ASUS Finalizes Mini-ITX System Friendly GTX 670 DirectCU Mini Graphics Card
Subject: Graphics Cards | April 3, 2013 - 10:14 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nvidia, mini-itx, gtx 670, GK104, directcu mini, asus
ASUS has finalized the design for its Kepler-based DirectCU Mini graphics card. The new card combines NVIDIA's GTX 670 GPU and reference PCB with ASUS' own power management technology and a new, much smaller, air cooler. The new ASUS cooler has allowed the company to offer a card that is a mere 17cm long. Compared to traditional GTX 670 graphics cards with coolers at approximately 24cm, the DirectCU Mini is noticeably smaller.
The DirectCU Mini features a GTX 670 GPU clocked at 928MHz base and 1,006MHz boost. It also has 2GB of GDDR5 memory on a 256-bit bus. The card requires a single 8-pin PCI-E power connector. Video outputs include two DVI, one DisplayPort, and a single HDMI port. The ASUS cooler includes a copper vapor chamber and a single CoolTech fan. According to ASUS, the DirectCU Mini is up to 20% cooler and slightly quieter than previous GTX 670 cards despite the smaller form factor.
This new card will be a great addition to Mini-ITX-based systems where saving space anyway possible is key. It is nice to know that gamers will soon have the option of powering a small form factor LAN box with a GPU as fast as the GTX 670. Even better, water cooling enthusiasts will be happy to know that the card still uses a reference PCB, meaning it is compatible with existing water blocks made for the current crop of GTX 670 cards.
Pricing and availability have not been announced, but the small form factor-friendly GPU is now official and should be coming sometime soon.
Read more about the GTX 670 and Mini-ITX at PC Perspective.
Titanium Power from MSI; the shiniest of the GTX 660s?
Subject: Graphics Cards | September 6, 2012 - 07:01 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: msi, gtx 660 Ti, GK104, factory overclocked, Twin Frozr, 660 Ti Power Edition OC
MSI's GTX 660 Ti Power Edition OC will set you back $300, the same price as most other GTX 660 Ti cards, however that is where the similarity stops. This card sports the famous Twin Frozr IV cooling system, Military Class III components, Triple Overvoltage with Afterburner support and is overclocked above the reference design. If you like the sounds of the card so far does knowing that [H]ard|OCP managed to push the card frequencies farther past the factory overclock than the factory overclock was above the reference design?
"MSI is offering a custom cooled and factory overclocked rendition on the recently released NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti. We examine how well MSI's Twin Frozr IV cooling technology allows us to overclock this new generation video card. We will compare it to a Radeon HD 7950, an overclocked Radeon HD 7870, and a GeForce GTX 670."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- MSI GTX 670 Power Edition OC Review @ Hardware Canucks
- GTX 660 Ti 5-Way Roundup (ASUS, EVGA, Gigabyte, Galaxy, MSI) @ Hardware Canucks
- GALAXY GTX 660 Ti GC OC vs. OC GTX 670 & HD 7950 @ [H]ard|OCP
- NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 2GB @ Tweaktown
- NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 660 2GB @ Tweaktown
- GIGABYTE GTX 680 Super Overclocked Edition @ [H]ard|OCP
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti at High AA Settings @ [H]ard|OCP
- EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Superclocked Signature 2 @ X-bit Labs
- Matrox DualHead2Go Digital ME and Matrox DualHead2Go Digital SE @ Hardware.info
- Arctic Accelero Hybrid VGA Cooler Review @ Hardware Secrets
- Intel OpenGL Performance: OS X vs. Windows vs. Linux @ Phoronix
- Arctic Accelero Hybrid Graphics Card Cooler @ Bjorn3D
- ntel’s HD 4000; Four Months Later @ SemiAccurate
- Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide @ TechARP
- AMD’s Enduro Switchable Graphics Levels Up @ AnandTech
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Vapor-X OC with Boost @ Tweaktown
- Sapphire HD 7970 Vapor-X GHZ Edition Review @ OCC
- Inno3D GeForce GTX 660 Ti iChill 3GB @ Guru of 3D
- Club 3D HD 7750 Low Profile 1 GB @ techPowerUp
- Sapphire HD7770 Videocard @ Rbmods
- Club 3D Radeon HD 7970 royalAce @ Hardware.Info
- PowerColor Devil 13 HD 7990 Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven
- Powercolor HD 7990 Devil 13 6 GB @ techPowerUp
- apphire Radeon HD 7750 Low Profile Review @ OCC
- HIS Radeon HD 7970 X Turbo edition @ Guru of 3D
- Sapphire HD 7770 GHz FleX Edition Graphics Card Review @ HardwareHeaven
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7750 Low Profile Video Card @ Pro-Clockers
- Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X 3 GB @ techPowerUp
Multiple Contenders - EVGA SC
One of the most anticipated graphics card releases of the year occurred this month in the form of the GeForce GTX 660 Ti from NVIDIA, and as you would expect we were there on the day one with an in-depth review of the card at reference speeds.
