Gigabyte 970 Gaming SLI Motherboard Review -Tom’s Hardware
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Early Verdict
A decent choice for a replacement board or entry level build, Gigabyte GA-970-Gaming SLI buyers could save enough money to buy a better GPU.
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Specification And Features
Over the past couple months, I have been walking my way down memory lane testing AMD’s A78, 990FX, and 970 chipsets. Throughout the process, I’ve learned a couple things, tweaked my setup, and received some great community feedback.
These past few articles in particular have been heavily geared towards the gaming crowd. Some products have bundled software packages for streaming or media consumption, some have extreme-low latency, lag-killing network controllers, and lights, and others aim to include high-end peripherals by featuring M.2 and USB 3.1.
Which of these features are important? Tell me what you think in the comments.
Gigabyte offers its own gaming-branded rendition: the GA-970-Gaming SLI motherboard. It uses the 970 chipset and SB950 combo and offers several of the same connectivity options of the higher-end 990FX chipset. Since the Gigabyte A78 board I previously reviewed received a Tom’s Hardware Recommended award, and other offerings from the company’s G1 Gaming series have received high marks from my colleagues, I have high hopes for this contender.
AMD’s Zen is still delayed, possibly into late Q4 2016, or even 2017, so it might just behoove some buyers to jump on the 970/SB950 combo and grab some M.2 and USB 3.1 goodness. If you’re looking for DDR4 and PCIe Gen3, your best bet is to jump to Intel, or just sit tight.
Gigabyte 970 Gaming-SLI
ASUS 970 Pro Gaming/Aura
MSI 990FXA Gaming
MORE: Best Motherboards
MORE: How To Choose A Motherboard
Physical Check-up
The Gigabyte GA-970-Gaming SLI follows a typical race car-themed packaging and branding. Announced in March 2016, this board joined a slew of gaming motherboards with USB 3.1, a PCIe x4 M.2 slot, and other modern features for this very old chipset. As always, Gigabyte marks this board with its Ultra Durable classification. On the box, Gigabyte is clearly trying to catch buyer attention by devoting ample real estate to descriptions of ambient LED lighting, 115 dB high-definition audio, and its gigabit Ethernet networking solution.
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I was pleasantly surprised with the contents and arrangement of the components in the box, which include four SATA cables, a padded back panel plate, manual, installation guide, and driver disc, all standard fare for products in this price range.
Gigabyte kicks it up a notch with some extras: an SLI bridge, G1 Gaming sticker and door hanger, and a Gigabyte G connector for connecting those loose case power headers to the board.
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I am a fan of the smaller heatsinks on the regulators and south bridge of this board. Also, the stylized silk screen on the board helps amplify the race car theme. The back panel USB configuration includes two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.0/2.0 ports, and six USB 2.0/1.1 ports. Combine that with one PS/2 port, one gigabit Ethernet port connected to the Intel GbE controller, digital S/PDIF output, and five audio jacks to round out the necessary gaming connections. Looking at the PCB, just below the back panel is the shielded audio portion of the board, which includes a red ambient LED strip.
The bottom of the board contains all of the extra port connectors, including front panel audio, several USB header options, colored front panel connectors (which can use the G connector), as well as our first three-pin fan header.
Tucked away between the two metal-clad PCIe x16 connectors is the M.2 PCIe x4 connector, which supports both NVMe and SATA SSDs.
The right side of the board has a four-pin system fan header as well as six angled SATA3 ports before the ATX power connector comes in. Right above that is another three-pin header that is very oddly placed.
The top of the board has four DIMM slots with dual latches. Past the socket is the last four-pin fan header for the CPU. Also, tucked in next to the voltage regulator heatsink is the eight-pin CPU power connector, which could have benefited from being a few more millimeters away from the hunk of metal.
Image 1 of 4
Overall component placement is satisfactory, but a couple of items stand out. With only four fan headers, it’s odd not to have a header closer to the traditional exhaust fan location. Also, the fan header above the main ATX power connector seems out of place. Once the ATX power cable is connected, maneuvering around the case to install the fan requires a surgeon’s dexterity or the hands of a first grader.
Similarly, the four-pin CPU fan header did not let me reduce the speed of my three-pin fan through the BIOS voltage control. By routing that fan to one of the spare three-pin ports, I was able to get the fan speed to the proper setting. Needless to say, I had wires routed all across my test case.
My last, and minor, gripe is the PCIe x1 ports: they are very close to the back panel and M.2 connector. This doesn’t affect my system configuration, but some users might find that additional cards have clearance issues with more complicated GPU heatsinks or longer M.2 cards.
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MSI 970 GAMING Motherboard Review
Motherboard Reviews
Alex Lusakhpuryan
« Introduction and Packaging | Bundled Software »
A Closer Look at the MSI 970 GAMING Motherboard
The MSI 970 GAMING motherboard uses a standard ATX form factor on a matte black 4-layer PCB.
