NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Reviews

[LordEC911]

I've not seen any other versions that overclock as high as the best of these, they seem to be limited by having 6+6 pins.

Also helps to have more phases...
Reference GTX670 = 4+2
ASUS GTX670 DirectCUII TOP = 6+2
Gigabyte GTX670 OC = 5+2

[jaredpace]

doesn't matter if it has 3x8pin and 15 phases since they're all voltage locked

[LordEC911]

doesn't matter if it has 3x8pin and 15 phases since they're all voltage locked

HuH?

[GoldenTiger]

doesn't matter if it has 3x8pin and 15 phases since they're all voltage locked

Power quality and consistency actually can and will affect oc's some.

[Mungri]

doesn't matter if it has 3x8pin and 15 phases since they're all voltage locked

The 8+6 pin models have their stock voltage raised to 1.175v though.

[LexDiamonds]

The 8+6 pin models have their stock voltage raised to 1.175v though.

Hmmm. Are you sure about that?

I will have results on Tuesday from my Gigabyte OC.. If I can do 1250 boost on water I'll be happy. Anything higher is gravy.

[onethreehill]

More NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Reviews
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=29607&all=1
http://www.bjorn3d.com/articles/GIGA...0_OC/2236.html
http://www.hitechlegion.com/reviews/video-cards/18838
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/NVIDI...-and-Gigabyte/
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2012/nvidia_...x_670_im_test/
http://lanoc.org/review/video-cards/5786-nvidia-gtx-670
http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/video/gv-n670oc-2gd
http://www.ocaholic.ch/xoops/html/mo...l_lang=english
http://tbreak.com/tech/2012/05/nvidi...dition-review/

[Mungri]

Post 98. The card just automatically overvolts itself to 1.175v when it hits the 1200 Mhz boost at default settings, adding +100 mv forces the voltage to 1.175v.

I'm having a problem with my card throttling itself if the temperature goes over 70 degrees though, the voltage reduces to 1.162v, and the GPU clock reduces by 50 Mhz

The gigabyte card is also doing a 200 Mhz boost up to 1189 MHz, so would be needing 1.175v for stability, also Zotac are also releasing an 8+6 pin card identical to the KFA2, 1006 MHz base frequency, +200 MHz boost which will also need 1.175v.

[LexDiamonds]

Throttling at 70C and again at 80C is a known "feature" with Kepler.

[Mech0z]

any rumours on 660 release?

[LexDiamonds]

any rumours on 660 release?

"rumors" say 3-4 months, but who knows.

[Mech0z]

"rumors" say 3-4 months, but who knows.

Isnt that for the TI version? I just want any 660 version or even 650

[Mungri]

Throttling at 70C and again at 80C is a known "feature" with Kepler.

I've managed to get my temperature to stay at below 70 degrees by reseating the cooler and using my spotcool fan. Now for some reason I can clock the ram by another 200 Mhz:



1250 / 7300 Mhz. 1250 Mhz is really just an average GK104 GPU.

[SubZero.it]

I didn't notice that the Gainward Phantom GTX 670 still has the short PCB but with all memory chips on the front.

EDIT: In italy is pretty difficult finding those non-reference versions. The best for the price I can find is the EVGA GTX 670, that seems to clock good in the guru3d review (that was the SC model but it should clock the same, no?).

[Mungri]

Well I know I've been singing praise about the KFA2 card I got throughout this thread, but now I'm dissapointed:



Stock settings, 60% fan speed (any higher is audible and loud), 70 degrees in unigine heaven and throttling. Hopefully I can get it changed to a Gigabyte Windforce under OCUKs new 14 day satisfaction guarantee. Im not bothered at all about the average overclocks I had, but it shouldnt be reaching 70 degrees and throttling at stock settings with the fan on 60%.

And yes, I've already reseated the cooler with MX3, and added a side fan which dropped my maximum temperatures by 5 degrees, and its still throttling at factory settings!

[bamtan2]

it shouldnt be reaching 70 degrees and throttling at stock settings with the fan on 60%.

says who?

all these cards are performing the same. and people are bonking heads, unknowingly complaining and complimenting the same things.

[Mungri]

says who?

all these cards are performing the same. and people are bonking heads, unknowingly complaining and complimenting the same things.

Everyone that have bought these KFA2 and Gigabyte Windforce cards have been posting their results in this thread here:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?t=18400740

The stock temperatures on mine are the highest anyone has reported on either of these cards while running heaven.

