MSI Twin Frozr GTX 275 short review

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bipolar

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Figured some might be interested in a brief review of this card since it has a custom cooling solution that is supposed to be better than the stock cooler.
http://us.msi.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=N275GTX_Twin_Frozr_OC&class=vga (nice Engrish on this page ;) )

Got the card yesterday. The cooler is about the same size as the reference cooler (though much better looking imo). It is dead silent in Windows, and quiet most of the time in games (fans spin up on elevators in Mass Effect, of all places). The fans do get crazy loud over 60%, and ridiculously loud at 85%+. Luckily, that has only happened when I manually put them that high. It comes pre-overclocked with the following default clocks:
Core 666 (5% oc from reference card 633)
Shaders 1476 (5% oc from reference card 1404)
Memory 1161 (2.5% oc from reference card 1134)

Highest stable (with about 25 mhz of headroom) I've been able to get is
Core 750 (18.5% higher then a stock GTX 275)
Shaders 1595 (14% higher then a stock GTX 275)
Memory 1220 (8% higher then a stock GTX 275 -- the poor overclock of the memory disappointed me a bit). Ran through 3d Mark a couple times with the overclocked speeds and the temps never went above 71C and the fans never became noisy. Pretty impressed with how quiet it is and the decent overclocks of the core and shaders. It was only $5 more than a reference card at ZipZoomFly and I figured that was worth it for the low noise level.

I should add the usual note about the size of this card. I thought my 8800 was big, but this guy is easily 1" longer. I have a pretty big case and I have about half an inch to spare between the end of the card and the 2.5" drive cage.

One caveat: Today when I turned on the computer, I had this problem: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1414956
After switching the ports the monitors were attached to, everything worked fine.
 
Thanks for this review. Quick question; have you tried running the new 185.86 Forceware drivers? Go in and turn on Ambeint Occlusion to see how much of a performance hit you get on certain games.
I'm still deciding to buy either the GTX275 or the ATI4890...
 
paco16 said:
Thanks for this review. Quick question; have you tried running the new 185.86 Forceware drivers? Go in and turn on Ambeint Occlusion to see how much of a performance hit you get on certain games.
I'm still deciding to buy either the GTX275 or the ATI4890...
Click to expand...

I'm using those drivers but in the reviews I've read for the 275, it says you get a 20-50% performance hit so I haven't tried it yet. I suppose it can't impact Mass Effect too much as that's an older game. I'll update tonight after I've had a chance to use it with framerate info and whether it's worth it visually.
 
Thanks for this, I'm also trying to decide between this card and the upcoming Sapphire 4890 Toxic. Would you be able to tell me exactly how long the card is? I think it may be too long for my Antec Sonata II...
 
Camberwell said:
Thanks for this, I'm also trying to decide between this card and the upcoming Sapphire 4890 Toxic. Would you be able to tell me exactly how long the card is? I think it may be too long for my Antec Sonata II...
Click to expand...

11"
My 8800 GTS was only 9"
 
paco16 said:
Thanks for this review. Quick question; have you tried running the new 185.86 Forceware drivers? Go in and turn on Ambeint Occlusion to see how much of a performance hit you get on certain games.
I'm still deciding to buy either the GTX275 or the ATI4890...
Click to expand...

I tried Ambient Occlusion and my conclusion is it's not worth it. It did have a pretty big impact on framerate and I couldn't notice a difference unless I specifically looked for it and compared it directly to the same scene without Ambient Occlusion. I'd much rather bump the AA or AF up a level or two -- same or less impact on framerate, more effect on image quality imo.
 
Bipolar, you wrote in my own thread (about this card) that you had changed your settings.

Keep us up to date about that. Tell us where they become stable for you. Also, what type of a setup have you got?

Thanks.

EDIT: Here's what Bipoloar wrote in my own thread.

I let it run at its default speeds when it boots into Windows. When I game, I overclock to:
Core 730
Shaders 1575
Memory 1200

Thanks, Bipolar.
 
bipolar said:
11"
My 8800 GTS was only 9"
Click to expand...

Hi, not to be a pain but how accurate is that? I just want to know for sure as I only have exactly 11" space to play with in my case....over here in The Netherlands they are much stricter about RMA's: you can only do it if it is faulty, not if it doesn't fit!
 
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WabeWalker said:
Bipolar, you wrote in my own thread (about this card) that you had changed your settings.

Keep us up to date about that. Tell us where they become stable for you. Also, what type of a setup have you got?

