OFFICIAL KEPLER "GTX680" Reviews

[mak360]

Its bcoz the HD7970 is a beast when overclocked whereas the 680 is already pretty much overclocked to the hilt.

Let the "overclocking" reviews begin

 

[nOOky]

This is an impressive card to say the least. It quashes all the "faults" people were finding with nvidia before, power, temperature, and noise. I wish it were available when I was buying during the holiday season, although I haven't regretted using my 7979 for the past 3 months. I upgrade once a year, so maybe next fall a new nvidia will be the card to buy at that time.

 

[Zebo]

Anyone know where I can find the cooler mount hole spacing info for the 680?

Also, why does the 680 not gain much from OCing? Whereas the 7970 gained a ton?

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/nvidia_gtx680_review/18

Power limiter http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_680/30.html

 

[blastingcap]

GTX680 @ 1186mhz vs. HD7970 @ 1150mhz

HD7970 does well.

Was the 7970 overvolted like the 680 is via GPU Boost? (I can't access the site right now.)

 

[DaveSimmons]

> Also, why does the 680 not gain much from OCing? Whereas the 7970 gained a ton?

AnandTech review mentions memory clock as making a difference when GPU clock did not.

The allegation of this being a relabeled 660 ti might be true, but I'm still happy to see some competition -- the $499 price should force AMD to drop prices just like AMD has done to nvidia in the past (eg. the 4850 / 70 launch caused a $100 drop to nv).

This looks like a good card -- faster than 580 and 7950, $50 cheaper than 7970, running cool with decent power use. No "nvidia tax" this time.

 

[railven]

They were using old drivers.

Thanks, wasn't aware of that. I'll make sure to use the right driver because that is a huge power difference.

 

[OCGuy]

This looks like a good card -- faster than 580 and 7970, $50 cheaper than 7970, running cool with decent power use. No "nvidia tax" this time.

Fixed

Hands down the fastest GPU on the market, as stated by more than 1 reviewer.

 

[Ajay]

When does the 660 arrive?

Good question. I guess NV, being supply limited, is focused on maximizing it's profits now by only offering the 680. Add to that the comment made at Semi-Accurate by Charlie about TSMC shutting down for a few weeks and it's anyone's guess as to when NV will fill out it's line up.

From what I've read so far, it's going to take at least six months for NV to completely fill out their line up (including BigK).

 

[railven]

> Also, why does the 680 not gain much from OCing? Whereas the 7970 gained a ton?

AnandTech review mentions memory clock as making a difference when GPU clock did not.

The allegation of this being a relabeled 660 ti might be true, but I'm still happy to see some competition -- the $499 price should force AMD to drop prices just like AMD has done to nvidia in the past (eg. the 4850 / 70 launch caused a $100 drop to nv).

This looks like a good card -- faster than 580 and 7950, $50 cheaper than 7970, running cool with decent power use. No "nvidia tax" this time.

If this truly is the GTX 560 ti replacement, as even AT elludes to, that is one hell of an "nvidia tax" to pay (~<$250 to $500). It's on par with the AMD premium.

How does the GPGPU work into all this? I saw that the GTX 680 is burned on that, kind of odd considering how much it was touted as a feature in years pass. Considering the die sizes and all (OMG I'm becoming one of you guys! D

 

[-Slacker-]

overclock vs overclock .....7970 wins!

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/nvidia_gtx680_review/6

Those are some massive differences ... I'm still holding on to my bag of salt, but it certainly interesting to see so many overclocked cards going up against one another.

The cards to watch in that review are the oveclocked gtx680 (obviously) and the overclocked power color model (PCS HD7970 OC)

The gtx680 is clocked at 1215mhz (21.5% overclock) while the power color is at 1125mhz (21.6%), so it's a pretty fair fight.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/powercolor_hd7970_overclocking_eyefinity_review/3

^^^Shows the PCS at 1125mhz




edit:


According to the xbitlabs article, the gpu boost feature can raise the clocks dynamically up to 1300mhz form a 1185mhz overclock... So it seems to me like these benches should have even higher overclocks on both cards for this to be fair.


http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680_9.html#sect1

But still, 21% OCs are definitely a good start.