The GeForce GTX 660 Ti is based on GK104, and what you might find interesting is that it is nearly identical to the specifications of the GTX 670. Both utilize 7 SMX units for a total of 1344 stream processors – or CUDA cores – and both run at a reference clock speed of 915 MHz base and 980 MHz Boost. Both include 112 texture units though the GeForce GTX 660 Ti does see a drop in ROP count from 32 to 24. Also, L2 cache drops from 512KB to 384KB along with a memory bus width drop from 256-bit to 192-bit.
We already spent quite a lot of time talking about the GTX 660 Ti compared to the other NVIDIA and AMD GPUs in the market in our review (linked above) as well as on our most recent episode of the PC Perspective Podcast. Today's story is all about the retail cards we received from various vendors including EVGA, Galaxy, MSI and Zotac. We are going to show you each card's design, the higher clocked settings that were implemented, performance differences between them and finally the overclocking comparisons of all four.
Continue reading our roundup of four NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti cards!!
Live Review Recap: GeForce GTX 660 Ti
Subject: Editorial, Graphics Cards | August 16, 2012 - 08:45 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, nvidia, live review, live, kepler, gtx 660 Ti, GK104
A PC Perspective Live Review Recap is a recorded version of a previously live streamed event from http://pcper.com/live. If you couldn't make the original air time, or simply want to re-watch, the on-demand version is provided below!
Today has been a busy day for the PC Perspective crew. Not only have we published like 100 graphics card reviews in the last three days but we also held a live event at the offices to host NVIDIA's Tom Petersen to discuss and debate the release of the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti.
If you need to catch up, you should check out our GeForce GTX 660 Ti review posted earlier today to learn all about this $299 GPU that offers very compelling performance that competes with the HD 7950 and leaves the HD 7870 a fairly distant second. Based on the same GK104 chip as the GTX 680 and the GTX 670, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti should find a lot of new homes this week.
For this event we not only gave a short presentation with some demos and review discussion, we also featured questions from the hardware subreddit and gave away an EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti to a lucky viewer!
Stay tuned to PC Perspective for more events and contests and the best reviews anywhere on PC hardware!!
Meet the many varieties of GTX 660 Ti
Subject: Graphics Cards | August 16, 2012 - 03:58 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, kepler, gtx 660 Ti, GK104, galaxy
Launch day for the GTX 660 Ti is here and there are a long list of reviews to go through. Not only have all of the major vendors released a card, they've also released overclocked and custom cooled cards which could make choosing the model you want difficult. [H]ard|OCP received a reference model from Galaxy, which is a perfect example of how the base 2GB version of the card will perform. They also received an overclocked 3G model with custom cooling and a 10" board which is bigger than some other models. Performance wise, the 2GB model is a perfect choice for anyone using a GTX 460 or equivalent and is looking for an upgrade. The 3GB model is more interesting, often out performing an HD 7950 and doing so at a similar, if not lower, price.
You can also read Ryan's take on the MSI version of the 660 Ti, with a round up scheduled to appear later this week.
"NVIDIA is launching its third Kepler GPU for 2012, the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. We have a retail GTX 660 Ti video card on tap from GALAXY to evaluate along with reference clocked GTX 660 Ti. We've got a lot of comparisons that show how the GTX 660 Ti will upgrade you from not just one, but two GPU generations past."