As with other MSI GAMING motherboards, the design follows a red and black theme with white lettering. This would look great with either a black or white case. Looking closely at the board I couldn’t find a physical power, reset buttons or a button for overclocking. There is no BIOS post codes on this board either. However, you can find them in the lower right corner of your screen when the system boots.
The CPU socket has a good clearance so you can use a large air cooler or even a liquid cooler.
The MSI 970 GAMING has passive cooling on MOSFET, AMD970 and AMD SB950 bridges. These heat sinks are held in place by spring loaded screws from the back of the board, but they are not connected via heat pipes. Thermal padding was also found on North and South bridges along with MOSFET. Keeping both bridges cooled is important; however keeping MOSFETs cooled is a priority. If you plan to overclock keep in mind that excellent MOSFET cooling is essential to optimal power delivery for FX processor overclocking.
The MSI 970 Gaming uses a UPI uP1601p PWM controller capable of up to 4+2 phases but since the CPU VRM has 6+2 phases, only three phases are used on the first rail for the CPU and doublers are used to get 6-phases. The other two phases are used for the CPUNB. Each phase has a pair of NIKO Semiconductor PK632BA and PK616BA MOSFETs driven by a UPI uP1951 driver. Output filtering consists of eight 0.47uH “super-ferrite” chokes and 13x 560uF capacitors.
There are four DIMM slots supporting up to 32GB of DDR3 at 2133MHz (8GB per DIMM). The 24-pin CPU connector is also at the right side edge. Continuing on below that are the six SATA3 6Gbps connectors, natively provided by the AMD SB950 chipset. There are no additional storage options for SATA Express or M.2 NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor) connections. Between the 24-pin power connector and the SATA ports is a Slow-mode toggle switch for LN2 overclockers.
Along the bottom edge starting from the right side, there are a pair of front panel connector ports, three 9-pin USB 2.
0 header, a 19-pin USB 3.0 header, a Trusted Platform Module header and a COM port. The USB 2.0 ports are natively provided by the SB950 chipset while the USB 3.0 port
There are five fan headers in total, three of which are 4-pin (CPU, right edge and rear fan) and two are 3-pin (located at the top right and bottom edge) locations:
There are a pair of PCI-E x1, PCI-E x16 and PCI slots on the 970 GAMING motherboard spaced out for optimal multi-GPU breathing room. The expansion slot distribution from from top to bottom:
- PCI-E 2.0 x1 via 970 Chipset
- PCI-E 2.0 x16 via 970 Chipset
- PCI-E 2.0 x1 via 970 Chipset
- PCI via SB950
- PCI-E 2.0 x16 (8x electrical) via 970 Chipset
- PCI via SB950
The spacing between the two PCI-E x16 slots is generous for reasons related to optimal dual-video card ventilation. Unlike other 970-chipset based mainboards, the MSI 970 GAMING is capable of 8x/8x PCI-E lane distribution via 3rd party ASMedia ASM1480 16-to-8 switches located right below the 970 Northbridge.
Right between the first PCI-E x16 slot and PCI slot sits a Realtek RTM880N-793 clock generator, controlling clock frequency for the host clocks of the motherboard. Right beside it is the CMOS battery and the clear CMOS jumper.
The “Audio Boost 2” solution on the MSI 970 GAMING uses a Realtek ALC1150 HD audio codec. The Audio Boost 2 area is isolated with separate grounding from the main PCB and the audio codec is covered to minimize interference. This area is also backlit with LEDs when the motherboard is powered on. There are also a pair of Texas Instruments OPA1652 amplifiers for the output and all the capacitors used are Nichicon MW series aluminum electrolytic caps.
A Fintek F71878AD handles all the SuperIO functions including system monitoring.
The rear IO provides a PS/2 port, eight USB 2.0 ports, a pair of USB 3.0 ports, six gold-plated audio ports and a Gigabit LAN port provided by a Qualcomm Killer E2205 Gigabit LAN controller. Since the AMD FX platform has no native USB 3.
0 support, MSI turned to VIA with their VL806 host controller for a solution. A VL806 host controller takes an available PCI-E lane and provides a pair of USB 3.0 ports. One VL806 is used for the rear IO and another one is used for the 19-pin USB 3.0 header onboard. The red USB2.0 ports are MSI’s “Gaming Device Port”, introduced during the Intel Z77 chipset era. These ports have more gold content in their connectors to minimize oxidation.
« Introduction and Packaging | Bundled Software »
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Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M 3 GB (laptop) — test in games 2021
In this review, we will consider the Gigabyte P55W v5 — a mid-range laptop with an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor and a GTX 970M 3 GB graphics card. The emphasis is solely on testing hardware, those who want to see a review of this particular laptop can find enough materials on the Internet.
