...GTX 970 remains a solid choice almost a year after launch and there are plenty of high-quality partner cards to choose from.
Provided there are no more ghosts in Nvidia's closet, PC gamers now know everything there is to know about the mid-range GeForce GTX 970.
Currently available for under £250 and offering almost the full might of high-end GTX 980, the mid-range GTX 970 shaves a few processor cores here and a few texture units there to deliver a price-to-performance ratio that few other cards can match.
Perfectly suited to silky-smooth gameplay at a tasty QHD resolution, GTX 970 remains a solid choice almost a year after launch and the GPU's maturity is such that there are now plenty of high-quality partner cards to choose from.
Joining the custom-cooled and factory-overclocked fray is Gainward, whose GTX 970 Phoenix fits the bill with regards to performance but struggles to stand out in a competitive marketplace. Muddled outputs and a larger-than-necessary form factor work against an otherwise solid design, but the real sticking point here is that pricing isn't as competitive as the practically identical Palit GTX 970 JetStream.
The Good
The Bad
Ideal for high-quality QHD gaming
Silent when idle, quiet under load
Capable dual-fan cooler
Easy to overclock
No full-size DisplayPort
Fan profile could be smoother
Takes up almost three full slots
Costs more than a Palit JetStream
Gainward GeForce GTX 970 Phoenix
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The Gainward GeForce GTX 970 Phoenix graphics card is available to purchase from Scan Computers.
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