KFA2 Geforce GTX760 EX OC Review

Earlier this week Nvidia launched their GTX760 graphics card, the direct replacement for the ever popular GTX660 Ti. We focused on the GTX760 reference card at launch but today we get the chance to look at a customised, overclocked solution from KFA2 - the GTX760 EX. This card is modestly priced at £227.99 inc vat, but it is worth shortlisting? It has been quite some time since we looked at a KFA2 graphics card, back in the days when the GTX680 was in charge of the high end. Those were great cards, especially the LTD OC model we reviewed, which shipped at a monster 1,268mhz. We do like the white PC PCB that KFA2 use for some of their cards, such as the GTX770 which we announced earlier this week. The KFA2 GTX760 EX is supplied in an overclocked state. The core clock has been enhanced to 1,058mhz with a boost clock speed of 1,110mhz. The memory is held at 1,502mhz (6Gbps effective) although KFA2 have replaced the cooler with something considerably more exciting. We will take a closer look at this on the next page. Specification:- - Core Clock: 1058MHz (GK104) - Core Boost Clock: 1110MHz - Memory: 2048MB GDDR5 - Memory Clock: 6008MHz (Effective) - Memory Interface: 256-Bit - Processing Cores: 1152 - Shader Clock: 2116MHz - Bus Type: PCI-Express GEN 3.0 (Backwards compatible) - Display Connectors: 2x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x HDMI 1.4a & 1x Displayport - SLI Ready (Upto 3-Way SLI Supported) - HDCP Capable - DirectX 11 Support - OpenGL 4.0 Support - PhysX Enabled - CUDA Enabled - 3D Vision Enabled - NVIDIA Surround Enabled - Lower power consumption (Maximum consumption 170 watts at stock speed) - 1x 8-pin & 1x 6-Pin PCI-E Connectors required - Warranty: 2 Years The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC ships in an artistic box featuring some kind of mutant character wearing a gas mask. Maybe he just popped over from Metro Last Light. The bundle includes two power converter cables, a video converter, a software disc and some KFA2 literature. We would recommend you always snag the latest drivers from Nvidia's website. Well you couldn't say that this cooler design has been used before. It is a radical new dual slot design which looks like it could cause some damage to your fingers if handled carelessly. The PCB is black. The card is SLi capable in 2, 3 and 4 way configurations. If you have been paying attention then you will remember the reference GTX760 takes power from two 6 pin PCIe connectors, but the KFA2 GTX760 EX OC replaces one of the 6 pin headers with an 8 pin header. KFA2 are allowing for a slightly higher power draw with this particular design. If you want to clean the card, you can detach the fan sections by removing some screws, shown above. This is a pretty cool idea and certainly makes it easier to get at the individual card sections. The cooler is a substantial four heatpipe design connected to a nickel plated base. KFA2 are using high grade Hynix GDDR5 on this card. If you want to analyse the PCB in more detail, check out the high resolution gallery on the next page. The card has two dual link DVI connectors, alongside a single HDMI and DisplayPort connector. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC beside Nvidia's reference GTX760 (above). One of them is very plain, the other is very sexy. You choose. An overview of the KFA2 GTX760 EX OC. The GK104 core is built on the 28nm manufacturing process. The card has 32 ROPs, 96 TMU's and 1,152 CUDA cores. The 2GB of GDDR5 memory is connected via a 256 bit memory interface. As we mentioned earlier, the core is overclocked from 980mhz to 1,059mhz which will give it a slight edge over the reference sample. We will try overclocking it further, later in the review. On this page we present some super high resolution images of the product taken with the 24.5MP Nikon D3X camera and 24-70mm ED lens. These will take much longer to open due to the dimensions, especially on slower connections. If you use these pictures on another site or publication, please credit Kitguru.net as the owner/source. You can right click and ‘save as’ to your computer to view later. For our review today we are using AMD Catalyst 13.6 Beta and Nvidia Forceware 320.39 drivers. We built a very high end liquid cooled Core i7 3960x system and overclocked it to 4.4ghz. We paired it up with 16GB of 2,400mhz memory and an ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard. We decided to push the testing today, focusing when possible on performance at 2560×1600 via the native resolution of a 30 inch panel. Graphics Card: KFA2 GTX760 EX OC Cooler: Antec 920 H20 Memory: 16GB G.Skill 2,400mhz @ 10-11-10-30 Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme Power Supply: Enermax Platimax 1250W Optical Drive: Asus BluRay Drive Chassis: Lian Li PC-A77FR Aluminium Red Full Tower Case Boot Drive: Patriot WildFire 120GB Secondary Drive: 1TB Samsung Monitors: Dell U3011 Other video cards: Nvidia GTX760 Reference Sample (Forceware 320.39). Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X (£260 inc vat) (Catalyst 13.6 Beta). VTX3D HD7870 Tahiti LE (£165 inc vat) ((Catalyst 13.6 Beta). MSI GTX670 Power Edition (£310 inc vat) (Forceware 320.39). eVGA GTX660 Ti SC (£250 inc vat) (Forceware 320.39). Asus Direct CU II OC GTX 660 (£168 inc vat) (Forceware 320.39). Software: Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit Unigine Heaven Benchmark Unigine Valley Benchmark 3DMark Vantage 3DMark 11 3DMark Fraps Professional Steam Client FurMark Games: Alien V Predator Sleeping Dogs Tomb Raider GRID 2 Metro Last Light Dirt Showdown All the latest BIOS updates and drivers are used during testing. We perform generally under real world conditions, meaning KitGuru tests games across five closely matched runs and then average out the results to get an accurate median figure. If we use scripted benchmarks, they are mentioned on the relevant page. Some game descriptions are edited, with courtesy from Wikipedia. Unigine provides an interesting way to test hardware. It can be easily adapted to various projects due to its elaborated software design and flexible toolset. A lot of their customers claim that they have never seen such extremely-effective code, which is so easy to understand. Heaven Benchmark is a DirectX 11 GPU benchmark based on advanced Unigine engine from Unigine Corp. It reveals the enchanting magic of floating islands with a tiny village hidden in the cloudy skies. Interactive mode provides emerging experience of exploring the intricate world of steampunk. Efficient and well-architected framework makes Unigine highly scalable: Multiple API (DirectX 9 / DirectX 10 / DirectX 11 / OpenGL) render Cross-platform: MS Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7) / Linux Full support of 32bit and 64bit systems Multicore CPU support Little / big endian support (ready for game consoles) Powerful C++ API Comprehensive performance profiling system Flexible XML-based data structures We test at both 1920×1080 and 2560×1600 resolutions. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC scores slightly higher than the reference card, thanks to the modest overclock on the core. Valley Benchmark is a new GPU stress-testing tool from the developers of the very popular and highly acclaimed Heaven Benchmark. The forest-covered valley surrounded by vast mountains amazes with its scale from a bird’s-eye view and is extremely detailed down to every leaf and flower petal. This non-synthetic benchmark powered by the state-of-the art UNIGINE Engine showcases a comprehensive set of cutting-edge graphics technologies with a dynamic environment and fully interactive modes available to the end user. We test at both 1920×1080 and 2560×1600 resolutions. Excellent performance, averaging over 76 frames per second at 1920x1080 and around 43 frames per second at 2560x1600. Futuremark released 3DMark Vantage, on April 28, 2008. It is a benchmark based upon DirectX 10, and therefore will only run under Windows Vista (Service Pack 1 is stated as a requirement) and Windows 7. This is the first edition where the feature-restricted, free of charge version could not be used any number of times. 1280×1024 resolution was used with performance settings. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC scores 32,823 points, which is slightly higher than the reference card. 3DMark 11 is designed for testing DirectX 11 hardware running on Windows 7 and Windows Vista the benchmark includes six all new benchmark tests that make extensive use of all the new features in DirectX 11 including tessellation, compute shaders and multi-threading. After running the tests 3DMark gives your system a score with larger numbers indicating better performance. Trusted by gamers worldwide to give accurate and unbiased results, 3DMark 11 is the best way to test DirectX 11 under game-like loads.If you want to learn more about this benchmark, or to buy it yourself, head over to this page. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC outperforms the eVGA GTX660 Ti SC by a small margin. It is also around 300 points ahead of the reference clocked GTX760. 