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Asus STRIX GTX 970 DirectCU II OC Review – Still Worth Getting One?

Asus STRIX GTX 970 Overclocking, Temperature and Noise

The Asus STRIX GTX 970 basically comes with factory overclock settings. But Asus’ overclocking configuration is just a tad higher than the reference. In real world scenario, performance difference may not be noticeable. However, I was able to overclock it further using the GPU Tweak. I was able to bump the GPU clock to 1261MHz, Boost clock to 1400MHz and memory clock to 1975MHz. The increased overclock settings were able to produce a higher score in the synthetic benchmarks.

Asus Strix 970 OC GPUZ

The Asus STRIX 970 is without a doubt a very silent graphics card. When the fans are not running, the cooler didn’t produce any sound at all, meaning 0dB noise. When it reaches around 65 ° degrees Celsius, the fans turn on but overall are still very silent.

However, coil whine is another issue. Coil whine noise does not come from the fans or the cooler. It is a noise produced by the electrical components of the graphics card. When I first tested the Asus STRIX 970, coil whine wasn’t observable on idle or light to medium load. But when I pushed the card to its full capacity, I started to hear a small “TIIINNNGG” sound (something like that) coming from somewhere in the middle of the GPU. The coil whine wasn’t obnoxiously loud, but the noise was audible enough since I am using an open test bench system.

After several days of testing and playing with the Asus STRIX GTX 970, that coil whine noise seems to gradually disappear. I’m not sure if that noise will return or not, and I am not sure if coil whine is an issue with the other STRIX GTX 970, but for this specific STRIX 970 coil whining is present with a minimal audible noise.

Asus STRIX GTX 970 Review-01

The Asus STRIX GTX 970 was operating at around 38° degrees Celsius at idle to light load. When I ran 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra, the temperature went up to around 60° degrees Celsius, with a maximum temperature of 70° degrees Celsius.

Asus STRIX GTX 970 Temperature

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Author
Peter Paul
Peter is a PC enthusiast and avid gamer with several years of hands-on experience in testing and reviewing PC components, audio equipment, and various tech devices. He offers a genuine, no-nonsense perspective, helping consumers make informed choices in the ever-changing world of technology.

2 thoughts on “Asus STRIX GTX 970 DirectCU II OC Review – Still Worth Getting One?”

  1. 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.

    Reply
    • 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.

      Reply

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