Before I make a mistake is this an OK choice for a GTX 670?

[balane]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162109

It's the Galaxy dual fan model. I'm hoping it will be quiet and reliable... and relatively cool. I don't know the company but there aren't a lot of custom cooler 670's available at Newegg right now. I don't mind the slight price increase because, hopefully, the cooler is better.

I just don't want to spend $450 and have it be a mistake. I recently purchased a MSI Twin Frozr 7950 and it was bad out of the box, I'm not saying this is the norm or not possible from anybody. I had to return it to NewEgg but since they were out of stock they refunded my money.

On further consideration I decided to go with nVidia because the game I'm playing, Secret World, obviously supports nVidia. (They didn't even list a minimum spec AMD card on the box. Have an nVidia splash screen, have nVidia features in the graphics options.) I've used ATI/AMD for the last three generations but I think I'd like to give nVidia a go this time around.

But that's besides the point, is the Galaxy a decent choice?

Single 1920x1200 monitor, play mmo and fps games, 3770K CPU.

Thanks for your help.

 

[RussianSensation]

The Galaxy is a good card, as long as you don't get coil whine with it. It is based on GTX680 PCB with VRM cooling and improved after market cooler. Here is a review for it.

Personally, I'd get the Gigabyte Windforce 3x, Asus Direct CUII (quietest GTX670!), or the MSI TwinFrozr Power Edition. I see some of them sold out on Newegg right now though.

Here is the Gigabyte 670 Windforce for $416 on Amazon.
Here is the Asus 670 for $440.

Check out some videos for noise levels of GTX670 cards. The Asus stands out to me.

For Secret World, NV is the way to go. The game works perfectly on GTX670/680 cards already:

 

[balane]

Thanks. GTX 670 it is then. I'm really hoping to use Newegg though, that's the problem. I have a $100 gift card with them to use. Guess I'll take my chances with coil whine then since I don't see a single card you listed as being available.

Any idea how prevalent that is?

 

[balane]

Oh snap, the Gigabyte one is available now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125423

I didn't see it being for sale the last time I looked which was very recently.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

Beware that many of the Gigabyte Windforce 3x GTX 670 and 680 have a little bug. It's in combination with Z77 motherboards and Ivybridge. PCI-E 3.0 makes them unstable. Only way to fix it is to set PCI-E 3.0 down to 2.0 in mobo bios.

I fixed this excact issue in a friends system using this method. Found the solution by searching google.

ASUS DC II does not have this bug.

 

[balane]

Well crap, that sucks.. sort of. Does the issue affect them at stock clocks too? Is it a really common issue? Looks like the perfect card for me right now.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

Well crap, that sucks.. sort of. Does the issue affect them at stock clocks too? Is it a really common issue? Looks like the perfect card for me right now.

Yes they are affected no matter what clocks. And yes, it seems a very common problem.

However, if you get this bug, you can easily fix it by using PCI-E 2.0 instead of PCI-E 3.0. You will not loose any performance. The difference between PCI-E 3.0 and 2.0 are almost none.

 

[N4n45h1]

I can't say how common the issue is, but I can tell you that I have the Gigabyte Windforce 670 with no problems at all. In fact I'm running them well above stock clocks.

Although it does seem like the safest bet is the Asus DC II.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

I can't say how common the issue is, but I can tell you that I have the Gigabyte Windforce 670 with no problems at all. In fact I'm running them well above stock clocks.

Although it does seem like the safest bet is the Asus DC II.

You said 'Them'? You have two? If so, SLI will remove the PCI-E 3.0/Z77/Ivybridge/Windforce 3x bug. Probably because the bandwith is shared between two cards.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I can't say how common the issue is, but I can tell you that I have the Gigabyte Windforce 670 with no problems at all. In fact I'm running them well above stock clocks.

Although it does seem like the safest bet is the Asus DC II.

Or MSI. Honestly IMO the MSI card is the best one out there in the US market.

 

[balane]

Yes they are affected no matter what clocks. And yes, it seems a very common problem.

However, if you get this bug, you can easily fix it by using PCI-E 2.0 instead of PCI-E 3.0. You will not loose any performance. The difference between PCI-E 3.0 and 2.0 are almost none.

OK, that sounds OK to me. Some risk of issue with 100% guarantee of resolution with no real downside.

The problem manifests itself as repeated lockups?

 

[balane]

Well, double snap. Now the Asus is available.

Is this the one I want then? Quiet, reliable, cool, relatively safe from known issues?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121638

 

[The_Golden_Man]

Or MSI. Honestly IMO the MSI card is the best one out there in the US market.

How is it the best? There is still no new afterburner for Voltage increase. And the programmer working on Afterburner was not sure it would be possible at all.

Also, the MSI card is more noisy VS ASUS DC II. ASUS DC II has a backplate too, which the MSI card does not have.

 

[balane]

Unless I hear a reason not to then I'm going to order this Asus card. The backplate is a nice bonus too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

 

[The_Golden_Man]

Well, double snap. Now the Asus is available.