Thanks.

EDIT: Here's what Bipoloar wrote in my own thread.

I let it run at its default speeds when it boots into Windows. When I game, I overclock to:
Core 730
Shaders 1575
Memory 1200

Thanks, Bipolar.
Click to expand...

I have it running stable for hours at 745 core, 1575 shaders, 1200 memory. Each card is different though - start yours off lower and slowly move up.

Camberwell said:
Hi, not to be a pain but how accurate is that? I just want to know for sure as I only have exactly 11" space to play with in my case....over here in The Netherlands they are much stricter about RMA's: you can only do it if it is faulty, not if it doesn't fit!
Click to expand...
It's fairly accurate -- the card is in my case and the drive bay keeps me from laying the ruler down flat across the top of it. Just measured it again and as far as I can tell it is exactly 11" long. I'd feel bad if you bought it and were short on space by a millimeter though, so you might want to hold off :S

edit: checking google, I couldn't find specs for my specific card, but it seems that reference 275s are 11.2" long. I would guess it's the same for mine, but MSI didn't have the info on their site.
 
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bipolar said:
It's fairly accurate -- the card is in my case and the drive bay keeps me from laying the ruler down flat across the top of it. Just measured it again and as far as I can tell it is exactly 11" long. I'd feel bad if you bought it and were short on space by a millimeter though, so you might want to hold off :S

edit: checking google, I couldn't find specs for my specific card, but it seems that reference 275s are 11.2" long. I would guess it's the same for mine, but MSI didn't have the info on their site.
Click to expand...

Crap, that's what I was afraid of! Although the Nvidia website mentions that they are 10.5"....guess I'll have to get a 4890 instead - thanks all the same!
 
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Bipolar, is your card making a clicking noise with certain games?

When I play Stalker Clear Sky my fans make an incredibly annoying clicking noise.

This noise is not to be confused with the sound of the fans themselves ramping-up. I would describe that noise as sounding as like a miniature leaf-blower starting up inside my computer, and honestly it's never come on of its own accord (I had to turn it on myself to find out what it sounded like).

This clicking noise starts immediately when I play Stalker Clear Sky, but when I play Far Cry 2, or GTA 4, the fan is dead silent, and I can't hear a thing.

NBA 2K9 makes the noise.

Assassin's Creed 2 - dead silent.

It's just about driving me up the wall. When I play Clear Sky I have to put on headphones. I'm gaming at 1680*1050. If you've noticed anything like this could you please post up? Thanks.

And thanks for your overclock settings as well - I'm using those.
 
WabeWalker said:
Bipolar, is your card making a clicking noise with certain games?

When I play Stalker Clear Sky my fans make an incredibly annoying clicking noise.

This noise is not to be confused with the sound of the fans themselves ramping-up. I would describe that noise as sounding as like a miniature leaf-blower starting up inside my computer, and honestly it's never come on of its own accord (I had to turn it on myself to find out what it sounded like).

This clicking noise starts immediately when I play Stalker Clear Sky, but when I play Far Cry 2, or GTA 4, the fan is dead silent, and I can't hear a thing.

NBA 2K9 makes the noise.

Assassin's Creed 2 - dead silent.

It's just about driving me up the wall. When I play Clear Sky I have to put on headphones. I'm gaming at 1680*1050. If you've noticed anything like this could you please post up? Thanks.

And thanks for your overclock settings as well - I'm using those.
Click to expand...

Thanks for not taking the time to measure the card for me - I notice that you are quick to ask for help, apparently not so quick to help others...
 
Camberwell said:
Thanks for not taking the time to measure the card for me - I notice that you are quick to ask for help, apparently not so quick to help others...
Click to expand...


But I've only just received the card.

When I was posting earlier, I still didn't have the card, it was in the mail - therefore I wasn't able to measure it. Bipolar has since answered the question for you so there was no need for me to provide another response.

I would gladly have measured my card for you - if I'd had it!
 
WabeWalker said:
Bipolar, is your card making a clicking noise with certain games?

When I play Stalker Clear Sky my fans make an incredibly annoying clicking noise.

This noise is not to be confused with the sound of the fans themselves ramping-up. I would describe that noise as sounding as like a miniature leaf-blower starting up inside my computer, and honestly it's never come on of its own accord (I had to turn it on myself to find out what it sounded like).

This clicking noise starts immediately when I play Stalker Clear Sky, but when I play Far Cry 2, or GTA 4, the fan is dead silent, and I can't hear a thing.

