GTX670 Upgrade and Overclocking Review (vs. 5850 crossfire)

[Termie]

Good stuff. Too bad there wasn't more of a performance upgrade for you. For me and a single gtx 480 the 670 is a heck of an upgrade. It'll be nice to try it out. lol. I guess I'm the only cheap ass that didn't spring for faster shipping.

Yeah - you'll get a serious improvement, but as you noted in another thread, the gain is unlikely to be as high as you'd like for the price of entry. The upgrade to this generation's cards is not a price/performance win.

HD5850 OC = "8800GT" of that generation no doubt. Even better since it lasted almost 3 years! $269 for a classic card. Congrats on the new purchase. For next gen games, GTX670 should pull ahead of HD5850 CF setup, minus the micro-stutter that inevitably hits older generation cards the more they start struggling in games.

Indeed - I did this partly as an investment in the future. The 5850 is still very relevant today, but I wanted to position myself for a future build while my 5850s still had value, and potentially enjoy slightly smoother gaming today as well. I have too many retired high-end cards sitting in the dust bin!

Also, to be honest, I have not been impressed with AMD's crossfire team as of late - the scaling in Batman (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5805/...eview-ultra-expensive-ultra-rare-ultra-fast/9) and Skyrim (http://www.anandtech.com/show/5805/...view-ultra-expensive-ultra-rare-ultra-fast/13) is just unacceptable, and I fear that things may get worse before they get better.

 

[Termie]

I got about 80+fps on avg during the middle part of swordbreaker in SLI, while recording with fraps - with max settings and 4xAA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBxwG5uhKwc

By the way, Balla, that is exactly the scene I used to benchmark, so it's directly comparable. I even shot at the dog, just like you did, LOL!

When I do some 1080p runs for Don, I'll also try that scene again with 4xAA and see what I get. Given that I'm at 100fps without it, I might hit around 70.

 

[Ketchup]

Also, to be honest, I have not been impressed with AMD's crossfire team as of late

I think this and heat/power are the best reasons for such an upgrade. I think you will see fewer driver issues when running one card as opposed to 2.

 

[tviceman]

Well I'm both surprised that the upgrade was slower and also kinda disappointed for you!

 

[cmdrdredd]

FPS isn't everything...there are instances where the 670 will have benefits other than just maximum FPS.

 

[Piano Man]

Saying goodbye to some old friends:

My OCD is kicking in right now...

 

[cmdrdredd]

Some cases are hard to deal with wire management when your PSU isn't modular.

Modular PSU...best thing I have ever bought for my PC lol.

Note: My EVGA GTX 670 FTW card just shipped from their facility today. I should have it in my hands on Thursday afternoon. I'll post up some pictures side by side with my SC edition so you can get an idea of the differences between the two. The differences on paper are, 30% better cooling (GTX 680 heatsink & fan setup), more robust PCB (GTX680 PCB), more solid caps on the board, higher factory overclock and more user overclock headroom.

 

[Termie]

My OCD is kicking in right now...

Yeah, I knew that would catch someone's eye.

Some cases are hard to deal with wire management when your PSU isn't modular.

Modular PSU...best thing I have ever bought for my PC lol.

Note: My EVGA GTX 670 FTW card just shipped from their facility today. I should have it in my hands on Thursday afternoon. I'll post up some pictures side by side with my SC edition so you can get an idea of the differences between the two.

I actually have a modular PSU, but my old Antec 900 doesn't have a lot of space to route wires behind the MB, so I'm kind of stuck. It's a narrow case.

Congrats on your new FTW. Let us know how it runs.

 

[blackened23]

LOL, i'm OCD about keeping my PC cases neat and organized! I don't think I could sleep if my case had loose cables not twisty tied and tucked into non obvious places!

 

[Termie]

No MSAA right?

Frames, Time (ms), Min, Max, Avg
21270, 300000, 51, 129, 70.900

Gotcha beat bro 😉

1300 core, 1525 mem

If you have a chance to test tonight at my res i would appreciate it.

Here's a 5-minute run in Caspian today. Yesterday I was having problems with drivers/EVGA precision. Looks like that's worked itself out.

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
23935 300000 53 114 79.783


Now I think it is I who has you beat. 😉

This is 1920x1080, All Ultra, No MSAA. Clocks were at +135/6600.

I think I need to redo all my BF3 benchmarks. Something was messed up with my software installation when I ran them right after putting the 670 in.

 

[Termie]

I got about 80+fps on avg during the middle part of swordbreaker in SLI, while recording with fraps - with max settings and 4xAA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBxwG5uhKwc

Here you go, exact same settings as you, exact same sequence from Swordbreaker:

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
14111 197139 40 126 71.579


This is 1080p (not 1920x1200), All Ultra, 4xMSAA. Just what I expected based on benchmarks I'd seen of the 670/680.

Again, with an offset of +135/6600.

 

[Hypertag]

Metro is not an AMD favored game btw, it's a TWIMTBP title.

Surprisingly good results for the old boys.. 5850s, one of the best gpu ever. You should however notice better gameplay/smoothness with the 670 in starcraft 2 ultra and shogun 2, i noticed a big difference when i ditched the cf setup for this single card in those games.

It was a massively Nvidia biased title for a few months after it launched. Then AMD's driver team actually got to work, and its been an AMD biased title since then.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

so what was the boost you got to on core?

 

[Termie]

so what was the boost you got to on core?

Still working on it. +150 gets me to something like 1202...I just haven't seen much higher than that. Going to continue testing. Maybe I just have to crank the fan to keep it cool, since it won't boost higher if it senses too much heat, or so I understand. +150 gives me 8MHz more than +135, so clearly, it's hitting some kind of wall of diminishing returns.

