OFFICIAL KEPLER "GTX680" Reviews

[Silverforce11]

You really just went there? Can I ask why? Whether or not I pay for a GTX680 or not, doesn't change it's performance and it's features. Sorry you had to go there. I really truly am.

Yeah i went there, because users who buy enthusiasts cards for exorbitant prices would really appreciate to know how well they OC and their performance levels when OC.

All i said from that chart was that at 1ghz core, 7970 is > gtx680. I also said IF gtx680s can regularly clock ~1.25ghz, it would be a good card.. is there something wrong with that statement that made you went ad hominen first?

 

[Zebo]

Look at the 7970 @ 1ghz numbers. (Asus TOP)

Clock for clock, it's not faster.

Let's see some more reviews with OC numbers to get a feel, if 1.25ghz is the norm, its good.

Maybe not but still equal with way less transistors, mem, and mem bandwidth is still pretty sad day for AMD. Thier cards cost them a lot more to make. It's a good day for nV with this type of efficientcy and they will make faster cards from this really putting AMD on the rope I think.

 

[HurleyBird]

2nd. Show any of us where somebody states a GTX580 is even with a 7970.

He actually said, 7950, which makes a lot more sense

That being said, outside of triple monitor gaming GTX 680 looks like the better choice. Adaptive V-sync sounds like a great feature.

7970 seems like it pays too much compute tax Vs. GK104 and Pitcairn to be as good of a perf/watt gaming card. That being said, both chips seem very competitive with a lot coming down to clocks and pricing. Nvidia has the perf/watt (assuming the TT review is wrong) and feature advantage, while AMD has the high res advantage. With any luck this will lead to the price war everyone wants.

I still think AMD shot themselves in the foot by no releasing an HD7980 today. Maybe they'll launch one in the future, but it won't steal Nvidia's thunder like a launch today would have.

Will be very fun given the close performance to see how future drivers change the performance landscape.

That being said, all that these launches make me feel like doing is waiting for GK110.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I find it really interesting that the front intake slit is extremely narrow; there’s barely any width there at all. Most of the air must be getting pulled in around the card’s PCIe connectors.

or the gaping hole in the side of card like how all blower designs work...

 

[Silverforce11]

Maybe not but still equal with way less transistors, mem, and mem bandwidth is still pretty sad day for AMD. Thier cards cost them a lot more to make. It's a good day for nV with this type of efficientcy and they will make faster cards from this really putting AMD on the rope I think.

Think about what you're trying to get at here. These cards in no way will cost both companies greatly to make. The dies are tiny, the TDP is low.

The only losers out of this are consumers, they get $550 for a mid-range product.

 

[Lepton87]

1st, I think we'd all appreciate it if you didn't start slinging the "fanboy" slur around in this thread if you don't mind.

I'm calling them fanboys because that's exactly how they act. That's also why I'm calling supporters of certain sports teams fans. Maybe I should have just called them fans instead of fanboys. My bad.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Look at the 7970 @ 1ghz numbers. (Asus TOP)

Clock for clock, it's not faster.

Let's see some more reviews with OC numbers to get a feel, if 1.25ghz is the norm, its good.

not faster? looks to me like its still faster than the ASUS TOP in a majority of those, and when its not its either the same or within a single fps or two.

 

[Zebo]

Think about what you're trying to get at here. These cards in no way will cost both companies greatly to make. The dies are tiny, the TDP is low.

The only losers out of this are consumers, they get $550 for a mid-range product.

I don't really get into that whole mid range argument, performance puts them in the high end regardless of intentions or cost. All I'm saying is this architecture is really something else for nvidia when they can do it for less than AMD and have the larger chip in the wings AMD is in real trouble. Trouble they may not recover from like Conroe on.

 

[Olikan]

Average results at same clocks...

1AA + 16AF
1680x1050: GTX 680 7,3% faster
1920x1200: GTX 680 5,1% faster
2560x1600: GTX 680 0,4% slower

4AA + 16AF
1680x1050: GTX 680 5,8% faster
1920x1200: GTX 680 3,1% faster
2560x1600: GTX 680 1,3% slower

8AA + 16AF
1680x1050: GTX 680 5,6% faster
1920x1200: GTX 680 3,1% faster
2560x1600: GTX 680 2,8% slower

 

[Lepton87]

Are there any multi-gpus benchmarks out there? I'm curious if GTX680 still holds its advantage however small in 2-way, 3-way and 4-way configurations.

 

[Lepton87]

Average results at same clocks...

4AA + 16AF
1680x1050: GTX 680 5,8% faster
1920x1200: GTX 680 3,1% faster
2560x1600: GTX 680 1,3% slower

Just like I thought whichever card clocks better is the better card. I've got a feeling that results at 1200/1700 or some other high OC might look relatively somewhat better for 7970 because GTX680 is somewhat bandwidth limited and won't gain as much from increasing GPU frequency. Let's hope that its memory over-clocks very well.

 

[BFG10K]

Does it have a hole in the pcb like fermi did?

Not that I can see. There seems to be a big hole between the PCIe connectors, and I think that’s the answer:

or the gaping hole in the side of card like how all blower designs work...

That would set it up for failure in a multi-GPU setup. The cards must be able to pull significant amounts of air from elsewhere. That's the main reason why nVidia angled the front intakes on the GTX580.

 

[Grooveriding]

I pretty much had already assumed the cards would be so close at the same clocks. They took the advantage of knowing where the bar was set and clocked high enough to come out on top in reviews.

