In reply Windows446, you are completely wrong sir. First of all, yes the 3.5GB ram issue is there BUT as theninja35 has state, NO games currently use 4GB of VRAM on 1080p or even 1440p. The only game that does is Shadow of Mordor with Ultra Textures at 4K in which case if you are doing that then yes, the 970 is not for you but that does not make it a bad card. In fact, it's is one of the best performance cards on the market right now for the price. Also it's not only 3.5GB. The memory is broken into 2 segments, one is 3.5GB of faster VRAM while the other 500MB is much slower. I can tell first hand that the 970 is one of the best cards to get right now for the price as I recently bought an Asus Strix GTX 970 for 300$ and it runs GTA IV max settings with CRYEnb V3 and bunch of other shaders with 10+ mods and I get around 50ish FPS while recording on 1080P. Any other optimized game such as Shadow of Mordor, Dying Light run at max with 60FPS. Not being a fanboy here but with all due respect, you are wrong about the 970. As for OP, if you are on a budget, a 970 is perfect but if you can shell out more, grab a 980 or SLI 2x970's together. If you are going cheap, a 960 does the job well but don't expect max out 60FPS gaming. Cheers!
*Note* My 970 is o/c by +100Mhz, not much tho and you can go higher.