# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 SLI



## W1zzard (May 10, 2012)

Today NVIDIA released their GeForce GTX 670 which caught the enthusiast market by surprise, bringing outstanding performance and decent pricing to this segment. Now we put two of these cards in a dual card SLI configuration on our shiny new Ivy Bridge PCI-Express 3.0 setup to investigate whether it has the potential to be used in ultra-high end killer gaming rigs.

*Show full review*


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## Benetanegia (May 10, 2012)

It's almost as if Nvidia didn't want to sell GTX 680 anymore. (Or 690 for that matter)

There's been a lot of rumors and theories about why the GTX 670 took so long. Well now we have the answer and with SLI review the answer is complete.

And W1zz thanks for you dedication. I was expecting the SLI review for tomorrow and just enterd TPU one last time after I took dinner and found the SLI review. That's why we come to TPU.


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## SK-1 (May 10, 2012)

680 price drop soon? lol


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## the54thvoid (May 10, 2012)

Benetanegia said:


> It's almost as if Nvidia didn't want to sell GTX 680 anymore.
> 
> There's been a lot of rumors and theories about why the GTX 670 took so long. Well now we have the answer and with SLI review the answer is complete.



Stock piling chips for 670?  Easier to fuse off some dysfunctional clusters?  It is odd they have so few 680's yet so many 670's at launch.

Even funnier is the pointlessness of 680 sli and 690 cards now.  The 670 is killing everything nearby - red or green, it doesn't discriminate.  It's a tiny monster psycho card.



SK-1 said:


> 680 price drop soon? lol



Better hope it's not a 670 price RISE!!!


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## Xzibit (May 10, 2012)

I just want to say I'm so mad I spent $1,000+ on a GTX 680 SLI setup or a GTX 690 less then 2 weeks ago. Errr i'm so furious.


Oh, wait I didn't


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## Benetanegia (May 10, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> Stock piling chips for 670?  Easier to fuse off some dysfunctional clusters?  It is odd they have so few 680's yet so many 670's at launch.



We'll see, but I don't think there's so few 680's according to Steam HW survey, in its first 2 months after release the 680 sold at the same rate as the HD7970 did in its 2 months, and there's more 680's than the two HD7800 SKUs combined despite being 2 weeks more on the shelves. Demand was just very high IMO. We'll see in the coming weeks if a lot more 680's start being in stock and 670's dissapear.

Maybe they do have yields problems (beyond what's normal on a new chip on a new process), but I seriously doubt it. They would have released the GTX670 a lot sooner at $450, probably at the same time as the GTX680 which would have come at $550, if they had yield issues. Hell, looking at how close both cards are they would have done something like with GTX480 (disable one cluster, higher clocks, i.e GTX670 with 680 clocks or higher) if they had yield issues. Anything would have been better than putting their own GTX680 to waste like this if the GTX670 delay was due to yields and not simply because it performs so close it renders almost every other card obsolete.


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## Crap Daddy (May 10, 2012)

The 690 is in very short supply. It will be like those very rare vinyl records with limited pressing for collectors. The marketing move, on the other hand was great. There will be no faster dual card this generation around. The 680 is the king of the single cards so that's it. Still better for surround resolutions. The 670 will sell like hotcakes. I didn't forget about about the 660TI which will probably be 10% slower than the 670 for 300$. Then you might say that it will eat the 670 when overclocked!


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## MicroUnC (May 10, 2012)

Interesting! I might be putting 2 of these in my system


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## Benetanegia (May 10, 2012)

Crap Daddy said:


> I didn't forget about about the 660TI which will probably be 10% slower than the 670 for 300$. Then you might say that it will eat the 670 when overclocked!



From Nvidia's perspective a 660 Ti makes very little sense tbh. I'd love that card, especially if it is the exact same thing as the 670 is to the 680. I might even snatch one of those, despite the fact I said I wouldn't get one this generation. But at this point it makes so little sense IMO.

