My review of MSI Power Edition gtx 670

[Quantos]

Mine is coming today!

I've been reallllyyy hesitant about my new GPU and put it back maybe 2 months. The ASUS were looking promising, but I feel like I was right to hold back a bit with all the issues they have. It's apparently "sort of fixed" with the new BIOS, but at the price of lowering the clock, so it's a bit of a lame fix.

I've had MSI products before, though never a GPU, but people are recommending the TF cards all over the place, so I thought I'd give it a go.

I'll see how mine does compared to yours.

 

[DrBoss]

Mine also comes today. I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do.

 

[farlucco]

its seems to be the best 670 until now....
msi works really good

 

[DrBoss]

I've got mine (MSI GTX 670 Twin Frozr IV Power Edition) up and running.

So far on Unigine continuous loop i'm stable at:
Power Limit - 105%
Core - 1266 MHz
Memory - 6998 MHz
Max Temp - 60C

 

[toyota]

I've got mine (MSI GTX 670 Twin Frozr IV Power Edition) up and running.

So far on Unigine continuous loop i'm stable at:
Power Limit - 105%
Core - 1266 MHz
Memory - 6998 MHz
Max Temp - 60C

there is no reason not to turn the power limit up all the way. it hurts nothing to turn it up all the way and it allows your card to actually run at its full potential.

 

[DrBoss]

After 30 min continuous loop in Unigine I appear stable at:

Power Limit - 114%
Core - 1290 MHz
Memory - 7204 MHz
Max Temp - 69 C (a bit toasty in my opinion)



Crysis Benchmark performance using my own Custom Ultra Config @ 1920x1200, 8x AA, DX9

Stock FPS:
Min: 38.47
Max: 75.63
Avg: 55.54

Overclocked FPS (per settings above)
Min: 38.97
Max: 80.25
Avg: 58.26

 

[tigersty1e]

what kind of pcb design is this?

gtx 680 or custom?

 

[tviceman]

After 30 min continuous loop in Unigine I appear stable at:

Power Limit - 114%
Core - 1290 MHz
Memory - 7204 MHz
Max Temp - 69 C (a bit toasty in my opinion)



Crysis Benchmark performance using my own Custom Ultra Config @ 1920x1200, 8x AA, DX9

Stock FPS:
Min: 38.47
Max: 75.63
Avg: 55.54

Overclocked FPS (per settings above)
Min: 38.97
Max: 80.25
Avg: 58.26

Nice results! Yours goes a little higher than mine. I refuse to do 60% fan setting though, it's just way too loud for my tastes. 69 degrees is not at all toasty. That is a considerably lower temp than what you would get with a stock gtx680 reference cooler AND you've got a 31.5% overclock over a reference gtx670's boost speed.

 

[tviceman]

what kind of pcb design is this?

gtx 680 or custom?

It is MSI's custom design.

 

[chimaxi83]

what kind of pcb design is this?

gtx 680 or custom?

Custom full length PCB.

 

[DrBoss]

Nice results! Yours goes a little higher than mine. I refuse to do 60% fan setting though, it's just way too loud for my tastes. 69 degrees is not at all toasty. That is a considerably lower temp than what you would get with a stock gtx680 reference cooler AND you've got a 31.5% overclock over a reference gtx670's boost speed.

I've got a Fractal Design case with sound absorbing material in the panels and i've installed Thermaltake Silent fans throughout the case. 60% fan is audible, but only barely. 50% fan is absolutely silent.

Very much looking forward to voltage control. Hopefully i can keep temps in check without going beyond 60% fan. I can't stand ambient noise.

I highly recommend this card. My previous MSI R6950 Twin Frozer III's were faster in crossfire... but i did eventually find issue with their microstuttering, which is obviously not an issue with the 670 considering its a single GPU solution (at the moment) :sneaky:

 

[DrBoss]

Just realized my CPU was running stock (result of trouble shooting Max Payne 3 a few weeks ago - issue ended up being w/ Bitdefender).
Anyway, i pumped the CPU back up to 4.4 Ghz and...

