Subscores
After the exceptional GeForce GTX 680 and the lavish GTX 690, Nvidia is coming out with yet another graphics card, the long awaited GeForce GTX 670. This lower-priced GPU is a downscaled version of the 680. But 'downscaled' doesn't necessarily mean slow, and its admirable performance with video games is proof. However, power isn't everything...
Naturally, the GTX 670 includes GPU Boost, one of the key features in Nvidia's 600 series. We discussed the system's advantages and disadvantages in our GTX 680 review. To sum it up, GPU Boost modulates the GPU's clock rate depending on how much power the card is using.
GPU Boost: the GPU clock rate varies with the card's power usage
The clock rate is boosted in increments of 13 MHz. Nvidia has provided a minimum GPU Boost clock rate—980 MHz in this case—but no maximum rate. And that's the problem. Depending on the clock rate and various other factors (such as the leakage current), there are all kinds of cards out there capable of boosting their rates in different increments.
The card we were sent to review, for instance, can handle increments of 14 and goes up to 1097 MHz on certain games. If you remember, the 680 we reviewed went up by increments of only 8 and in the most favourable instances the clock rate maxed out at 1110 MHz. In practice both cards have a similar clock rate, a sign that the GTX 670 may perform well with games.
Size, Noise, Heat
The GeForce GTX 670 that was sent out to journalists for review has a singular design. The card is 24 cm long—which is standard for models in this range—but the PCB is only 17 cm long. So what are the other 7 cm for? The fan!
Nvidia decided to take advantage of the small reference card to integrate an off-centre fan. We prefer off-centre fans to axial fans, because off-centre fans blow the air outside the chassis, whereas axial fans blow some of the air back into the chassis.
The GeForce GTX 670's PCB is short, but the fan is installed right next to it.
What you're left with is a standard-length card.
All the same, the fan is a disappointment. On the GTX 680 and 690 Nvidia really delivered, giving them close-to-silent dissipaters. That's not the case here. Whether at rest or running a game, the fan at all times emits a highly disturbing noise. Some might say it sounds like an electric razor, others might say a cable touching the blades (for the record, it isn't that). Nvidia insists that this is a flaw in the testing model that was sent to us and does not affect the models being sold in stores. We will be receiving a new copy soon and will update our review accordingly.
In addition to the confounded racket caused by the fan, we also detected high noise levels at rest: 43.1 dB(A). During gameplay it's closer to average, at 49.7 dB(A), which is still quite audible. The chip heats up to 172°F on 3D games, which is reasonable as graphics chips go.
Power Use
As for power usage, there are no surprises here—the GTX 670 falls directly in line with its specs. Our configuration used 361 watts during gameplay, compared to 398 W on the GTX 680, 407 W on the Radeon HD 7970 and 350 W on the HD 7950.
At rest we detected 92 W of use, which is a bit higher than AMD's GPUs. They run at around 85 W. And unfortunately, Nvidia has no features like Radeon's ZeroCore Power, which turns the fan off to save 10 extra watts or so while the monitor's on standby.
Performance in Games
As mentioned above, the GeForce GTX 670 and GTX 680 have similar clock rates, but the number of processing cores is quite different. In practice this results in a 7% drop in performance, on average.
Overall performance averages.
Click on the image to see all our measurements
and compare the GTX 670 with other models.
This is an excellent performance. The GTX 670 follows right on the heels of the AMD Radeon HD 7970 and easily beats the Radeon HD 7950 (-12%). However, please note that due to the variability caused by GPU Boost, the difference in performance will likely not be exactly the same as the models currently being sold in stores.
In sum, the GeForce GTX 670 is a high-performance graphics card that consumes moderate amounts of power. Considering that it gives similar gameplay results to the AMD Radeon HD 7970 and is slightly lower-priced, this should give AMD the incentive to respond in kind (with a new model and price tag, perhaps...?).
Please note: The final rating listed below is for the testing model we were sent that contains a noisy fan. As mentioned above, the manufacturer claims this was due to a defect in our copy and that the models being sold in stores are unaffected by the issue. We will soon be receiving a new copy, at which point we will update this article and our rating, if deemed appropriate.
