First: GTX 680 review !!!

[MaxPayne63]

I agree he writes well for a kid that age, it's the premise I find bewildering.
Anyone would think that global corporations that own governments and do pretty much as they please (I'm not referring to either AMD or Nvidia here) got where they are by always telling the truth and being decent and above board in all circumstances and the idea that people might conspire in secret is just another crazy conspiracy theory. I merely meant as wise consumers we would do well to always assume the worst and be gratefully proved wrong rather than the other way around.
I for one dearly hope the 680 is 40% faster than a 7970 or even 30% faster as competition should (but may well not) drive down prices.

You're actually bewildred by the idea that there's a lot of ground between everything being a conspiracy and nothing being a conspiracy?

 

[bryanW1995]

I'd doubt it. The GTX 680 would have to be universally and undeniably better than the 7970, and there hasn't been anything posted yet to indicate that. You might see prices drop once one vendor or the other gets enough stock to initiate a price war though, but all reports point to that not happening until this summer at the least.

I fear it will be worse than this. I project that gtx 680 will slot in between 7970 and 7950, grabbing the $499 price point. We could very well continue with this ridiculous pricing until BF.

 

[Bobisuruncle54]

Funny!

About the pricing, these are high end cards and if it performs equivalently to the 7970 which is pushing 600 bucks now, and people are buying them, that is what the market is willing to bear. Of course we all wish they were half that for this level of performance.

The 7970s are not selling as well as you think they are. Neither are the 7950s. In the UK, where the prices are not gouged by retailers, they are just simply not selling.

 

[SirPauly]

OK the concrete barriers-the most tessellated 3d objects in the Universe -were they in Cryrengine as well?
The idea they were deliberately there to cripple AMD hardware is just a crazy conspiracy theory. I agree we need to send weapons to the village militia as they aren't as good as the Spec4's at this.

And what was just as bad were the blanket views based on this concrete barrier, when there were many objects that were improved with tessellation:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32286552&postcount=554

Personally glad to see the tessellation improved drastically with the 79XX series so the conspiracy theories may end.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

The 7970s are not selling as well as you think they are. Neither are the 7950s. In the UK, where the prices are not gouged by retailers, they are just simply not selling.

Numbers or it didn't happen.

 

[Mopetar]

The 7970s are not selling as well as you think they are. Neither are the 7950s. In the UK, where the prices are not gouged by retailers, they are just simply not selling.

The UK isn't a small market, but it's by no means a big one. As long as they're selling somewhere, AMD won't care. It's just that new stock doesn't get shipped to the UK.

It's not until the additional stock starts to pile up that the prices will start to drop.

 

[blackened23]

Numbers or it didn't happen.

I know the 7970s spent weeks being sold out at many retailers or severely backordered. Obviously as time has gone by , supply has stabilized. Anyway, nobody here has sales figures as F5'ing an etailer doesn't tell you how many cards have been sold.

Its also naive to think that AMD would not react accordingly to the market. All corporations have tons of economics experts working for them to maximize sales, since the prices haven't changed that obviously means they're selling just fine.

 

[tviceman]

The 7970s are not selling as well as you think they are. Neither are the 7950s. In the UK, where the prices are not gouged by retailers, they are just simply not selling.

Numbers or it didn't happen.

In general it's an obvious statement as $500 video cards represent 2-3% of all video card sales. I realize that AMD and Nvidia want their margins to be as high as possible, but I think AMD is overshooting the sweet spot between profit and margins by pricing their 28nm cards so high, and I think Nvidia is about to follow suit.

 

[Jacky60]

And what was just as bad were the blanket views based on this concrete barrier, when there were many objects that were improved with tessellation:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32286552&postcount=554

Personally glad to see the tessellation improved drastically with the 79XX series so the conspiracy theories may end.

Conspiracy or not Nvidia's actions served a good purpose as you rightly point out.

 

[MaxPayne63]

The 7970s are not selling as well as you think they are. Neither are the 7950s. In the UK, where the prices are not gouged by retailers, they are just simply not selling.

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/37-...-Radeon-HD-7970-(21197-00-40G)-Compare-Prices

$550 on Amazon(US)
$550 on Newegg

The lowest price on the UK website (£386 sans shipping) converts to $610.

I don't know about the retailers gouging you, but someone certainly is.

 

[AtenRa]

With the current performance info, if this card will be launch in the $400+ price point it will be a big price/performance fail like HD7970.

 

[sontin]

With the current performance info, if this card will be launch in the $400+ price point it will be a big price/performance fail like HD7970.

This card is around ~60% faster than a GTX580. Here in germany i would pay 60% more for this card with a start price of 499€.

 

[AtenRa]

http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/pl/37-...-Radeon-HD-7970-(21197-00-40G)-Compare-Prices

$550 on Amazon(US)
$550 on Newegg

The lowest price on the UK website (£396) converts to $625.

I don't know about the retailers gouging you, but someone certainly is.

In Europe we pay almost 1 Euro to 1 US Dollar. Meaning, if you pay $550 for the HD7950 in the US we pay 550 euros.

