GeForce GTX 680 2 GB Review: Kepler Sends Tahiti On Vacation

[wmalinowski]

Where are these people who said the Geforce 680 would be 45% then 7970? Doesn't look like to me.

I have AMD 7970 and very happy with it.

 

[silverblue]

[citation][nom]Ifni[/nom]http://www.evga.com/articles/00669/#GTX680FTWI've been an evga fan since bfg went under, I'm waiting for the 4gb version myself.[/citation]
That's very tasty. Imagine 16GB, 4 680s... bye-bye $2000, hello best gaming experience in the world.

 

[sohei]

the components of the gtx 680 are weak and cheap ...that's why they control the OC,,, take a look under the 680 hood and you will see a very very cheap graphics card...and bye the way,,,, article name is rude....i didn't expect such a behavior from TOMS....cash is great ??
overall gtx 680 is 7% faster...
the single fact that i like about this gpu is power consumption....but is not a imp difference
...both have great power consumption

dont forget ....gtx 680 has few and low grade components !!...this is a imp fact

 

[thehoj]

What components are cheap? And what is this based on?

I actually thought the title was pretty funny. Also, are you suggesting that nvidia would be paying Toms for some sort of favouritism? That's pretty ridiculous.

[citation][nom]sohei[/nom]the components of the gtx 680 are weak and cheap ...that's why they control the OC,,, take a look under the 680 hood and you will see a very very cheap graphics card...and bye the way,,,, article name is rude....i didn't expect such a behavior from TOMS....cash is great ??overall gtx 680 is 7% faster...the single fact that i like about this gpu is power consumption....but is not a imp difference ...both have great power consumption dont forget ....gtx 680 has few and low grade components !!...this is a imp fact[/citation]

 

[Guest]

Could Tom's hardware do a feature on power savings if we set a frame limit target at 60 fps? Will it clock down in not so graphics intensive games like resident evil 5 and save electricity?

 

[silverblue]

sohei - prove it.
To myself - apparently SLi isn't improved this time around. Saw it on the following link:

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/15196-geforce-gtx-680-kepler-samt-sli/21#pagehead

Personally, I'm going to wait for the AT/Toms articles on this before I make up my mind on the subject. One game isn't enough.

 

[Chip in a box]

Looks like the 7970 came back from vacation.

 

[verbalizer]

http://nl.hardware.info/productinfo...F00,00FF00,00FF00,0000FF,0000FF,0000FF,0000FF

Looks like the 7970 came back from vacation.

VRAM..
it also scales real well.

 

[thehoj]

[citation][nom]icemunk[/nom]Nice chip. Its essentially already overclocked..[/citation]

How is it overclocked anyways?
I keep hearing people say that. If it's clocked a certain way from the factory, that's the factory clock, it hasn't been "over" clocked.
Nvidia uses a dynamic clock, and they stand by the speeds that the card runs at. Overclocking implies that you run something OVER the factory clock.

By the way I feel impelled for some reason to point out that I run an AMD 6870 video card in my main computer, and an nvidia 9800GT in my second computer. I have no loyalties to AMD or nvidia.

 

[sohei]

check the memory vrm.....same weak and hot design like gtx 400
voltage controller is old and very simple....some 8800 gt has this controler so imagine that
the pcb is for more components but in reality use less...reson ??? economy of components in other words...money are more important than quality
gtx 680 has enough components just too run ..
memory controller is good ...by the way

and of course the sli configuration?? same scalability like few generations a go ...30% to be exact...
this mean that: you buy 2 680gtx for 1000$ and you get 30% performance more...you remeber the stories before this lunch?? gtx 680 400% more performance...blah blah blah...i miss the fermi lunch when nvidia CEO show to public a fony fermi ..... this company survive on lie..
because people like to be lied...is better than reality

 

[shin0bi272]

Will hopefully have the money to upgrade once the 685 comes out in may (its the one with the 384bit memory interface like a normal flagship gpu should have).

 

[10hellfire01]

Where are these people who said the Geforce 680 would be 45% then 7970? Doesn't look like to me.

I have AMD 7970 and very happy with it.

Well those were mostly from supposed leaked benchmarks, quite a bit before launch. Since they also came from not the most trustworthy sources, who knows what was manipulated or not. When it comes to benchies I stick with Toms, and a few other sites.

http://nl.hardware.info/productinfo...F00,00FF00,00FF00,0000FF,0000FF,0000FF,0000FF

Looks like the 7970 came back from vacation.

Lately Crossfire does scale better than SLI. Although I don't care since I only get one card

I do wish more companies would have added VRAM models other than EVGA. Really would like an MSI dual fan model with at least 3GB (4GB seems a bit overkill for me).