Also maybe not the place to discuss this, but the GTX670 kind of confirms that GK104 has more shaders than it is capable of using efficiently. GK107 chips were already a hint, performing a lot better in relation to their number of shaders and Fermi, the 690 was also a hint of "scaling issues" if we can call that by being able to match GTX680 SLI which should have been faster and the 670 confirms it IMO. I know it sounds very weird to talk about inefficiencies and scaling issues in these cards that are awesome, but I think that a GK104 with say 1024 SPs wouldn't have been much worse than it is. If I had to guess, Nvidia just figured out that they could throw some more SPs in there since Kepler architecture produces chips that are so tiny.


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## Xzibit (May 10, 2012)

Benetanegia said:


> From Nvidia's perspective a 660 Ti makes very little sense tbh. I'd love that card, especially if it is the exact same thing as the 670 is to the 680. I might even snatch one of those, despite the fact I said I wouldn't get one this generation. But at this point it makes so little sense IMO.



Rumor has it the GTX 660 will be this big Super Top-Secret and un-true but lets pretend it is


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## thematrix606 (May 10, 2012)

Wizz, why no microstuttering analysis ever on SLI? That's the FIRST thing I would look at to consider SLI or Xfire.


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## LifeOnMars (May 10, 2012)

I agree, I think it's time that reviews referenced potential microstuttering issues. These babies look very tempting for a future build.


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## Frick (May 10, 2012)

Nvidia shot AMD and themselves in the foot here.


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## dj-electric (May 10, 2012)

http://tpucdn.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_670_SLI/images/perfrel_2560.gif
Danger close period.


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## fwix (May 10, 2012)

agree about the micro stuttering stuff for the sli-crossfire setup gtx 590 gtx 690 gtx 670s gtx 680s hd 7970s hd 7950s 

maybe in the next reviews ? 

ps:  i have a gtx 590 @780/950 (games : 1080p max out quality  )   i never notice any stuttering with  the latest driver 300.xx -  296.xx


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## alexsubri (May 10, 2012)

Well done Nvidia ...I am waiting for ATI's response ..(if they even have one _


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## _JP_ (May 10, 2012)

The GTX 690 is still a sexier card and the GTX 680 has the power and looks of a proper top-of-the-line card. Those will still sell. Thank you for this review, W1zzard. Very useful.


Frick said:


> Nvidia shot AMD and themselves in the foot here.


Twice.


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## W1zzard (May 10, 2012)

thematrix606 said:


> Wizz, why no microstuttering analysis ever on SLI? That's the FIRST thing I would look at to consider SLI or Xfire.



proper microstuttering analysis can only be done using a highspeed camera to analyse what you see. don't trust those frametime analysis.

send me a highspeed cam and you'll get your testing. this is on my purchase list right after the thermal camera


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## dj-electric (May 10, 2012)

Can't tell if trolling or reviewing like a boss


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## MxPhenom 216 (May 10, 2012)

JESUS! I want 670 SLI!


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## PopcornMachine (May 11, 2012)

Very impressive.  But I'm still not paying $800 for GPUs.


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## 1c3d0g (May 11, 2012)

Jesus! NVIDIA'S GTX 670 is going to be the most wanted tech gear of 2012 by FAR!


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## nikko (May 11, 2012)

670 SLI will be outperformed by 780.


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## hardcore_gamer (May 11, 2012)

nikko said:


> 670 SLI will be outperformed by 780.



in 2014 that is


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## Anggoro (May 11, 2012)

nikko said:


> 670 SLI will be outperformed by 780.



means the 780 will be near the double of 680?
now that's worth the wait, if it's ever possible.


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## Darkrealms (May 11, 2012)

THANK YOU W1ZZ!!  (now go to bed, LoL)

If we are looking at dollars (as the primary concern) this should be a $600-650 setup, if we are looking at performance (as the primary concern) this should be a $900-950 setup  @_0

Nvidia grabbed a tommy gun and blasted red camp with the 680 and as they walked back to green camp slipped, fell, and blasted holes in their own tents when they released the 670.