Anyway, the core might have more to give...been too busy responding to benchmarking requests to really push it. I'm pretty happy, though...I'm just above a stock 680 at this point.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Still working on it. +150 gets me to something like 1202...I just haven't seen much higher than that. Going to continue testing. Maybe I just have to crank the fan to keep it cool, since it won't boost higher if it senses too much heat, or so I understand. +150 gives me 8MHz more than +135, so clearly, it's hitting some kind of wall of diminishing returns.

Anyway, the core might have more to give...been too busy responding to benchmarking requests to really push it.

Guess I hit the lottery? 1280 core in about 15 mins testing. Windforce though. Temps low 60's. Hows the temps?

 

[Termie]

Guess I hit the lottery? 1280 core in about 15 mins testing. Windforce though. Temps low 60's. Hows the temps?

Yup, you're in better shape. My temps are low 70s. The Windforce is better all around, but I needed a compact card and generally like external exhaust...I'll accept the moderately lower performance.

 

[Termie]

A few more updates.

Tried pushing to +165 offset, hard crash with graphical errors.

Looks like I can get to +150 without problems, but the boost doesn't always kick in. Seems to prefer being below 70C - I saw a boost all the way to 1228MHz with a +150 offset (which is even higher than the theoretical, since 1071, which is the absolute highest stock boost I've seen, plus 150 equals 1221). This was while running adaptive vsync, which kept the temps way down. When temps are above 70C, the most I get is 1202MHz. This is at 55% fan, not max fan (80%).

On a related note, I've found that Adaptive Vsync is pretty effective, but something is wrong with "Frame Rate Target", another option in PrecisionX. Seems to introduce tearing, which is definitely not the objective, so I'm not using that. Also, keep in mind that the voltage controls that appear in Precision (but blanked out in Afterburner), should not be used. They only increase temps, which will reduce boost and hence framerates. Saw this explained in a video on the EVGA website.

So, I think I'm done with my overclocking for now. I'm game-stable at +150/6700, but still having trouble in Heaven, so for now I'm running at 135/6600. Next time I start gaming, it will actually be to play, not to benchmark!

Have fun everyone...hope you enjoyed the show!

 

[Ieat]

Hmm what should be blanked out with afterburner? Both core voltage(mV) and Power limit(%) show up for me as sliders on afterburner. I just moved both to the max. Should I be leaving the core voltage (mV) at default +0?

 

[Termie]

Hmm what should be blanked out with afterburner? Both core voltage(mV) and Power limit(%) show up for me as sliders on afterburner. I just moved both to the max. Should I be leaving the core voltage (mV) at default +0?

That was how it was explained in a video on evga.com about the new features in PrecisionX.

 

[Don Karnage]

Here's a 5-minute run in Caspian today. Yesterday I was having problems with drivers/EVGA precision. Looks like that's worked itself out.

Frames Time (ms) Min Max Avg
23935 300000 53 114 79.783


Now I think it is I who has you beat. 😉

This is 1920x1080, All Ultra, No MSAA. Clocks were at +135/6600.

I think I need to redo all my BF3 benchmarks. Something was messed up with my software installation when I ran them right after putting the 670 in.

Bastard 😉

Thanks for taking the time to run them for me.

 

[Termie]

Bastard 😉

Thanks for taking the time to run them for me.

No worries. Even so, I'd say you're running neck and neck with a stock 670, which is pretty darn good for a GPU that's just over half the price.

Are you still shopping around, or have you settled on the 7850?

 

[Don Karnage]

No worries. Even so, I'd say you're running neck and neck with a stock 670, which is pretty darn good for a GPU that's just over half the price.

Are you still shopping around, or have you settled on the 7850?

I passed on going with a pair of Evga 670s and im just waiting to see if amd is going to price cut the 7xxx lineup.

 

[Rvenger]

Some cases are hard to deal with wire management when your PSU isn't modular.

Modular PSU...best thing I have ever bought for my PC lol.

Note: My EVGA GTX 670 FTW card just shipped from their facility today. I should have it in my hands on Thursday afternoon. I'll post up some pictures side by side with my SC edition so you can get an idea of the differences between the two. The differences on paper are, 30% better cooling (GTX 680 heatsink & fan setup), more robust PCB (GTX680 PCB), more solid caps on the board, higher factory overclock and more user overclock headroom.

Did you get one from the defective batch?

 

[tviceman]

Yeah, I knew that would catch someone's eye.



I actually have a modular PSU, but my old Antec 900 doesn't have a lot of space to route wires behind the MB, so I'm kind of stuck. It's a narrow case.

Congrats on your new FTW. Let us know how it runs.

I drilled two holes with large hole saw bits (and plenty of elbow grease) on my Antec 900 and so I could run the cables through the back. Here is a pic from when I had it:

The stars are where I drilled the two holes. The side panel had a slight bow to it, since it wasn't designed to have enough room for the cables, but otherwise it worked out great while I had the case.

 

[Termie]

I drilled two holes with large hole saw bits (and plenty of elbow grease) on my Antec 900 and so I could run the cables through the back. Here is a pic from when I had it:

The stars are where I drilled the two holes. The side panel had a slight bow to it, since it wasn't designed to have enough room for the cables, but otherwise it worked out great while I had the case.

Thanks for the tip. Sounds like you are very familiar with the issue then. Next build I'll go for a more modern case - layouts have really changed since the Antec 900 came out. I got mine in Nov. 2007, so it's been through a few builds....