Best 670 for overclocking?

[MX5J6]

I have had this question for a while but no one has realty been able to answer it. So I hope someone here can help me figure it out. Which of these GTX 670's is the best over locker? Meaning which can reach the highest overclock yet still be stable and decently cool.

I am looking to choose between these cards

ZOTAC 670 AMP! Edition

Gigabyte 670 Windforce OC

EVGA 670 FTW

MSI 670 Twin Frozr IV

ASUS 670 DC2

ASUS 670 DC2T

[Iceman0124]

Overclocking is luck of the draw....the "best chance" to get significantly higher than reference clocks is to get a high clocked factory OC card....but that doesnt guarentee you the best overclocker...that could be a plain vanilla...or not. There are many components tht come into play, and all are far from being created equal, and anyone can be a unpassable road block. With factory OC card you are guarenteed an OC of whats on the box...nothing more, though often times you will find a little more headroom with the steeper factory OC cards.

I got my EVGA GTX 570 SC cards right when they launched direct from EVGA, serial numbers are sequential...one is a monster overclocker and gets above 900 mhz easily and is very stable (stock is 797), the other wont go past 820 mhz....one needs very high volage, the other much lower.

[MX5J6]

Well thanks for that. No one else gave me anything close to that kind of information. I think though I will go with the AMP! Edition though as it has the highest overclock I have seen so far. The FTW has the largest factory OC percentage gain but the ZOTAC reaches a higher over clock. So we will see what happens. Unless you think I should go with another? Maybe for better cooling or quality.

[Iceman0124]

Anytime, thats what we are here for.

Personally I would go with the best warranty and CS especially at that price range. EVGA has done right by me for years and thats why I always look there first. Liftetime warranty and 90 day step up option on most high end cards (check before purchase) and RMA's are very easy. Overclocking is fun and its great for benches and bragging...but honestly, most hardcore overclockers...the ones that really push and go for records dont game at those clocks...they usually game at factory settings, as the real world gains arent worth the heat and strain to the components. If your on a 60HZ screen and getting steady 70FPS at stock clocks ...getting 85 wont net you anything different, on a 120 HZ screen that changes things in some games...

I use EVGA precision (should work with any make) to OC my cards and make multiple profiles, IE stock, mild OC, mid OC, high OC, kinda crazy OC, and uncerclocked as low as it will go (for 2D mode as power save mode didnt kick in with multiple displays on my crds till the latest driver that recently came out) and simply pick the suitable profile for the given application. No need running full tilt boogie if reference does the job.

[MX5J6]

I think I might actually go with EVGA I am not entirely sure yet, will keep doing research. I do have another question though thistime about HDD vs SSD. So i put it in the form of a VS list.

HDD vs SSD vs HDD Raid 0 vs SSD + HDD Raid 0?

Which of these is the best for gaming? Also what size of an SSD/HDD/HDD for Raid 0 would be more than enough space without being overkill?

I was thinking either a single 1/2TB 7200RPM HDD

or

a 128/256GB SSD

or

two 1/2TB HDD's for Raid 0

or

two 1/2TB HDD's in raid0 and a 128/256GB SSD for my OS and maybe my games?

What are opinions on this? Would a couple 500GB's do fine in Raid 0 as well and be enough space for music and other random files?

[Iceman0124]

For my needs a single SSD for the OS and a few small apps , with a large mechanical drive for games and media storage works great. I've experimented with some games intalled on the SSD, aside from "slightly" faster initial loading times (mebbe a second or two) is all I get for all the modern games I've tried, everything else was basically the same as if it were on a mechanical drive.....Raid IMO just isnt needed for most setups aside from data redundancy for critical work machines where a dead drive and even a small amount of down time can be very costly.

Do some serious research in choosing your SSD in regard to reliabilty, I intially went with a[ EDIT] OCZ agility 2...and it was great for roughly a year and a half....then it died, RMA'ed and the replacment died in under 5 weeks....from my research Samsung makes the most reliable high perfornce drives next to intel...with intel drives being significantly more expensive.

IMO a 90-128 GB SSD for the OS and at least a 1TB 7200 drive for games and media is more than sufficent for most users....it works well for me at any rate. Save some cash by just going with one SSD and treat yourself to a 120 HZ display (3D glasses and emitter isnt necesarry unless you want 3D)....but 120HZ is a real treat , and not just for gaming....I find it very noticable just dragging things around on the desktop, watching video etc...120HZ display have a very refined smoothness that makes 60HZ really hard to look at after spending some quality time at 120HZ.

[MX5J6]

Thanks for that. i think I will go with my 2TB 7200RPM HDD and maybe a Crucial M4 128GB or Corsair Force 3 90GB SSD, not sure which I can afford yet or which will last longer. Kind of concerned after your Corsair story but I am sure not ALL Corsair SSD's are bad?

[Sprint]

Iceman probably meant OCZ Agility 2, not corsair. OCZ does have issues with their reliability, especially with their "xxx 2" series, not sure about the 3 series. Intel, kingston, corsair (upper models at least) are reliable and good quality even if they might cost a little more. Skip the cheapest SSDs since they are usually slow and unreliable.

[Iceman0124]

Oops, Sprint is right, I meant OCZ,been playing email tag with both the last couple days, OCZ for the SSD RMA, and Corsair for case parts and accidentally swapped the two. No experience with Corsair SSD's

[MX5J6]

Well as long as I can find the 670 AMP! In stock I think I will go with that and will probably get a crucial 128gb ssd. If I get an ssd later do I need to install my os on the ssd and if so how do I make sure it boots from my ssd? Or can I transfer my os to the ssd?