GTX670 DCU2(T) SLI vs GTX690 (Heat, noise, speed)

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Stinnenich

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Hey everybody! I want to buy a new card for my three monitors (@5760x1080).
Now I've two questions:

1. What's better in terms of heat, noise and speed? Two GTX670 DCU2(T) or one GTX690? I've read some comparisons between the reference 670 (SLI) and the 690, but nobody used the 670 DCU2(T).
2. (only IF the DCU2T are better than the 690) Is the performance gain between the TOP and non-TOP version noticeable with the setup I mentioned earlier?

Thanks for your help! :]
 
I don't have a 670SLI setup but I can chime in for the 690.

Idle at around 42c
Load, highest I've seen is 86c (GTA4 with tons of mods/Furmark)

My ambient is around 79f/80f (Arizona, lol)

I'm pretty sure 670SLi Can beat 690, but then again, I'm pretty sure It'll use more power, noisier and run hotter.
 
I owned the 690 up until recently and have sold it, I will say that the 690 pretty easily beats the GTX 670 sli and has a pretty good amount of overclock headroom. Don't believe any of the nonsense you read about the stock clocks, nearly every GTX 690 you buy will boost up to 1100-1150 out of the box which is basically the same speed as GTX 680 SLI - my former 690 boosted up to 1142 out of the box. I was able to overclock it further than that as well, and my RAM overclocked to 7000. This matches the experience of many other 690 owners as well, reading OCN every single person stated that their 690 boosted up to 1100 out of the box and could overclock past that. My 3dmark11(P) score was 17.5k on the GTX 690, and my game benchmarks consistently placed it even or higher than 680 sli.

Now i'm sure some 670 evangelist will come in and extoll the virtues of the 670 (they always do) but the 690 is clearly a better card. Is it 200$ better? That is for you to decide.

If you want value, get the 670. If you want the better card, get the 690, that is what *I* would do. Also consider that aftermarket cards are poor for SLI. Your top card will get hot and can potentially negate any type of overclocking benefit that it could have in single card mode unless you work very hard at optimizing your case air flow. If you have sloppy case air flow the 690 would be a better fit anyway.
 
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You sold your 690? What happened?

Okay, what's about the DCU2 cooler? Do even the cards with this one get "too" hot, or is that only a problem with the stock cooler? I mean... The DCU2 seems to be quite quiet and cool, but I don't know how it's in SLI.
This one time I've got some spare money for the 690, that's not the problem. I just don't want to worry about something like "too" much noise and a "too" high temperature. ... And the DCU2T is always out of stock. :c
 
I sold the 690 to get 2x MSI lightning 680s. I enjoyed the 690 but ultimately the i'm a bit of an MSI lightning fanboy so I decided to switch.

The DC2 is a good cooler however, those type of coolers aren't the best choice for SLI unless your case is heavily air flow optimized. The 670 DC2 is double slot so if you have pcie slots that are reasonably spaced out that allows for space between your cards, and if you have plenty of air flow in your case you should be okay. Your top card will get warmer depending on case air flow, which in some cases will negate overclocks.

The 690 is definitely quiet and cool, temps can reach around 80C during stress testing but during normal gaming it stays reasonable temp wise and is quiet.
 
Won't the 690 start throttling itself once you reach 70c just like the rest of the 6xx lineup? For that reason alone I'd rather go with two 680's.
 
MaelstromOC said:
Won't the 690 start throttling itself once you reach 70c just like the rest of the 6xx lineup? For that reason alone I'd rather go with two 680's.
Click to expand...

I dont think so.Under heavy benching Ive seen my 690 peak @ 74c and never throttled.
 
Incorrect to the above poster. The 690 does throttle at 70/80C just like the 680 does - this applies to all kepler cards. It throttles in 13mhz/10mV increments beginning at 70C and clocks will start fluctuating at that point. Essentially nvidia is treating everyone like novices and ensuring that we can't push the card very hard, so the kepler will temperature/voltage correct itself beginning at 70C. Google kepler throttle 70c for more information, this has been observed long ago and still applies to all kepler cards.

The only exception thus far is the MSI lightning 680. With all this said, it really wasn't a big deal when I was using the 690, I use vsync in most of my games anyway and I rarely had high temps with vsync.
 
MaelstromOC said:
Won't the 690 start throttling itself once you reach 70c just like the rest of the 6xx lineup? For that reason alone I'd rather go with two 680's.
Click to expand...

When it does throttle itself... it's at like a 15mhz increment. At worse you're going to lose about 30mhz... that's about... what... less then 1-2fps?
 
Seraphical said:
When it does throttle itself... it's at like a 15mhz increment. At worse you're going to lose about 30mhz... that's about... what... less then 1-2fps?
Click to expand...

Yeah it throttles at 13mhz every 10C starting at 70C.

As mentioned above, sli with non-references coolers will kill some boost since the top card will be cooling itself with hot air from the card underneath it and will most likely get into the 80s (26mhz throttle).

If you go sli-670s I would go with 670ftw editions. Full 680PCBs and coolers with 680 stock speeds for 420 that are easily available now. (Check amazon)

The 690 (as every dual chip card) has a certain cool factor I always liked. Is it worth the $160 difference? (If you can get it for MSRP) For me no, but for you it might be. Thats for you to decide.

If you are worried about noise and heat I would take the 160 difference and do the antec 620 mod on both. (link). I did it for those reasons and it works nicely. Max temp is 60c (no throttling) and max db is only 22db.
 
Thanks for your help! I'll soon buy a 690. :)
(it's a 100€-130€ difference here at Germany)
 
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