Software
Zotac bundles the GTX 970 with the latest version of its FireStorm overclocking utility. As video cards have gotten more and more powerful over the course of the years, vendors have made it easier to overclock the cards through the bundled software. FireStorm is no different, with the utility offering a dashboard that gives you a quick overview of the card’s temperature, core clock and memory clock. There’s a Quick Boost button through which you can increase the clocks of the card with a single button, with the modes available include 2D, 3D and 3D+. An Advanced tab is also present, allowing users to fine-tune overclocking settings, including manual fan control. An ability to store user-defined overclocking settings into profiles is included as well.
As far as general settings are concerned, you can configure FireStorm to launch when Windows starts, and set your desired overclocking profile by default. The BIOS option allows you to save or load the VBIOS of your choice, with the Information tab highlighting the general statistics of the card, such as its name, firmware drivers, number of cores, base and boost clocks and others.
The nature of software-based overclocking means that you don’t have to necessarily use Zotac’s Firestorm for tweaking settings on the GTX 970, with utilities from MSI, EVGA and other video card vendors also offering a similar set of tools to achieve higher clocks. It all comes down to the software utility you’re most comfortable with.
