^ i7 still as minimum CPU?! They'll certainly scoop all awards for the worst tech in games.

Thanks!

If you see big gains upgrading from a 580, imagine what I could see coming from a 5850.

I was interested in the noise and heat because this is one of the few 970 with a cooler that exhaust the heat out of the case, important with my P183 and its limited airflow. I don't recall the GTX580 to be called noisy as was the 480, so I don't think it will make more noise that my current card.

And if that and the problems the other cards have aren't enough, it's also one of the shortest cards as well as cheaper than the rest.

I'll have to decide between the PNY and the MSI one, whenever they become available.

Have you considered this one?

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_970_strix_review,1.html

Yep, I have.

The "problem" with this card is that it puts noise before performance and it throttles back in demanding games to keep that noise down. It's a bit of a silly decision with an overclocked card, but that's what ASUS have decided. And it's also pricier than both the PNY and the superior MSI Twin Frozr.

But thanks for the suggestion.

Also, I wouldn't worry much about games demanding an i7, I think it's a silly way of asking for a quad core CPU. After all, an i5-2500 is faster than an i7-920, but since some i5 are dual cores with Hyper Threading, they go with an i7 to guarantee a true quad core CPU.

I think it throttles once it reaches 80 degrees...which apparently it won't. Anyway, I think I've read something about whinning fan coil in MSI cards (and to be honest I always trust ASUS craftmenship more than MSI), so just a suggestion.

I just finished the main story of "Dead Rising 3" and had a blast! I'm so glad I ignored the mediocre ratings. The "untold stories" are next... included for free in the PC-version, sold seperately for 30 bucks for XBO.

Oh, and GameSpot is now officially on my black list. 7/10 for the XBO version, but only 3/10 for the PC version while they admit that the PC version is technically better and has the DLCs included for free.

http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/dead-rising-3-review/1900-6415558/
http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/dead-rising-3-apocalypse-edition-review/1900-6415861/

I've also read about that coil noise (which is strange as MSI uses upgraded components, but whatever) as well as the issue with the secondary fan that makes it spin at 100% even when the card is in 2D mode (apparently it has something to do with removing the sticker of the fans).

My current stand with the different cards is:

Gigabyte_ One of the best cards all around: comes with a backplate, has a good factory OC (with room to improve if needed), good power consumption and very cool. Cons: it's on the expensive side, it's way to long for my case and exhausts all the heat into the case. The last 2 bits make them a "no go" for me.

MSI_ The goods: good factory OC (with room to improve if needed), short card and very cool. It's on the middle of the road when it comes to price, at least here. Cons: its power consumption is one of the worst, has no backplate even with memory chips being there, the coil and fan issues and exhausts most of the heat into the case.

EVGA_ Let's just say that they aren't bad, but they don't excel in any good aspec, but has problems with the cooler as well as coil noises.

ASUS_ Good all around, specially its power consumption numbers, but it's expensive and as I said in my previous post, the card can throttle. Also, if you decide to OC you'll need to set the fan speed manually as they won't come past 42% speed by itself (at least that's what this site had to do), so you lose the 0 noise advantage when idling.

Palit_ The only card I've seen on retail with a blower cooler that exhausts all the heat out of the case, it's also one of the shortest and cheaper ones. But it comes at factory speeds.

Zotac_ 3 different versions that at the end of the day puts them on the same situation of EVGA, they don't stand out of the rest in anything.

That's basically the brands available around here and my thoughts on them.

Fair assessment.

Palit JetStream runs at higher than reference clocks and it seems like a pretty cool (according to Guru3D thermals) and good performing card. However, it does not have a backplate, and techpowerup also reported some coil noise.

WTF?!

I thought coil noise was something of the past, and yet it seems that all 970, whatever the card brand is, can suffer it .

Steam Curators now have to tell us if they were paid to recommend a game

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Steam Curators are part of Valve’s plan to help players sift through the gazillion PC games on their service - individuals or groups who’ll recommend games to appear on your front page.

The idea has already yielded results - allow me to surreptitiously slide a link to the PCGamesN Curator page across the desk between us - but early critics worried that the curation system was open to exploitation by unscrupulous developers. That a Curator’s critical judgement might be informed by, say, a crisp £50 note faxed through to their study.

