22 Jan 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 354 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 FIFA 21 at 1080p and saw it return strong frame rates at the following graphics settings - Low: 292 FPS, Medium: 243 FPS, High: 178 FPS and Ultra: 130 FPS. For performance contrast we can see that Genshin Impact returns a reasonable 46 FPS at Ultra 1080p.

Moving screen sizes up to 1440p we ran FIFA 21 on the GeForce GTX 970 MSI Gaming 4GB Edition to see that it got a strong set of frame rates. Here are the low to ultra results at 1440p - L: 222FPS, M: 185FPS, H: 136FPS, U: 99FPS. Another popular game to test at 1440p with this card was Genshin Impact which seemed playable in performance netting an Ultra FPS of 35 FPS. Finally we then took a look at Grand Theft Auto VI where its predicted Ultra 1440p Frame rates were weak at 19 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? Our current calculations suggest a graphics card upgrade will be required in around 12-18 months

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 813 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 917 of their recommended requirements.