[Chickenfeed]

To state the obvious there are a plethora of varriables which impact thermals, not limited to ambient temperature and air flow, which is why comparing thermal performance without taking these varriables in to account is completely cats and dogs.

For example in my TJ07 my warmer 680 can peak in the high 80s where as in the same circumstances in a FT02 it wont break 80 all the while running at a rpm 10% lower and noticeably quieter.

[Krizby87]

I'm sure that is not throttling, my Gigabyte GTX 680 stay at normal clock (1000mhz + 80Mhz offset= 1080Mhz) during Mass effect 3 and goes to boost clock (1256Mhz) in the Witcher 2 and my temp are below 60 degrees at all times, I think it only goes to boost clock when it is necessary, i.e low fps and not throttling like bhavv said. Although if you want good thermals you can always get the Gigabyte Winforce GTX 670 , in my room the temp is around 26 degrees and my GTX 680 only goes to 57 degrees at max

[Mungri]

If the temperature stays below 70 the boost clock doesnt reduce. As soon as it hits 70 degrees the voltage and GPU clock reduce. Thats throttling.

Its not a fault of the card, its a 'feature' implemented by Nvidia into these cards. At 70 and 80 degrees the cards throttle and the GPU boost clock reduces.

As you say your Gigabyte GTX 680 stays below 60 degrees with a boost clock of 1256 Mhz? I'll be changing my card to the Gigabyte version then. Its not ok with me that I get throttling at stock settings.

[Krizby87]

jup, I didn't do anything to my card, Oced it to 1256Mhz (boost clock) 6800Mhz on the mem without changing the cooling profiles and the temp never goes above 60. Btw have you increased the power limit ?

[Mungri]

I did increase the power limit up to 125%.

I should be ok now, I tried reseating the cooler again because the first time I accidentally used too much thermal paste:



At this same setting, the card was running at 69-71 degrees out of the box.

After the first termal paste reaplication, it went down to 65-67 degrees, but 75% fan speed is too loud.

After the second thermal paste reapplication, and using a much smaller minimal amount, the temperature is now down to 62-63 degrees, and I can run the fan at 70% which is barely audible and keep the temperature below 65 degrees now. The card and the cooler on it are completely fine and high quality, it just needed correctly applied thermal paste.

Graphics card manufacturers are terrible at applying thermal paste, MORE IS NOT BETTER!

The fans on this card are silent up to 60%, barely audible at 65-70%, and then at 72-75% they become loud. So as long as I can keep the temperature well below 69 degrees at 1250 Mhz with a 70% fan speed which should be possible now, its completely fine and my clock speed wont reduce.

To state the obvious there are a plethora of varriables which impact thermals.....

I believe now that there is only one single variable that impacts thermals on similar components - correct application of thermal paste

[Krizby87]

well that's very nice to see 8 degrees difference with better application of TIM , as for me I see there is no need at the moment, until we can overvolt the GPU via software I think the limit for the clock is around 1250-1290mhz. Anyways looks like you have very good Mem clocks, I'm jealous >_< (My max mem clock is at 6880mhz until ECC kicks in and reduce 3dmark score), what is your 3dmark11 score ? here is my temps



.

[Mungri]

And thats proof that I should have gotten a Gigabyte lol. I'm not bothered though as long as I can stop the GPU from throttling at such a mild OC of 1250 Mhz.

Heres a screenshot showing the throttling on these cards - at 1250 Mhz boost clock, if the GPU reaches 70 degrees it reduces to 1238 Mhz, and at 80 degrees it reduces to 1228 Mhz:



Which is very anoying if you're trying to keep the card at its maximum OC, and even more annoying if you lost the gamble on getting a 1300+ Mhz card.

The memory overclocks on these cards are very random. All of them use the same Hynix chips rated for 1500 / 6000 GDDR5 speed, but overclocks vary from 6800 - 7560 on a card to card basis. While I only got a 1250 Mhz capable GPU, I also got 7300+ Mhz memory.

This Asus top got 7560 Mhz on its memory:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A..._Cu_II/31.html

But from the look of it, it has to be a handpicked sample and not a random purchase, especially since the card cant be bought anywhere yet.

[LexDiamonds]

@bhavv

Can you do a 3d mark fully stock vs. a 3dmark with just mem OCed?

Curious if the mem OC adds a meaningful increase by itself or if this is only seen when paired with a OCed core.

Big gains with just mem OC obviously show Kepler is a bit bandwidth limited on 256bit bus..