3DMark is an essential tool used by millions of gamers, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world’s leading manufacturers to measure PC gaming performance. Futuremark say “Use it to test your PC’s limits and measure the impact of overclocking and tweaking your system. Search our massive results database and see how your PC compares or just admire the graphics and wonder why all PC games don’t look this good. To get more out of your PC, put 3DMark in your PC.” The KFA GTX760 EX OC slot into the chart just underneath the Sapphire HD7950 Vapor X, scoring 5,839 points. The reference GTX760 is a little behind. Aliens V Predator has proved to be a big seller since the release and Sega have taken the franchise into new territory after taking it from Sierra. AVP is a Direct X 11 supported title and delivers not only advanced shadow rendering but high quality tessellation for the cards on test today. To test the cards we used a 2560×1600 resolution with DX11, Texture Quality Very High, MSAA Samples 1, 16 af, ambient occulsion on, shadow complexity high, motion blur on. This is still a demanding Direct X 11 engine, however even at 2560x1600 the KFA GTX760 EX OC maintains a smooth frame rate, dropping only a couple of times below the 30 fps mark. Sleeping Dogs started development as an original title, but was announced in 2009 as True Crime: Hong Kong, the third installment and a reboot of the True Crime series. As a result of the game’s high development budget and delays, it was canceled by Activision Blizzard in 2011. Six months later, it was announced that Square Enix had picked up the publishing rights to the game, but the game was renamed Sleeping Dogs in 2012 since Square Enix did not purchase the True Crime name rights. We are using the highest possible image quality settings at 1080p, including the high resolution texture pack. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC averages 43 frames per second in this game, dropping once to 26 frames per second. It maintained smooth frame rates throughout our gaming session. After a delayed release from late 2012 to March 2013, the game received much anticipation and hype. Tomb Raider received much acclaim from critics, who praised the graphics, the gameplay and Camilla Luddington’s performance as Lara with many critics agreeing that the game is a solid and much needed reboot of the franchise. Much criticism went to the addition of the multiplayer which many felt was unnecessary. Tomb Raider went on to sell one million copies in forty-eight hours of its release, and has sold 3.4 million copies worldwide so far. We used the Ultimate quality setting at 1920×1080 with the settings detailed above. The GTX760 handles this game well at 1080p, with high image quality settings. The KFA2 EX OC version maintains a frame rate above 30 at all times. Dirt Showdown is the latest title in the franchise from Codemasters, based around the famous Colin McRae racing game series, although it no longer uses his name, since he passed away in 2007. We configured the game at the ULTRA preset with a 2560×1600 resolution and 4x MSAA. There was a time when this game only ran well on very high end hardware at these settings. The GTX760 maintains smooth frame rates (above 30) at 2560x1600 with 4x MSAA with the ULTRA preset. Impressive. Metro: Last Light takes place one year after the events of Metro 2033, proceeding from the ending where Artyom chose to call down the missile strike on the Dark Ones. The Rangers have since occupied the D6 military facility, with Artyom having become an official member of the group. Khan, the nomad mystic, arrives at D6 to inform Artyom and the Rangers that a single Dark One survived the missile strike. 4A Games’ proprietary 4A Engine is capable of rendering breathtaking vistas, such as those showing the ruined remnants of Moscow, as well as immersive indoor areas that play with light and shadow, creating hauntingly beautiful scenes akin to those from modern-day photos of Pripyat’s abandoned factories and schools. A brilliant game and an equally brilliant game engine too. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC holds a 30> frame rate at all times, averaging 49 frames per second overall. Grid 2 is the sequel to the racing video game Race Driver: Grid. It was developed and published by Codemasters. The game includes numerous real world locations such as Paris, numerous United States locations, and many more, and also includes motor vehicles spanning four decades. In addition, it includes a new handling system that developer Codemasters has dubbed ‘TrueFeel’, which aims to hit a sweet spot between realism and accessibility. We tested at 2560×1600 with 8x AA and ULTRA settings, shown above. At 2560x1600 this game runs very smooth on the GTX760. