Getting a new GTX 670: Gigabyte or Asus?

[RS1no2047]

So I'm about to get a new nVidia GTX 670 (awesome right?)

I've pretty much narrowed it down to the Asus and Gigabyte versions of the card. According the the article comparing them, they are both excellent with the Gigabyte being best overall, and the Asus being the quietest.

I've been browsing the newegg reviews and found that a substantial percent of people gave the cards 1-egg ratings due to failures like RSoD. It seems this is slightly more common in the Asus version -- even moreso with their TOP edition card. I don't want to deal with newegg's pretty poor return policy (it IS poor when compared to tigerdirect's "sure, just send it back" attitude when the issue was actually my fault), so I want something that works out of the box without any nonsense. Word of the Gigabyte's noise levels concerns me as well.

My last card was an Asus 6850, and I loved it (until I broke it like an idiot... don't even ask how ). Can I expect the same reliability from their version of the 670? I do admit I have a bit of loyalty to them (mobo, blu-ray, prev graphics, monitor), so I'm a bit nervous of basically picking what I see as a no-name brand (hate me for saying that, idc).

Thanks for the input.


Edit: Wasn't bumping. responding to a troll vote.

4GB EVGA added to ballot. Pretend price is no object.

 

[fizzle22]

I voted for the Gigabyte simply because I own one. I do not have any experience with Asus so take my opinion for what it's worth.

I can say that the Gigabyte is well made and stays very cool. With an appropriate fan profile I rarely see it go past the 60C mark under heavy load (like BF3 on Ultra @1920x1080). Just make sure you have good case cooling since both cards vent heat inside the case.

It can be a bit noisy but it does not bother me at all. It is very quiet when idle and when gaming I have headphones on so noise is a moot point.

 

[RS1no2047]

I voted for the Gigabyte simply because I own one. I do not have any experience with Asus so take my opinion for what it's worth.

I can say that the Gigabyte is well made and stays very cool. With an appropriate fan profile I rarely see it go past the 60C mark under heavy load (like BF3 on Ultra @1920x1080). Just make sure you have good case cooling since both cards vent heat inside the case.

It can be a bit noisy but it does not bother me at all. It is very quiet when idle and when gaming I have headphones on so noise is a moot point.

I have the HAF 922 with front and side 200mm fans, an H100 radiator push-config up top, and a 120mm fan in back. The Sabertooth Z77 has 2 assistant 40mm fans, one of which is right next to the top PCIe, so I think internal airlow is no issue at all. (I"m not even going to go into just how customizable the fan speeds are with thermal radar.)

I suppose it can't be that noisy compared to the H100 at full load.

1pt for Gig then.

 

[fizzle22]

I have a HAF 912 and the airflow is great so a 922 is a bit better. I would not worry one bit.

 

[RS1no2047]

I have a HAF 912 and the airflow is great so a 922 is a bit better. I would not worry one bit.

Awesome thanks. I think I'll get headphones soon anyway.

 

[El Tigre]

Another good alternative is the EVGA GTX 670 FTW. It's a good card and I have had no issues with it ever since I bought it back nearly 2 months ago.

 

[amuffin]

EVGA GTX 670 FTW!

It's a 670 on a 680 PCB, this provides better components and better cooling!

 

[dosdecarnitas]

I know gigabyte and asus do have nice solutions but u should consider the thing that the 670 is a very cool card irrelevant of the brand

I choose ASUS TOP but i really bought a evga gtx670 and works fine if you manually tune the fan

 

[RS1no2047]

EVGA GTX 670 FTW!

It's a 670 on a 680 PCB, this provides better components and better cooling!

I'm not sure that's entirely accurate. Just because it uses 680 parts doesn't mean it'll be any cooler. The 670 and 680 share the same GPU, just the 670 is a bit castrated.

 

[El Tigre]

The EVGA GTX 670 does use the 680 PCB and cooler assembly, the waterblocks of the 680 would fit this card. It is cooler, it's a few degrees cooler than reference 670's. My 670 FTW does not go above 70C in BF3.

 

[RS1no2047]

The EVGA GTX 670 does use the 680 PCB and cooler assembly, the waterblocks of the 680 would fit this card. It is cooler, it's a few degrees cooler than reference 670's. My 670 FTW does not go above 70C in BF3.

But you're also not getting the factory overclock. I don't really plan on doing ANY OC myself. My 3770k sits at a comfortable 41 multiplier with an H100 cooler to give you an idea. From what I've heard, Asus has updated the TOP's BIOS to make it stable. The only benefit of the EVGA as I see it is the cooling, and seeing as I'm not overclocking it beyond what I'm given, it's pretty irrelevant.

 

[El Tigre]

It is factory OC'ed, that's why is a tiny bit faster than the TOP version, here is a screen shot of my FTW card, these are the stock clocks too.

Looks like Newegg has the wrong clocks posted.

The review on this card.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/40613-evga-geforce-gtx-670-ftw/?page=5

 

[RS1no2047]

It is factory OC'ed, that's why is a tiny bit faster than the TOP version, here is a screen shot of my FTW card, these are the stock clocks too.

Looks like Newegg has the wrong clocks posted.

The review on this card.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/40613-evga-geforce-gtx-670-ftw/?page=5

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/12/07/16/5tu.png

You'll be happy about this, though. I am going with EVGA... the 4GB version.
I plan on only upgrading after I can't run medium-high settings on 3 1080p displays, and it'll be a few years until that happens (I hope).

Thanks for all the advice, guys.

 

[amuffin]

You can add up to 4 670's for quad sli

 

[RS1no2047]

You can add up to 4 670's for quad sli

I prefer single-card configurations typically. Also, as awesome as my motherboard is, I think it only supports 3 at most, and maybe not even that (I think one might be only PCIe2.0).

I just hope that by the time i really need a second, they're still for sale.