27 Jul 2021 - Graphics card reviewed

Gamers upgrading will be considering the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition graphics card as a serious price to performance entry point. This card will meet and play most demanding AAA games and do so with good graphics setting as standard, and confidently pushing past the recommended game system requirements needed to run today’s games. This card meets game requirements up to DirectX 12.

How well will the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition run 2021 games? We will take a look at the biggest releases and frames per second analysis on Ultra graphics settings. This graphics hardware can run 202 of the 1000 most demanding PC games played today.

With 1080p being the most common gaming resolution at the moment we explored how well the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition can run Grand Theft Auto VI at 1080p and predict it will return playable frame rates at the following graphics settings - Low: 65 FPS, Medium: 51 FPS, High: 34 FPS and Ultra: 25 FPS. For performance contrast we can see that Forza Horizon 5 is predicted to return a reasonable 51 FPS at Ultra 1080p.

Moving screen sizes up to 1440p we researched Grand Theft Auto VI on the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition and predict it will get a weak set of frame rates. Here are the low to ultra predictions at 1440p - L: 49FPS, M: 39FPS, H: 26FPS, U: 19FPS. Another popular game to investigate at 1440p with this card was Forza Horizon 5 which we predicted will be playable in performance netting an Ultra FPS of 39 FPS. Finally we then took a look at FIFA 22 where its predicted Ultra 1440p Frame rates were strong at 99 FPS. Getting popular modern games to run at 1440p on the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition is one of the better graphics cards for gaming at this screen resolution. We will see 1440p Ultra and High settings across almost all current games.

How many years will the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition graphics card play newly released games and how long until you should consider upgrading the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition in your PC? There is around 6-12 months of top end gaming left in this card, at which point its graphics card replacement time, assuming the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition is part of your PC gaming machine.

Whats a good PC graphics upgrade for the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition? A suitable upgrade choice for the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition is the 16 Series GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6GB, which is 34% more powerful and can run 760 of the 1000 most demanding PC games beating their recommended requirements. Alternatively a good upgrade choice for this graphics card today would be the R-500 Series Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB. For comparison of the 1000 most demanding games around today this suggested upgrade is 44% better and can meet 899 of their recommended requirements.