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Asus Strix 970 0dB cooling - what about the video RAM

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  • Asus
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October 8, 2014 2:48:41 PM

I keep thinking about getting the Asus 970. With fans not spinning up until 65'C on the core, I wonder how the video RAM is being cooled until then. Well it isn't.

The video card RAM would need the fans turning to pass cool air through the fins to cool it. I wonder as others have mentioned, I think I'd prefer the fans turning slowly even if I was light gaming. Does it mean that GDDR5 vRAM doesn't get hot enough to worry about? I assumed it does. GDDR3 is very hot stuff.

More about : asus strix 970 0db cooling video ram

October 9, 2014 6:36:17 AM

Well it seems like it was designed to disperse heat up to that level throughout your case. I'd assume it would be fine as long as your case is adequately cooled. MSI's cards have the same feature and their software gives you the option of manually changing the fan settings. ASUS probably does the same, but I'm not familiar with their line of cards so I can't say for sure.

Anyway, while your concerns are totally valid, I'd lean towards saying that it really shouldn't be a problem. After all, it was designed that way and if it weren't effective to some degree, they would receive massive backlash and wave after wave of RMA requests.
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October 9, 2014 6:56:33 AM

seems like theres better 970 cards than the asus for the money looking at its bench test at sites it don't do as well and I thought the power input of the card was odd using just one 8-pin??

ASUS has also trimmed the standard 2 x 6-pin PCI-E power connections down to a single 8-pin one, which has an LED to tell you when your cable is correctly connected and working. This design makes cable management easier, but there's a chance it could negatively impact the card's overclocking potential.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nv...
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October 9, 2014 7:10:39 AM

The VRAM should still be making contact with the heatsink and dispersing their heat into it, I really doubt its a situation where the VRAM has their own small heatsinks which rely on leftover airflow from the main cooler.
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October 9, 2014 7:18:35 AM

looking at reviews of gtx970 and that fan not spinning until the cards get to like 60c is a complaint of a lot of users .. I feel the next batch thing will be changed over these first release cards so I will wait it out and see how it goes on them .. overall the gtx900 cards rock but theres a few bugs that need to be taken care of on these first ones
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October 15, 2014 2:53:01 AM

Sorry I didn't reply sooner, but I kept getting error 500 and couldn't find the page. I found again luckily by seeing the link on the website. I think it has a new address now. Anyway folks, thanks for your replies.


@ Junkie Monkey, actually I like the power pin configuration of the Asus GTX 970. A single 8-pin provides up to 150W. Since the card TDP is 145W, there is 5W left over and 75 watts power available from the PCI-ex slot. Energy left for boost clocks that often go higher pushing TDP over 100%, and for overclockers. When you consider the Gigabyte uses 8+6-pin you can only imagine the power they can pull. Imagine the extra cost in $ of electricity used for overclocking that. In my opinion you'd be just as good getting a 980 and keeping it stock.

@ manofchalk, actually I will go and look at reviews again and look to see if the RAM is passively cooled by the heatsink. Good point, I forgot that. However, somehow your post also reminded the RAM configuration on my current card. If I recall correctly there is RAM on the rear of the card where there is no cooling.

I had been imagining the RAM of the STRIX all under the heatsink, which I think is correct and will check again. I imagined it benefitting from a breeze of cool air passing through the fins from the fans.

You see, going back to my analogy with GDDR3, I had a GT 9600M GT in an 8920 laptop. The RAM was not in contact with the heat-sink, as the core was. In summer when the weather got very hot, gaming got juddery under intense gaming. I fixed the juddering by making the RAM meet the heat-sink, packing the gap with thermal pads.

@ Titillating, yep my case is nicely cooled. I wouldn't swap it for the world. It's Fractal Design Midi Arc 2 (solid side-panel).

I am hoping too in being confident the passive cooling will leave the RAM OK. Thinking again about my current card having no fans on the rear where there are RAM modules.


@ junkeymonkey (again), I think the 0dB is OK from the noise standpoint. Some cards cause vibration in the case even on low speeds. I think fans off is good idea, from that perspective. However I feel the Asus Strix fans will be well designed and leave little or no vibration at low speed. Therefor I may prefer a fan to be running. I have a 970 Strix on order with Amazon, but it is not in stock yet. I hope I made the right choice, but I think so. I only wish it was a little cheaper. It is very pricey compared with others.



