GALAX GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent ‘Infinity Black Edition’

I have analysed many GTX 970 and GTX 980 cards since Nvidia launched in September. Today's review has been rather interesting for me however because it is a good indication of how seriously Overclockers UK are taking the graphics market – this partnership with GALAX has worked out great. We analysed their custom reference GTX970 solution earlier this week (built on a GTX980 PCB), and it is clear they aren't trying to cut corners just to maximise profits.

The GALAX GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent ‘Infinity Black Edition' may be quite a mouthful to say, but it is a seriously impressive graphics card. It is clocked higher than any other GTX970 sample we have reviewed so far and performs just as well as we would expect.

If you like the brutal appearance of the Inno3D GTX980 ‘iChill Herculez Air Boss Ultra GPU (reviewed in October) then we aren't so sure the GALAX GTX970 OC Silent will tick the same boxes for you. It is very understated and the all black design ethic means it won't instantly attract the eye in a system build. I do like the fact that there are no flashing LED lights, neon glow names or bright fans incorporated into the build. It is subtle and attractive in its own way, much like the Asus GTX970 STRIX OC.

The GALAX card is supplied in a very high state of overclock although there is plenty of additional headroom on offer if you want to push every ounce of performance from the hardware. We managed to increase the core Boost speed to 1,476mhz before artifacting would occur. While overclocking will vary from card to card, our result is a strong indicator of potential gains possible.

The custom cooling solution delivers exceptional results and it outperforms competing solutions from companies such as MSI and ASUS by 4-5 degrees Celsius. Noise emissions closely match custom ASUS and MSI solutions so it hasn't been just a case of simply increasing fan speeds to reduce load temperatures. Credit is due to Andrew ‘Gibbo' Gibson for working hard to reduce potential coil whine. The inductors are housed in high grade containers and are glued to the PCB. If you have read the whole review you will have seen the special red glue they have used on our high res gallery page.

The GALAX GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent ‘Infinity Black Edition' really does deserve to be right at the top of a final shortlist, it is the most capable all round GTX970 we have reviewed.

You can ONLY buy direct from Overclockers UK for £299.99 inc vat. Buy from CaseKing in Europe for 379.90 euros, here.

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Pros:

• Its a great looking card – very ‘understated'.
• built to the highest standards.
• cooler outperforms custom cards from market leaders MSI and ASUS.
• techniques in place to reduce coil whine.
• Supplied in a high state of overclock.
• excellent power consumption.

Cons:

• Faces stiff competition from big name brands such as MSI and ASUS.

Kitguru says: Mean and lean, and built to the highest standards. A fantastic graphics card for £300.

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