970 or 960?

Tossing up between purchasing msi's gtx970 and gtx960, there's a serious price difference but I was wondering whether I could get away with the gtx960? I plan on trying to get great fps at 1080p on games like far cry 4. Any advice on this matter would be fantastic

960 does OK on 1080p but 970 will allow you to turn up the details. But I wouldn't recommend MSI since their thermal solution isn't very good - their reference style 960 gets up to 80C full load and won't go below 67C with the fans manually overridden to 100%. Contrast that to my PNY 970 that will stay at about 60C full load with the fan only set to 55%, even though a 960 should run much cooler.

I cannot find the PNY model in any of the stores near me, do u have another suggestion of a more efficiently cooled gpu?

970 without a doubt. Pony up. Nothing wrong with MSI. the 4G gamers have excellent cooling.

If your in a position to consider the GTX 970, then its the one to get. Card pretty much destroys every game @ 1080p. Modern titles will look and play Ideal. Opt for the cheaper card and you'll be forever juggling settings and wishing you would have just shelled out the extra doh while you could.