Anyone seen these new EVGA non ref air cooled GPUs?

[Frag Maniac]

I'm considering getting one of these instead of the MSI 660 Ti PE OC I was planning on. I've read some reviews of the ref cooled 660 variant with the same core speed and it smoked the other cards. Has anyone seen any reviews on this one though? I'd like to know how it performs in games and what the noise and temps are like?



http://www.evga.com/Products/Product...02G-P4-3664-KR

[Frag Maniac]

Just stopped back in to add some updated info. EVGA said these just came out yesterday, and they'll be sending some samples out soon. I put in a good word for W1zzard's reviews and TPU in general, and they agree that it's one of the best review sites. Expect to get a sample soon, cuz I know you're interested W1zz, IF you have the time to add it to your 660 Ti benches.

Other info I gleaned is they say it's not a limited edition and there shouldn't be any supply problems. It has a full contact, copper core HS, that is said to be 20% cooler than the reference cooler. The guy I spoke to didn't ask the techs whether the entire base is copper or just the GPU contact, but usually such a design has a full copper base as far as I've seen.

No word on noise levels yet, but hey, that's part of what review sites are for. OK, enough of the hints. I'm guessing this little baby will smoke the competition even worse than their ref cooled 660 1046MHz did, and take no prisoners. I'd rather not speculate though, so I bow to the masters of the almighty bench test. OK, that was a butt kissing hint, inexcusable says Mordin.

One last word. I put in the same thread over at the GameTrailer's PC Hardware board, expecting to get responses here and not there, yet I've only received responses there. Come on guys, give EVGA some love. They're still a very good brand.

[mediasorcerer]

Bet it's a lovely card, id have one in a heartbeat, cheers for sharing, from an aesthetic standpoint, i like the simplicity of style in its design. g1

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by mediasorcerer

...from an aesthetic standpoint, i like the simplicity of style in its design. g1

Yeah I agree, it also looks and sounds to have quality construction. I appreciate the feedback. Coming from an owner of the highly acclaimed 7950 3GB, that means a lot.

[mediasorcerer]

It looks well made your right, looking at the tolerances when i zoom in on the cooler, is it plastic or metal i wonder?[presume its plastic?] Ive never owned a evga card, but, they seem like a quality company in the main, thats just a subjective opinion based on a bit of intuition.

Any corp can have duds and beauties, and by the design of the twin fan casing, looks like they have tried to minimise ambient heat loss inside comp case etc too, which is great, thats why i bought ref.

if you do get it, would you be so kind as to post some pics and your thoughts please? cheers frm me.

[MxPhenom 216]

I have the 680 dual fan card.

GTX680 Signature 2.

[mediasorcerer]

To Phenom^, bet thats a ripper card mon!

[MxPhenom 216]

Originally Posted by mediasorcerer

To Phenom^, bet thats a ripper card mon!

yeah pretty good. I havent had to overclock it. it runs at 1202 core and 6208 memory. Runs at 60c in BF3 and I can't here it much at all. AWesome improvement over the 470 I had prior.

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by MxPhenom 216

I havent had to overclock it. it runs at 1202 core...

The specs on their product page for it say 1097MHz on the core.

Originally Posted by mediasorcerer

if you do get it, would you be so kind as to post some pics and your thoughts please? cheers frm me.

I don't have a means of taking pics, but If I get it I'll definitely report back with my experiences. I would assume the shroud is plastic btw, but it doesn't look like a cheap, flimsy one like some are using, including the HS.

[Frag Maniac]

The EVGA non ref air cooled cards are showing up on Newegg now.


660 - EVGA 02G-P4-3664-KR GeForce GTX 660 Ti FTW Signatu...

660 Ti - EVGA 02G-P4-3664-KR GeForce GTX 660 Ti FTW Signatu...

680 - EVGA Superclocked, Signature 2 02G-P4-2687-KR GeF...

[tacosRcool]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

Just stopped back in to add some updated info. EVGA said these just came out yesterday, and they'll be sending some samples out soon. I put in a good word for W1zzard's reviews and TPU in general, and they agree that it's one of the best review sites. Expect to get a sample soon, cuz I know you're interested W1zz, IF you have the time to add it to your 660 Ti benches.

