X51 970!

[noxiandeplomacy]

I am now a proud owner of a GTX 970 reference card and i plopped it into my system with ease and so far the results have been amazing. From the 660 that i previously had in my system this card is a god send, i haven't seen temperatures exceed 78, 79 degrees Celsius and ive been using it for some 1440p. so far ive tested it with Watch dogs, Shadow of Mordor and borderlands the pre-sequal and frames haven't dropped bellow 50 max settings on 1080p ( for shadow of mordor and watch dogs, borderlands is at 60 at all times) with them at times dropping below but never lower than 40 on 1440p. 4k isnt bad either, im happy to report that with 2x AA im not getting any lower than 30, and i love the Dynamic super resolution that the new 900 series provides.

Honestly for the 330-350 price tag that this card has, i cant see a better deal anywhere. sadly its really hard to find.
I would try Directron, thats where i got mine from, i had never used it before but honestly the service was awesome and they actually had it in stock as opposed to amazon.

any specific questions or tests anyone would like me to run if they are uncertain about this card dont feel hesitant to ask, im happy to play around with it.

10/10 must buy card, its quiet, affordable and powerful!

 

[verbanon]

hi man ,

thanks for sharing yr experience with the card. Have fun!

 

[cq842000]

Congrats on owning a beast of a rig in such small form factor. These things really are amazing. I personally think the PSU is underrated as people with the 330w are handling cards that can start approaching 300 watts+ at full load with an OC.

 

[pengful]

Congratulations!

Like you, I replaced the stock GTX 660 with a Palit GTX 970 (http://palit.biz/palit/vgapro.php?id=2406) in a heartbeat but my games are crashing about 30 mins into games intermittently. As I learned from various contributions here, the 330W PSU should be able to support the GTX 970 but if it is not the PSU, what then is causing these crashes? Just this morning, I ran 3DMark v1.4.780 and it crashed mid-way and the entire system rebooted, not just crashing back to Windows.

Some info:
- System: Exact same configuration as you but X51 R1
- All game settings set to optimal via Geforce Experience app
- Games I play: Crysis 3, Metro Last Light and Metro 2033 Redux, Max Payne 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider
- Using MSI Afterburner to set fan profile as per Irishlad147's video - http://youtu.be/sPQh7e-5meM

Any advice from any guru here will be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

Alienware X51 R1: Intel Core i7-3770 Processor@3.4 GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1 TB 7200 rpm HDD, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Palit 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970

 

[cq842000]

Congratulations!

Like you, I replaced the stock GTX 660 with a Palit GTX 970 (http://palit.biz/palit/vgapro.php?id=2406) in a heartbeat but my games are crashing about 30 mins into games intermittently. As I learned from various contributions here, the 330W PSU should be able to support the GTX 970 but if it is not the PSU, what then is causing these crashes? Just this morning, I ran 3DMark v1.4.780 and it crashed mid-way and the entire system rebooted, not just crashing back to Windows.

Some info:
- System: Exact same configuration as you but X51 R1
- All game settings set to optimal via Geforce Experience app
- Games I play: Crysis 3, Metro Last Light and Metro 2033 Redux, Max Payne 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider
- Using MSI Afterburner to set fan profile as per Irishlad147's video - http://youtu.be/sPQh7e-5meM

Any advice from any guru here will be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

Alienware X51 R1: Intel Core i7-3770 Processor@3.4 GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1 TB 7200 rpm HDD, Windows 8.1 64-bit, Palit 4GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970

More than likely, its the less robust power board inside the case. To my understanding, it was created to handle the amperage input of the 240watt powerbrick. R1 and R2 power boards have a different part number so it's logical that there was an actual revision between R1 and R2. If you have an R1 with the factory internal power board, it's like having a supercharger bolted up and running on your car, but no tune to make it work. I'm semi sure that if you get an R2 power board, it will take care of your problem. You would only see this shutdown when the gpu has a high load (assuming that your temps are good) if you are exceeding your systems ability to provide stable constant current.

 

[pengful]

Thanks. My temps never go beyond 80 deg C and I have updated the bios to the latest A14 bios. I read somewhere that an R2 board cannot fit perfectly. Is this true? If not, then I would probably try changing the power board.

 

[cq842000]

I cant say for sure but the power boards should have the same mounting points, just difféent components on the pcb. If I had to venture an educated guess, sinve you already have a 330watt power brick, you just need the other half of the power supply which is the power board and you should be golden. I myself have an R9 290 which of course is a power hungry card vs Maxwell, but even with a 21% core overclock and a 12% memory overclock it is stable at +100mV. That said, if you have an R2 power brick and an R2 power board, there is no reason why you would have stability issues.

