Misc. GTX 670 questions

[michaeljhuman]

I ordered two EVGA FTW boards.

I saw where the Gigabyte OC did well on the Tom's review. The FTW was not in that review list, so I had to choose between those two on my short list.

EVGA fans seem to feel their cards are very high quality, so I will give it a shot.

Q1 ) I believe you can't actually tell if the stock OC is higher on the EVGA or Gigabyte from the specs, as they only list the boost clock, and not the so called Kepler boost?

Q2) My 6950s seemed fine with my Cooler Master 800 watts supply, so I am hoping it will also be fine for the GTX 670s. Does this seem reasonable to assume?

Q3) I don't want to seem like a ignorant dummy, but I did see the Gigabyte uses 6+8 power rather than 6+6. But I was led to believe the voltage is limited to 1.175, so I was kind of hoping the additional theoretical power draw won't affect my chances at overclocking much

Q4) I cringe to ask such questions, due to their open ended nature; but I will still do it; Is overclocking really worth bothering with for Kepler? Seems like with the throttling, you are likely to only gain a few fps?

 

[fastreaction]

1) Boost clock and "Kepler boost" are the same thing

Boost clock and kepler boost are not the same thing at all....
The boost clock is the minimum amount of MHz that your GPU will run at full load.
The Kepler boost is a boost and that gets added to the boost clock when your gpu is under good temperatures and a good power percent. The Kepler boost only happens when the card is not too hot and not drawing too much power. If it goes over the limit it will start throttling in 13 MHz increments (At 70c, 80c, 85c and 95c).

A1. When you talk about overclocking, the most important thing is the max boost. Max boost= boost clock+kepler boost.
A2. 800Watt is fine.
A3. Overclocking depends on your luck and the card itself. Cards are not equal. Some people with the same cards are able to achieve higher overclocks than others and some people are not able to overclock at all.
A4. There is a difference if you are able to overclock it well and you will not get any throttling if you stay below 70c at load.

- Fastreaction

 

[michaeljhuman]

I did wonder about whether it was going to be more of a pain in SLI with Kepler. I may just try the easy stuff once I am sure the SLI setup is working properly.

I am sure I can't win any OC titles, but it might be worth trying to up the max boost without throttling. Seems like online guides call for setting voltage to the locked max of 1.175, power max to +20%, and then turn up the offset and check to see if you can find a setting that will stay cool enough and require little enough power to not throttle. When I word it that way, seems no more complex than normal OC.

 

[fastreaction]

It is not extremely difficult. Take your time, read some guides and it will go fine. Keep watching your temperatures. Run heaven benchmark and see if your overclock is stable. Just expect to invest 3 hours into the overclocking process, it is not 10min work

- Fastreaction

 

[jecho]

1. Does not matter EVGA has better Customer Service.
2. The 670 is lower. http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/4
3. I really dont see much sense in overclocking 2 670s. Are you going beyond 1920x1080. Even then your cards will DESTROY everything.
4. Not worth it. I have one 670 and it is almost perfect. The only grip I have is that driver support has been sub-par.

 

[Guest]

I`m excited to see the games that will utilize more of my one 670. I mean slow it down to like 30fps, Let alone SLI. Good things to come

 

[redeemer]

I`m excited to see the games that will utilize more of my one 670. I mean slow it down to like 30fps, Let alone SLI. Good things to come

I think Crysis 3 on ultra setting will test our setups, cannot wait!

 

[michaeljhuman]

At moment, will only be doing 1080p. Only reason I am switching from original build plan of 2x6950 to 2x670 is (a) I can see, where based on high demand benchmarks, some games could push the limits of my current setup, and (b) I was not impressed with my Dirt 3 performance, where minimum fps can drop to 40fps.

I keep thinking the poor Dirt 3 performance is a fluke seeing how I can hit over 10,000 score on 3D Mark 11, and based on looking at other Dirt 3 benches. But I have no answers for why I can only manage 80 average, with poor performance in the rain (this on ultra settings at 1080p.)

SO, seeing how my PC build was envisioned as a high end gaming system, I decided to throw more money at the problem...it's a hobby I guess