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Contents:
Synthetic tests
RealBench 2.
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Corona renderer v1.3
Cinebench 11.5
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Games
WOT Encore
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Battlefield 5 90 007 Days Gone
Metro Exodus
PUBG 0011
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Cyberpunk 2077
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9 0003
Results
Additional information
A couple of screenshots of the tested hardware:
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700HQ, 4 cores 8 threads, frequency 2.
6-3.5 GHz.
Core i7-6700HQ
Video card Nvidia GTX 970 3 Gb.
GeForce GTX 970M
For testing, the laptop was equipped with 16 GB of RAM and a Micron M600 512 GB SSD.
Synthetic tests
RealBench 2.56
Benchmark from the Asus ROG website, consists of several Image Editing, Encoding, OpenCl, Heavy multitasking subtests. The result is given in points and plus the execution time.
RealBench
Corona v 1.3
Multi-threaded benchmark that performs 3D scene rendering. In our testing, the laptop scored 1 405 890
Rays/sec, and finished the test in 5:45 minutes.
Corona v 1.3
Cinebench 11.5
Popular benchmark based on Cinema 4D animation program. The processor test renders a photorealistic scene consisting of about 2,000 objects and 300,000 polygons.
In our testing, the laptop scored points in the CPU 7.
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Cinebench 11.5
Cinebench R15
Updated version of the benchmark.
In our testing, the laptop scored 633 points.
Cinebench R15
3D Mark
The de facto standard for testing graphics cards and 3D performance. Consists of several tests of varying complexity. It is this benchmark that is used by video chip and video card manufacturers, test labs, computer magazines and gamers.
Cloud Gate table
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Grand Theft Auto V
Game of 2015, still popular game, with open world and good graphics. There is a built-in benchmark, which makes it easy to use it for testing hardware.
Witcher 3
Horizon Zero Dawn
Fortnite
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Battlefield 5
9 0002 A first-person shooter computer game, the fifteenth in the Battlefield series of games, developed by EA DICE and published by Electronic Arts.
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PUBG 90 154
Control
Cyberpunk 2077
9 0007 Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the most anticipated and demanding games of 2020. Set in the year 2077 in Night City, a fictional metropolis on the West Coast of North America, Cyberpunk 2077 is based on Mike Pondsmith’s board game Cyberpunk 2020. 020 year release, developed by id Software, published by Bethesda Softworks.
Results
Video card Nvidia GTX 970M 3 GB, about the speed of 1050Ti, and still relevant for many modern new games.
It can play (almost) all the most demanding games on low-medium graphics settings in Full HD resolution.
More information
For more information, see our other article How to choose a gaming laptop.
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The limit of «inexpensive» dreams. MSI 970 Gaming motherboard review: Motherboard, MSI
Every gamer in his life at least once, but must build his own PC. And then a series of difficult choices arises at once, and sometimes one cannot do without reliable advice. After all, everything should be thought out in a gaming computer, since it must work, in most cases, at full capacity. Even such a trifle as an incorrectly chosen or placed cooler — can lead to equipment failure or simply to an uncomfortable game.
The most difficult thing, according to most, is choosing what everything focuses on and what makes everything work (besides the PSU) — motherboard . There are many of them, but due to various criteria, you can stop at one thing.
This article will not cover all possible options, only MSI 970 Gaming .
So, as many could already understand, a PC with this motherboard will have a AMD base. CPU socket, i.e. socket , built-in type AM 3/ AM 3+ and is compatible with Athlon II processors, Sempron , Phenom II and a more interesting and tempting option for choosing a processor is AMD FX . Chipset AMD 970 South Bridge SB 950 .
The maximum allowed RAM is 32 GB . The frequency varies depending on the modules themselves, up to 1866 , but since the gaming board , the frequency of can be increased to 2133 , which will slightly increase the performance of the assembled system. Obviously, this model supports the operation of modules in dual-channel mode.
Support for PCI — Express 3.0 is missing , as on all MPs with a socket under AMD . There are many reasons for this, but this is not about them. Video cards work fine with PCI — E 2.0 , and therefore there is no point in getting upset — an insignificant loss. Unfortunately for fans of Nvidia , MSI did not put mode 9 here0149 SLI , so it is not possible to install two GTX .
Fortunately, is CrossFire .
Some gaming privileges are assigned to this motherboard. For example: two specialized USB outputs for connecting such devices. Also included here is upgraded network adapter Killer 2200 , which automatically prioritizes Internet connection speed during games with online gameplay.
The payment was outstanding. It has decent functionality even for gaming standards . Overclocking potential is beyond praise, and with the built-in function OC Genie 4 this activity becomes a real pleasure. And finally, the hallmark of the MSI 970 Gaming becomes price-performance ratio , in which the board becomes the best choice for a future gaming PC.
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