I still say the 690 is the sexiest card out  : )


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## GC_PaNzerFIN (May 11, 2012)

I have never liked the dual-GPU setups because of the driver issues and microstuttering bs. But for first time in years it looks like I should give SLi another try with 2x ASUS GTX 670 DCIIs. I can always sell the other card if it turns out horrible. At least the performance is good!


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## avatar_raq (May 11, 2012)

@ Wizzard
Typo in the last page "*3*D Vision Surround 3x 1080p", I think you mean 2D

 I am waiting for 670 to drop to $350 to grab 2


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## borden5 (May 11, 2012)

nikko said:


> 670 SLI will be outperformed by 780.



can i borrow your time machine


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## cmaxvt (May 11, 2012)

*Thanks*

Thanks a ton of w1z, good stuff.  I'll put that camera for ya on my list right after a pair of 670's.  Also thanks again for the response from my Verisign email, makes a big diff to know you are responsive =P


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## Clubber_Lang (May 11, 2012)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> JESUS! I want 670 SLI!



Me too!  And great pic of RV dude!  Fellow MX'er here as well!


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## MxPhenom 216 (May 11, 2012)

Clubber_Lang said:


> Me too!  And great pic of RV dude!  Fellow MX'er here as well!



oh really? Nice! RV is the new GOAT. James Stewart is looking good on the new Suzuki though, dungey is going to have some fun this nationals with JS7 given him a run.


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## Easy Rhino (May 11, 2012)

still waiting for a game that needs this power.


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## atikkur (May 11, 2012)

Easy Rhino said:


> still waiting for a game that needs this power.



yeah..  just wait for the game or when the price came down, no point to hurry.


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## Clubber_Lang (May 12, 2012)

nvidiaintelftw said:


> oh really? Nice! RV is the new GOAT. James Stewart is looking good on the new Suzuki though, dungey is going to have some fun this nationals with JS7 given him a run.




Sweet!!  Another motohead!  Been racing on and off down here in the NW for about 30+ years. I ran a AX track for 4 of those years in North plains OR. 

And yeah.....I'm happy for Stewart he got off the Yamaha , as it wasn't doing him any good. I'm not his biggest fan , but I hope he does well this summer ( we'll find out next weekend ). I think RD will be tough to beat this summer , along with Rattray. I'm seriously bummed RV is hurt!


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## Clubber_Lang (May 12, 2012)

Easy Rhino said:


> still waiting for a game that needs this power.



I think BF3 , Metro 2033 and a few others with the res and quality turned up all the way can push a single 670 pretty hard......Two though?....I don't think a SLI setup would break much of a sweat.


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## Delta6326 (May 12, 2012)

I'm gone for one week and look what I miss
 This is awesome great review W1zzard!!


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## Jurassic1024 (May 13, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> Stock piling chips for 670?  Easier to fuse off some dysfunctional clusters?  It is odd they have so few 680's yet so many 670's at launch.



If the GK104 die is what you're manufacturing to start, it wouldn't make sense to disable perfectly good dies this early, when your top two SKU's use that GPU (GTX 680's and 690's).  My guess is yields are fine and it's the capacity at TSMC that is lacking (TSMC is the only Fab doing 28nm right now), and those said dies are reserved for 680 and 690's.  For nVIDIA to try to do a complete lineup at the cost of their high end (disabling units on perfectly good GK104 dies), would only affect availability that much more.

I believe the issue is capacity at TSMC, but I can only guess from what I've read so far.


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## Xzibit (May 13, 2012)

Jurassic1024 said:


> If the GK104 die is what you're manufacturing to start, it wouldn't make sense to disable perfectly good dies this early, when your top two SKU's use that GPU (GTX 680's and 690's).  My guess is yields are fine and it's the capacity at TSMC that is lacking (TSMC is the only Fab doing 28nm right now), and those said dies are reserved for 680 and 690's.  For nVIDIA to try to do a complete lineup at the cost of their high end (disabling units on perfectly good GK104 dies), would only affect availability that much more.
> 
> I believe the issue is capacity at TSMC, but I can only guess from what I've read so far.



