ASUS GTX 970 Buying Guide for B2B Buyers (2026)

The ASUS GTX 970 has transitioned into a "Legacy Stopgap" product as of 2026. While it retains a cult status for its historical price-to-performance ratio, it is now officially classified as End-of-Life (EOL), with NVIDIA driver support having ceased in June 2025 Alibaba Techpowerup.

Market Trends & Pricing

* Secondary Market Value: The card has hit a "price floor" of approximately $40 USD for used units Alibaba. In the B2B market, Shenzhen-based suppliers offer mixed lots of the GTX 900 series starting at roughly $38 per unit Alibaba.

* Upgrade Momentum: Buyers are increasingly moving toward modern entry-level cards like the RTX 3050 (available new for $150–$229), primarily to access AI features like DLSS and AV1 encoding which the 970 lacks Alibaba Alibaba.

Performance Insights (2026 Context)

* Synthetic Power: With a PassMark score of 9,636, it surprisingly remains 22% faster than the newer GTX 1650 in raw synthetic power, despite its age Videocardbenchmark Techpowerup.

* Gaming Viability: It remains capable for 1080p e-sports (averaging 71 FPS in DX11 titles like CS2), but struggles heavily in DX12 environments (~41 FPS) due to its infamous 3.5GB + 0.5GB VRAM split, which causes micro-stuttering in modern AAA games Videocardbenchmark Alibaba.

Detailed technical benchmarks, resale stability charts, and upgrade comparisons are available in the findings report below.