EVGA GTX 670 FTW review

Let me just start with this: this card is a beast.

It is truly an amazing card.

When it first came in the mail and I unboxed it, I was shocked at just how good looking this card was. This card is by far one of the best looking cards out there. It is sleek black that is very shiny. On the front of the shroud it also has "FTW edition" in blue. I really, really like that. It is kind of a way to show off your card. Its a way to say "that card is for the win." It also has "GEFORCE GTX" In large green block letters on the top, this is what you will see if you have a case window. I have a case window, and it puts a smile on my face when I look in and see Geforce GTX.

Every EVGA GTX 670 FTW is hand picked from the batch. This is because it is EVGA's signature 670. Each and every FTW edition is the top of the line, from there they factory overclock it. This makes each FTW special. No two FTWs are the same, which I kind of like. Its nice to know my card is unique in its one way.

It came with some stickers, a case badge (which I have put on my case), a drivers CD, a massive poster,  the installation guides, and some powersupply connectors.


The card itself, is rather large. No, not the biggest out there, but it is pretty big, being dual slot and about 10 inches long. It barely fit in my Antec 902 V3 case. When I say barely, I mean it. I had to move fans, unplug wires, reroute wires, and slide it in at an angle.

Off topic but looking back this was funny: When installing the GTX 670 FTW, I accidentally unpluged the cable that connected the case power button to the motherboard, so when I went to turn it on  nothing happened, I panicked. Completely overlooked the connection, until about 20 minutes later when  saw it. That was a huge relief, and when I powered the case on everything worked perfectly.

Alright, back on topic.

After installing it and installing the latest drivers I decided to try one of the most graphically demanding games out there, Battlefield 3.  I set everything to ultra, 16x anti aliasing, anything that could be set to the highest was set to the highest, resolution at 1920 by 1200, full 3D, and a second monitor that was opened to skype chat.

The average was 65 FPS. Which is insane. That is amazing for one card, no sli.  I played for about 3 hours, towards the end of which the card started to get a little hot. I set my custom fan settings and it came right back down to 50c from 85c. That cooling is all due to the massive blower fan and the fact that the FTW uses the gtx 680 PCB. The blower fan on the FTW is far larger than regular 670s. This results in stunning cooling. Another great feature about this card is that 98 percent of the hot air from inside the card is blown through the card and outside the case. This means the card will not heat up any more components (for the most part) with its exhaust. The GTX 690 exhausts all its hot air inside the case, which when the exhaust air is 90c, can heat up the case and internal components quick.  I am very impressed with the cooling of this card.

This card is factory overclocked to the clocks of a gtx 680. But it doesn't stop there. Thanks to nvidia, Depending on how cool the card is it will overclock its self even farther. The base clock on a FTW is 1006 MHz. While playing battlefield 3 I saw it go up to 1330 mhz. Thats also amazing. It overclocks its self based on temperature, so if you were to get a gtx 680 water block (since the FTW uses the 680 PCB) you could overclock this card massively

I decided to run the Windows Experience Index on my computer just to see how the GTX 670 FTW stacks up. It is on a 1-7.9 scale. With 7.9 being the highest. This card got a 7.9 by its self. I was shocked when I saw that number. Not even my 3770k gets a 7.9. In fact, my 3770k gets a 7.8. That goes to show you just how good the 670 FTW is.

The software that comes with it, EVGA's hand crafted "Precision X" is also very good. Working with it is a breeze, and overclocking is also a breeze. You can set GPU voltage, fan speed, core/ memory clock speeds, even have a heads up display of your card information ie: heat. I will not be overclocking my card for quite sometime, I do not see it necessary as of now. This card is already a beast.

Another plus about this card is that it came from EVGA. EVGA has amazing technical support, forums, and amazing warranties. This card came with a 3 year warranty. That is a really nice thing to have, just in case something goes wrong.

