What is the difference between cards?

[GiraffePencils]

I'm talking about differences between cards of the same chipset,
so you have This MSI card
and This Asus card

now they're both 670's, but a great price difference
I understand cards with the same chipset and diff memory being difference prices, but what is the actual difference between these?

Are they the same only one's clocked higher?
and if so can you not put a diff cooler on the cheaper one and clock it up?

 

[Bacon?]

Ones reference and one isnt. Simple as that really

 

[GiraffePencils]

so if you take the heatsink &fans off,
are all 2Gb 670's the same?

 

[Bacon?]

No the two cards will have a different PCB (me thinks)

 

[GiraffePencils]

Ok,
But at the end of the day, are there any real noticeable differences in performance between one 670 and another?
Or would it only be in benchmark tests that one would have an advantage over another?

 

[andybird123]

the MSI one is reference and is built on a reference short PCB

the Asus is a GTX680 PCB and a custom cooler

in theory the Asus will overclock higher (though in practice this is a crapshoot) but it WILL be a lot quieter... if you are thinking of watercooling then my advice would be to go with the cheaper reference one as you'll then get some benefit from both a better overclock and removing the noisy fan

both of my reference short PCB cards hit 1200+ on water, which to be fair they do on air as well but with the fan turned up full, which is too noisy really for regular use

the basic EVGA one has a different heatsink and fan to the other "reference" blower cards though, so is a bit quieter / cooler than say the MSI you linked to

the EVGA FTW 670 is a GTX680 board and cooler, which is also much better than the normal 670 cooler

as you mention, when you start talking about a difference in boost clock of probably 50mhz, it really doesn't make any difference in actual gameplay

 

[GiraffePencils]

KK thanks
so if I'm watercooling, there's no point in getting the non-reference one unless it was on deal etc?
Also, if it was on a 680 PCB, would the 670 watercooling block be ok to fit?

 

[Confused]

If you're watercooling, you'll typically want one based on the reference board - it conforms to various things like positioning of mounting holes, memory modules, voltage regulators, heights of capacitors - you'll then have more variety in blocks to fit.

A non-reference board will likely have things in different places, and you may struggle to find a block to fit.

 

[GiraffePencils]

Thanks, really helpful advice and a bit of a money saver
would probably have to have returned something/spent more than needed

 

[andybird123]

no, if you need to check compatibility before you buy waterblocks - reference 670's need reference 670 blocks, some of the long board 670's will take a reference 680 block and then some 670's (like the Asus you linked to) needs specific custom blocks, but you can check here for most things;

http://www.coolingconfigurator.com/

if you're not sure, post up again here or in the watercooling section and someone should be able to help

 

[ScottiB]

If you aren't watercooling I'd buy this one instead

 

[GiraffePencils]

Buy this says the MSI rep
I am planning to watercool, I just didn't want to buy a card and pay 90 odd quid for some fan's I'll be taking off and keeping in the box
but if you want, I'll buy an MSI......and take the fans off and keep them in the box.

 

[ScottiB]

I'm only an MSI rep for one more day so my recommendation is based more on review results than any sense of loyalty or duty. I'll be getting my tag changed next week I hope

The Power Edition isn't a good choice if you are planning to WC because the PCB is heavily uprated so it's unlikely that the block would fit. I'm not sure if any of the manufacturers have made a block specifically to fit it, there are some Lightning edition blocks but I don't know of any Power Edition ones.

However, if you are planning to WC and buy from OcUK then MSI would be a good choice because thanks to an arrangement we have with OcUK you won't invalidate the warranty.

 

[LtMatt]

I'm only an MSI rep for one more day so my recommendation is based more on review results than any sense of loyalty or duty. I'm waiting on someone to change my tag

The Power Edition isn't a good choice if you are planning to WC because the PCB is heavily uprated so it's unlikely that the block would fit.

Scott can you take a look at this thread when you have a moment please? We have some questions about warranty regarding msi gpu's.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=23844413#post23844413