MSI Responds to GTX 660 Ti, 670 Power Edition Overvolting

Last week, we brought news from our Tom's Hardware Germany team's discovery that MSI was overvolting the GPUs on the GTX 660 Ti and GTX 670 Ti Power Edition boards (Google Translate) to achieve a higher and longer lasting GPU boost state by basically circumventing the PWM controller.

MSI commented on our report with the following statement:

We are currently not aware of any other vendor providing this same level of performance and we’ve worked with NVIDIA to ensure that new production models will limit this free overclock boost you currently get. Our new production models with normal GPU Boost function will be on sale next month.

Read our English news report of that here.

Following up, MSI issued a further statement on its website with the following three points:

1. MSI respects the result which is tested by Tom's Hardware, but we have much confidence and believe our products would not cause any customer RMA concerns.2. Since MSI designs these custom products with overclocking in mind, we "supercharge" these cards because we're anticipating enthusiast to overclock. Because of this design decision and the higher component quality, we're able to provide more power to the board resulting in higher and longer GPU Boost operation without reducing the lifetime of the graphics card or warranty term.3. MSI's all graphics cards including GTX 670 and GTX 660 Ti passed strict test and stand behind our products with a 3 year warranty.

Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • BoredErica
    I like MSI. Taiwan is ftw.
    Reply
  • realibrad
    So, just fry your card before the 3 year mark, and have them replace it with one that has been fixed.
    Reply
  • boyabunda
    8850 > 660ti
    8870 > 670
    Reply
  • falchard
    I like MSI too. If this defect affects less then 50% of those who buy one, more power to MSI. For the other ones, MSI has to honor their warranty.
    I buy MSI knowing there is a chance the hardware could go bad. MSI kinda has a history of doing this to cards.
    Reply
  • Ironslice
    boyabunda8850 > 660ti 8870 > 670
    How is this relevant to anything?
    Reply
  • mightymaxio
    boyabunda8850 > 660ti 8870 > 670So what your saying is that the next generation beats the current generation. OMGWTF mind blown!!! You sir deserve a medal for comparing next gen to current gen.
    Reply
  • spasmolytic46
    Meh, I trust MSI. They aren't my favorite mobo manufacturer, but I don't think they are shady. If they stand behind the card why should anyone else give a damn?
    Reply
  • A Bad Day
    MSI should've given the overvolted GPUs the "Overclocker's Best Friend" label and slap a warning label stating that there is no warranty on them.
    Reply
  • It's over 9 ...volt :))
    Reply
  • greghome
    dark_wizzieI like MSI. Taiwan is ftw.
    I prefer Sapphire. Hong Kong FTW :P
    Reply