Asus DirectCU II vs EVGA FTW vs Gigabyte Windforce GTX 670's

[ninjarubberduck]

I can't decide on which to get. If it is important in my decision, I have an Asrock Extreme4 Z77 motherboard. Thanks!

 

[ilysaml]

The Asus GTX 670 DC II got the Editor's choice award from techpowerup, also t's reported that it runs a bit cooler and less noisy than the Gigabyte Windforce.

So both cards are great but I'd recommend the Asus one.

Evga GTX 670 is excluded due to being a reference designed card, it will run much hotter than the other two.

 

[ninjarubberduck]

I thought the EVGA FTW used a design similar to the reference GTX 680 board, with a longer card and better cooling than a reference 670. Whether that improves cooling significantly or not is beyond me. I also read EVGA binned cards so the FTW overclocked better.

 

[ilysaml]

Can you link the EVGA card?
Generally all the reference designed cards run 20C or more hotter than the non reference designed ones. And most of the EVGA cards are reference designed ones.

Also, all the GTX 670s/680s reference designed cards have a limited OCing ceiling sue to the small PCB used in the GTX 670s/680s making to save some power consumption and that is not the case in the Asus DCII and Gigabyte Windforce, they have the regular PCBs with addition power phases to allow for more OCing, and I've seen reviews shows the Asus DCII 680 reaching 1225 MHz, that will be impossible to achieve with the EVGA card.

 

[ninjarubberduck]

It was on one of the reviews there but I've read around of forums like here and Overclockers and it seems to be true.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

 

[ilysaml]

Your EVGA card is different than the one I'm talking about, that's the one I'm talking about ;

That's the SC version with the small PCB, your card is different and yea may give you awesome OCing results.

 

[footman]

Currently I own three GTX 670's. Two are the Gigabyte version and the other is the EVGA FTW version. I do not yet have the Asus as it is still unavailable.

This I can tell you for sure SLI with the Gigabyte version is NOT recommended.

I did not want the stock GTX 670 pcb so went with the versions that are built on the GTX 680 pcb.

You would think that the Gigabyte version with its 3 fan cooler would have lower load temps and be quieter but this is not the case.

In SLI with three spaces between the two cards, they overheated, the top card hit 93C before shutting down the pc and was screaming with over 80% fan speed, the lower Gigabyte card was at 88C and 77% fan speed (according to my GPU-Z logs)... Also my CPU temps rose by 10C due to all the hot air in my Switch 810 case (and this was with the side door open)...

Now you would think that the stock heatsink on the EVGA GTX 670 would be crap and to be honest I have seen better, but it appears to be a hybrid GTX 670/680 design and is actually quiet at idle. Now at full load it exhausts the hot air from the case and actually keeps temperatures in the case down more than the Gigabyte versions, the highest I have seen with the EVGA was 77C at 55% fan speed which is quieter than either of the Gigabyte cards...

Now overclocking: What can I say, the Gigabyte cards come with base clock of 980 and the EVGA1006, the EVGA even comes with 200mhz overclocked memory putting it ahead of the GTX 680... In my testing due to the heat issues the gigabyte cards would not overclock higher than +20 on the core. I have not yet overclocked the EVGA card but this is a FTW card and I expect better than +20. Even if it does not overclock it is still faster than the gigabyte cards with a +20 overclock.

Comparison to my watercooled GTX 680 in the same test rig: This is easy if we look at the graphics scores in 3D Mark 11 (I run with a 2500K overclocked to either 4.6 or 4.9Ghz and as this does not have hyperthreading the combined score is skewed).....

A pair of GTX 670's at stock will score 17K
A single Gigabyte GTX 670 at stock will score 8.8K
A Single EVGA GTX 670 FTW at stock scores 9.4K
A single MSI GTX 680 at stock scores 9.8K
and finally the GTX 680 scores 11K when overclocked.

EVGA community is terrific as is the support, Gigabyte support has always been meh....

To sum it up, between the EVGA GTX 670 FTW and the Gigabyte I would say EVGA everytime. I can not comment about the Asus.

I will be overclocking the EVGA at some stage today and will be getting a second for SLI testing early next week. Feel free to look for me on Futuremark and HardOCP forums as Footman.

Good luck.

 

[footman]

The Asus GTX 670 DC II got the Editor's choice award from techpowerup, also t's reported that it runs a bit cooler and less noisy than the Gigabyte Windforce.

So both cards are great but I'd recommend the Asus one.

