Best GTX 670 to pair with an evga FTW for SLI?

[wunkley]

Looking for thoughts on this. I previously had a gigabyte windforce that was faulty, and after a long but successful battle with the vendor I now have a credit note to buy a replacement 670 to pair with my evga FTW edition for SLI.

So, a few questions I have

1. Is it right that its best to get a top down fan cooled card to pair with an exhaust blower type like the evga FTW edition?

2. The gigabyte windforce I had had a fantastic cooler. I'm a bit wary of going for the same card again, psychological silliness really, so which other 670s have good top down coolers?

3. I like the look of the MSI power edition and the twin frozr type cooler, but am I right in thinking this cooler is a lot fatter than the windforce? How much space do I need between my cards for effective cooling and performance? My MB is an asrock extreme 4 gen 3 so is the usual spacing a between the pci express slots

4. Should I just keep it simple and get another gigabyte windforce? As my previous one was faulty I just feel wary about doing that, and fancy a change perhaps?

 

[clone]

1. Yes it blows hot air out the top or back of case.

2.Msi do good non ref coolers

If you already have a EVGA 670 FTW why not buy another one? any 670 will work in sli but will work only at the slowest cards speed so if one is faster than the other it will clock to the slower card i belive.

 

[wunkley]

1. Yes it blows hot air out the top or back of case.

2.Msi do good non ref coolers

If you already have a EVGA 670 FTW why not buy another one? any 670 will work in sli but will work only at the slowest cards speed so if one is faster than the other it will clock to the slower card i belive.

Can't buy another evga FTW edition. Vendor only stocks 4gb version. Also, I want a top down blower cooler

 

[EVGAdominik]

Hi Wunkley,

we do now also offer the Sig2 version of the FTW 670.

Cheers,

Dominik

 

[wunkley]

Hi Wunkley,

we do now also offer the Sig2 version of the FTW 670.

Cheers,

Dominik

Ahh. Wasn't aware of the new top down cooler design. Just had a look and the vendor does do this model, but has none in stock

This is the one I'd go for now I think (as I like EVGA), but if I have to wait for ages then not. This or the MSI PE version is now my favourite after a bit of research

 

[wunkley]

Well you lot are rubbish

Have ended up ordering the MSI PE edition this afternoon. Fingers crossed I have more luck with this than the gigabyte windforce...

 

[ZardoZ]

if you want a quiet pc i would get these :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-278-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2294

 

[ALXAndy]

It's a tough one because the 670 FTW uses a 680 PCB and cooler. The only other company I have seen to offer that is Zotac and not in the UK.

 

[Fanatic]

Well you lot are rubbish

Have ended up ordering the MSI PE edition this afternoon. Fingers crossed I have more luck with this than the gigabyte windforce...

Great card, recently bought one myself. Really cool and quiet. Mine boosts to 1241 MHz.

 

[wunkley]

It's a tough one because the 670 FTW uses a 680 PCB and cooler. The only other company I have seen to offer that is Zotac and not in the UK.

The gigabyte windforce (that I had all the trouble with) is also actually on a 680 pcb. It's a moot point now really though as I've gone for the MSI PE. After all the bother I had with the gigabyte I just want a second card that works properly! (but a decent boost would be nice).

 

[Gregster]

It's a tough one because the 670 FTW uses a 680 PCB and cooler. The only other company I have seen to offer that is Zotac and not in the UK.

KFA2 also use a 680 PCB. Not sure if they have the extra phase capacitors but don't feel they are needed with locked volts.

 

[setter]

1. Yes it blows hot air out the top or back of case.

2.Msi do good non ref coolers

If you already have a EVGA 670 FTW why not buy another one? any 670 will work in sli but will work only at the slowest cards speed so if one is faster than the other it will clock to the slower card i belive.

Best choice tbh. Im gonna go sli 670 soon, but i cant add another windforce as they run too hot in sli due to the cooler design. The only choice i might have is a stock cooled reference 680 pcb card. But im loathed to buy another product from evga, (670 FTW is the obvious choice). But theyre a company i tend to avoid like the plague. And it would probably not clock anywhere near my current card.

 

[illuz]

So would the EVGA FTW Sig2 be a decent card to pair with the windforce? I might just go windforce SLI. I have a 140 akasa apache in take where the GPU's will be.

 

[wunkley]

So would the EVGA FTW Sig2 be a decent card to pair with the windforce? I might just go windforce SLI. I have a 140 akasa apache in take where the GPU's will be.

I've read on here before that for sli the best combination is to have one card with an 'exhaust' cooler (like my EVGA FTW) ond one card with a decent top down blower solution like my defunct gigabyte windforce, or my soon to arrive MSI PE edition (twin frozr cooler).
The EVGA FTW sig 2 has a good top down cooler so would be perfect. I was going to get one to pair with my exhaust cooled FTW, but the vendor I have to get it from (RMA) has none in stock, hence I'm going for the MSI.

 

[illuz]

The windforce is a top down cooler too, so that wouldn't work? I just don't want to buy a reference design cooler for the loudness of them.

 

[wunkley]

The windforce is a top down cooler too, so that wouldn't work? I just don't want to buy a reference design cooler for the loudness of them.

Ah sorry, misread your situation. You already have a windforce, so in that case (if the theory of one exhaust and one top down blower is good) then I'd recommend the EVGA FTW edition (not the sig2) as a great pairing.

It's the one I've got now - it uses a 680 pcb and the exhaust blower is much better than the reference design one (I think it's the better version that the 680's use). I run mine on the default fan profile - gets to about 75 degrees under max load and the fan goes at about 50% speed at this temp. I can't really hear it at that speed above my other system fans. If you crank the fan speed up though, then it does get pretty loud, much louder than the windforce. But, only if you crank it right up, which you don't really need to do unless you're fanatical about keeping it under 70 degrees so the boost isn't limited (by a paltry 10)

 

[illuz]

I keep my windforce at 55-58'c far cry 3 ultra. Don't really like going over to 60.