Gigabyte GTX 670 Windforce 3X OC 2GB Graphics Card Review

[siopao1984]

---

Noise is generally the bain of most consumers lives and in the hope of finding the quietest operation, we feel it’s necessary to show you the audio level of components. We use the same components throughout this test and use a sound level meter to record the audio level of the system with a passive graphics card installed. Once we have the level recorded with the passive card, we continue to change the graphics card for the one that we are testing. Due to us having the audio level recorded before installation, it gives us a guide to work with and shows that anything over our initial level is an audio gain.



This card incorporates the WindForce 3X cooler and as such it would be wrong not to look at the cooler in more detail in terms of acoustics. At idle we see a low result of 46.1 dBA and at load, we see a an extremely low 55.5 dBA showing that the WindForce cooler really does make a difference in terms of audio output.

[siopao1984]

To test power consumption, we monitor the overall power of the system through a plug-in electricity usage monitor at an idle and load state. This allows us to show the fluctuation between how much power draw the graphics card takes at idle and at load. By monitoring the overall usage of the whole system, it gives an easy comparison if you wish to do the same yourself as opposed to buying very expensive individual testing equipment.



Moving over to the power consumption, we can see the GTX 670 OC from Gigabyte falls in-line with other GTX 600 series cards from Nvidia and as guessed, uses more power than the AMD 7970 reference card in the same tests.

[siopao1984]

Measuring temperatures is all about being consitent, therefore we keep a steady eye on monitoring the ambient room temperature to make sure that it stays the same. While this is constantly being monitored, we measure the idle temperature of the card using HWMonitor over a 15 minute period. Once this has been recorded, we set FurMark into motion for 15 minutes and record the results again.



Lastly looking at the temperatures on this card we once again see the WindForce 3X cooler doing a fantastic job by keeping idle temperatures down to 31 degrees and load temps to a lock 65, which is rivalling the likes of the Lightning GTX 680 with Twin Frozr IV cooler from MSI.

[siopao1984]

After we had looked at the Inno3D GTX 670 HerculeZ 3000 card, the GTX 670 segment for us had major boots to be filled and Gigabyte claimed they could do it with their OC WindForce 3X version, but the challenge was going to be extremely tight with some really strong contending cards on the market, namely the offering from Inno3D which we claimed to be one of the best cards we’ve ever tested.

Luckily Gigabyte has done a great job here with this card and it sits in our test results near the top as expected. There are lots of areas that make a graphics card great and it’s not just the performance side of it, but also comes down to the cooler and the WindForce 3X is renowned as one of the best on the market.

We’ve seen the WindForce 3X cooler span across a variety of cards from older generations to the latest and greatest cards that sit on the AMD and Nvidia product range currently. Seeing this cooler being mounted onto the GTX 670 sees some amazing results across acoustics, power delivery and thermal dynamics which puts it right up the top of our short list for us and that’s without even taking a look at the performance on offer.

Moving over to the performance, we saw some really strong results, even though the clock speeds falls below that of the Inno3D equivalent. The card managed to push ahead at the higher resolutions with 5760×1080 standing out in particular across a multitude of tests showing that once again the GTX 670 is a strong contender in the retail market and gives a cheaper, yet just as powerful solution for those not wanting to splash out on a GTX 680.

In terms of price, we see this card being offered on the market for an attractively priced £330 making it more expensive than a reference card, but falling just below that of similar cards with beefy coolers and factory overclocks making it a great value for money card that can play all of the latest games at the highest resolutions, across multiple screens and incorporating the latest Nvidia features.

Simply put, if you’re in the market for a new card and are wanting the very best quality, style, technology and of course performance without spending an absolute fortune, then you can’t go wrong with the Gigabyte GTX 670 OC WindForce 3X, and for those wanting performance even higher than that, then you’ll just have to wait for the GTX 680 SOC, but be prepared to get your wallets at the ready.

[PagkahomotSAimongUTOToi]

gtx 660 ti, where are you *echoes*

[DEMONOCIETY]

unya ang presyo pud ana pila kaha ng mananapa?