Packaging and Closer Look
Above you see the front and rear view of the Asus STRIX GTX 970’s box. The box art is actually similar with the other STRIX series graphics card. The package includes: ASUS GPU Tweak Driver and a Quick Start Guide.
Above you see the front and rear view of the STRIX 970 itself. It looks similar with the STRIX 980, except for the design pattern in the middle of the shroud. In the STRIX 980, it’s actually highlighted in red color. But as you can see, the GTX 970 gets no highlighting color, just plain black and grey.
From the photos above, you can see one large heat pipe on the visible side and the STRIX logo. The aluminum heat sink slightly overlaps the card’s PCB. The card draws its power from a single 8-pin power connector, whereas the reference one and other GTX 970 draw its power from two 6-pin PCIE power connector. Some are actually concerned that due to the single 8-pin power connector, it may limit the STRIX 970’s overclocking potential.
The Asus STRIX GTX 970 has two DVI ports, one HDMI and one DisplayPort. Some GTX 970s are already using the new output layout with one DVI port, one HDMI port and 3x DisplayPorts. You can also see two SLI fingers just right above the STRIX logo. This card can be configured up to a 4-way SLI configuration.
From this angle you see the other two heat pipes that is hidden beneath the card’s shroud.
Just like its bigger brother STRIX 980, the STRIX 970 has a metal shroud giving it that heavy, solid and premium feel. Unfortunately for the Asus STRIX GTX 960, they only used a plastic shroud. Underneath the shroud, you see the three copper heat pipes directly touching the GM204 chip.
Above you see both sides of the graphic card’s back plate. I think all mainstream and high-end graphics card should have a back plate, specially the long ones. Backplates not only adds support to the graphics card’s PCB, but it also adds to its aesthetics.
Above you see the front and rear view of the STRIX GTX 970’s PCB. I think Asus is using a custom PCB for their STRIX graphics card.
Above you see the core of this graphics card, the trimmed down GM204-200-A1 Maxwell chip. The GM204 is surrounded by 8x SK hynix H5GQ4H24MFR memory chips, for a total of 4GB. This memory chips are rated to run at 1750 MHz or 7000 MHz effective speed.
to all those who want to buy a gtx 970 strix. DON’T! just don;t, it looks awesome, it runs games very nice, but the heat is absolute incredible….. i have a 7870 saphire, i play gta v with settings on normal and some on high, it’s decent gameplay, decent meaning i don’t have ultra settings, my fps is around 70 78 on this settings with 7870 saphire, the thing is my 7870 get;s to 68 degrees celsius which is ok, last day my gtx 970 strix arrived, i installed it in my case opened gta v crank up the settings to ultra started playing the game, everything wonderful, after 10 minutes i exit the game open my case touch the backplate, guess what, i was burning hot, i am going to apologies for my english. so the thing is: when i run asus gpu tweek it says my gpu is 65 degrees celsius, but i can tell you that is bullshit because on my 7870 when i touch the gpu and it says it is at 65 degrees well it doesn’;t feel like the gtx does. the gtx feels like 100 degrees. i serched the web for information about the 970 s, and everywhere they said that it runs cool and shit, fuck them! i had to choose between gygabite g1 gaming msi and asus strix, everybody sayd: the strix has the less performance of the 3, but it runs the coolest. so i sayd, ok i will buy the strix i don’t give a fuck about oc and 5 9 fps more, i rather have a cool gpu than 10 more fps and a hot as fuck gpu, so i bought this piece of shit! i am really sorry for the way i’ve tryied expressing i hope everybody reads this, i am NOT A FANBOY! i just was surprised of the gtx of how hot its the backplate. the vrm are not cooled properly on this card….. don’t believe people on youtube when they say, well the gtx it’s the coolesyt than and this, it’s all marketing shit! how the fuck my 7870 4 year old gpu can do 65 degrees in games and this new gpu is doing 65 and the backplate 100. if you wanna buy it, try to buy it from a retailer that offers a good customer service. buy it, try it, return it. i am not hating on nvidia or amd. i just told you my story….. so others know this problem with the backplate.
Not sure how hot was your backplate but yes, it does get hot and it’s not limited to the strix alone. You also need a good air flow inside your chassis since the GPU’s cooler doesn’t blow or exhaust the heat at the back. It will just circulate within your chassis, thus the need for a good air in and exhaust in your chassis. my only prob with this is (and you are right) the VRMs are not cooled. Better get the Zotac GTX 970! Amp Extreme Core https://thepcenthusiast.com/zotac-geforce-gtx-970-amp-extreme-core-edition-review/ much cooler than the Strix and runs faster as well.
For those who are planning to buy a GTX 970 better wait for the next gen cards which is just a few months a way. But if you are looking for a cheaper card, I guess the GTX 970’s prices will go down once the new cards are released.