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
- Nvidia's GeForce GTX 660 Ti @ The Tech Report
- The GeForce GTX 660 Ti Review, Feat. EVGA, Zotac, and Gigabyte @ AnandTech
- Gigabyte GTX 660Ti Overclock 2GB Graphics Card Review @ eTeknix
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti @ TechSpot
- EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti SuperClocked Video Card Review @ Hardware Secrets
- NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti @ Overclockers.com
- MSI GTX 660 Ti Power Edition OC Video Card Review @Hi Tech Legion
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti Review- Gigabyte's Windforce OC Edition @ VR-Zone
- EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Ti SC Review @Hi Tech Legion
- Gigabyte GTX 660 Ti 2GB OC Edition Video Card Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- Gigabyte GTX 660Ti OC @ Funky Kit
- MSI GEFORCE GTX 660 Ti 2GB Power Edition @ Tweaktown
- Asus GTX 660 Ti Direct CU II TOP @ Kitguru
- MSI GTX 660-Ti Power Edition Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews
- Nvidia GTX 660 Ti review – including SLI and 3-way SLI @ Hardware.info
- Nvidia GTX 660Ti Roundup with ASUS, Galaxy, MSI Review @ OCC
- MSI GTX 660Ti Power Edition OC Video Card Review @ Ninjalane
- NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti Review @ Hardware Canucks
- ASUS GeForce GTX 660Ti DirectCU-II TOP @ Benchmark Reviews
- Palit GeForce GTX 660 Ti JetStream 2 GB @ techPowerUp
- Gigabyte GTX 660Ti OC Video Card Review @ Ninjalane
- ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti Direct CU II 2 GB @ techPowerUp
- MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti Power Edition 2 GB @ techPowerUp
- EVGA GTX 660 Ti Superclocked 2Gb @ LanOC Reviews
- ZOTAC GeForce GTX 660 Ti AMP! Edition 2 GB @ techPowerUp
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti Overclocked Launch Review @ HardwareHeaven
- Palit Gigabyte and MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti reviews with 2/3-way SLI @ Guru of 3D
-
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti @ Legion Hardware
- MSI 660 GTX @ InsideHW
- Point of View GTX 680 TGT Ultra Charged 4 GB @ techPowerUp
- MSI N680GTX Lightning review: best GTX 680 overclocking card @ Hardware.info
- XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB GDDR5 Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
- Even More Speed, Even Lower Price: AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3 GB @ X-bit Labs
- MSI Radeon HD 7770 Power Edition @ Guru of 3D
- AMD HD 7950 Boost Clock BIOS Update @ techPowerUp
- The AMD FirePro W9000 & W8000 Review: Part 1 @ AnandTech
- Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition Vapor-X 3GB Overclocked @ Tweaktown
- Sapphire HD7950 Vapor-X Edition @ Kitguru
Join PCPer and NVIDIA for a GeForce GTX 660 Ti Live Review!
Subject: Editorial, Graphics Cards | August 16, 2012 - 11:06 AM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: nvidia, gtx 660 Ti, kepler, GK104, live, live review
Hopefully by now you have read our review of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB graphics card that was just released. I think you'll find the article interesting so be sure to give it a look to see how this $299 GPU competes!
However, we have another event to promote right now: NVIDIA's Tom Petersen will be joining me on PCPer Live! at 10am PT / 1pm ET to talk about the GeForce GTX 660 Ti and its performance, features, pricing and more!
Join us at http://pcper.com/live at 10am PT / 1pm ET!!
If you have questions for Tom or me, you can either leave them in the comments below or head over to this thread in the hardware subreddit to leave your thoughts.
Oh...and we ARE going to be giving away at GeForce GTX 660 Ti on the live stream, so you'll want to make sure you are in attendance!!!
Another GK104 Option for $299
If you missed our live stream with PC Perspective's Ryan Shrout and NVIDIA's Tom Petersen discussing the new GeForce GTX 660 Ti you can find the replay at this link!!
While NVIDIA doesn't like us to use the codenames anymore, very few GPUs are as flexible and as stout as the GK104. Originally released with the GTX 680 and then with the dual-GPU beast known as the GTX 690 and THEN with the more modestly priced GTX 670, this single chip has caused AMD quite a few headaches. It appears things will only be worse with the release of the new GeForce GTX 660 Ti today, once again powered by GK104 and the Kepler architecture at the $299 price point.
While many PC gamers lament about the lack of games that really push hardware today, NVIDIA has been promoting the GTX 660 Ti as the upgrade option of choice for gamers on a 2 -4 year cycle. Back in 2008 the GTX 260 was the mid-range enthusiast option while in 2010 it was the GTX 470 based on Fermi. NVIDIA claims GTX 260 users will see more than 3x the performance increase with the 660 Ti all while generating those pixels more efficiently.
I mentioned that the GeForce GTX 660 Ti was based on GK104 and what you mind find interesting is that it is nearly identical to the specifications of the GTX 670. Both utilize 7 SMXs for a total of 1344 stream processors or CUDA cores and both run at a reference clock speed of 915 MHz base and 980 MHz Boost. Both include 112 texture units though the GeForce GTX 660 Ti does see a drop in ROP count from 32 to 24 and L2 cache drops from 512KB to 384KB. Why?
Continue reading our review of the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Graphics Card!!
More Information Leaks on NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti
Subject: Graphics Cards | July 26, 2012 - 02:59 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: nvidia, gtx 670, gtx 660 Ti, GK104
Earlier this year, we covered rumors on several mid-range NVIDIA Kepler graphics cards. Swedish enthusiast site Sweclockers claims to have launch specifications and pricing on one of those cards: the GTX 660 Ti. The specifications the site has managed to get a hold of reinforce previous rumors except for the amount of RAM. While initial reports suggested the GTX 660 Ti would have either 1.5 GB or 3 GB, Sweclockers has stated that the card will have 2 GB of GDDR5 memory.
