why are Geforce GTX 970 reference cards so hard to find?

[RussianSensation]

I prefer reference blowers myself. I find them better for MGPU configs and like that heat is exhausted out of the case.

Fair enough but scientific analysis shows otherwise. Professional reviews use scientific testing and have proven many times that blowers are inferior in terms of noise levels, temperatures and maintaining a balance of quiet operation in overclocked states compared to the best after-market open air cooled cards. Knowning that all of the heat is exhausted out of the case doesn't change the data. It's simply not possible to have a GTX970 reference blower SLI design to be as cool and quiet as MSI Gaming GTX970 SLI in a modern well ventilated case, and the situation gets worse when we add overclocking into the mix. If we go 1 step up from GTX970/980 GPUs to higher TDP cads such as 780/780Ti/Titan X that use 230-270W of power, blowers completely fall apart compared to designs such as MSI Lightning, EVGA Classified, Asus DirectCUII/Matrix, Gigabyte Windforce, Galax HOF or Zotac Extreme series. Titan Black with the Windforce 3X cooler operates 20C cooler and quieter than the Titan Black reference design. Blowers are no competition whatsoever as TDP rises.

Also, no blower in the world has the ability to turn off its fan at < 65C, essentially making 0 dBA operation a non-starter for 2D desktop and light load 3D work/gaming. That by definition makes all blowers louder in all non-gaming situations than cards like MSI Gaming or Asus Strix. Furthermore, blowers are often made on reference cards which themselves have inferior VRM/Mosfets/power circuitry components compared to Military Grade / Super Alloy designs of MSI or Asus. That means not only do you have a card with worse cooling, but the actual card itself has inferior components too. Of course those higher quality components and better cooling allow for more stable voltage delivery and cooler ASIC, which all help to increase the chances of a higher overclock. It's not a secret that after-market open-air cooled cards smash reference blower designs more often when it comes to oveclocking/higher Turbo Boost out of the box.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_780_Lightning/29.html

Blowers then are a snowball of disadvantages - worse temperatures, worse noise levels, worse card components which all translate to worse Turbo Boost/overclocking on average.

 

[SirPauly]

Where is this scientific data with Sli, tri-sli, Quad-sli or X-fire with blowers and open air in a closed environment?

 

[ocre]

if you are forced to run SLI with no slot between, back to back, with no space between. A blower on the inside GPU would make a lot of sense.

If you dont take the back plate off of the GPU butted up against the card in slot the first slot, your temps with be hard to manage.

The 980 and 970 come with back plates. They are nice but if you sandwich two cards together, the back plate blocks airflow and temps will go up.
This doesnt make the titan blower bad for the 970 reference. It is a whole other matter completely.

 

[96Firebird]

The 980 (and presumably 970, not sure though) have a removable slot on the backplate for SLI configs. Ryan Smith mentions it in his review:

For GTX 980 a segment of the backplate towards the top back corner is detachable from the rest, and removing it exposes the PCB underneath. Based on studying the airflow of video cards with and without a backplate, NVIDIA tells us that they have been able to identify what portion of the backplate is responsible for impeding most of the airflow in an SLI configuration, and that they in turn have made this segment removable so as to be able to offer the full benefits of a backplate while also mitigating the airflow problems. Interestingly this segment is actually quite small &#8211; it&#8217;s only 34mm tall &#8211; making it much shorter than the radial fan on the front of the card, but NVIDIA tells us that this is all that needs to be removed to let a blocked card breathe. In our follow-up to the GTX 980 next week we will be looking at SLI performance, and this will include measuring the cooling impact of the removable backplate segment.

Source

 

[QueBert]

Asus is introducing their now "970 turbo"...blower model

http://pcdiy.asus.com/2015/04/asus-turbo-gtx-970-in-white-teaser/

ME LIKE! I'm getting the Corsair Air 240 case in white and a MSI 97M Gaming MB which is black + red. That card looks pretty damn sick, I hope it comes out soon from that one pic my interests have been peaked.

 

[RussianSensation]

Where is this scientific data with Sli, tri-sli, Quad-sli or X-fire with blowers and open air in a closed environment?

Yes, it's called professional reviews, performed for the last 20 years. Also, if you read the thread from start to finish, the Tri-SLI and Quad-SLI/CF situations have already been discussed. Not only are they irrelevant to the OP, but these 2 niche situations are exactly the few exceptions where you'll need to strongly consider blowers. However, even then, it's not conclusive. You would need to do research and make a judgement call based on responses from gamers/your own experience for specific SKUs you want to Tri-/Quad-stack. You can easily have a situation where 4x open air cooled 250W TDP GPUs will still be quieter, cooler and overclock better than 4 blowers.

Perfect example is HD7970 MSI Lightning x 3-4 vs. HD7970 x 3-4 Reference.

HD7970 Lightning Tri-fire

GTX780 ACX Tri-SLI

GTX770 Tri-SLI

GTX970 Tri-SLI - all open-air cooled SKUs

Current specs:
Intel 5820K @ 4.6
Asus Rampage V Extreme
GSkill 4X4GB DDR4 2400
(3) Gigabyte GTX 980 G1 Gaming 3-Way SLI @ 1525
EVGA Supernova 1300G2
NZXT Switch 810
Corsair H100i

http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=67691

Do you think you'll be able to get GTX980 Tri-SLI reference blower cards stable with 1525mhz Boost clocks on all 3 at quiet noise levels? Not happening considering a single GTX980 reference blower at 1500mhz hits 50 dBA! ^_^

 

[SirPauly]

That's how you define professional reviews and scientific data?

 

[omeds]

I've tried both in MGPU and blowers give me better results over extended periods. Not all blowers are created equal of course, 670's were total garbage for instance.

When was the last time you ran 3-way yourself RS? I've had 4 3-way systems, and another 4 dual GPU systems.

 

[ocre]

? Not happening considering a single GTX980 reference blower at 1500mhz hits 50 dBA! ^_^

Do what?

I run my 980 at +250mhz which results in locked boost ~1500mhz (1495-1515mhz). Leaving the fan on auto and gaming for hours, it never gets that loud.

There is a difference between my 980 and the 970 I had at 1500mhz. One is that the 970 didn't fluctuate at all and the 980 bounces 1490s to 1515. The other is the 980 will reach 81c and the fan will go up sometimes. But it is not that loud at all. I do sometimes hear it but it is barely louder than my closed loop CPU cooler.

you would have to be running the fan at 100% on a reference 980 and then maybe.......
But why would you do that? My fan in auto never ramps anywhere close to that high

 

[QueBert]

Wow you guys are very passionate about your video cards, I was poking around online and stumbled upon the XFX Double Dissipation r9 290. After reading a bunch of reviews I think that's what I'll get. Change the debate? lol

 

[ocre]

Go for it. You should save a lot of money and have nearly the same performance

Let us know how it goes

 

[QueBert]

Go for it. You should save a lot of money and have nearly the same performance

Let us know how it goes

Change of plans again, I did some research and the case I want, I don't believe that card will fit. Now I either have to find a new case or a new card.

Sometimes I really hate computers lol.

 

[exar333]

Change of plans again, I did some research and the case I want, I don't believe that card will fit. Now I either have to find a new case or a new card.

Sometimes I really hate computers lol.

Good luck...

OT - but I love your sig. LOL