NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 - Gaining Momentum, Building Steam
Introducing the ASUS and Palit Cards
ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II TOP
DirectCU II is ASUS’ second-generation DirectCU cooler. For the uninitiated, DirectCU is ASUS’ custom cooler technology which has its heat pipes in direct contact with the GPU core instead of a copper base plate with heat pipes running through. This improves heat dissipation by offering a direct outlet for heat to transfer to the heatsink array. However, the implementation of the DirectCU cooler hasn't always been a very positive experience as we last noticed in our Radeon HD 7970 comparison. Hopefully it comes out better this time round, but we'll get to those details in our temperature test segment.
As befits a card that has been bestowed with the TOP suffix, the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II has a couple of tricks up its sleeves. One of which is its 8-phase Super Alloy Power. Compared to the reference card’s 4-phase PWM, the ASUS card has an 8-phase PWM design for better power delivery.
As denoted by the TOP suffix, the card is also factory-overclocked. Base and boost clock speeds have both been bumped up substantially to 1058MHz and 1137MHz respectively. This represents a boost of around 15%. Memory clock speeds have been kept unchanged at 6008MHz DDR.
Palit GeForce GTX 670 JetStream
As the card’s name suggests, Palit’s take on the GeForce GTX 670 uses the company’s own JetStream custom cooler. The Palit card retains the reference card’s 9.5-inches length, but is slightly thicker because of its beefy dual-fan custom cooler. As such, it will also occupy 2.5 expansion slots, which could make things a bit tricky for folks thinking of going down the SLI route.
As for clock speeds, the card has slightly boosted base clock speeds of 1006MHz and a higher boost clock speed of 1086MHz. Memory clock speeds have been bumped up to 6108MHz DDR.