Thankyou very much everyone for your thoughts, it's very kind. I don't know how to pick a best solution to this. Maybe the discussion is best left open for folk to tell their ideas. I think the real solution is what I remember about my current video card. The video RAM does sit on the rear of my card. However when I bought my card I worried about that, even then. As the Strix has RAM under the heatsink it would be better cooled obviously. The most important consideration is my current card runs at 6000MHz effective, where-as the Strix runs at 7000MHz effective.
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October 15, 2014 3:00:00 AM

GDDR5 chips are very cool running, especially when not heavily loaded. Bear in mind that when the card is heavily loaded the fans will cut in.
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October 15, 2014 7:05:12 AM

@ Junkie Monkey, actually I like the power pin configuration of the Asus GTX 970. A single 8-pin provides up to 150W. Since the card TDP is 145W,

that's cutting it close to the card being taped out for power


but all you can do is what you feel is best for you and live with it

good luck

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October 15, 2014 7:48:56 AM

junkeymonkey said:
@ Junkie Monkey, actually I like the power pin configuration of the Asus GTX 970. A single 8-pin provides up to 150W. Since the card TDP is 145W,

that's cutting it close to the card being taped out for power


but all you can do is what you feel is best for you and live with it

good luck



How is 80w left on the table cutting it close? Also FYI the "150w limit" of the 8pin isnt a concrete limit of the cable, its a recommendation. They can and do pull more than 150w down the 8 pin cable.
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October 15, 2014 9:39:08 AM

the best thing you need to do is what YOU feel is best for you

if you like the asus then good deal your the one buying it and using it and you did the home work on then and made a chaise as we all do i'm sure it will work out and you can enjoy it
good luck
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October 15, 2014 9:48:13 AM

RobCrezz said:
Bear in mind that when the card is heavily loaded the fans will cut in.


Ah yep this is where I got to when I gave up trying to work it out on my own. That's why I posted on Tom's finally as I'd had the idea for a while. Then I wondered the last case scenario. What will happen if you are playing a game light on the core but heavy on memory. No fans and RAM working hard.

Anyway if GDDR5 is cool running then that fact fairly makes the case for RAM being safe on the Asus 970. Coupled with the fact some of my current vRAM GDDR5 is not cooled it seems fairly solid. The only outstanding issue is that they have clocked this RAM higher so it will operate hotter.

Either way we will see if the design is OK by how many cards get RMA'd. Bit risky when you've got one ordered like I have. Personally I would prefer a 960 but apparently the release of that has been delayed because of 970/980 demand. I don't know if I want to wait until next year for that. Ideally I'd prefer also to wait for the next gen of cards when they are released in 20nm tech, but I digress.

@ junkeymonkey, I'm wary of the EVGA. Lots of opinion is avoid their current Maxwell's. I read lots in newegg reviews of it that the cooling systems have high numbers of noisy examples. People knocking eggs off for it. It's getting mentioned in plenty of forums. Something about ver 1.0 and 2.0 coolers.

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October 15, 2014 9:56:11 AM

Bear in mind that when the card is heavily loaded the fans will cut in.---

I seen it can be adjusted with something like afterburner on the fan curve thing [???]

@ junkeymonkey, I'm wary of the EVGA--- I with you on that but its a late release card and they may have made the adjustments for it [???]] we'll see

like with all this stuff you get what you find you want use it and se if it neets your expectations if it don't you know better next time

don't thuink we got nice stuff and found it was not really all that nice of fell short in some way its the chance we all take with these things
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October 15, 2014 12:59:33 PM

Yep I read that about Afterburner. Coincidentally I just downloaded it tonight because I am trying to get an FPS counter working. Fraps they say slows PC performance. Shadowplay is meant to have and FPS counter but it just isn't there in my install. Others had this issue.

I guess Speedfan would do it too. Possibly my Asus motherboard fan control 2+ thingy, might run it also.

I don't blame you for wanting to EVGA and save a few bucks. I think the Asus 970 is pricey, and yet it's way cheaper than the 700 series. I think overall I'd prefer the 960 as it will be lighter and less risk of sag. Also cheaper to run, and most likely still max Crysis 3 and Metro at 1080p.
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October 15, 2014 1:04:54 PM

if your not in a hurry for a card it may pay to wait it out some

that's how i'm looking at it right now

as for me the only brand I won't conceder is asus.. I pretty much washed my hands of them [opinion] there not the asus I grew up with anymore
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