ASUS STRIX GTX 980 OC 4 GB

[MiguelJMPereira]

Was there any signifficant coil noise? I've seen many comments regarding this in the new 9X0 GPUs, mostly in the 970.

 

[buildzoid]

This is IMO the only GTX 980 worth getting because of the GPU hotwire connectors that allow simple OCing on an ROG extreme board or if your adventurous easy mounting holes for a 10K Variable resistor.

 

[manofthem]

That's a very nice looking card, and I appreciated the review, as always!

 

[Magnus]

Hey,

So I guess this question is going to seem redundant because of the low noise level on the Strix, but still.

I really like the idea of watercooling and am thinking about the Kraken G10. The Strix's compability with the Kraken is stated as unknown.

Does anybody know whether the two are compatible or not?

Many thanks,

Mugs

 

[haswrong]

wizz, would you review the zotac 970 or 980 amp! extreme edition?

 

[W1zzard]

wizz, would you review the zotac 970 or 980 amp! extreme edition?

if they sent me one, sure

 

[Deleted member 138597]

Mr. W1zzard, that is a great review. I like the way you measure power consumption because in some review, I see they consider the total system power draw and use calculators to find the results -_-. Anyway, I'd love to see some graphical data of the power draw, each of the PCI-E slot, PCI power connector and total. Kind of like what Tom's Hardware did with R9 285 review.

I know this is crazzy enough to laugh the hell out of it, but here it goes: after benchmarking and all, you rip off the cooler right (I know you don't actualy rip it off, just saying)? So, do you think you should review the cooler itself to see how well they perform in given wattage of heat? Since brands have brought in their new coolers, like STRIX, TWIN FROZR V, WINDFORCE 3X 600W etc, it should be a good addition, as to my view.

Also, I'd like to see the max OC potential of the GPUs in their respective coolers and a common cooler.

Another question, when will you review the EVGA GTX 980 SSC ACX 2.0 and Classified? Hearing good things about it, they say it OCs much better than either of STRIX OC or GAMING 4G. Like to see some numbers of it.

I'd also like detailed scoring on each GPU, like power consumption, performance, noise etc etc gets scored individually and you average it to get the overall scoring.

Thanks for the review. It is as great as the others.

I hope I wasn't too much on my expectations.

 

[Thuban]

The MSI cooler might be a bit better, but the ASUS card has other things going for it.

What do you need a better cooler for ? OC is apparently not heat constrained on either card, with like +1°C from overclocking. And noise is low already. MSI has higher power draw = more heat = better cooler needed

And you could have gone the extra mile and undervolt the cards to check the minimum voltage required to run your tests, and get a few "omg" with the power consumption figures. Also, it would be nice to know, the amount of heat these cards dump inside the case, versus the reference blower style cooler.

But even then, of the two reviewed models, the MSI one is 4% faster in 3840x2160 than ASUS. And it's got a lower score in the race where performance counts the most!

Funny, how "long idle mode" (aka ZeroCore) is no longer mentioned in your reviews anymore and that gives substantial energy savings when computer is not in use. Maybe it would force nVIDIA to come out with their own alternative. No card is perfect, and this one, - the high midrange card certainly is not even close, not for this money anyway.

Thanks for the review.

 

[Thuban]

The ASUS 970 STRIX card reviewed on the 19th September of 2014 here, shows interesting figures. It runs hotter and uses more power than the 980 STRIX version, even though its 3D load voltage is lower. Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Groto]

Really nice card and thanks for the review! My only concern is the memory cooling. If you play a lot of games that keeps the card in the passive mode, is there a change that the memory would suffer from it? There is a nice memory heatsink in the MSI's model. ASUS should take note.

Btw In the first page of the review there is a picture of GTX 970 not 980.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I must own this card.

 

[haswrong]

I must own this card.

i must have dis 1, but its expensive as nvidia.. http://www.zotac.com/highres-images.html?eID=dam_frontend_push&docID=21314

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Welp, I bought one. $615 later, I will be the proud owner of this card when it comes in stock at amazon.

 

[thevoiceofreason]

So this card has a lower average and peak power consumption than GTX970 Strix? That's just bizzare.