Of course they also took advantage of knowing how much the 7970 costs and undercutting by $50. lol

 

[Lepton87]

We didn't have so competitive flagship cards since, well, ever. The closest we had was X800vs6800 and X1800 vs GTX7800 256mb, but that didn't last long.

 

[Jacky60]

What's most amazing for me is the games are all the ones Nvidia include in their review 'guide' and that TT has only two games showing 16xAF 4xAA as if these are uber high settings. I've been gaming at 16AF/4AA or 8AA for the last 2/3 years and see that as the minimum cards like that should be benched at.

 

[Zebo]

I pretty much had already assumed the cards would be so close at the same clocks. They took the advantage of knowing where the bar was set and clocked high enough to come out on top in reviews.

Of course they also took advantage of knowing how much the 7970 costs and undercutting by $50. lol

AMD can have a refresh pretty easy with the room the card has. They better hurry though. nV has a bit better rep and a lot of hype will sell a lot of cards to people that buy $500 cards. Once that window closes it's too late.

 

[Elganja]

Canadians can I can't. I'm buying ASAP because these are going to be $600 before weeks out and I cant even run it until they make a water block. Will sit on shelf like a commodity.

same here... i'm sort of playing with the idea of waiting for evga to release their hydrocopper line for these cards.

 

[Keysplayr]

wow, no need to get defensive over some company, it's just weird... I was talking about 7950 not 7970

and no, I didn't mean that results were already so high, I meant that differences of 5% are imperceptible whether at 40fps or 100fps.

Yes I did see some people state that there were no perceivable difference
between 580 and 7950. My bad.
And the fanboy comment wasnt for the sake of any particular company. Its just poor taste in general and it gets peoples defenses up. Again, im sure people would appreciate the absense of its usage.

 

[MrK6]

What's most amazing for me is the games are all the ones Nvidia include in their review 'guide' and that TT has only two games showing 16xAF 4xAA as if these are uber high settings. I've been gaming at 16AF/4AA or 8AA for the last 2/3 years and see that as the minimum cards like that should be benched at.

I agree. I want to see 4xAA and 16xAF as the default, no matter the resolution. I've said it before and it bears repeating - no one buys $500 video cards to screw around.

 

[Ieat]

That would set it up for failure in a multi-GPU setup. The cards must be able to pull significant amounts of air from elsewhere. That's the main reason why nVidia angled the front intakes on the GTX580.

Well that didn't stop AMD from shaping the 6900 series like a long brick and board partners slapping fans right in the middle of just about every non-reference card. But I think the slots in the pcb of the fermi cards was the best idea. I was shocked how relatively cool 2 gtx 470s ran sandwiched on top of each other. Especially when I tried sandwiching 2 Galaxy gtx 460s and the top card ran 25c hotter. Too bad they got rid of it.

 

[Zebo]

same here... i'm sort of playing with the idea of waiting for evga to release their hydrocopper line for these cards.

Yeah - problem is EVGA charges about a $225 premium for that hydro copper. Waterblocks are $100. But full warranty and support for a waterclocked card is worth premium to some.

I got the GTX 580 HC2 because I got a smokin deal on it but ordinarily I'd never pay an extra $125.

 

[Grooveriding]

Yeah - problem is EVGA charges about a $225 premium for that hydro copper. Waterblocks are $100. But full warranty and support for a waterclocked card is worth premium to some.

I got the GTX 580 HC2 because I got a smokin deal on it but ordinarily I'd never pay an extra $125.

The EVGA HC cards are a rip imo. Not to mention the blocks look fugly if you care about that. I'd rather buy a few EK blocks for $89 and do it myself. Just buy EVGA reference and you keep your warranty no matter what you do the card anyways.

 

[lavaheadache]

I don't really get into that whole mid range argument, performance puts them in the high end regardless of intentions or cost. All I'm saying is this architecture is really something else for nvidia when they can do it for less than AMD and have the larger chip in the wings AMD is in real trouble. Trouble they may not recover from like Conroe on.

doom and gloom.

They are not in real trouble. Ok, so we know that there is larger chip coming from nvidia. What do we know about AMD?

There is always a market for any given card provided they are priced appropriately.

The 680 is a fine card and seems to beat the 7970 a good portion of the time and is a little bit cheaper (for now, I predict price cuts on the 7970 front). However, the 7970 has more vram and from a quick glance at some of the 2560x1600 numbers, I think it is going to be a better card for multi monitor and 30in users alike and those will be the customers willing to shell out the most money for a card that makes their setups more playable.

Not to down play the lead that the GTX 680 has in some titles at 1080p and lower but, they arent game changing leads since both the cards provide more then adequate results.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

I agree. I want to see 4xAA and 16xAF as the default, no matter the resolution. I've said it before and it bears repeating - no one buys $500 video cards to screw around.

as someone who favors motion clarity over static image quality, I will use whatever settings I can to push into the 120fps range for my 120Hz monitor, this sometimes means sacrificing AA

 

[Elganja]

Yeah - problem is EVGA charges about a $225 premium for that hydro copper. Waterblocks are $100. But full warranty and support for a waterclocked card is worth premium to some.

I got the GTX 580 HC2 because I got a smokin deal on it but ordinarily I'd never pay an extra $125.

The EVGA HC cards are a rip imo. Not to mention the blocks look fugly if you care about that. I'd rather buy a few EK blocks for $89 and do it myself. Just buy EVGA reference and you keep your warranty no matter what you do the card anyways.

I hear ya both... I have 2 480 ftw hydrocopper cards... it was just eaiser at the time and I wanted the warranty (and the binned cards).

I do agree they are way over priced... maybe I'll just do reference + ekblocks (plus I can use their sweet bridge they make since I'll be going tri-sli)