Valve have wised up to that possibility, and now require Curators to disclose conflicts of interest in their recommendations.

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Buy a BlizzCon 2014 virtual ticket for loot in WoW, Diablo III, StarCraft II and Hearthstone

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Between the StarCraft WCS, Hearthstone world finals and inevitable announcements of the opening ceremony, some would say that watching the BlizzCon stream is its own reward. But Blizzard wouldn’t be among that number: they’re determined to bribe you with trinkets and treats for every one of their five undying PC games.

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Twitch push for "complete transparency" in sponsored videos

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There’s so much transparency going around this morning that PC gaming is starting to resemble an oversized amoeba, with its breakfast floating around its belly for all to see.

Not only do Valve now require Steam Curators to disclose payments for recommendations, but Twitch have begun a new drive for clarity in sponsored streams.

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Why the Divinity: Original Sin devs might return to Kickstarter after all: "the halo effect"

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You might remember Divinity: Original Sin selling 500,000 copies in its first two months on sale, and developers Larian planning to leave Kickstarter behind. Well: they’ve changed their minds. Not without due consideration, mind you. In fact, you might say this is all due consideration’s fault.

Larian CEO Swen Vincke wondered aloud on his blog whether the return of success stories to Kickstarter might actually help smaller projects - rather than pull funding away from them, as he’d previously worried.

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Valve release annual Team Fortress 2 comic six months early

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Do you like Team Fortress 2? How about comics? If you answered no to both of those questions, tough: the chances are you’ll still enjoy the latest TF2 comic, so head-jigglingly entertaining is it.

There is foreboding. There is introspection. Valve have named it Blood in the Water, but it really oughta be called the Daddy Issue.

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Unreal Engine 4.5 promises to make skin look less like paper mache

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The Unreal Engine 4.5 release is almost upon us, and by us I mean developers who are paying the $19 per month subscription for the engine. There’s a long, meaty list of new features like the new dynamic shadowing technique, ray traced distance field soft shadows; a new subsurface profile which, among other things, can be used to create more realistic skin; and Unreal Motion Graphics, the new GUI designer.

Epic’s been continuing to work on the engine with the community of developers who are actually using it, and more than 40 features have been contributed by them. A similar approach is being taken with Unreal Tournament as well as the Unreal Marketplace. 

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Rift’s Nightmare Tide expansion open beta is being opened a little wider

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Nightmare Tide, the free upcoming expansion for Rift, was due to go live next week and unleash its underwater horrors on the unsuspecting heroes of Telara. For those who have trouble sleeping, events are underway that will hold off your nightmares for just a little longer. The Nightmare Tide open beta is being extended, meaning it won’t invade the main game for a few weeks yet. 

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Unreal Tournament has a flash new logo

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With Unreal Tournament returning to claim the shooter crown, there had to be a few updates. Updating the game with a whole new… game… was obviously the first step, but fancy graphics and new mechanics don’t always scream “THIS IS NEW” to potential players. 

No, for that you need an eye-catching, informative, groovy logo. And you can see Epic’s choice in the big image above. Isn’t that just smashing?

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Dying Light lets you hunger for brains in ‘Be The Zombie’ multiplayer mode, provided you pre-order

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Zombie games have, on the whole, mostly been about splattering the walking deceased in relatively gruesome manners. Sure there are some that focus on human relationships and feelings, and others on how important it is to steal can-openers from other people, but most of the time we’re charging at zombies like bulls at gates, desperate to reduce them to quivering piles of gore. 

For every zombie that fell in battle, this is for you: Dying Light’s Be The Zombie mode. Refuse to be a victim of the survivor’s baseball bat. Fight back! Kill some bloody humans and devour their grey matter like the delicacy it is. 

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Get a sneak peak at Warlords of Draenor’s new dungeons

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As the gears churn in Blizzard’s MMO factory, the components of brand new dungeons clunk onto the production line. Monsters squeal as they’re forced from their hatcheries, and shining loot is being forged ready for adventurers to discover. 

If you just can’t wait to find out what lurks in World of Warcraft’s next expansion, Blizzard have provided a little preview of what’s to come in the game’s eight new dungeons. 

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