During Nvidias earning call Jen-Hsun Huang was asked what was the current % of 28nm production and when it will reach 50%.  He said by the end of the coming quater they will be at 30% but couldnt gurantee it be at 50% by years end.

He was also asked about issues acquiring wafers and he said that TSMC and them finaly came to an agreement and doesnt expect prices of wafer to go up.  

Typical Q&A more like marketing and pitching your outlook but in there a few good questions about Kepler and TSMC.

What I took away from it from Keplers perspective is that they were late to TSMC and to top it off they just didnt buy the wafers for it in a timely manner also they are hoping wafer prices dont go up which means they are buying as they go.  Maybe money issues ?


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## aarantes72 (May 13, 2012)

*Test without logic*

Test no sense ... how to compare cards in SLI with cards in a simple way? Illogical. The right way is to compare the SLI cards with Crossfire. Without credibility.


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## LifeOnMars (May 13, 2012)

aarantes72 said:


> Test no sense ... how to compare cards in SLI with cards in a simple way? Illogical. The right way is to compare the SLI cards with Crossfire. Without credibility.



Your whole post.....no sense.:shadedshu


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## aarantes72 (May 13, 2012)

LifeOnMars said:


> Your whole post.....no sense.:shadedshu



I'll try to explain to you. How can there be comparison between the GTX cards in SLI and other simple card? Got it now?


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## PopcornMachine (May 13, 2012)

aarantes72 said:


> I'll try to explain to you. How can there be comparison between the GTX cards in SLI and other simple card? Got it now?



Maybe to show the improvement of this particular card in SLI versus other cards that cost more?

I understand that one could compare SLI to crossfire, but believe it or not, that's not what the review is about.  That does not mean the review has no credibility.  It just means it wasn't what you wanted. Got it now?


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## aarantes72 (May 13, 2012)

PopcornMachine said:


> Maybe to show the improvement of this particular card in SLI versus other cards that cost more?
> 
> I understand that one could compare SLI to crossfire, but believe it or not, that's not what the review is about.  That does not mean the review has no credibility.  It just means it wasn't what you wanted. Got it now?



This is not logical to me. The table would be something to compare an airplane with two engines and an airplane with a turbine. Which is better? For credibility in the test should be compared with the IN CROSSFIRE RADEON HD. Or, without being GTX in SLI.


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## PopcornMachine (May 13, 2012)

aarantes72 said:


> This is not logical to me. The table would be something to compare an airplane with two engines and an airplane with a turbine. Which is better? For credibility in the test should be compared with the IN CROSSFIRE RADEON HD. Or, without being GTX in SLI.



I understand it's not logical to you.  Work on it.


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## LifeOnMars (May 13, 2012)

aarantes72 said:


> I'll try to explain to you. How can there be comparison between the GTX cards in SLI and other simple card? Got it now?



Now that you have formed proper sentences (sort of) in correct English (debatable), yes my darling


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## _JP_ (May 13, 2012)

aarantes72 said:


> This is not logical to me. The table would be something to compare an airplane with two engines and an airplane with a turbine. Which is better? For credibility in the test should be compared with the IN CROSSFIRE RADEON HD. Or, without being GTX in SLI.


By that logic, all CPU comparison tests are highly illogical. (for you, at least)


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## aarantes72 (May 14, 2012)

What you do not understand is that how to perform a test with multiple cards in SLI and none in Crossfire! How to make a comparison between NVIDIA and RADEON cards in pairs? Got it now? I think for the fans of NVIDIA, continued without understanding.


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## dj-electric (May 14, 2012)

You guys are just being mean , this guy just asked why HD7970 CFX isn't there. The answer is because. if you want to compere the two just go to the HD7970 CFX review and see the results. Yes, drivers are different but the its still comparable.


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## aarantes72 (May 14, 2012)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> You guys are just being mean , this guy just asked why HD7970 CFX isn't there. The answer is because. if you want to compere the two just go to the HD7970 CFX review and see the results. Yes, drivers are different but the its still comparable.