Evga GTX 670 is excluded due to being a reference designed card, it will run much hotter than the other two.

Not true, the EVGA FTW is based on the GTX 680 pcb, the core is clocked at the same frequency at the GTX 680 and the memory is clocked 200mhz higher than a stock GTX 680 at 6200mhz.

The stock GTX 670's are proving to be great overclockers as long as they are well cooled, so if you want to buy a stock GTX 670 you should consider watercooling or 3rd party HSF like the new Arctic Cooling solutions.

I forgot to mention in my post above that the power target on the Gigabyte GTX 670 is limited to 112%, the GTX 680 is limited to 132% and the EVGA GTX 670 FTW is limited to 145%. In theory the FTW should have the top binned cores and as long as they are well cooled should result in better performance than even the mighty GTX 680......

 

[ilysaml]

Not true, the EVGA FTW is based on the GTX 680 pcb, the core is clocked at the same frequency at the GTX 680 and the memory is clocked 200mhz higher than a stock GTX 680 at 6200mhz.

That's why I asked him to link his card, I thought it's the SC version and in the second posts I clarified that, review my posts well.

The stock GTX 670's are proving to be great overclockers as long as they are well cooled, so if you want to buy a stock GTX 670 you should consider watercooling or 3rd party HSF like the new Arctic Cooling solutions.

You just stated it, as long as...but they are not well cooled, even if with water cooling, instability is almost supposed to occur, the reference PCBs have limited OCing ceiling you can't go past it whatever you do.

Can't find any reviews of the Evga GTX 670 FTW to compare it with the Asus.
Also, the EVGA GTX 670 SC was replaced by the FTW version due to some bad components
http://www.legitreviews.com/news/13156/

OCing potentiality differs from one card to another even if they were the same model, you can't be 100% sure that OP will get your exact results, If the EVGA Overclocks great, both Gigabyte and Asus shouldn't be far behind. And Of course they will have better cooling results. .[/quotemsg]

 

[XmortisX]

I would honestly go with EVGA, if Im not mistaken they also have an "upgrade" plan, as long as you keep buying EVGA cards and they perform well and OC well also if your into ocing. Go for FTW not SC they was some issues with vram, fans, and some other random issues.

 

[footman]

I would honestly go with EVGA, if Im not mistaken they also have an "upgrade" plan, as long as you keep buying EVGA cards and they perform well and OC well also if your into ocing. Go for FTW not SC they was some issues with vram, fans, and some other random issues.

EVGA step up is limited to stock models and 90 days from purchase.

 

[footman]

That's why I asked him to link his card, I thought it's the SC version and in the second posts I clarified that, review my posts well.

You just stated it, as long as...but they are not well cooled, even if with water cooling, instability is almost supposed to occur, the reference PCBs have limited OCing ceiling you can't go past it whatever you do. Come on, every chip is limited in some way and all silicon has limited OCing ceiling, it is not specific to the GTX 670 in any way. Cool them with liquid nitrogen and they will overclock higher than on air, but there will still be a ceiling, overclocking is related more to the quality of the chip being used (bin). A well binned GTX 670 gpu has the potential to clock higher.

OCing potentiality differs from one card to another even if they were the same model, you can't be 100% sure that OP will get your exact results, If the EVGA Overclocks great, both Gigabyte and Asus shouldn't be far behind. And Of course they will have better cooling results. .

[/quotemsg]

Bottom line, if you want to guarantee an overclock, buy a version that is factory overclocked, another plus for the EVGA FTW version as it is clocked like a GTX 680 (on the core and has extra 200mhz on the memory)....

Anyhow, perhaps we are getting off the point here, I am trying to give the OP my opinion based on my ACTUAL testing of two of the three cards he is thinking about....

 

[Jaywill]

Do you have the same or similar heat issues with a single Gigabyte card? I'm surprised to read about your heat experience as my single card runs cool and quiet. I can't get it to break 70 degrees no matter how hard I push it. Heaven at 2560x1440 and maxed settings still won't break 70 degrees and the fans peak around 50%. I assume you have sufficient case ventilation? These cards with custom cooling do dump a lot of hot air into the case.

As far as overclocking, I have what turns out to be an average OCer. My stock boost clock is 1124, and I'm able to set the offset up to +126, for a load boost of 1250, along with a +450 memory clock offset. Anything higher than that I can't clear a Heaven bench without a driver crash. The average OC on the Gigabyte card appears to be around the 1275 mark, with many breaking 1300.