Is this the one I want then? Quiet, reliable, cool, relatively safe from known issues?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121638

That is an excellent choice. I bought the Non-TOP versions. Some people had issues with the TOP cards not being stable at the factory overclock. However, ASUS has released a bios, which downclocks them a bit, to fix this issue.

 

[N4n45h1]

You said 'Them'? You have two? If so, SLI will remove the PCI-E 3.0/Z77/Ivybridge/Windforce 3x bug. Probably because the bandwith is shared between two cards.

Sorry I mispoke =[ Unfortunately I only have one...

 

[balane]

That is an excellent choice. I bought the Non-TOP versions. Some people had issues with the TOP cards not being stable at the factory overclock. However, ASUS has released a bios, which downclocks them a bit, to fix this issue.

lol, every card seems to have some kind of issue. Thanks for the help, ordering.

 

[cmdrdredd]

How is it the best? There is still no new afterburner for Voltage increase. And the programmer working on Afterburner was not sure it would be possible at all.

Also, the MSI card is more noisy VS ASUS DC II. ASUS DC II has a backplate too, which the MSI card does not have.

Asus doesn't cool the VRMs, the MSI cards overclock higher on average anyway.

Voltage means nothing. Backplate is useless really. No card sags enough to require it.

 

[The_Golden_Man]

Asus doesn't cool the VRMs, the MSI cards overclock higher on average anyway.

Voltage means nothing. Backplate is useless.

ASUS have a VRM heatsink. It's not big, but the fans will blow air over it. ASUS has 6-phase powerdelivery VS 4 in the reference. This means that the load is distributed over 6 phases, not making the VRM's as hot.

Honestly, I don't think there is enough data yet to state those MSI cards overclock better VS ASUS DC II TOP.

That backplate makes the card look very nice. It also protects the PCB. Backplate or no backplate? I would take the backplate. The ASUS DC II simply has better build quality VS the MSI card.

 

[cmdrdredd]

All the pictures I saw show the Asus card wasn't as robust in cooling vs gigabyte and MSI.

Doesn't matter though they're all fine if they work.

FWIW: The backplate would make a card unusable for me because of the design of the ROG Gene board and my D14 CPU cooler(card needs to be insulated as it rests slightly against the fan clips). The backplate would prevent the card from seating.

 

[rickon66]

Unlike some, I won't run down other brands of card but I have had no issues with my Gigabyte card. It has run like a champ and for base MSRP of $399.99 too!

 

[RussianSensation]

Unless I hear a reason not to then I'm going to order this Asus card. The backplate is a nice bonus too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

Honestly people love splitting hairs over 50mhz overclocks on the 670 but in the real world that doesn't matter at all when most 670s are memory bandwidth limited. The fact is the Asus Direct CUII has the quietest cooler of all the 670 cards and it has premium chokes/caps which more or less guarantee no coil wine. In my experience with Asus, their RMA is good. After trying after market cooled 7970, I value noise levels more than ever. Assuming you have a case with good airflow (2x 120mm intake fans, etc.), that's the card I'd go for noise levels alone.

Did you check out the Noise level videos in Tom's Review I linked? Take 5 min to listen to the cards and you'll see what I mean. The Gigabyte card is good too. PCIe 2.0 vs. 3.0 is a non-issue in terms of performance.

 

[balane]

Honestly people love splitting hairs over 50mhz overclocks on the 670 but in the real world that doesn't matter at all when most 670s are memory bandwidth limited. The fact is the Asus Direct CUII has the quietest cooler of all the 670 cards and it has premium chokes/caps which more or less guarantee no coil wine. In my experience with Asus, their RMA is good. After trying after market cooled 7970, I value noise levels more than ever. Assuming you have a case with good airflow (2x 120mm intake fans, etc.), that's the card I'd go for noise levels alone.

Did you check out the Noise level videos in Tom's Review I linked? Take 5 min to listen to the cards and you'll see what I mean. The Gigabyte card is good too. PCIe 2.0 vs. 3.0 is a non-issue in terms of performance.

I definitely agree with that. I never even put clock speeds in my list of wants. My list was reliability first, cooling second and sound levels third. I guess I also wanted to avoid cards with known, common bugs but from reading this thread that really eliminates a lot of cards.

Been a long time since I had nVidia in my computer so this was all good information for me.

Edit: Watching the video now.

Edit #2: I'm sold on the Asus.. very cool and amazingly quiet.

 

[cmdrdredd]

On the PCIe 2.0 vs 3.0 thing. I did note some differences in benchmarks with my SLI setup when I tried 2.0 vs 3.0. Mostly in the synthetic tests like Heaven and 3DMark 11. For a single card there's less a difference.

I think no matter what GTX 670 you get you'd be happy as long as it wasn't bone stock reference (short PCB design).

 

[balane]

I think no matter what GTX 670 you get you'd be happy as long as it wasn't bone stock reference (short PCB design).

Could somebody please link me an example for one of these cards so I know exactly what to avoid?