ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU Mini OC Review
Published by Christian Ney on 16.05.13Page:
Technical Data / Specifications
With the ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU Mini OC you get a factory overclocked card with a super short custom PCB cooled by ASUS' brand new DirectCU Mini cooler. The ASIC quality measured on our sample was 78.7 % which is very high considering an average of 73 % on the cards we had in our hands. Furthremore we noticed an ASIC quality of 74.3 % on ASUS fully fledged DirectCU II Top graphics card.
About ASIC quality:
Looking at the clock speeds we see that the GPU runs at 928 MHz with a typical boost of 1'006 MHz, 26 MHz higher than the reference model. There are actually quite a few cards available that offer higher clocks speeds. You can find all those models in our market overview. Like most other manufacturers, ASUS decided to do no factory overclocking on the GDDR5 memory, therefore the clocks remain at 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz effective) following nVidia's recommendations.
| nVidia GeForce |
ASUS GTX 670 DCU II Top |
ASUS GTX 670 DC Mini OC |
nVidia GF GTX 670 |
| Chip | GK104 | GK104 | GK104 |
| Process | 28 nm | 28 nm | 28 nm |
| Transistors | 3.54 Billion | 3.54 billion | 3.54 billion |
| GPU clock | 1'059 MHz | 928 MHz | 915 MHz |
| GPU Boost clock | 1'137 MHz | 1'006 MHz | 980 MHz |
| Memory | 2'048 MB GDDR5 | 2'048 MB GDDR5 | 2'048 MB GDDR5 |
| Memory clock | 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz) | 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz) | 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz) |
| Memory interface | 256 Bit | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 192'300 MB/s | 192'300 MB/s | 192'300 MB/s |
| TMUs | 112 | 112 | 112 |
| Shader Cores | 1'344 (7 SMX) | 1'344 (7 SMX) | 1'344 (7 SMX) |
| ROPs | 32 ROP | 32 ROP | 32 ROP |
| Maximum board power | XXX Watt | XXX Watt | 170 Watt |
| PCB Type | Custom Design | Custom Design | Reference Design |
| Lenght (PCB - Total) | 23.2 - 26.8 cm | 17.0 - 17.0 cm | 17.3 - 24.13 cm |
| Cooler | DirectCU II | DirectCU Mini | Reference Design |
| MSRP | $XXX | $XXX | $399 |
As mentioned previously, this card from ASUS makes use of an ultra short custom PCB. ASUS designed this card with miniITX gaming builds in mind. Since miniITX boards measure 17cm x 17cm, the target was to come up with a GTX 670 that measures the same lengthwise. Cramming all the components on the PCB is one part of the story, but the other is that the cooler had to be significantly smaller then usual. Therefore ASUS had to come up with cooler that is even more efficient in removing heat than their well known DirectCU II model. Most of the changes went into the fan design. ASUS created a combination of an axial and a radial fan which accounts for higher air pressure at equal noise level. In the end there is also more air moving over the fins, which means that it was possible for ASUS to achieve sufficient cooling for this 170 Watts TDP card.
Taking a closer look at the power design shows that there is a total of five phases, whereas ASUS makes use of a analog power design that features super alloy components. According to ASUS their so called "Direct Power" power design helps in reducing PCB temperature by 17 percent. The manufacturer decided to provide the GPU with four and the memory with one phase, which is basically enough for a GTX 670 if you don't want to break overclocking world records with this card. Last but not least there is another thing that is interesting about the power design of this card. ASUS provided the GTX 670 DirectCU Mini with one 8-Pin power connector instead of two 6-Pin plugs.
When checking the power regulation chips we find, that ASUS is using a
Richtek RT8802A regarding the GPU and an APW7165A from Anpec regarding the
memory.
The memory chips used are made by Hynix and carry the model number H5GQ2H24AFR-R0C. They are specified to run at 1'500 MHz (6'000 MHz effective).
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