NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 Review Feat. EVGA: Bringing GK104 Down To $400
by Ryan Smith on May 10, 2012 9:00 AM ESTCrysis: Warhead
Kicking things off as always is Crysis: Warhead. It’s no longer the toughest game in our benchmark suite, but it’s still a technically complex game that has proven to be a very consistent benchmark. Thus even four years since the release of the original Crysis, “but can it run Crysis?” is still an important question, and the answer continues to be “no.” While we’re closer than ever, full Enthusiast settings at a 60fps is still beyond the grasp of a single-GPU card.
If GTX 680 had one weakness in particular it was Crysis, and that certainly hasn’t changed with GTX 670. The good news is that the GTX 670 does relatively well compared to the GTX 680 because of its memory bandwidth – GK104 in general seems to be memory bandwidth constrained here – but that’s where the good news ends. GTX 670 can’t otherwise tie the Radeon HD 7950, let alone beat it or threaten the 7970.
Overall performance isn’t particularly strong either. Given the price tag of the GTX 670 the most useful resolution is likely going to be 2560x1600, where the GTX 670 can’t even cross 30fps at our enthusiast settings. Even 1920x1200 isn’t looking particularly good. This is without a doubt the legitimate lowpoint of the GTX 670.
As for gamers looking to upgrade, the GTX 670 looks decent here compared to the GTX 570, but nothing fantastic. The memory bandwidth limitations mean that performance has only gained 33%, which isn’t particularly great for an 18 month span.
Finally, EVGA’s first performance here is decent, but nothing spectacular. Thanks to a combination of being TDP limited and Crysis’s memory bandwidth limits, the GTX 670 Superclocked is at best 3% faster here.
The story with minimum framerates is much the same. The GTX 670 can closely trail the GTX 680, but it’s still not up to the caliber of the 7950 let alone the 7970.
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CeriseCogburn - Sunday, May 13, 2012 - link
Glad you claim to, the last 4 flagships historical pricing was $499. Time to face the facts you've been avoiding chizow, in order to bolster your conspiracy theory.mevans336 - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
If AMD responds with another 7970 like price-drop on the 7950 and can get it down to the low $300 range, I may wind up owning my first AMD card ever. Although, I'm not holding my breath for such a dramatic decrease.Jraptor59 - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
I have twice in my life, so far, gotten a AMD card over a Nvidia and regretted it so much I only buy Nvidia now.JlHADJOE - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
I've bought AMD once, but was very happy with it.Specifically, a 9500 256bit that unlocked into a 9700.
Kept it for quite a while, skipping Geforce 6 and 7 series, as well has ATI X1 and X2 series. I was very glad I did so, because my next upgrade was the 8800GT which was IMO the best bang-for-the-buck GPU ever made.
just4U - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
I buy alot of video cards.. not only for systems I build for others but also for myself.. and on average since the Radeon 8500 I see no reason not to buy from either company.Spunjji - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
Agreed; 8500 was a bitch.Spunjji - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
Classic! That little 9500 Pro was a beast. Looks like you hit the perfect generation tipping points too, as the 8800GT was a hell of a card.SlyNine - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
Than they released the 9600pro, I hated that card to no end (even tho I never bought one).But when I went to build other people computers, and couldn't choose the 9500. It made me sad.
anubis44 - Saturday, May 12, 2012 - link
The 8800GT was a great card, but the 4850 was the best bang for buck card I've seen so far.Spunjji - Thursday, May 10, 2012 - link
What on Earth did you buy that sucked so hard? I'm genuinely interested - I've been buying cards from both sides since the GeForce DDR and the only bad product I ever got was a failtastic G86-based mobile part. That black mark aside both vendors have served me well.