 

[pengful]

All, I read somewhere about the dreaded Skydiver benchmark in 3DMark that is causing black screens or reboots so I am feeling more assured that it may be a benchmark program issue. On the GTX 970 card, I lowered the GPU core clock by 100 MHz and lowered the power by 10%. So far, ran Crysis 3 on very high settings and game seemed stable after 1 hour of thrashing. Temps stayed below 80 deg c throughout. Will test on other games and share.

On the power board, it seems like there is nothing much that I can do except updating all the chipset and device drivers from Dell. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks.

 

[cq842000]

I've built quite a few systems, overclocked, liquid cooled, LN2 suicide runs, etc. I can confidently say that if you are loading up the gpu, the cpu is not overclocked (and is cooled adequately), and your system shuts down without warning or BSOD then you've ran into either a heat issue or a power supply issue. I experienced this issue alot with 3dm06 when using a cheap PSU that couldnt keep up with the power demands of the system.

You can buy an R2 powerboard online, I'll even get you the part number. Okay, the part number is D85RT for the r2 power board. I havent ran across measurements to compare but I see no reason that it wouldnt fit.

 

[I see You]

The power board in the R2 the guys over at dell say it don't work in the R1 someone over at the dell forums asked the same question a few months ago, you might be able to find it with a search on dell alienware forum.

 

[cq842000]

The power board in the R2 the guys over at dell say it don't work in the R1 someone over at the dell forums asked the same question a few months ago, you might be able to find it with a search on dell alienware forum.

I did see where somebody asked the question but never got an answer. It really comes down to the physical dimensions of the board and the mounting points. Seeing them picture for picture they look almost identical. I guess I'll need to dig deeper. They both go in multiple dell systems and technically they are xps/andromeda power boards. I also see that a few have replaced the R1 motherboard with an R2 and while the case is the same between r1 and r2, the powerboard and front I/O board were not 100% compatible via the different usb connections. So it seems that you would essentially just be completely upgrading to an r2 because a new mobo, power board, and front i/o board is needed.

I also note that via the internal revision of the powerboard that the r2 powerboard does supply greater current to the pcie connector, but the pcie slot has an identical 75w max output on the r1 and r2 motherboards themselves.

 

[pengful]

So after getting the R2 board, how do you update the service tag?

 

[cq842000]

So after getting the R2 board, how do you update the service tag?

I assume you mean the motherboard and not the power board? You have to buy a new motherboard, not used. Once you buy a new motherboard boot it up and press the F2 key to enter the bios, from there, it will ask you to input your service tag. If you enter your R1 service tag then your system will show as an R1 via Alien Autopsy, but that has no impact on performance or the warranty of the R1 motherboard.

 

[pengful]

Oops I had myself confused between the motherboard and the power board. I'm clear now. Will try to get my hands on an R2 power board. Thanks for the help. Really appreciate it.

 

[cq842000]

You're very welcome.

 

[Resurrectionist]

Upgrade to a R2 Motherboard? Why?

 

[ussjtrunks]

Upgrade to a R2 Motherboard? Why?


View attachment 1454

Hi how has your upgrade gone so far and which model 970 did you get?

 

[Resurrectionist]

Hi how has your upgrade gone so far and which model 970 did you get?

Easy installation.
Plenty of space with no case mods.
Height: 4.376in - 111.15mm
Length: 9.5in - 241.3mm




EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked
Part Number: 04G-P4-1972-KR

• 1140MHz Base Clock
• 1279MHz Boost Clock

I'm had no problems.

YMMV - Silicon Lottery in effect.





Same Card; Reference Clocked
EVGA GeForce GTX 970
Part Number: 04G-P4-1970-KR
1050MHz Base Clock
1178MHz Boost Clock

2x Benchmark compared to EVGA 660TI FTW LE+ 3GB
(970 costs less then the 660TI new).

 

[ussjtrunks]

I have been having issues finding the non superclocked version, If i get the sc version and its unstable can it be downclocked?

Also which games have you tested using the card so far would be interested in knowing what temps and framerates your now getting

 

[Resurrectionist]

I have been having issues finding the non superclocked version, If i get the sc version and its unstable can it be downclocked?

Also which games have you tested using the card so far would be interested in knowing what temps and framerates your now getting

I could only find the EVGA GeForce GTX 970 Superclocked Part Number: 04G-P4-1972-KR

It's been stable for me. Can down-clock. Can flash BIOS from EVGA GeForce GTX 970
Part Number: 04G-P4-1970-KR and make the SC a stock reference.

I've had no need for that. Surprised how it's 2x my old EVGA 660TI FTW LE+3GB

Tomb Raider - Metro Last Light - Batman Origins - Borderlands 2 - Crysis 3 -
Titian Fall - Bioshock Infinite -

I have not had to down-clock anything.
Currently have the 970SC set in Precision X everything:
100% power target - 79°C temp target - +100MHz GPU clock - +182MHz Mem. clock.

Seems to cruise right along with the right fan curve.

This card is the most fun I've had with the X51 ever.
Good luck.