NBA 2K9 makes the noise.

Assassin's Creed 2 - dead silent.

It's just about driving me up the wall. When I play Clear Sky I have to put on headphones. I'm gaming at 1680*1050. If you've noticed anything like this could you please post up? Thanks.

And thanks for your overclock settings as well - I'm using those.
Click to expand...
I haven't run into anything like that. The games I've played are Mass Effect, Fallout 3, L4D, and various versions of 3d mark. The only thing I've noticed is a very slight 'squealing' for brief periods in 3d mark 06, and it's pretty quiet compared to my case fans.
 
How are you guys getting these overclocks on your cards in terms of specific speed? I find when I try to overclock my 275 it seems to go in straps, so things like 729, 738, 756, 774, etc. How do you guys do it? On shaders the next step up for me from 1584 is 1620; I can't seem to break the 1584 strap though. Haven't managed to have 1620 survive a stability run. Was the same on the last 275 I had too (I RMA'd that one due to just monster squealing; this one is not bad). So, for example, if I were to plug the OP's speeds in, my card would end up at 756/1584/1220. I've managed to run 756/1584/1296 on this card but it has gotten a bit squirrely a few times I think, so I usually just go a few steps below and do 730/1584/1260 as the performance difference wasn't all that big for me. Actually for whatever reason .81 would do 774 but that driver was slower than any of the others in the 185 series for me, so it ate up any advantage.
 
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bipolar said:
Figured some might be interested in a brief review of this card since it has a custom cooling solution that is supposed to be better than the stock cooler.
http://us.msi.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=N275GTX_Twin_Frozr_OC&class=vga (nice Engrish on this page ;) )

Got the card yesterday. The cooler is about the same size as the reference cooler (though much better looking imo). It is dead silent in Windows, and quiet most of the time in games (fans spin up on elevators in Mass Effect, of all places).
Click to expand...

I was wondering if you could rig up some sort of shroud around the cooler, similar to stock. I've always wanted to see a cooler like this, but that still exhausts out the back like stock. The blower and big chunk of metal in the stock cooler is obviously not the best solution, but it's like everyone just completely gives up on the idea of exhausting it out the second slot when they make an aftermarket cooler. With the shroud, it seems like you'd be funneling all the hot air out of the case, completely away from the card. Even if this cooler is better, it's not going to help much if the hot air is just stuck circulating around the card.

Granted, rigging up a shroud like that could turn out to be quite a bit of work and you might not have a very good setup for testing the differences it would provide. If you can, great. If not, I completely understand. Maybe one of these days some company will come up with something like that...
 
Filburt said:
How are you guys getting these overclocks on your cards in terms of specific speed? I find when I try to overclock my 275 it seems to go in straps, so things like 729, 738, 756, 774, etc. How do you guys do it? On shaders the next step up for me from 1584 is 1620; I can't seem to break the 1584 strap though.
Click to expand...

Use Rivatuner. It'll still only allow certain increments, but they tend to be pretty fine-grained (steps of 2-3 mhz).

InvisiBill said:
I was wondering if you could rig up some sort of shroud around the cooler, similar to stock. I've always wanted to see a cooler like this, but that still exhausts out the back like stock. The blower and big chunk of metal in the stock cooler is obviously not the best solution, but it's like everyone just completely gives up on the idea of exhausting it out the second slot when they make an aftermarket cooler. With the shroud, it seems like you'd be funneling all the hot air out of the case, completely away from the card. Even if this cooler is better, it's not going to help much if the hot air is just stuck circulating around the card.

Granted, rigging up a shroud like that could turn out to be quite a bit of work and you might not have a very good setup for testing the differences it would provide. If you can, great. If not, I completely understand. Maybe one of these days some company will come up with something like that...
Click to expand...

I run with the side panel off, so it's not a concern for me in all honesty.
 
bipolar said:
Use Rivatuner. It'll still only allow certain increments, but they tend to be pretty fine-grained (steps of 2-3 mhz).
Click to expand...

Hmm, OK. I decided to do some web searches in the meantime, and it seems there is some sort of strap system in place. I came upon a discussion of it in a thread where someone was asking why EVGA Precision reports different clocks than does GPU-Z and I think Rivatuner, and the answer was that there are straps for the clocks. I guess I'll try Rivatuner and see what happens, but it sounds like maybe what's going on is a different clock setting is being reported, but it's not the real clock at which the thing may be running.
 
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