NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Video Card Review

Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Product Name: GeForce GTX 670
Suggested Retail Price: $399.99 MSRP

Full Disclosure: The product sample used in this article has been provided by NVIDIA.

NVIDIA Have enjoyed the fruits of their labors with the recent launch of Kepler, their latest ultra-efficient desktop GPU architecture. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 seized the crown for graphics performance, but also has a price tag fit for kings. Now NVIDIA are back to address the needs of performance gamers with GeForce GTX 670, using the same GK104 GPU found in GTX 680 along with 2GB of GDDR5 memory running at the same clock speeds. For around $399 the GeForce GTX 670 matches price to the AMD Radeon HD 7950, yet performs to the level of Radeon HD 7970. In this article Benchmark Reviews tests the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 video card against the leading competition, including the GeForce GTX 570 that it replaces.

NVIDIA targets high-performance gaming enthusiasts look to upgrade their aging graphics card with their GeForce GTX 670 video card, who tend to update their hardware every few years. In order to best illustrate the GTX 670s performance potential, we use the most demanding PC video game titles and benchmark software available. Video frame rate performance is tested against a large collection of competing desktop graphics products, such as the AMD Radeon HD 7970 (Tahiti). Crysis Warhead compares DirectX 10 performance levels, joined by newer DirectX 11 benchmarks such as: 3DMark11, Batman: Arkham City, Battlefield 3, and Unigine Heaven 3.

Of the many platforms available to enjoy video games, there's no question that the highest quality graphics come from PC. While game developers might not consider PC gaming as lucrative as entertainment consoles, companies like NVIDIA use desktop graphics to set the benchmark for smaller more compact designs that make it into notebooks, tablets, and smartphone devices. NVIDIA's Kepler GPU architecture is an example of this, delivering unprecedented performance while operating cooler and consuming far less power than previous flagship discrete graphics cards. Featuring their new NVIDIA GPU Boost technology, the GeForce GTX 670 video card can dynamically adjust power and clock speeds based on real-time application demands.

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 670 graphics card is designed around their next-generation Kepler GPU architecture, which adopts key aspects from the previous Fermi architecture. Building from the 32-core Streaming Multiprocessor (SM) from Fermi on the GeForce GTX 580, NVIDIA optimized Kepler with twice the performance per watt using an innovative 192-core streaming multiprocessor (referred to as SMX) that exchanges a double speed processor clock for more processor cores. Utilizing seven SMX units, the GeForce GTX 670 boasts 1344 total CUDA cores which manage shader, texture, geometry, and compute tasks. GTX 670 shares an identical memory subsystem with GeForce GTX 680, which reduces the pipeline penalty for these many cores and allows memory speeds up to 6.0 Gb/s. Combined, these architecture improvements offer impressive performance gains while improving overall power efficiency, yet they actually represent only a small portion of new technology available with this product.

In addition to a new and improved Kepler GPU architecture with NVIDIA GPU Boost technology, the GeForce GTX 670 video card delivers refinements in the user experience. Smoother FXAA and adaptive vSync technology results in less chop, stutter, and tearing in on-screen motion. Overclockers might see their enthusiast experiments threatened by the presence of NVIDIA GPU Boost technology, but dynamically adjusting power and clock speed profiles can be supplemented with additional overclocking or shut off completely. Adaptive vSync on the other hand, is a welcome addition by all users - from the gamer to the casual computer user. This new technology adjusts the monitor's refresh rate whenever the FPS rate becomes too low to properly sustain vertical sync (when enabled), thereby reducing stutter and tearing artifacts. Finally, NVIDIA is introducing TXAA, a film-style anti-aliasing technique with a mix of hardware post-processing, custom CG file style AA resolve, and an optional temporal component for better image quality.

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