Nvidia’s Maxwell-based GeForce GTX 970 is a marvel, offering one of the best price-to-performance ratios of just about any video card on the market. Nvidia’s 970 offers the best bang-for-your-buck, so it makes sense that it’s now the most popular card according to Steam’s hardware survey.
That’s according to the December 2016 Steam Hardware survey. For a long time, the GPU that’s come up tops in that regard was Intel’s HD Graphics 4000, an integrated chip that’s still second in the charts. Whether that’s because a large number of Steam users are playing smaller, casual games or just that Steam users are prone to installing the service on just about anything capable of running it is up in the air.
Anyway, the point is that NVidia’s 970 is an unfathomably popular card, and for good reason; even with that crippled half a gif VRAM, it performs like a dream.
“There’s no doubt that Maxwell is impressive. Nvidia have really put it to AMD with their next-generation, while also undercutting their own range of high-end cards at the same time,” Alessandro said when he reviewed one a year ago. “The GTX 980 might be the flagship model right now, but a combination of local pricing and performance per Rand makes the GTX 970 a much better card.”
For reference, the first AMD card that shows up is the Radeon HD 7900 Series at 9. That’s not really all that surprising. AMD’s cards may offer great value – especially locally – but Nvidia just dominates the market.
The 970 is still a tempting purchase (even with our perpetually declining exchange rate). Nvidia’s new cards, based on Pascal and featuring HBM stacked memory are expect this year. Maybe.
Last Updated: January 18, 2016
Alien Emperor Trevor
January 18, 2016 at 13:37
The cheapest I saw one going for when I was shopping around the other day was around R6k. I went with AMD instead heh.
Captain JJ 'saurus
January 18, 2016 at 13:43
6k is quite a few pennies
Hammersteyn
January 18, 2016 at 13:44
Good man! Wait…. 6K? That’s a new console right there!
The Grand Admiral Chief Prime
January 18, 2016 at 13:44
I’d rather buy green before I go console
The Grand Admiral Chief Prime
January 18, 2016 at 13:45
THERE, I SAID IT!
Hammersteyn
January 18, 2016 at 14:06
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_super/5/56319/3952197-8852364254-tumbl.gif
HairyEwok
January 18, 2016 at 15:02
At least you’ll be able to play games at 1080p 60fps then.
VampyreSquirrel
January 18, 2016 at 13:49
I got my GTX 970 on special 😛
Hammersteyn
January 18, 2016 at 13:49
5.5K?
VampyreSquirrel
January 18, 2016 at 13:58
Around there yeah.
Alien Emperor Trevor
January 18, 2016 at 13:51
R6k WAS on special. ;P
VampyreSquirrel
January 18, 2016 at 13:59
Yeah… I’m happy I got my upgrade before “on special” got so out of hand 😛
Alien Emperor Trevor
January 18, 2016 at 14:01
If I’d waited another 2 weeks to buy my PC components, it would’ve cost me an extra R800. #ThanksZuma
Hammersteyn
January 18, 2016 at 14:04
apparently people want him to FITS
VampyreSquirrel
January 18, 2016 at 14:04
Yeah… I’d hate to know what my components would cost now… I’m not even going to look
Peter Pan
January 19, 2016 at 07:55
I use Gigabyte’s GTX 970 G1 Gaming Edition. It knocked me for over 6 grand last year, but hey, I’m clocking every game maxed out (haven’t tried anything above 1080 though; my monitor only supports 1080). Now it is deciding whether I should bother with an SLI arrangement!
Mossel
January 18, 2016 at 14:09
Bought my 970 for R4999 at wootware last year! Best purchase ever!
chimera_85
January 19, 2016 at 12:03
*crying emoji*
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
January 18, 2016 at 15:08
Well, what scares me is that 5 years ago, the GTX 580 sold for the same price, which was the top performing single gpu solution at the time, now you pay almost double that for the current best single gpu solution…
Pitt90
January 18, 2016 at 14:00
It’s what I got! Love mine!
UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy
January 18, 2016 at 14:03
Still hanging onto my 870 GTX Lightning for now. Waiting for the Pascal cards to get released and then see where I go from there.
Mossel
January 18, 2016 at 14:10
870? Do you game on a laptop?
UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy
January 18, 2016 at 14:13
lol! Dammit! Edited…. 780 xD
Mossel
January 18, 2016 at 14:24
haha! Wou nounet se!
UltimateNinjaPandaDudeGuy
January 18, 2016 at 14:29
Dis Maandag ou… Ek word nog wakker. xD
HairyEwok
January 18, 2016 at 15:06
At least the 780 is still capable of running most games at high settings in 1080p…. Most of us South Africans can’t afford to game beyond the 1080p mark unless you sell your soul to the bank.
Greylingad[CNFRMD]
January 18, 2016 at 15:09
Not only your soul, that of your kids and wife…
PestControl
January 18, 2016 at 15:07
“… with that half a gif VRAM..” -> Is that like a JPEG? 😛
Sovereign
January 18, 2016 at 17:09
980ti or go home.
chimera_85
January 19, 2016 at 12:02
I wish I could afford a 970 🙁
That being said, I’m very happy with my 960 🙂