ASUS GTX 670 DirectCU II OC Mini

A Closer Look at the GTX 760 DirectCU II OC

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The ASUS box comes like the last few generation of TOP and OC cards with the red claw mark graphic, and a few key spec words. The rear covers the key feature information and a little more specific detailing.

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The box has a accessory box internally which sits on top of the card.  The accessories with the card are simple you get a dual PCIe 6 pin into a PCIe 8 pin adapter since the card employs a single 8 pin only. Also a driver disc and quick guide but a card simply plugs in and goes so we don’t think we have ever looked at the quick guide honestly.

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The card itself truly is small and to know it holds the power of a full 670 card in such a small package is hard to explain as it just feels like it should be a much weaker card but knowing its a 670 just feels odd to me. Overall the cooler looks awesome and vents out radially so keep that in mind as the chassis airflow will be evacuating the heat.

The display connectivity is about standard for what we have seen on the Kepler based lineup:

• 2x DVI
• 1x HDMI
• 1x Displayport

This all-digital connector arrangement allows for maxing out the GPU with up to 4 displays and even a surround plus accessory display array should the need arise.

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The GTX 670 DirectCU Mini card employs a single PCIe 8 pin connection which we really like as it allows less cable clutter from a single easy connection. Also do note that the connector is rotated to allow easier releasing of the clip should the PCIe power cable need to be removed you don’t have to try and squeeze your fingers between the card and the cooler.

Here also you see the Direct Power device which allows direct power transfer on the PCB versus having to travel from point A to point B with less resistance, lets just think of it as a freeway for GPU power.

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Pulling the cooler you first see the vapor chamber copper layer peering through the aluminum heatsink plate. The ALU Heatsink plate works to offer supplemental cooling to the VRM along with the memory on the front side of the card, and as you can see from the paste spread on the GPU the contact surface is quite flat and offers nice coverage on the GPU die.

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Here we have the SAP component VRM responsible for feeding the GTX 670 DirectCU Mini card. The VRM is capable of handling up to 30% more voltage according to ASUS which means that the overclocking headroom should be very nice for this mini model.

The Hynix Memory IC’s used in the mini card are 6GHz rated but as previous 670’s have shown im betting you can get a fair bump above that rating when overclocking for even more performance.