Actually, the only thing I would say is bad about Asus is its current pricing structure only. Sadly, it is way off the charts.

In terms is hardware, it is indeed far superior to Gainward in all regards, albeit the lower overclock out of box. Eteknix themselves summarize it all. However, whether the extra RM300 is justifiable for this, is another matter all together.

www.eteknix.com/asus-strix-geforce-gtx-970-4gb-graphics-card-review/15/

Just bashing our distributors. No offense

At the end of the day, 0-2 FPS minimum FPS difference doesn't justify RM300 difference after non-factory overclock. It is negligible.

This post has been edited by TristanX: Nov 19 2014, 01:03 PM

Well, performance isn't the only factor people push their budget toward branded stuff.
Reliability, after sales service, cooling performance, build quality, additional features, extra stuff like backplate/LED, OC capibility and look are other important factor too.
Although i'm not gonna pay RM1,499 for Asus. Not really big fan of their product.
I personally think the reason big brand can push their product price higher for GTX 970 is because no other GPU is worth to take in RM1,500 to RM1,900 price range.
Not like before where we got plenty of card to choose with minimal difference (RM1,500 for R9 290, RM1,900 for R9 290X etc)

This post has been edited by -cmi-: Nov 19 2014, 01:23 PM

Asus does not escape from reliability issues too. That includes their RM1k+ motherboards. Their after sales service? I've been through their crappy 6 weeks service for my P5Q Deluxe and still not done. Took my 67% refund and bought DFI DK P45-T2RS Plus. Just check Garage Sales. Some sellers are selling RMA part.

HD4890 is the last time I bought Asus. After that generation, they became overpriced. I'm fine with a bit higher. It isn't fine when it is RM200-300 difference.

This post has been edited by TristanX: Nov 19 2014, 01:49 PM

We normally use a conversion rate of 4x compared to USD pricing when it come to the big brands (asus, dell, lenovo, HP, corsair and so on)

This post has been edited by Human10: Nov 19 2014, 05:24 PM

Ekchelli, this time the fault not exactly all on distro.

http://global.pchome.com.tw/?mod=store&fun..._NO=DRAD55&tm=u

Even for Taiwan (asus's home base, LOL) the pricing is more than other brands. I guess this time round Asus's demand really too high till they don't mind jack up the price to lower down the demand.

Only US's pricing remain fair.

This post has been edited by Human10: Nov 19 2014, 05:31 PM

Yup.

Can't blame distributor.

The price is like that.

I do NOT feel that Asus Malaysia have GOOD after sales service or will honor their warranty without making the customer going thru lots of hoops and jumps!

Many many moons ago I like & used to buy their products but not anymore.

Ya. Not talking specifically about Asus. Just pointing out some general point
I heard about their crappy service too. Never have experience buying stuff from them.
The main reason im not going for Asus and optimized for Gigabyte instead mainly because of Asus bad cust service record, crappy stock oc, no LED and the pricing point is higher than Gigabyte G1 (RM20 more expensive when i survey around) I agree RM1,499 is too much for Asus but Asus build their reputation is long enough so it's not surprising some fan boyz willing to pay premium just for it. Anyway they do provide great card for GTX 970 with great build quality, silent fans, cool cooling performance and nice backplate which make them look/feel better than many competitor out there. Asus probably increased the price just to make sure their product keep in stock in our shop store. Overpricing the product is the best way to counter no stock issue though

hahahah.... hearing your thoughts reminds me of Razer

600watt enough for sli? check with online psu calculator need at least 680+watt.

currently on 650watt, planning to run another 970 in the future..

Theoretical speaking, yes. A proper 650W should be able to power up 2x GTX970.
http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gp.../specifications

Ref 970 is rated for 145W, factor in some factory OC of other cards. We assume it to be under 180W each, or 360W for SLI.

Now you left with about 300W to power up the CPU and other components, which generally far more than enough even for overclocking build.

But as always, if you plan to overclock this that and every single components of your rig plus the factor of PSU degrading due to age, it is always safer to opt for PSU with extra headroom.

This post has been edited by Human10: Nov 19 2014, 10:54 PM

Yes enough. If you actually tried, it's really tough to push power consumption beyond 500w.

Calculators are such that they assume CPU and GPU go 100% all at once.

The thing is even if the CPU and GPU load goes 100%, you'll be surprise that the TDP isn't necessarily 100%.

alright.. thanks for the reply.. can have a piece of mind to upgrade in future..

Even 500W PSU can do SLI 2x GeForce GTX 970... It's not just recommended for pro-long usages.
PSU Calculator is not very accurate. There's reviews on 2x GeForce GTX 970 power consumption(with a complete high-end system) everywhere.
These reviews are much more accurate.
Example:
Measured power consumption GTX 970 2-way SLI

System in IDLE = 123 Watts
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 439 Watts
Difference (GPU load) = 316 Watts
Add average IDLE wattage ~10 Watts
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 326 Watts

Source, http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gefor...i_review,4.html

See? Total power consumption(CPU, GPU, RAM, etc) is only 439W.

So, a 600W PSU or above is more than enough anytime for 2x GeForce GTX 970.
But, usually, reviews/website will recommend overkill PSUs, they just want to play safe. Because they don't know what's the quality of your PSU, etc.

This post has been edited by DarkSilver: Nov 20 2014, 02:54 AM

thank you for the indept explaination and link..

The most important part of the PSU is the +12v rail. That's why some of the PSU models requires more wattage.

My asus 970 strix have coil whine when running windows experience index on windows 7. But dind't notice when gaming on FF14 or D3 ROS. Close the side casing can't listen at all.

This post has been edited by pot: Nov 20 2014, 02:04 PM

Hi...anyone has any idea whether the local gainward gtx 970 has the free game promo?

depends on the shop and how honest their sales people are.