The Specs
The GeForce GTX 670 features the same GK104 chip as the GTX 680, except Nvidia has removed a few cores—there are 1,344 on the 670, compared to 1,536 on the 680. But the changes don't stop there. The 670 runs at 915 MHz, compared to 1006 MHz on the 680. The 2 GB of RAM are clocked at 1502 MHz and have retained their 256-bit bus.Naturally, the GTX 670 includes GPU Boost, one of the key features in Nvidia's 600 series. We discussed the system's advantages and disadvantages in our GTX 680 review. To sum it up, GPU Boost modulates the GPU's clock rate depending on how much power the card is using.
GPU Boost: the GPU clock rate varies with the card's power usage
The clock rate is boosted in increments of 13 MHz. Nvidia has provided a minimum GPU Boost clock rate—980 MHz in this case—but no maximum rate. And that's the problem. Depending on the clock rate and various other factors (such as the leakage current), there are all kinds of cards out there capable of boosting their rates in different increments.
The card we were sent to review, for instance, can handle increments of 14 and goes up to 1097 MHz on certain games. If you remember, the 680 we reviewed went up by increments of only 8 and in the most favourable instances the clock rate maxed out at 1110 MHz. In practice both cards have a similar clock rate, a sign that the GTX 670 may perform well with games.
Size, Noise, Heat
The GeForce GTX 670 that was sent out to journalists for review has a singular design. The card is 24 cm long—which is standard for models in this range—but the PCB is only 17 cm long. So what are the other 7 cm for? The fan!
Nvidia decided to take advantage of the small reference card to integrate an off-centre fan. We prefer off-centre fans to axial fans, because off-centre fans blow the air outside the chassis, whereas axial fans blow some of the air back into the chassis.
The GeForce GTX 670's PCB is short, but the fan is installed right next to it.
What you're left with is a standard-length card.
All the same, the fan is a disappointment. On the GTX 680 and 690 Nvidia really delivered, giving them close-to-silent dissipaters. That's not the case here. Whether at rest or running a game, the fan at all times emits a highly disturbing noise. Some might say it sounds like an electric razor, others might say a cable touching the blades (for the record, it isn't that). Nvidia insists that this is a flaw in the testing model that was sent to us and does not affect the models being sold in stores. We will be receiving a new copy soon and will update our review accordingly.
In addition to the confounded racket caused by the fan, we also detected high noise levels at rest: 43.1 dB(A). During gameplay it's closer to average, at 49.7 dB(A), which is still quite audible. The chip heats up to 172°F on 3D games, which is reasonable as graphics chips go.
Power Use
As for power usage, there are no surprises here—the GTX 670 falls directly in line with its specs. Our configuration used 361 watts during gameplay, compared to 398 W on the GTX 680, 407 W on the Radeon HD 7970 and 350 W on the HD 7950.
At rest we detected 92 W of use, which is a bit higher than AMD's GPUs. They run at around 85 W. And unfortunately, Nvidia has no features like Radeon's ZeroCore Power, which turns the fan off to save 10 extra watts or so while the monitor's on standby.
Performance in Games
As mentioned above, the GeForce GTX 670 and GTX 680 have similar clock rates, but the number of processing cores is quite different. In practice this results in a 7% drop in performance, on average.
Overall performance averages.
Click on the image to see all our measurements
and compare the GTX 670 with other models.
This is an excellent performance. The GTX 670 follows right on the heels of the AMD Radeon HD 7970 and easily beats the Radeon HD 7950 (-12%). However, please note that due to the variability caused by GPU Boost, the difference in performance will likely not be exactly the same as the models currently being sold in stores.
In sum, the GeForce GTX 670 is a high-performance graphics card that consumes moderate amounts of power. Considering that it gives similar gameplay results to the AMD Radeon HD 7970 and is slightly lower-priced, this should give AMD the incentive to respond in kind (with a new model and price tag, perhaps...?).
Please note: The final rating listed below is for the testing model we were sent that contains a noisy fan. As mentioned above, the manufacturer claims this was due to a defect in our copy and that the models being sold in stores are unaffected by the issue. We will soon be receiving a new copy, at which point we will update this article and our rating, if deemed appropriate.
| See Comparative GPU Performances |
Pros
- Gameplay performance
- Power usage similar to the competition
- Handy extra features: frame rate limiter, adaptive vertical sync, etc.
Cons
- Fan noise? (possible issue with our review model)
- GPU Boost: slight variations in performance may exist in different cards
Conclusion
This graphics card handles video games very well and uses a reasonable amount of power. It just may up the ante for the competition... All good things for the consumer!
OUR SCORE
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