if I can hear them. This was done with the system (and the card) at idle, so that no coil noise from the motherboard, the card itself, or from anything else would interfere. There is no side panel on the case, so nothing to prevent the air flow to the card fans, and nothing to stop their noise either. I am sitting across the room at ~ 3m, so it's at that point that I want to not be able to hear the fans.

On the MSI, both fans can spin up to 30% being inaudible. At 35%, I could notice something if I tried to focus on the noise - but if not, then it's also inaudible as it does not draw attention to it. At 40% however, the fans can be heard.

On the ASUS, I could not find any speed at which the fans were inaudible. The lowest value at which the fans start spinning on the 980 Strix is 33%, and at that value, the fans already make a "hum" that can be clearly heard from 3m away (and even further). Subjectively, the loudness is somewhat comparable to the MSI 38% setting, but the sound profile is different: the ASUS fan noise is a low frequency non-directional "droning" sound, while the MSI fan noise is "airy", more middle frequency based. To me, the "hum" is harder to live with than the airy sound of the MSI fans, exposure to it causes me to feel my ears full. There's also another known side-effect of very low frequency noises - the "masking effect" - they mask higher frequencies and make them difficult to hear. To compensate for that I would have to turn the speaker volume louder than it should be and I don't like that.

When going down from a state where the fans are spinning, to lower values, the fans on the ASUS 980 Strix can still keep spinning at an even lower setting than 33%. Down to 30%, both fans still spin. At 29% only one fan still spins (the fan close to the bracket with the inputs/outputs), while at 28% they both stop. Still, even at 29%, the fans on the Strix can be heard. There's no value at which their noise is inaudible, like it is on the MSI 980.



In the end, I kept the MSI 980, because I was able to run the TombRaider benchmark with fans at 30% or 35%, and the GPU temperature limit set at 60 degrees in AfterBurner, and not hear anything (except the Gene VII motherboard coil noise). This was impossible to achieve with the 980 Strix at any fan speeds.



But it's not all roses with the MSI card. In fact, it was the first card I bought, and would have not even considered trying a 980 STRIX too if not for one annoying "feature", the independent fan control that MSI markets as a "premium" feature over the 970 series.

What happens is that one of the fans on the MSI 980 Gaming, the "black" fan, is controlled independently from the other fan, the "red" fan.

On its default BIOS-controlled automatic behavior, the "red" fan is clearly triggered by the GPU temperature going above 60 degrees. But what exactly triggers the "black" fan - I have no idea. It can start and stop spinning at any GPU temperature values, so that's not it. I saw in a German online review some speculation that it might be a combination of VRM and memory temperature, and voltage - but who knows. What I know is that when left on BIOS automatic control, the card mostly ends up spinning this black fan. It does so even at idle, from time to time. There's no "no fans spinning whatsoever" at idle like on the Strix. Fortunately, the black fan spins at that 30% setting when at idle, which means you never notice it. But when under some load, which don't cause the GPU to go above 60 degrees, it's still the "black" fan alone that is being pushed to spin from time to time. And unfortunately, this means you can end up in situations where the "black" fan is made to spin faster than 33% and become loud, while the "red" fan sits idle. Making the "black" fan spin also drops the GPU temperature, which makes it even less likely the GPU will reach 60 degrees and trigger the other fan to start spinning. The implementation in the BIOS of this "independent" auto control of the fans is a real disaster.

And that's not all. You may think, like I did, that you can control the "black" fan with a user fan curve in a utility like AfterBurner. Only that you can't. The fan curve you set in AfterBurner controls only the "red" fan. If you want to control the "black" fan, you have to use another utility - the "MSI Independent Fan Control".

But the "MSI Independent Fan Control" does not allow you to set a fan curve. You can either let the fan on "auto", or force the fan to run continuously at a fixed speed, in between 30% and 100% (the fans on the MSI 980 can spin at even lower than 30%, so that value is an odd choice). Running the fans at a fixed speed however, has one big disadvantage - when whatever triggers the over-temperature protection goes above 85 degrees C (maybe the VRM temperature, because this happens even with the GPU temperature enforced at 60 degrees C), this "MSI Independent Fan Control" utility takes over and blasts both your fans at high speed to cool down the card. One could live with that, except that - remember that speed you have manually configured? It's nice that you remember it, because the "MSI Independent Fan Control" erased it from its memory the moment it took over. After the card is cooled, it does not go back to the values you have manually configured - those values are forgotten.


In the end, the only thing to do is to manually test and find the "magical" fixed values at which to set the "red" and the "black" fans, to prevent the overheating that makes the "MSI Independent Fan Control" step in.

Fortunately, it seems like 35% for both fans, with 60-67 degrees C GPU temp limit works just fine for me, as I can get all the performance I need, and not hear the card at all. That's the values at which I set my fans to spin when I plan on starting a game. For everything else, there's no need to override the default fan control fortunately, as I will never hear the "black" fan when it spins from time to time at 30%. This might be different for people with closed cases and a constrained air-flow, but works great for me.


So, the horrific decision to have the fans controlled independently on the MSI 980 4G Gaming can be mitigated. But it would have been so much better if the fans were not "independent" in the first place. My only regret is that I did not test the MSI 970 4G Gaming that I had, as on that model there is no independent fan control. If it were free of buzzing, it would have been the perfect card. There is no noticeable difference between the 980 and 970 in games, the extra money asked for the 980 is completely unjustifiable. If one can find a 970 that does not have noise issues, I recommend sticking with it and forgetting that the 980 series exists.


PS: I will try to find time and post later some photos and performance numbers for both the 4G Gaming and the STRIX.

karkee
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by karkee » Wed Sep 23, 2015 4:10 am

I have the MSI GTX 970 , it is going back for bad coil whine.

Just orderd a MSI GTX980 because I want to see if it suffers from the same amount. As pointed out also in the topic from bbalex his 980 cards did not have problems but the 970's had.. so we will see.

I am ok with the little more powerdraw if it has almost no coil whine even though it is HUGE overkill for what I need...

And the temps on a GTX980 compare to a 970 and also powerdraw aint THAT much so.. we will see tomorrow should have the card.

PS. Can anyone light some candles ton8 :(

Deer87
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by Deer87 » Wed Oct 14, 2015 5:50 am

hey,
Have anyone tried comparing the Asus GTX970 Strix to the Asus GTX970 mini?

I know it seems like an unfair fight due to the difference in coolers, but it seems like the mini got some very favorable reviews, and i have started wondering how much more noise it actually generates.

MrYellow
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Re: Asus GTX970 STRIX

Post by MrYellow » Thu Oct 15, 2015 1:16 am

Some additional info about VRM temperatures.

My Asus GTX970 Strix VRM temp is around 100-102C under heavy load.
Dear Mr. ,

Thank you for your trust in our ASUS support.
My name is Allen and it is my pleasure to help you with the issue.

Please feel free to rate our service according to the solution provided in the questionnaire that will be sent to you shortly after our reply to your inquiry.

I inform you that the maximum temperature for VRM (Voltage regulator module) for Asus graphic cards is 120 degrees Celsius. The cards VRM will work with no issues whatsoever until 100 degrees and it's usually safe to work up to 110 degrees.

On a normal operation, the card's VRM will often reach 100 degrees and this will not affect the longevity of the card.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Best Regards,
ASUS Technical Support

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