Introduction

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 launched today, and we have had the chance to review as many as four unique graphics cards based on it. It also gave us the opportunity to pair two of these cards in 2-way SLI configuration to test how performance scales up. Before you proceed any further, make sure you're up to speed with our single graphics card reviews:

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 (reference design)
• ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP
• Palit GeForce GTX 670 JetStream Edition
• ZOTAC GeForce GTX 670 AMP! Edition

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 comes at a good point in time. It closely follows Intel's 3rd Generation Core processor family launch, which presents PC enthusiasts time to upgrade, particularly to PCI-Express 3.0 platforms. Our recent review covering PCI-Express scaling of GeForce GTX 680 and Radeon HD 7970 over the three generations of PCI-Express, and in various lane configurations, proved that PCI-Express 3.0 x8 provides bandwidth that yields performance identical to that of PCI-Express 2.0 x16, and that PCI-Express 3.0 x16 makes these current-generation high-end GPUs no more than 1% faster.

The PCI-Express scaling results give confidence to enthusiasts to opt for the Core "Ivy Bridge" platform, since on most multi-GPU capable 7-series motherboards, the lone PCI-Express 3.0 x16 link from the processor is split into two x8 links (or x8 + x4 + x4, on some motherboards). While NVIDIA's $399 GeForce GTX 670 has much to offer, we investigate the viability of following an incremental upgrade path, in which you buy one card now, and a second card when your games are beginning to get the better of the GPU, or when you've upgraded your monitor to a higher resolution. By today's prices, GTX 670 2-way SLI is a $798 solution. Two other competitors to look out for in this review are the recently-launched GeForce GTX 690 dual-GPU graphics card, which costs $999, but is selling for as high as $1,200; and GeForce GTX 680 2-way SLI, which provides the same performance for $998. In this review, we will test a 2-way SLI configuration of two GeForce GTX 670 2 GB graphics cards, running at NVIDIA reference clock speeds, through our entire performance test-bench.

Test System

Benchmark scores in other reviews are only comparable when this exact same configuration is used.

• 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.

Each benchmark was tested at the following settings and resolution:

• 1280 x 800, 2x Anti-aliasing. Common resolution for most smaller flatscreens today (17" - 19"). A bit of eye candy turned on in the drivers.
• 1680 x 1050, 4x Anti-aliasing. Most common widescreen resolution on larger displays (19" - 22"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
• 1920 x 1200, 4x Anti-aliasing. Typical widescreen resolution for large displays (22" - 26"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
• 2560 x 1600, 4x Anti-aliasing. Highest possible resolution for commonly available displays (30"). Very good looking driver graphics settings.
• 5760 x 1080, 4x Anti-aliasing. Typical high-end gaming multi-monitor resolution. Very good looking driver graphics settings.

Alan Wake

Alan Wake, released in 2012 for PC, is a highly successful third-person horror shooter that revolves around the adventures of novelist Alan Wake who has to battle the "darkness" which takes over living and dead things. Alan's signature flashlight is used to strip the forces of darkness of their protection, to make then vulnerable to conventional weapons.
The engine of Alan Wake uses DirectX 9, but features complex lighting effects which makes it a quite demanding title. We benched with highest settings.