Thank you! That was exactly what I'm trying to say. I think the test to stay cool, should have some HD 7970 and HD7950 in CF.


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## D007 (May 14, 2012)

Xzibit said:


> I just want to say I'm so mad I spent $1,000+ on a GTX 680 SLI setup or a GTX 690 less then 2 weeks ago. Errr i'm so furious.
> 
> 
> Oh, wait I didn't



I'm pretty sick of people like you coming into threads to rub peoples faces in it. You think people are happy about that?  You think a  person who spent thousands, is happy when he finds out within a week, he wasted his money? You think anyone wants to hear you say crap like this? Have some class..

Great review like usual Wiz..
670 is a monster for sure..


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## Darkrealms (May 14, 2012)

aarantes72 said:


> Thank you! That was exactly what I'm trying to say. I think the test to stay cool, should have some HD 7970 and HD7950 in CF.



W1zz was comparing the 670 SLI vs the 690 and 680 SLI to give an idea of the differences.  Using this base we realize the 670 though cut down with current testing methods is almost equal to the more expensive offerings.
There are a lot of reviews that compare the 680 SLI to the 7970 Xfire.  By seeing how well the 670 SLI did here against the 680 SLI we can see how well it compares to Xfire.


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## PopcornMachine (May 14, 2012)

Dj-ElectriC said:


> You guys are just being mean , this guy just asked why HD7970 CFX isn't there. The answer is because. if you want to compere the two just go to the HD7970 CFX review and see the results. Yes, drivers are different but the its still comparable.



He didn't just ask. He said the review was without credibility.  So you agree with that?


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## thematrix606 (May 14, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> proper microstuttering analysis can only be done using a highspeed camera to analyse what you see. don't trust those frametime analysis.
> 
> send me a highspeed cam and you'll get your testing. this is on my purchase list right after the thermal camera



I forgot to thank you for the awesome review and quick reply!

Could you just give a personal opinion about any sort of stuttering? I mean having reviewed so many cards, you must be able to notice it, did games run smooth? 

Isn't it time you picked up a proper performance monitor @ 120 hz? 

This site has the best reviews out there, and with stuttering issues addressed for SLI/Xfire, it would put the cherry on the top, and well... I'd never need to go anywhere else for my reviews


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## fofoad (May 17, 2012)

I don't understand the 4096go for the sli of 670 , put two cg 2go in sli or cf is not supposed to keep the effective vram capacity to 2go?

I'm actually unable to choose between a 7970 or a 670 :
The 670 is better prize for me but i think 3go of the 7970 will be more usefull in the future. So i wait for the price to drop ...
If putting two 670 in sli make me have 4go of memory , I wont be limited in 3-2 years , this information could make me change my choice , but i need you to conform it.

Soz for my english


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## fofoad (May 17, 2012)

up


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## erocker (May 17, 2012)

Two cards in SLi or CrossFire are limited to the Vram of a single card. So two 670's in SLi will be limited to 2gb's of Vram.


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## fofoad (May 17, 2012)

Ok and do you think 2go is ok for the next 3 years?


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## Kal.El (May 30, 2012)

What got my attention is Dirt 3 benchmark, which can't be correct. Just got two 670 gtx in sli and on your site you have 2 times more fps on same settings 1080p. One 6970 131fps, one 670gtx 206fps at 1080p? 
I did not compare other charts, but this one is not correct for sure. You can check it on any other review site...... just friendly observation...

Hmm also i quote


> All video card results were obtained on this exact system with the exact same configuration.
> All games were set to their highest quality setting *unless indicated otherwise.*
> AA and AF are applied via in-game settings, not via the driver's control panel.



So they are saying,correct me if i'm wrong, that Batman AC have on highest setting 670 gtx in SLI, 0xAA, and with physx on HIGH average 135 fps? I will benchmark that when i get home but i think that's IMPOSSIBRU!


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## xsnerx (May 28, 2013)

nikko said:


> 670 SLI will be outperformed by 780.



So, 670 sli still out preforms the 780, btw.


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