 

[charpidis]

I'm also buying GTX 670 and wondering which.. seems that EVGA FTW is the best choice?I'm not planning on clocking alot?

 

[ilysaml]

@footman
I'm also giving my opinion, but I excluded the gigabyte and I'm recommending the Asus DC II, It's factory OCed to 1058, surpasses the GTX 680 level by a bit.

 

[footman]

@footman
I'm also giving my opinion, but I excluded the gigabyte and I'm recommending the Asus DC II, It's factory OCed to 1058, surpasses the GTX 680 level by a bit.

So you own one and have tested it then?

 

[ilysaml]

No but I read the reviews on techpowerup and guru3d, reputable enough to take a word from them.
Should I own each single card out there to recommend one?

 

[real world]

Rumors of an EVGA recall on some of their reference models. I think the model people are recomending here is the FTW 02G-P4-2678-KR. It's clocked higher out of the box. The model exhibiting some problems is the orinigally released SC model 2670-KR.

 

[Jaywill]

I forgot to mention in my post above that the power target on the Gigabyte GTX 670 is limited to 112%, the GTX 680 is limited to 132% and the EVGA GTX 670 FTW is limited to 145%. In theory the FTW should have the top binned cores and as long as they are well cooled should result in better performance than even the mighty GTX 680......

From my personal experience with the Gigabyte 670, this is a non-issue. At 111% my card will not downclock at all, as power never breaks 100% anyways at full load. These higher power offsets would probably matter if you could change the voltage on the card, but with voltage locked, it's mostly irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.

 

[footman]

Asus manufacturers two version and neither is currently available in the USA yet. They have their Direct CUll and they also have a top version, the top version does have the highest core clocks but the EVGA has a higher memory clock.

The top has always had a great reputation, but my guess is it will be more expensive that even the EVGA FTW based on the difference between stock GTX 680 and the Asus top version. Finally it dumps hot air in to the case and takes up three slots.

@ Jaywill, I did test the Gigabyte in single card as well as SLI, temperatures were reduced but still high at 80C, I have a Switch 810 case with great airflow and the cards were tested with the side of the case open. I do not test with Furmark but looped runs of Unigine Heaven.

 

[footman]

No but I read the reviews on techpowerup and guru3d, reputable enough to take a word from them.
Should I own each single card out there to recommend one?

Err, yes if you want to be objective, everything else is hearsay. This is what makes a good reviewer great.

That is why I did not express an opinion in my original post regarding the Asus version.

 

[footman]

From my personal experience with the Gigabyte 670, this is a non-issue. At 111% my card will not downclock at all, as power never breaks 100% anyways at full load. These higher power offsets would probably matter if you could change the voltage on the card, but with voltage locked, it's mostly irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.

Changing the power offset will allow the card to clock higher assuming cooling is sufficient......

 

[fudoka711]

There is a big enough difference between the EVGA stock/SC models and the FTW model. The FTW model is based on the 680 pcb with a "better" pcb material...or at least that's how I understood it from reading the description on newegg and evga's website. The FTW version does not appear to have the same problems that plagued some of the reference based models (stock/SC).

From Reviews online and many from Newegg, the EVGA models overclock really well (despite the shorter pcb and reference design) and stay pretty cool/quiet...sometimes as cool and more quiet than the gigabyte windforce one. I don't know enough about the ASus DC II one to share and info/input on that model...but from what I know about Asus models in the past - you can at least expect it to cool/overclock really well.

Bottom line - if you're only going to get one, its really up to you. If you are going to SLI at all - do not go with the gigabyte model. Those triple fans will do you no good. The EVGA FTW one is the best for use in SLI as it outputs all its heat out the case and doesn't recirculate any. The ASUS DC II will output some heat into the case, but not nearly as much as the Gigabyte Windforce one.

 

[ilysaml]

Err, yes if you want to be objective, everything else is hearsay. This is what makes a good reviewer great.

That is why I did not express an opinion in my original post regarding the Asus version.

So I wonder why there are "Reviews" out there? :O

 

[Jaywill]

Changing the power offset will allow the card to clock higher assuming cooling is sufficient......

Not in my experience. Running loops in Heaven after pushing up Core Clock offsets, I get a driver crash long before the card reaches its power target, and with a GPU Temp below 70 degrees.

I'm still not understanding why your Gigabyte card is getting so hot. I can't get mine that hot no matter what I do. As I said above, my driver will crash before I reach that Temp threshold or my power target.