Should I RMA my 680?

[jta98z]

Hey guys. I have a Galaxy 680 that I just got yesterday. Installed the card with 301.24 drivers. Fired up 3dmark Vantage and 11 thinking I was going to blow them out of the water. I was expecting Running a 2500k @ 4.2 and 8gigs Corsair I only scored 29,712 in Vantage and 8872 in 11. Granted these aren't exactly horrible they are not good either. Every single review site is breaking 9100 on 11. Even guru3d and they are only running a 965 @ 3.7! What gives? Other places are even hitting 96-9700 on 11 running SB-E. My system has ALWAYS slightly outperformed similar systems but for some reason it is behind with the 680. Heck, with my previous 5970 OCed I was getting these numbers and was 5,000 points ahead of Guru3d's benchmark. You guys think this would be more hardware or software to blame? I've tried 301.10/.24/.25 and they all are about the same thing. Doesn't seem to make any sense why my system would be so far above average with the 5970 but considerably below average with the 680. Think this is worth exchanging the card for?

 

[bystander]

If you are looking at your total score, that is normal. I believe you are looking at their graphics only score and comparing it to your total score and just to be clear, the 680 is only slightly faster than a 5970. Overclocking your system can result in up to p10k on 3dmark11, and about 33k in vantage.

To get an average, or comparable score in 3dmark, you do have to OC. At stock the 680 will show as below average.

 

[bystander]

I was wrong about the comparable thing. They seem to have changed it to compare your clocks now, however, 9100 on the graphics score is pretty close to mine at stock:
http://3dmark.com/3dm11/3224041

The total score is going to be a combination of your CPU and GPU score, so it is hard to say what it should be.

 

[vrumor]

Might wanna try using driver cleaner and getting rid of those pesky AMD drivers. Uninstalling them sometimes isnt enough.

 

[Rockdpm]

Keep in mind that your GK 104 chip may have not been in the same batch as the chips that the benchmarks were ran. I know NVIDIA has bins with the good chips for "Special occasions" and for their partners non reference cards

 

[jta98z]

Might wanna try using driver cleaner and getting rid of those pesky AMD drivers. Uninstalling them sometimes isnt enough.

Unfortunately I did that. I'm just a little disappointed because I can't figure out why

I mean if a 965 @ 3.7 is getting a combined score of ~9400 on 11 there is no reason my higher-clocked Sandy Bridge should be scoring lower.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-680-review/22

I feel like if the 5970 was performing great, it can't be my system's fault so I fee like it has to be card related. The reason I questioned an RMA was because I don't want to be slightly disappointed with a card I spent $500 on.

 

[bystander]

Btw, do you have 3D vision (having it enabled in the drivers lowers your score, even if not on in game)? As far as I've seen, CPU's and GPU's pretty much all perform equal no matter how good of a bin they are. They either work or not. What changes is whether or not all their cores/shaders work, and how high they can overclock.

 

[jta98z]

Btw, do you have 3D vision (having it enabled in the drivers lowers your score, even if not on in game)? As far as I've seen, CPU's and GPU's pretty much all perform equal no matter how good of a bin they are. They either work or not. What changes is whether or not all their cores/shaders work, and how high they can overclock.

No 3D is not enabled.

 

[bystander]

Have you posted about this before? The reason I ask, is there was another poster with a similar score as you wondering about his 680 as well, unless that was you.

 

[jta98z]

Have you posted about this before? The reason I ask, is there was another poster with a similar score as you wondering about his 680 as well, unless that was you.

No I haven't. I've got a new SSD coming next week and I'll see if the scores are still sub-par after a fresh re-install and if so I'm going to consider RMAing it.

 

[bystander]

Unless you do a new Windows install on that new SSD, I'd bet money on it not changing anything.

 

[jta98z]

Unless you do a new Windows install on that new SSD, I'd bet money on it not changing anything.

Yeah thats what I mean. The thing is though, my actual gpu scores were not wayyy off. I got a 9213 on 3dmark 11 and most reviewers were getting around 9400-9600. Is this within acceptable manufacturing differences?