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***Official GTX 670 thread***

Soldato
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The 670's aren't going anywhere near their Max power limit anyway even when overclocked, so this won't help. What is needed is full core voltage control.

100% this.

I think the windforce tops out at 300w draw, on average with my max OC I see 85% usage, which comes in around 255w. Not getting anywhere near the remaining 45w unless we can add a touch more voltage.

Edit: just about to give MSI AB 2.2.1 a blast to see if I can make any headway, I doubt it but its worth a try. Also Bhavv, I did have some earlier version of AB installed that didn't have the power % slider :p
 
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Permabanned
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Is there any reason why Nvidia have locked down the voltage liek this?

I understand it is good for power saving. But they know people are going to be overclocking as its a high performance card. Why couldn't they have made it so you could unlock it yourself?
 
Soldato
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Is there any reason why Nvidia have locked down the voltage liek this?

I understand it is good for power saving. But they know people are going to be overclocking as its a high performance card. Why couldn't they have made it so you could unlock it yourself?

Perhaps they know with an unlocked voltage, under water these cards could do 1450-1500mhz. Maybe more.

Also MSI AB 2.2.1 didn't do anything extra, sigh.
 
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Perhaps they know with an unlocked voltage, under water these cards could do 1450-1500mhz. Maybe more.

Have them or AMD ever done this before? Seems like a BS move to me.... Its like buying an expensive high performance car that is restricted to 70 mph. Sure you can drive it on the road, but no track days for you!!!!

I think ill hold off buying one untill I hear a special edition coming out or something.

Infact.. that could be it, down the line they might release a faster and more expensive edition 670/680 using the same chip with just more voltage.
 
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Soldato
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The OC KFA2 and the Windforce are comparible performance wise?

Not a million miles away no :)

Just been having a play with the latest Asus GPU Tweak tool, no extra gains, but what is this 'Load Line %' chart referring too? as it sits at 75% all the time. I associate load line increases with a higher clock?

Also just had my first red screen, eeep.
 
Soldato
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Overclocked 7970s run far hotter and make much more noise than GTX 670 / 680 do. I cant even stand my KFA2 card on max fan speed and its really not too loud, I couldnt deal with anything louder.

** If you have problem with another member, then either ignore them or report them - read my recent announcement **
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/39249-kfa2-geforce-gtx-670-ex-oc/?page=10

same temp as a reference 7970 and 2DB louder... direct CUII 7970 and windforce 7970 both tested as 3DB quieter than stock 7970, so in fact quieter than your card...

guru3d said:
We applied a hint more at 1300Mv and ended at 1250 MHz with a stable overclock, and that is very nice. The GPU was hardly getting warmer as we reached 70 Degrees C but by compensating the additional heat, the cooler RPM went up and as such the noise level now has risen towards roughly 41~42 DBa, still extremely respectable.

considering they already clocked a stock 7970 at 42DB on full load it means that using Hexus' test method it would have still been below 40db, e.g. no louder than normal background noise
 
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Soldato
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Overclocked 7970s run far hotter and make much more noise than GTX 670 / 680 do. I cant even stand my KFA2 card on max fan speed and its really not too loud, I couldnt deal with anything louder.

You really have a penchant for talking complete and utter cr*p don't you!
 
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** quote removed **

same temp as a reference 7970 and 2DB louder... direct CUII 7970 and windforce 7970 both tested as 3DB quieter than stock 7970, so in fact quieter than your card...

You make no sense, according to that review the 7970 at stock frequencies is louder than my card.

I dont own a 7970, I have read from several people on Xtreme Systems who own one that it is very noisy when overclocked.

Likewise you dont own a GTX 670, yet state all your opinions about how you think the rubbish reference version is a godsend and better than the custome versions.

You really have a penchant for talking complete and utter cr*p don't you!

More like AMD users like to hide the fact that their 7970s clocked to 1200 Mhz sound like hairdryers.
 
Associate
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I've only had a quick play so far but I would say that my KFA non-ref is louder than I was expecting. At 30% and idle all is fine but with any stress the fan has to ramp up and it becomes quite noticeable.

Part of this is probably my relatively quiet case fans (550D with noctua fans on ULNA's) but anything over 40% is noticeable and it gets pretty loud above 50%. I'll have more of a play tonight and report back.
 
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Its not the fans that arent good, they are the same as the 680's.

Its the miniature heat sink that you wouldn't even find on a £80 card let alone a £300 one. Which means the fans have to spin faster.

Well I wasn't being literal, I meant the whole unit, I agree with you, although didn't someone say that the evga's had a bigger heatsink? either way it seems that the 680 reference coolers are performing better than the 670 references.
 
Soldato
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Likewise you dont own a GTX 670, yet state all your opinions about how you think the rubbish reference version is a godsend and better than the custome versions.

now you really are clutching at straws, I've never said the stock cooler is better than a custom one, I've just said that for the 3 FPS difference it makes it's not worth £50 IMO...

(or whatever amount of money you want to make out by cherry picking the most expensive reference card you can find)


You make no sense, according to that review the 7970 at stock frequencies is louder than my card.

I dont own a 7970, I have read from several people on Xtreme Systems who own one that it is very noisy when overclocked.

again... this is typical of you, to read what you want to read and not what I've actually written... now it is you who are comparing a stock 7970 cooler with a custom cooler card and calling that a result... if you actually read what I've actually written then you'd realise that I posted something about a direct cu II and windforce 7970 as well
 
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Associate
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You make no sense, according to that review the 7970 at stock frequencies is louder than my card.

I dont own a 7970, I have read from several people on Xtreme Systems who own one that it is very noisy when overclocked.

Likewise you dont own a GTX 670, yet state all your opinions about how you think the rubbish reference version is a godsend and better than the custome versions.



More like AMD users like to hide the fact that their 7970s clocked to 1200 Mhz sound like hairdryers.


Reference 7970's are noisy when clocked to 1200mhz, but that's a reference cooler supporting a 29% over clock without throttling down. The reference coolers on the 670/680 would be noisy as hell with this sort of overclock, in fact it probably just wouldnt do it. If you want to over clock go with the wind force or the Asus directcu, which are both very quiet even with increased voltages and clock speeds.
 
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