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC delivers a little extra performance due to the enhanced core clock speed. The tests were performed in a controlled air conditioned room with temperatures maintained at a constant 24c – a comfortable environment for the majority of people reading this.Idle temperatures were measured after sitting at the desktop for 30 minutes.Load measurements were acquired by playing Crysis Warhead for 30 minutes and measuring the peak temperature. We also have included Furmark results, recording maximum temperatures throughout a 30 minute stress test. All fan settings were left on automatic. The custom KFA2 cooling solution is (not surprisingly) superior to the reference GTX760 cooler, dropping temperatures by around 8c under load. We have built a system inside a Lian Li chassis with no case fans and have used a fanless cooler on our CPU. The motherboard is also passively cooled. This gives us a build with almost completely passive cooling and it means we can measure noise of just the graphics card inside the system when we run looped 3dMark tests. We measure from a distance of around 1 meter from the closed chassis and 4 foot from the ground to mirror a real world situation. Ambient noise in the room measures close to the limits of our sound meter at 28dBa. Why do this? Well this means we can eliminate secondary noise pollution in the test room and concentrate on only the video card. It also brings us slightly closer to industry standards, such as DIN 45635. KitGuru noise guide 10dBA - Normal Breathing/Rustling Leaves 20-25dBA – Whisper 30dBA - High Quality Computer fan 40dBA - A Bubbling Brook, or a Refridgerator 50dBA - Normal Conversation 60dBA - Laughter 70dBA – Vacuum Cleaner or Hairdryer 80dBA - City Traffic or a Garbage Disposal 90dBA - Motorcycle or Lawnmower 100dBA – MP3 player at maximum output 110dBA - Orchestra 120dBA – Front row rock concert/Jet Engine 130dBA – Threshold of Pain 140dBA – Military Jet takeoff/Gunshot (close range) 160dBA – Instant Perforation of eardrum The dual fans don't spin too high, thanks to the large multiple heatpipe design underneath. When idle they spin around 1,100 rpm. This rises to around 1,600 rpm when gaming and then 1,800 rpm when under the synthetic Furmark stress test. We used the latest version of MSI Afterburner to overclock the KFA2 GTX760 EX OC graphics card. We managed to push the core from 1,059 mhz to 1,224mhz, translating into a 15.6% core clock increase. While every sample will be different this is a significant improvement and it certainly appears that the GTX760 has plenty of headroom for overclocking. My opinion of Nvidia's GTX760 hasn't suddenly changed since we reviewed the reference sample earlier this week. There simply isn't a better performance gaming card between the £200 and £250 price point. Reviewing a reference card is always a little frustrating because I know that our readers are interested in the pre overclocked solutions featuring quiet dual fan coolers. KFA2 are the first in our line up of modified GTX760's and we haven't been disappointed with testing this week. The EX OC core is clocked higher, boosted from 980mhz to 1,059mhz. In real world terms the frame rates are a little higher in all of the Direct X 11 titles we tested, which will be welcomed by the audience. The futuristic cooler design is eye catching - the dark grey and black colour scheme looks mean, and we like how the company are allowing the fan sections to be removed for easy cleaning at a later date. The two large fans do rotate quite slowly and produce significantly less noise than the reference GTX760, which isn't really a surprise. Even though the KFA2 GTX760 EX OC is emitting less noise than the reference Nvidia design, the thick heatpipes and nickel base ensure that temperatures drop by around 8c under gaming load. The KFA2 GTX760 EX OC is built to overclock. The company have replaced one of the 6 pin PCIe connectors with an 8 Pin connector to ensure the card can demand more power, when needed. We managed to push the core speed to 1,224mhz before it would hardlock. This is almost an extra 16 percent improvement over the 'out of the box' settings, impressive when you consider that KFA2 have already overclocked the GK104 core. Many of the reference GTX760 designs are priced around £210 inc vat, and KFA2 are adding an £18 premium for this overclocked, modified version. Well worth it. You can buy the KFA2 GTX760 EX OC from Overclockers UK for £227.99 inc vat. Pros: looks wicked. pre overclocked. cooler than reference card. quieter than reference card. plenty of additional headroom. Cons: they could have pushed it even higher out of the box. Kitguru says: A sublime version of an already fantastic reference card from Nvidia. The card to buy under £250.