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Spec me a 670

Hicks

Hicks

Hicks

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Joined
25 Apr 2012
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905
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West Sussex
Hey,

Opinions please :)

I will be buying a 670 at the end of the month and I could do with a push towards which one will be best for me.

I'm not adverse to OC it.
It will be single for quite some time but I may SLI down the line.
I'm after best performance, I don't mind what it looks like (To an extent - No pink or green ones please)

There seems to be loads at quite varying price tags. (I'm happy to pay for the higher priced ones if they are worth it)

Spec will be:

CPU - i7 3770K (Overclocked)
RAM - 8GB (16 down the line)
BOARD - Gigabyte Z77X-UP4
PSU - Either Seasonic -860 plat or the Corsair 860i plat (Jury is still out)
MONITOR - Benq 2420t (So 1080p)

(No AMD vs Nvidia please) I'm tied to Nvidia at the moment (I've sat in both camps over the years and hold no romanticism for either)
 
What sort of case do you have? Do you have a lot of airflow and possibly a side fan blowing on the card? If so I would suggest a non-exhaust one like the MSI Power Edition OC which has a high factory oc, not too expensive (around £340) and good cooling.
 
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Thanks for the replies.

Windforce was my initial choice due the amount of good feedback on here.

Case is a Stormtrooper so there will be front rear and top fans but no side. I'll most likely be pulling from the front and pushing out the back. Not sure about push or pull on the top yet.
 
I would go for either this one;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-195-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2294

or this one;
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-095-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2294

the MSI "OC" cards is still a reference card with the heatsink which is noisy and hot when overclocked... the EVGA basic one has a bigger heatsink and fan which is quieter and not quite as hot, but the price difference between the basic and the FTW is so small that I would go for the FTW (680 board and cooler)

the gigabyte windforce is undoubtedly the best 670, however OCUK sometimes have it on sale at a better price which would be preferable, or if you can get a 2nd hand one or something

if you don't have a side intake fan on your case then I would probably er toward the FTW as well
 
Thanks for the advice so far guys!

Windforce is looking very likely! Looks I need to pray that OCUK have a sale on at the end of the month :)
 
Windforce 680 seems to get great support, for a good reason i guess! I just bought an msi 670 and can say that although it has far exceeded anything i expected from my rig, on O/C settings it can be loud (because it will require high fan rpm). Saying that, I have it as my sole gfx card in a small ITX rig and it will still play every game ive thrown at it in Ultra settings without breaking 75oc without overclock.
 
How bad is the reference cooler?

I ordered the palit 670 for £230 from the clearance section but I'm now having second thoughts as I keep hearing that the reference cooler is very noisy.

I was only intending on buying a 660ti but thought the 670 wasn't much more so went for it
 
I guess it depends on what you're playing on it. Ive spent the day adding a huge amount of mods into skyrim and it still doesnt use more than 60% gpu power/resources on full settings (so less than 30% fan rpm, nearly silent).
Playing Sleeping Dogs it sat at a constant 75 degrees/45% fan rpm on ultra, that was still quieter than my 360 or ps3. It only starts getting more noticeable when temps exceed 80c and the RPM reaches 50%, even still it doesnt often reach that high and if it does wont generally ever exceed that level or heat or noise.
Ive considered modding the reference cooler in mine but as the noise isnt that noticeable and as im using an ITX case (cooler master elite 120) theres really not a lot of room anyway!
 
Human_Shield said:
I guess it depends on what you're playing on it. Ive spent the day adding a huge amount of mods into skyrim and it still doesnt use more than 60% gpu power/resources on full settings (so less than 30% fan rpm, nearly silent).
Playing Sleeping Dogs it sat at a constant 75 degrees/45% fan rpm on ultra, that was still quieter than my 360 or ps3. It only starts getting more noticeable when temps exceed 80c and the RPM reaches 50%, even still it doesnt often reach that high and if it does wont generally ever exceed that level or heat or noise.
Ive considered modding the reference cooler in mine but as the noise isnt that noticeable and as im using an ITX case (cooler master elite 120) theres really not a lot of room anyway!
Click to expand...

Its the idle noise that would bug me, I don't mind turning all the fans up when pushing it but do like a quiet system when I'm not doing anything intensive.

Will have to see what its like. Tbh I'm just a bit concerned about buying a grade B item but that was the only way I could afford a 670. A new one was £60 more and that was still using the reference cooler.
 
Ok so I'm pretty sold on the Windforce but I'm not feeling the blue PCB much :D

Anyone know of a good place to get a backplate, just to cover the 'lovely' PCB? :) Preferably black or black and red.
I'm assuming I'll have to use a 680 plate as the PCB is the same?
 
Evga do a 670 ftw backplate that fits the wf 670, All black. Both cards use the full size 680 pcb.
 
EK also make Backplates.

img20120514174353.jpg
 
setter said:
Evga do a 670 ftw backplate that fits the wf 670, All black. Both cards use the full size 680 pcb.
Click to expand...

Just looked for that and found it thanks. So it's a toss up between advertising my card as a different manufacturer or keeping it blue. Damn you Gigabyte :(

I might get away with it as there are parts of the UP4 that are dark blue too. I'll have to give it a go I guess.

Edit: Just saw your post SoundDoctor!!!!! So it's a different manufacturer or a different card advertisement :D

Meh... I'll get some black tippex and change the 8 to a 7!

Or maybe I'll get the 680.....

Thanks both by the way :)
 
Lol, bit of a quandary. Seems to be a lot of dislike on here for the wf's blue pcb. For me it's one of it's plus points, (blue/black are my colours of choice in build themes).

The wf is a fantastic card though, very quiet and cool running. Great clockers too.
 
setter said:
Lol, bit of a quandary. Seems to be a lot of dislike on here for the wf's blue pcb. For me it's one of it's plus points, (blue/black are my colours of choice in build themes).

The wf is a fantastic card though, very quiet and cool running. Great clockers too.
Click to expand...

Yeah annoying. To make it even more annoying my initial build colour scheme was blue....the same as my last.

fukno.gif


It took me ages to decide to go with something different............ Meh
 
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