There is only one downside to this card: it doesnt have a backplate. Granted its not needed, but its nice to have. Only a small thing, and doesnt inhibit performance at all. It is merely for protection of the back of the card.

I cant wait to pick up another EVGA GTX 670 FTW. I can only imagine what two FTWs can do.

In conclusion, this card really is For The Win. This card has amazing cooling, an amazing look, EVGA's backing, amazing clocks, and can run the latest games with ease.

                             This is one of the stickers that came with the FTW, and yes, that is my case.

This is my card. As you can see it looks amazing. You can also see the "FTW" on the card, and the massive blower fan. Sorry about my brothers knee getting in the picture.

Here is what the "GEFORCE GTX" Looks like from the outside looking in. Yes, that is my computer.

All in all, this card really is For The Win. This card is amazing. I highly recommend any high end user to buy this card.

Here is a link to all its specs: http://www.evga.com/products/pdf/02G-P4-2678.pdf

GTX 680 SLI vs GTX 690 vs GTX 670 FTW SLI

Ahh this debate again. Seems people cant find the answer, but here it is.

The fact of the matter is that two 680s are faster than one 690. This is true for several reasons.

The most prominant being the different 680 models. You can buy two 4gb Vram 680s. That doubles the vram of the 690 right there. But lets say you dont have the money to do that.

Then you are stuck with going with two 2gb 680s. But they are still faster.

This is true based on two solid facts.

1. The GTX 690 is two 680s smushed together on one PCIe slot. This means you are trying to feed double the amount of information through one slot. Its logical thinking that two cards spread out over two slots will be faster than two cards on one slot.

2. You can overclock the two 680s to way past their factory clock. This means you are overclocking two 680s. But on the 690 you are bottlecapped on how much you can overclock. This means that the two 680s rain supreme again.

How much faster are two 2gb 680s? only about 2-3 percent. Not much, but they are the victors.

Not only that, but the gtx 690 has massive cooling issues. Instead of the heat blowing out the back of the case like a 670/80 does. it blows in the case. Yup, all the extra heat trapped in your case. GTX 680 is the clear winner.

The GTX 680 (base model) is priced at 500 USD

The GTX 690 is priced at 1050 USD.
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If you want the best bang for your buck SLI the GTX 670 FTW edition. Dont get all scared because its a 670.

The 670 FTW edition is actually a 670 at the clocks of a 680, with the same amount of vram, the same cooling system. You are only loosing 200 CUDA cores.

So the question then becomes how much slower are 2 gtx 670 FTWs compared to two gtx 680s?

about 2-5 percent. Yup 2-5 percent. And 200 dollars cheaper if you are sli-ing two FTWs instead of two 680s.

So that means that two 670 FTWs are almost the same as a gtx 690. They are about 6-9 percent slower (without overclock) so for 2 hundred dollars less you get minimal performace drop.

I have a gtx 670 ftw in my case now. And my gosh its amazing. 70 FPS on battlefield 3 will all settings to ultra.

Beware: the gtx 670 FTW is no normal 670. It has the same dimensions as a 680. Just beware of that before you put it in a small case and find out it doesnt fit. This is because the gtx 670 FTW has the cooling of a 680. Making it run very cool.

The gtx 670 FTW comes factory overclocked to the specs of a gtx 680. BUT its memory clock is actually HIGHER than a 680. So your 2gb 670 FTW will have better memory than a base 2gb 680.

I call the FTW the GTX 675. yes this is what I refer to it in conversation. Because it is a 680, just with 200 less cuda cores, and a higher memory clock. Hence the name: GTX 675.

The GTX 670 FTW is priced at 407 USD.

The GTX 670 FTW also has the best name of a GPU out there.
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Heres a link to gtx 690s: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600315498%20600328254&IsNodeId=1&name=GeForce%20GTX%20690

Heres a link to gtx 680s: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600315498%20600311819&IsNodeId=1&name=GeForce%20GTX%20680

Heres a link to the GTX 670 FTW: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787