GTX 960 vs. 970

[okteej]

Hey everyone,

In the process of finishing a custom build and I wanted some extra opinions. I don't do HARDCORE gaming by any means, but I'm upgrading from an old system using a GTX 560 and want to figure out if the 960 or 970 would be better worth my money. BEFORE COMMENTING THIS: I know that the 1070 and 1080 are launching super soon so some older models are gonna dip in price in the coming weeks, so I'm not going to be buying a GPU immediately.

The most advanced gaming (visually) I see myself doing in the near future is wanting to run Overwatch at 1920x1080 at Ultra settings with good FPS values. Would the 960 be sufficient to make that happen or is the 970 worth the extra bucks?

Not planning on using my system to be playing intense games like Witcher 3 on high settings by any means, mostly looking at Blizzard titles (and other games in that graphical range) at high settings.

If it matters, my CPU I've got for this is an i5-6600K at 3.5GHz and an ASUS Z170 ATX PRO Gaming Motherboard with 16 GB DDR4 RAM.

Thanks for any input

[Jtbrig7390]

Hey everyone,

In the process of finishing a custom build and I wanted some extra opinions. I don't do HARDCORE gaming by any means, but I'm upgrading from an old system using a GTX 560 and want to figure out if the 960 or 970 would be better worth my money. BEFORE COMMENTING THIS: I know that the 1070 and 1080 are launching super soon so some older models are gonna dip in price in the coming weeks, so I'm not going to be buying a GPU immediately.

The most advanced gaming (visually) I see myself doing in the near future is wanting to run Overwatch at 1920x1080 at Ultra settings with good FPS values. Would the 960 be sufficient to make that happen or is the 970 worth the extra bucks?

Not planning on using my system to be playing intense games like Witcher 3 on high settings by any means, mostly looking at Blizzard titles (and other games in that graphical range) at high settings.

If it matters, my CPU I've got for this is an i5-6600K at 3.5GHz and an ASUS Z170 ATX PRO Gaming Motherboard with 16 GB DDR4 RAM.

Thanks for any input

Unless the GTX 970 drops 100$ or more (for a new one) the price drop it will see due tot he 1070 won't make it worth it over the 1070.

I can't comment about the GTX 960 since I never used one. Like you said you know the 1080/1070 are releasing soon so IMO wait and buy one of those.

[Deleted]

Sounds like Polaris might be more up your alley. Wait for that as well.

[hzfafeao]

Definitely GTX970 if affordable...

[felix014]

If you asked gtx 950vs960 or gtx 970vs980, i'd advise you to go for 950 or 970, cheaper ones without hesitation.However, performance skyrockets between 960 and 970 so if you can afford it, gor for 970.

[Ahovv]

The 970 can play Witcher 3 on ultra 1440p; I see no reason you would need that card to run 1080p. If you're only running 1080p then the 960 (or its successor) will be more than enough. Of course, the better GPU would also provide room to upgrade your monitor in the future.

[Vash The Stampede]

The 970's are going for $200-$250 if you look carefully. The 960 is a good card, but Polaris is around the corner and I'd wait for a sale for the 970. Hold onto that GTX 560 for a while longer.

[okteej]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Going to wait it out for a few weeks (Overwatch runs totally fine on the 560 I'm using) and find a good deal on a 970. Didn't know the power gap between the 960 and 970 was that intense.

Thanks again

[Eroginous]

Hey everyone,

In the process of finishing a custom build and I wanted some extra opinions. I don't do HARDCORE gaming by any means, but I'm upgrading from an old system using a GTX 560 and want to figure out if the 960 or 970 would be better worth my money. BEFORE COMMENTING THIS: I know that the 1070 and 1080 are launching super soon so some older models are gonna dip in price in the coming weeks, so I'm not going to be buying a GPU immediately.

The most advanced gaming (visually) I see myself doing in the near future is wanting to run Overwatch at 1920x1080 at Ultra settings with good FPS values. Would the 960 be sufficient to make that happen or is the 970 worth the extra bucks?

Not planning on using my system to be playing intense games like Witcher 3 on high settings by any means, mostly looking at Blizzard titles (and other games in that graphical range) at high settings.

If it matters, my CPU I've got for this is an i5-6600K at 3.5GHz and an ASUS Z170 ATX PRO Gaming Motherboard with 16 GB DDR4 RAM.

Thanks for any input

The 960 is plenty for 1080p gaming. I beta tested Overwatch on mine during the free weekend and had zero performance issues on Ultra. Keep in mind there are now higher settings than Ultra and cards like the 960 will be able to take advantage of DSR to give you better performance on lower settings while still maintaining a quality image. There will be people who suggest AMD alternatives (because price) or tell you to pick a 950 and OC it to 960 speeds, but the problem there is future proofing. An OC'd card is not going to be as future proof as a card you don't push to its limits. And 950s don't come with more than 2gb Vram. The 960 comes in 4gb and yes, a 4gb frame buffer will help the card last longer in the future.

Ignore people who insist the 128 bit bus can't leverage the extra Vram - mine does it every day. If you go with a 960, get a 4gb one. Or go 970. Either way you'll be golden. 950 is for poor boys who want play with the big boys. x60 should be minimum entry for a serious gamer.

[mauserr]

Uh, the 1070 is supposed to go for as much as the 970 goes for. Buying a 970 or a lower end card is just stupid at this time. Really, man, just wait for the 1070. If you do otherwise you're just going to hit yourself later in regret. The 1070 SHITS on a 970 - it performs over 50% better than the 970 in 3dmark, it's also 3% faster than a Titan X, 5% more than the GTX 980 Ti which are INSANE cards, the former being an expensive monster.