Other info I gleaned is they say it's not a limited edition and there shouldn't be any supply problems. It has a full contact, copper core HS, that is said to be 20% cooler than the reference cooler. The guy I spoke to didn't ask the techs whether the entire base is copper or just the GPU contact, but usually such a design has a full copper base as far as I've seen.

No word on noise levels yet, but hey, that's part of what review sites are for. OK, enough of the hints. I'm guessing this little baby will smoke the competition even worse than their ref cooled 660 1046MHz did, and take no prisoners. I'd rather not speculate though, so I bow to the masters of the almighty bench test. OK, that was a butt kissing hint, inexcusable says Mordin.

One last word. I put in the same thread over at the GameTrailer's PC Hardware board, expecting to get responses here and not there, yet I've only received responses there. Come on guys, give EVGA some love. They're still a very good brand.

I think TPU is the BEST site for reviews!

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by tacosRcool

I think TPU is the BEST site for reviews!

LOL, yeah I didn't mean to imply Newegg customer reviews are actually better, I like W1zzard's reviews best and I've said that several times.

It's just that no one has given any detailed testimonials on these yet, let alone a comprehensive review, so I'll look at anything I can find at this point.

The only thing at all I've seen mentioned is one here said his non reference air cooled EVGA 680 was playing BF3 at 60c, and that's not much to go on really.

[tacosRcool]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

LOL, yeah I didn't mean to imply Newegg customer reviews are actually better, I like W1zzard's reviews best and I've said that several times.

It's just that no one has given any detailed testimonials on these yet, let alone a comprehensive review, so I'll look at anything I can find at this point.

The only thing at all I've seen mentioned is one here said his non reference air cooled EVGA 680 was playing BF3 at 60c, and that's not much to go on really.

That is how I felt when I bought my EVGA GTX 570 SC. I went with the SC model since they other designs had practically no reviews or such. It was my first graphics card in years so I went with one that everybody else had. Then I added another and then I realized those 2 cards could keep me toasty warm for the winter. Then I decided to ditch em and go with Gigabyte GTX 670 because of the better cooling. I would have stayed with EVGA but they stopped offering their lifetime warranty on their cards. I was so tempted to go with the non reference cards at the time.

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by tacosRcool

I would have stayed with EVGA but they stopped offering their lifetime warranty on their cards. I was so tempted to go with the non reference cards at the time.

At first I thought their no longer offering a lifetime warranty was a measure to help account for the recession and reduced sales, but when EVGA explained to me they were merely changing it from lifetime for original owner to a transferable 3 year warranty, then it made sense to me.

They say customer feedback leaned toward a 3 yr transferable over original owner lifetime because most said they upgrade in less than 3 years and it's easier to sell a card with one year warranty still left on it.

I can't say I disagree. It's not a bad way to go to get some money back out of a card after a couple years, and at the same time keep your system running the latest tech. It's better than using one 3 yrs or more and getting very little or nothing but back-up service out of it.

[MxPhenom 216]

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

The specs on their product page for it say 1097MHz on the core.

I don't have a means of taking pics, but If I get it I'll definitely report back with my experiences. I would assume the shroud is plastic btw, but it doesn't look like a cheap, flimsy one like some are using, including the HS.

yeah 1097 core before boost. It boosts to 1186 in games, but mine boosts further then to a max boost clock of 1202. Most Kepler cards will boost past spec clocks. It just how kepler works.

[Frag Maniac]

Ah, well, then that's different. You mean you disabled idle with the Nvidia Inspector tool and it's running at a constant 1202 boost?

I've read about the method to create a static boost speed with that tool, but what speed does it run at when there's no load on the GPU? Is clock idle really disabled making it run always at 1202?

Maybe I'm getting it wrong, but it seems to me the few MHz boost speed you gain isn't worth running it full speed all the time like it would in a multi display setup.

Personally I wouldn't run it that way constantly unless I saw significant before/after FPS differences when under full load.

I guess in reality there's a big difference between full speed with load and full speed without load though, so it's probably no different than having a CPU OCed, but still having low temps when it's actual usage is low.

After seeing before/after guides on it, the biggest advantage seems to be the lack of erratic fluctuation in GPU usage and clock speeds when under load, but the author still shows how to make separate BAT files to toggle idle on or off, so I'm not necessarily sold on the idea of leaving it full speed constantly.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1267918/g...d-undervolting