Aside from the bump down in the memory interface to a 192-bit bus (from the 256-bit interface of the GTX 670) capable of 144.19 GB/s throughput, the GTX 660 Ti is nearly the same as the currently available GTX 670. Allegedly, the GTX 660 Ti will run at the same GPU and memory clockspeeds as the GTX 670 – 915 MHz base/980 MHz boost and 6008 MHz effective respectively. The reference design will further be a dual-slot design with two DVI, one HDMI, and one DisplayPort output. Allegedly, it will be powered by two six-pin PCI-E power connectors and will have a 150W TDP, which means it needs slightly less cooling than the GTX 670 (which has a 170W TDP).
Interestingly, the site claims that the GTX 660 Ti will be available for purchase on August 16, 2012 for a bit over 3000 SEK (including VAT) which is roughly $436 (minus VAT since we do not have that). This price is in contrast to our prediction of a $300 to $400 graphics card. It may end up being very close to the high-end $400 number, or a bit above as it is very similar to the GTX 670. Hopefully the change in the amount of graphics memory means that you will be able to get custom 4GB GTX 660 Ti cards.
You can find more information about NVIDIA’s latest “Kepler” GK104 cards in our recent GTX 670 review. Are you ready for the mid-range NVIDIA cards? Which ones are you planning to get, should the rumored specs hold true?
NVIDIA's Tesla K10 offers serious single-precision performance
Subject: General Tech | June 19, 2012 - 03:04 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, tesla, K10, GK104, HPC
One of NVIDIA 's line of Tesla HPC cards, the Tesla K10 has actually been seen in the wild. the new Tesla series is split between the GK104 based K10 model specifically designed for single-precision tasks and the GK110 based Tesla K20 and it is optimized for double-precision tasks. The K10 is capable of 4.58 teraflops thanks to a pair of GK104s with 8GB of GDDR5, whereas the K20 should in theory double Intel's Xeon Phi at 2 teraflops of double-precision performance but that has yet to be demonstrated. The K10 that was demonstrated also showed off another of the benefits of NVIDIA's new architecture, even with two GPUs the card remains within a 225W thermal envelop, something that is incredibly important if you are building a cluster. The Register has gathered together some of the benchmarks and slides from NVIDIA's release, which you can see here.
"The Top 500 supercomputer ranking is based on the performance of machines running the Linpack Fortran matrix math benchmark using double-precision floating point math, but a lot of applications will do just fine with single-precision math. And it is for these workloads, graphics chip maker and supercomputing upstart Nvidia says, that it designed the new Tesla K10 server coprocessors."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Samsung reportedly raising 4GB DDR3 module prices @ DigiTimes
- Can't watch Flash vids in Firefox? It's not just you @ The Register
- TSMC reportedly seeing orders slow down @ DigiTimes
- How To Unlock Huawei 3G Modems @ TechARP
- How to Clean and Fine-Tune a Tape Deck @ Hardware Secrets
- Interview with MEDION's Sandro Fabris @ HardwareHeaven
- HuntKey Joint Contest @ NikKTech
NVIDIA claims GTX 680 sales outpace GTX 580
Subject: Graphics Cards | May 29, 2012 - 04:56 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: nvidia, kepler, gtx 680, GTX 580, GK104, fermi
During the annual investors meeting with NVIDIA top-brass and the powers that hold the money on Wall Street, an interesting slide was presented in a somewhat veiled answer to the questions we (among many others) have had to the availability and yields of their latest Kepler GPUs.
At first glance, the graph would seem to validate claims that the stock and shipping rate of the new GeForce GTX 680 is simply unable to keep up with higher than expected and higher than normal demand. The line on the bottom represents the GTX 580 (both lines are mislabeled as GT rather than GTX) launch, the top the GTX 680 with the lower axis represented as weeks after launch. The vertical axis is labeled as "Units Sold Out Globally" but there are no numbers attached to it, making things incredibly vague.
When I asked for clarification all I was really given was that "it means sales of boards from AICs to distributors, system builders, e-tailers and retailers." This indicates that we are talking about boards either on Newegg.com, at Fry's or being sold through system builders like Maingear and Puget Systems.
NVIDIA's GTX 690 - one of the Kepler based cards MIA
The term "sold out" gave me a bit of pause - but when questioned "is it fair to translate 'units sold out globally' to 'units sold globally'?" I received an affirmative.
If we take NVIDIA's information as it is presented, then we see that after six weeks of product availability, the GTX 680 has sold and shipped at a rate 60% higher than that of the GeForce GTX 580 which launched in November of 2010. If that is true then we can agree with NVIDIA that demand is much higher for the GTX 680 than any other flagship GPU launch in recent memory and the continued stock and availability problems for Kepler are buyer created and strictly an NVIDIA yield issue.
NVIDIA has told me many times that they would obviously love to have more GTX 680s to sell to consumers as having them out of stock is only costing themselves money. How long it will take NVIDIA to balance out capacity with demand has yet to be seen though, so you can continue to check out our sort-of-weekly updates on GPU stock.
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