 

[Fluffmeister]

HardOCP review is up comparing it to the ASUS 290X Matrix, the speed and efficency compared to the 290X is really impressive.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/12/29/asus_gtx_980_strix_dc_ii_oc_video_card_review/9#.VKKVUAiaA

 

[dj-electric]

Well... it is not entirely fair compering the two. Sure, the GTX 980 is newer, sexier, much more effiecent but look at street prices. A good R9 290X will cost 380$, while the 7% slower non-X is affordable for just 280$. Not too shabby, not at all.
At least from the price-performance ratio of things.

 

[Fluffmeister]

Oh no doubt, although I'd argue you could thank the GTX 970 for those prices, they really had no choice but drop their prices heavily.

But equally ageing tech that is slower and far far less efficient just doesn't warrant top dollar anymore.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

Honestly, I think it's fair game to "nipick" reviews because what the hell is the point of comments if they're all just to ass kiss or say wizzard is a reviewing God and everyone sounds the same. I think you should say what the hell you think and if it agrees with him great, if it doesn't that's friggon fine to, I think it's at least as lameass to complain about the nitpickers, as someone doing the nitpicking! Actually I admit truthfully the whining about the nitpickers I find lamer generally, usually the "nitpicking" as you call it are legitimate opinions whether they be right/wrong or sensible or not they are opinions and respect them for that long as they aren't rude and obnoxious right? Anyway, I admit I own the MSI and before I got it I read both reviews and wanted the MSI so I agree in MY opinion it is a better card...and it does matter how hot it idles because what is your computer doing most of the time if you leave it on? Especially in the summer/spring why do you want your computer generating more heat? In the winter I hope most people have heat in their house so hardly much help to be gained from a graphics card. Also...the memory overclocking is awesome on the msi...mine is at 2120 believe it or not! And the 10 mhz difference on the core is squat and is within margin of error and random sample differences...not to mention my Msi is at 1393 so if you use mine as an example it stomped the Asus in overclocking memory-wise and by a "whopping" (yes sarcasm) 3 mhz on the core....Regardless, everyone here knows both cards are awesome by awesome companies, as Wiz said you'd not be going wrong with either one depending on what tickles your fancy...I just wanted fast and cool! Backplate, meh once in my computer who cares, and the power consumption if you look at the graphs is like 30 watts at most? Hardly worth worrying about on a high end graphics card that as Wiz points out tops out at a very low 210 or so watts so to me that is nothing...my 2 cents, well maybe 3 been a while since I've posted

 

[W1zzard]

Just a quick physics clarification: If you are wondering how much heat a card dumps into your case/room while it's idle, you have to look at idle power consumption, not idle temperature.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

Makes sense, admittedly that one factor is something I'd not even consider on its' own but thanks for that clarification, I still love my MSI, only thing that would tilt me towards ROG board is if it had a higher voltage allowance...

 

[dalekdukesboy]

I got my

Well... it is not entirely fair compering the two. Sure, the GTX 980 is newer, sexier, much more effiecent but look at street prices. A good R9 290X will cost 380$, while the 7% slower non-X is affordable for just 280$. Not too shabby, not at all.
At least from the price-performance ratio of things.

I got my 980 cpl weeks ago for 500 shipped brand new, so compared to almost 400 for a 290x it's definitely worth the extra 100 and I was just about set to get a 290x to replace my 7970 so I was already leaning that way, but the 580 was just so impressive in every way I knew a custom msi 980 was the way to go and be satisfied!

 

[Mungio]

Hi. I would ask something to W1zzard. Can you give me all the samples that the oscilloscope return you when do the power consumption tests? I need all the samples and not only the mean value because I will do some statistical tests for an exam. Thx a lot.

 

[RCoon]

Hi. I would ask something to W1zzard. Can you give me all the samples that the oscilloscope return you when do the power consumption tests? I need all the samples and not only the mean value because I will do some statistical tests for an exam. Thx a lot.

Better off emailing him, he's unlikely to see this.

 

[Mungio]

Ok.....my apologies.

 

[dalekdukesboy]

IT'S ALLLLLIIIIIIIIIIVVE! I thought this thread was dead and toast, was surprised to see notifications it's still on people's minds. Actually I was rereading thread and wondered if I have an ROG board (which I do it's a rampage iv 2011 v1 socket) if I had this card is it as simple as just hooking a couple wires from card to board to voila have more voltage capabilities?