 

[AtenRa]

This card is around ~60% faster than a GTX580. Here in germany i would pay 60% more for this card with a start price of 499€.

Where did you see that 60% faster than GTX580 ??

 

[Crap Daddy]

With the current performance info, if this card will be launch in the $400+ price point it will be a big price/performance fail like HD7970.

It has to be priced as the 7970 since it will probably be a little better. That's the market right now.

 

[Grooveriding]

This card is around ~60% faster than a GTX580. Here in germany i would pay 60% more for this card with a start price of 499€.

Going to say you are going to be sorely dissapointed if you think that is true.

I can't wait for reviews on this card, probably the most boring from a performance standpoint and interesting from a contrast of AMD vs NV standpoint in a long time.

Think this round is going to amount to, which brand do you want because both have the same averaged performance :thumbsdown:

 

[SirPauly]

This card is around ~60% faster than a GTX580. Here in germany i would pay 60% more for this card with a start price of 499€.

IF it is 60 percent faster -- that would be an amazing feat of efficiency. 60 percent more performance with a similar MSRP as the GTX 580 -- solid price/performance value for a new node and arch but simply astounding engineering.

 

[blackened23]

This card is around ~60% faster than a GTX580. Here in germany i would pay 60% more for this card with a start price of 499€.

Yeah, 60%, I don't see this happening. The graphs in this very thread indicate that the performance is the same or within 1 fps, although I strongly suspect that the graphs are fake and fan made.

 

[sontin]

Where did you see that 60% faster than GTX580 ??

It will be more than two times faster than a GTX560TI.

 

[blackened23]

It will be more than two times faster than a GTX560TI.

I think your post is incomplete, namely , citation and proof :thumbsup:

My magic crystal ball hasn't been working lately.

 

[SirPauly]

It will be more than two times faster than a GTX560TI.

You seem to be sure and talking as fact -- that would be utterly impressive if your views come to fruition.

 

[Grooveriding]

It will be more than two times faster than a GTX560TI.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeMFqkcPYcg&ob=av2n

Don't know why you would want to set yourself up for such dissapointment. Look at what we do know about the card and what you are expecting and then look at historically what has been done. You are expecting a miracle.

Would be something to see, much like tears of blood coming out of the Madonna's eyes. :sneaky:

 

[Zanovar]

I know the 7970s spent weeks being sold out at many retailers or severely backordered.

Are you talking about the U.K here?

 

[BoFox]

You use "TL;DR" after you wrote a page long post that basically looked like something out of a company marketing textbook, and then proceed to write a huge paragraph about why you think an unreleased card is the best buy based on rumors and speculations after "skimming" through his post?

And you also have the audacity to try to claim your opinions are unbiased.

Hilarious. Please, tell me you're being compensated for this.

Awkward! You know, his contention about S3D running at half the frame rate of 2D is so "duh". It's like being shocked that 5760x1080 runs much slower than 1080p. I know the frame rates in S3D are limited to 60fps, but you're seeing 2 sides to each frame, so you're in fact seeing 120 different frames per second. 60 fps is pretty fluid anyways.

My compensation is a "pat-on-the-shoulder" affirmation that I have done a good job of expressing myself as to what I recommend as per my expert advice. My friend who has 3D Vision is twice as excited with his new rig, showing it off to every single visitor in his home. Just to see a grin on that face, it's awesome. And this GTX 680 is only going to further add to the "amazing" experience of PC gaming up until Windows 8 with DX11.1 finally pushes S3D as a standard. Having half the frame rate is definitely worth the "cubed" resolution (1920x1080x1920) - an order of a magnitude greater information to the brain. Once the eyes are drawn into true-depth (with convergence user-configured to the point of natural comfort) 3D, the screen also feels twice as big, for you are now seeing both sides to the image - being drawn into that "expanding trapezoidal cube". It makes my 24" feel like 50". The racing tracks in DiRT for example have depth to it, so I can better judge the distances. When switching back to 2D using a hotkey, it suddenly feels so flat and life-less, and I can race better in 3D due to better depth perception.

Seeing both sides basically gives you free 2x1 SSAA (similar to how temporal AA works) as the object in focus has two stereoscopic sides of the same edges being blended together. Or I could just call it 3840x1080x1920. Since the horizontal resolution is also how much information there could be regarding the DEPTH resolution, that's why the depth could also be up to 1920 pixels in a "temporal" way.

Well, the hostility and the force of AMD marketing is utterly trying to undermine this thread based on GTX 680 (NV's product, not AMD). Just to say something positive about GTX 680 is being met with so much belligerence from the haters (whose purpose here is far from anything enthusiastic). *Draws out a voodoo doll to jinx the belligerence going on here*

 

[blackened23]

Well, the hostility and the force of AMD marketing is utterly trying to undermine this thread based on GTX 680 (NV's product, not AMD). Just to say something positive about GTX 680 is being met with so much belligerence from the haters (whose purpose here is far from anything enthusiastic). *Draws out a voodoo doll to jinx the belligerence going on here*

I can't stop laughing at these assertions about all the skeptical posts being attributed to AMD marketing. Obviously if you call out a fake performance chart for what it is or express skepticism you're an AMD marketer.