Unigine went from 62.4 fps to 63.1 fps
and
Crysis has gone from 58.28 avg fps to 63.72 avg fps

Surprisingly the GPU temp is now lower, running at a max of 67C

 

[Frenky91]

Hi guys you bought nice cards... Im from Croatia and im waiting for that card to come in my country... so how much did you pay for it? and you buyed oc version didnt you?

 

[Quantos]

Hi guys you bought nice cards... Im from Croatia and im waiting for that card to come in my country... so how much did you pay for it? and you buyed oc version didnt you?

I got mine from NCIX at $444.99 CAD. The price on newegg.com is 429.99 USD, and in Canada we usually pay 10$ more. The price I got is pretty much on par then. I'm not sure what it would be in Croatia. Do you usually pay more for hardware (probably)?

 

[DrBoss]

Yea, i picked mine up at Newegg.com for $429.99 USD. And yes, it was the factory overclocked Power Edition. Perhaps Newegg ships to Croatia?

 

[SirPauly]

After 30 min continuous loop in Unigine I appear stable at:

Power Limit - 114%
Core - 1290 MHz
Memory - 7204 MHz
Max Temp - 69 C (a bit toasty in my opinion)



Crysis Benchmark performance using my own Custom Ultra Config @ 1920x1200, 8x AA, DX9

Stock FPS:
Min: 38.47
Max: 75.63
Avg: 55.54

Overclocked FPS (per settings above)
Min: 38.97
Max: 80.25
Avg: 58.26

1290 core stable -- impressive --- 1242 for mine.

 

[DrBoss]

1290 core stable -- impressive --- 1242 for mine.

I'm going to bench with OCCT GPU tonight for an hour to confirm. As of now, Unigine is stable for 30 min (though, its hard to tell with the naked eye if there are graphic anomalies or artifacts). OCCT GPU will report any graphic errors.

I did play Max Payne 3 for an hour last night, and Crysis 1 for two hours at those OC'd settings... problem free.

 

[Quantos]

I'm picking mine up at the airport on the way back from work. I'll post early results tonight!

 

[Frenky91]

I got mine from NCIX at $444.99 CAD. The price on newegg.com is 429.99 USD, and in Canada we usually pay 10$ more. The price I got is pretty much on par then. I'm not sure what it would be in Croatia. Do you usually pay more for hardware (probably)?

Yes we pay more for hardware its probably 444.99 eurous instead dollars because we are in europe...

 

[DrBoss]

Techpowerup just released a review of the MSI N670 PE
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_670_Power_Edition/

 

[Quantos]

Wow, TPU seems to have been very unlucky with their card. Here's what mine does so far. I've been messing around a bit so I'm not sure if this is 100% stable, but it went through ~45 mins of heaven with no artifacting / crashing. The fan is on auto so far reaching about 50% speed and 69 to 70C.

 

[Don Karnage]

Wizzard sucks at overclocking

 

[DrBoss]

Very nice,

and yea, Techpowerup's review card was a dud. You'd think MSI would have made sure to send them a gpu that performed like ours.

 

[psolord]

Techpowerup just released a review of the MSI N670 PE
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_670_Power_Edition/

It is clearly stated in the review:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_670_Power_Edition/4.html

[QUOTE/] MSI uses use a Richtek RT8802A voltage controller on their card, just like the reference design. This is a fairly simple controller which does not offer any monitoring features or software voltage control. Voltages are controlled via VID pins that are directly connected to the GPU.[/QUOTE]

 

[DrBoss]

MSI uses use a Richtek RT8802A voltage controller on their card, just like the reference design. This is a fairly simple controller which does not offer any monitoring features or software voltage control. Voltages are controlled via VID pins that are directly connected to the GPU.

hmmmmmmm. so that seems to indicate Afterburner will NOT eventual give us voltage control.