Gigabyte GTX 970 Extreme Video Card Review

[Lacoste]

Over the years, GIGABYTE has released many products that are good, and many other products that are good AND focused on overclocking (think their SOC Force motherboards). One thing we haven’t seen on from them, on that front, is within their GPU lineup. Sure, the Windforce line is more than solid with the cooler, but their new Extreme line should take their video cards to another level. GIGABYTE promises a better overclocking GPU with their sorting technology, dubbed Gauntlet sorting, high factory overclocks, good cooling, durability, protection, and being “Xtreme” friendly. Let’s take a look and see what they did on the GTX 970 Extreme we have to review!

Specifications & Features
Below is a list of specifications and features from the GIGABYTE media kit. We all know the GTX 970 silicon (GM-204) comes to the table with its 28 nm process, so we will just get into the card’s specifications.



The base clock comes in at 1190 MHz, with a ‘base’ boost of 1342 MHz. This is a difference of 139 MHz on the base clock from the reference design GTX 970s, so it is a pretty healthy boost. The memory comes in at 7.1 Gbps or 1774 MHz ‘non DDR5’ rates which rests on the 256 bit bus. For I/O, there are DL DVI-I, HDMI, and three DisplayPorts. GIGABYTE recommends a 600 W PSU for this card (though I feel that is really overestimating unless you are truly going extreme and modifying the BIOS – more on that later).
More details can be found at the GIGABYTE webpage for the GTX 970 Extreme.


GIGABYTE GTX 970 Extreme Specifications



Chipset: GeForce GTX 970
Core Clock: Base/Boost clock: 1190/1342 MHz (ref: 1051/1178)
Process Technology: 28 nm
Memory Clock: 7.1 Gbps (ref: 7 Gbps)
Memory Size: 4GB
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Memory Type: GDDR5
Card Bus: PCIe 3.0
Direct X / Open GL: DX12 / 4.5

Max Resolution (Digital / Analog): 4096 x 2160 / 2048 x 1536
Multi-View: 4

I/O: Dual-Link DVI-I (1) / HDMI (1) / DisplayPort (3)
Power Requirement: 600 W (with two 8-pin external power connectors)



Below is a list of features from GIGABYTE’s media guide.
With the Extreme series comes a set of mostly unique features on their cards. The first is their GPU Gauntlet Sorting. This alludes to the fact that the GPUs are binned better than some other series, but the tangible differences are in the hardware used. It has a total of 12 phases for power to assist with higher overclocking capability and needs versus the reference models with half that. It comes with better, Titan X grade, chokes and capacitors for cooler running and more durability.
A high-end overclocked GPU deserves a great cooler when you can pump more volts through it, and GIGABYTE doesn’t disappoint here. They use their venerable Windforce 3 cooling system that has composite copper heat-pipes, a special fin architecture, unique fan blade design (delivers 23% more airflow via special triangle design at the end of the fans which is then directed through the fan by a “3D stripe curve”). Like a lot of manufacturers, GIGABYTE’s Windforce 3 cooler uses what they call 3D-Active Fan which leaves the fans off until higher loads or temperatures hit the card, 60 °C in this case. You can see the fan’s status by looking at the two LEDs on the stop of the card. One says “stop”, the other says “silent” to display which mode it is in/the fans are moving or not.
Next up is something that benefits everyone, but in particular the extreme crowd that will want to take this card cold… it has a conformal coating! This coating helps keep moisture, corrosion, and dust off the PCB. I don’t recall ever seeing a GPU with a conformal coating before. We have seen a motherboard with it (ASRock OC Formula series), but not a GPU.
Another cool value-add on the GIGABYTE 970 Extreme is the PCIe smart detection LEDs that are on the PCIe power leads. If there is any instability in the power or no power at all, the LED will flash letting you know there is an issue. It also logs the information into their overclocking software, OC Guru II, which will further aid in troubleshooting problems with the device.
Wrapping up some of the major features, we end with GIGABYTE’s Ultra Durable VGA designation. This entails 2 oz of copper on the PCB, solid caps, metal chokes, and upgraded MOSFETs (lower RDSon).
There are all kinds of goodies on here to help get the most out of the silicon on the board, that is for sure! You can find a more complete list on their website (images also Courtesy of GIGABYTE).










GPU Gauntlet™ Sorting
Forged with only the top-notch GPU, the GIGABYTE XTREME GAMING graphics cards guarantee the higher overclocking capability in terms of excellent power switching, ensuring the highest performance without compromising system reliability.