The great thing is that the dynamic overclocking works even when you overclock it yourself. Many reviews are showing a user overclock of ~1185 mhz, but then the Boost still kicks in to get it up to ~1270 mhz or more.

Just a note that all the reviews were done using the 300.99 drivers, but a new 301.10 WHQL set just came out today, so the driver improvements are already happening.

Its not I don't like it, but as of now (Maybe those drivers fixed it), performance in the long run is affected negatively by the GPU boost. Personally I'd like it for the fact when I'm reaching my wanted fps, etc., the card will downclock to some other speed than my highest overclock. Saves me the second of alt+tabbing to select another OC profile.

 

[thehoj]

So this would lead to what? Potential reliability issues? Is that your main problem with this card?

[citation][nom]sohei[/nom]check the memory vrm.....same weak and hot design like gtx 400 voltage controller is old and very simple....some 8800 gt has this controler so imagine thatthe pcb is for more components but in reality use less...reson ??? economy of components in other words...money are more important than qualitygtx 680 has enough components just too run ..memory controller is good ...by the way and of course the sli configuration?? same scalability like few generations a go ...30% to be exact...this mean that: you buy 2 680gtx for 1000$ and you get 30% performance more...you remeber the stories before this lunch?? gtx 680 400% more performance...blah blah blah...i miss the fermi lunch when nvidia CEO show to public a fony fermi ..... this company survive on lie..because people like to be lied...is better than reality[/citation]

 

[17seconds]

Quote from the Guru3d GTX 680 SLI article:

"Kick'ass multi-GPU scaling -- period."
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-680-sli-review/15

 

[sohei]

why is not compared with crossfire?

 

[sohei]

if i pay 500$ i want a really well build graphic card ....this is not the eco sector...you buy with 500$ a nice desktop...and you can play same games ..if y want a 500$ gpu should be build very well...with expensive components not with the cheapest and old components...

 

[silverblue]

[citation][nom]matto17secs[/nom]Quote from the Guru3d GTX 680 SLI article:"Kick'ass multi-GPU scaling -- period."http://www.guru3d.com/article/gefo [...] -review/15[/citation]
Sure, if you like your $1000 spent at 1920x1200 on a whole. Interestingly, at 2560x1600, the scaling is even better - double, in places. At lower resolutions, the results can seem CPU-limited, though they ARE still using an i7 965 @ 3.75GHz and not an i7-3960X at 4.2 or 4.3GHz like Toms and AnandTech are to ensure the CPU doesn't interfere (not like either has published their multi-card reviews yet).

Wait the their follow-up article, or even better, the ones here and at AT.

 

[atikkur]

[citation][nom]sohei[/nom]if i pay 500$ i want a really well build graphic card ....this is not the eco sector...you buy with 500$ a nice desktop...and you can play same games ..if y want a 500$ gpu should be build very well...with expensive components not with the cheapest and old components...[/citation]

you can have it with non-reference design. but make sure your money is enough.

 

[Chip in a box]

The 7970 looks to be a little faster clock for clock.

 

[sohei]

[citation][nom]atikkur[/nom]you can have it with non-reference design. but make sure your money is enough.[/citation]
lol ...for nvidia now is not enought

 

[leon2006]

Unless you use CUDA say for Mathlab the compute card don't matter. That will be the case for most users. I can wait for GK110. But in general i like this card from NVIDIA

 

[atikkur]

[citation][nom]Chip in a Box[/nom]The 7970 looks to be a little faster clock for clock.[/citation]

sure 7970 is still strong performer card, but not as power/resource effecient,, that is the whole point (that's used AMDs proud about).

 

[Tab54o]

I think saying Kepler sends Tahiti on vacation is an overstatement. I mean seriously its not double the performance.

 

[rush21hit]

What a great card. Worth the wait, I can't say more.

Still, if AMD drops their price to a more reasonable level, I'd choose AMD.

The performance difference between both top end cards are somewhat negligible.

 

[Chip in a box]

sure 7970 is still strong performer card, but not as power/resource effecient,, that is the whole point (that's used AMDs proud about).

They both have strengths and weaknesses. The 680 is a better 1080p and below card and the 7970 is better at higher res. It looks like the 7970 is a little bit better with overclocking, and having more memory means it will be a bit more future proof too. It's also a compute card and thats why the power drain isnt quite as good.

They are both overpriced for 1080p cards I think. If I was going to buy one I'd buy the 7970 - it's only $50 more and I think the card will have more staying power because of RAM, bandwidth and crossfire. The 680 is a really good card! Nvidia is back for sure but I still think the smart choice is the 7970 - hopefully AMD will lower prices to at least the same price and we can get a price war.