WINDFORCE 3X Cooling System
The WINDFORCE 3X cooling system features with composite copper heat-pipes, special fin architecture, unique blade fan design, and GIGABYTE ‘Triangle Cool’ technology, together delivering an effective heat dissipation capacity for higher performance at lower temperature.3D-Active Fan with LED Indicators
GIGABYTE’s XTREME GAMING graphics cards are equipped with
3D-Active Fan, the industry’s first 0dB semi-passive fan design
introduced by GIGABYTE back in 2007.
The fans will remain off when the GPU is under a set loading or temperature for low power gaming. Besides, LED fan indicators on the top of the graphics card provide an instant display of whether the fans are spinning or not.




 


Aerospace-grade PCB Coating for Best Protection
PCB applied with a breathable aerospace-grade coating to shield against moisture, dust, and corrosion for a complete protection.





PCIE smart power detection with LED indicators
Be alert when PCI-E voltage is unstable with the smart power LED indicators. Any power abnormality is also recorded in the system through OC GURU utility software for troubleshooting.





12-phase power design and Titan X-grade Chocks and Capacitors
Built for extreme overclocking with 12 power phases backed by highest-grade chokes and capacitors for supreme durability.




GPU-Z
Next is our always gratuitous screenshot of GPUz to validate the specifications… and it does! The GTX 970 works on the GM204 core which sports a total of 1664 shaders with a pixel fill rate of 66.6 GPixel/s and a texture fillrate of 123.8 GTexel/s. ROPs and TMUs come in at 56 and 104 respectively. The memory totals 4 GB of Elpida based GDDR5 on the 256 bit bus. It comes in at a clock speed of 1774 MHz (7100 MHz GDDR5) which translates to 227.1 GB/s bandwidth. Stock clocks are 1190 MHz core that boosts to at least 1342 MHz (1443 MHz actual sustained).

GPUz v8.6


Photo Op – Meet the GIGABYTE GTX 970 Extreme

Retail Packaging and Accessories
In the slideshow, you will first notice the retail packaging for the Extreme series of cards is a bit different than their normal line. Here we have a black on orange theme with the GIGABYTE Extreme Gaming symbol prominently placed on the front of the package. Also, on the front, is the model of the card inside, as well as a couple of its high-level features. The back of the box goes into more details we went over above such as the 3D-Active fans, LED control, and the GPU Gauntlet. Inside the box is another box with the GPU sitting inside its anti-static bag surrounded by form fitting foam. The accessories include the driver disk, quick installation guide, a 6 to 8 pin converter, and a wrist or headband.
 

Retail Packaging – Front

 

 

The Card
Below you can finally see what the card looks like! We see the Windforce 3 cooler and its triple fan setup, a dual slot cooling solution. The shroud is mostly black with a grey accent between the back two fans. We see it does come with a backplate to protect the PCB. The top of the card has LEDs for the Windforce writing, as well as the words ‘silent’ and ‘stop’ flanking that wording. Silent and stop are lit up depending on which mode the fan is in. Around the fans, there is a unique and really cool looking circular LED which by default glows orange (again you can control the color of these as well as any ‘motion’ through the OC Guru II software). It is a good looking card that should fit well with a lot of build themes due to its neutral color scheme and variable color LEDs.



A Closer Look
Taking a look at the I/O we see a typical complement of DVI (DL DVI-I flavor), HDMI, and three full size DisplayPort ports. For this version of the GTX 970, you will need two 8-pin PCIe connections. With those, the card can accept 375 W if you include the PCIe power. This thing seems ready to go places with that amount of power available, no?




 

I/O – DL DVI-I / HDMI / DisplayPort (3)



 

Two 8 pin PCIe required!





As usual, I took apart the card to show off the PCB as well as the heatsink with its the finely brushed (not mirror) finish on the copper base and the six heatpipes that make their way through the fin array. You can see that all the memory and VRM area is cooled. I was a bit worried about the three smaller fans being a noisy when spinning up, but it wasn’t an issue until the fan reached around 80% (which only happens when set manually).




 

Heatsink removed



 

Heatsink base









 

12 Phase power delivery





Below is a picture of the Elpida W4032BABG-70-F memory IC’s used.

Memory IC – Elpida W4032BABG-70-F


Monitoring/Overclocking Software – OC Guru II
Pictured below is GIGABYTE’s GPU monitoring and overclocking software, OC Guru II. This software is able to monitor conditions on the card like temperature and fan speed. It will also allow you to change the LED color and style, as well as put an on screen display. It also has graphing capabilities as well so one can see a history of metrics if you choose. I have no issues with the software as far as how easy it was to use or its looks. Very simple and straightforward folks!