 

[Zebo]

This is an impressive card to say the least. It quashes all the "faults" people were finding with nvidia before, power, temperature, and noise. I wish it were available when I was buying during the holiday season, although I haven't regretted using my 7979 for the past 3 months. I upgrade once a year, so maybe next fall a new nvidia will be the card to buy at that time.

Those were big faults. Not everyone like a turbine blower in their office/room. There are whole sites dedicated quiet computing, people water cool these parts at $100 a block for quietness so people care. I agree huge step forward. Usually I rail on them even though I totally in the nV camp.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Looks like a good replacement to my 2x6950's ... going back to a single card would be nice.

Which brand are people going with? What's the release date on these?

 

[blackened23]

> Also, why does the 680 not gain much from OCing? Whereas the 7970 gained a ton?

The most i've seen so far from oc'ing the 680 is 5-15%. Hopefully its because of early drivers or BIOS issues, if that remains the case pretty disappointing. I will fiddle with my 2 cards tomorrow to see what happens.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/powercolor_hd7970_overclocking_eyefinity_review/3

This graph is seriously WTF. Zero scaling with the overclock.

 

[JTsyo]

When does the 660 arrive?

If the time between the 580 (nov) and 560 (may) is anything to go by, not for awhile.

 

[Crap Daddy]

The most i've seen so far from oc'ing the 680 is 5-15%

Well, 15 % will get you around 1300MHz. Can you reach/play games with your 7970 at those clocks?

 

[Chiropteran]

Nice card, well done nvidia. I'm a little curious why none of the major sites even looked at overclocking, though. I thought it was typical to have a few OC results in a new card review.

Of course, my "bias" of being a bitcoin miner means I probably would never buy this card, as I suspect it won't come close to the 7970 for mining. For any non-bitcoin friends I could certainly recommend this card.

 

[Subyman]

The most i've seen so far from oc'ing the 680 is 5-15%. Hopefully its because of early drivers or BIOS issues, if that remains the case pretty disappointing. I will fiddle with my 2 cards tomorrow to see what happens.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/powercolor_hd7970_overclocking_eyefinity_review/3

This graph is seriously WTF. Zero scaling with the overclock.

It limits itself depending on power usage. It also takes leaking and heat into account when dynamically adjusting the clocks, so that's why you see those results. Tom's talked about this indepth.

 

[Zebo]

More OC results. 7970 kicks it pretty good when both Oced - as soon as people figuer how to disable these nebulous restrictions NV placed on us the better.

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/15196-geforce-gtx-680-kepler-samt-sli/20#pagehead

 

[Chiropteran]

Well, 15 % will get you around 1300MHz. Can you reach/play games with your 7970 at those clocks?

925 * 115% = 1063mhz. Yes, most 7970 can handle that overclock and play games just fine. Mine has been running 24/7 at 1050mhz while undervolted to reduce power usage and temperature. 1063 is an incredibly easy OC to reach on a 7970.

 

[blackened23]

More OC results. 7970 kicks it pretty good when both Oced - as soon as people figuer how to disable these nebulous restrictions NV placed on us the better.

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/15196-geforce-gtx-680-kepler-samt-sli/20#pagehead

Thanks for the link!

I seriously don't get whats going on with overclocking here. NV cards have always scaled well with oc's, yet the 680 isn't doing so well.... I think GPU boost is interfering somehow.

I'm guessing its something to do with the BIOS.

 

[Joseph F]

Nice card, well done nvidia. I'm a little curious why none of the major sites even looked at overclocking, though. I thought it was typical to have a few OC results in a new card review.

Of course, my "bias" of being a bitcoin miner means I probably would never buy this card, as I suspect it won't come close to the 7970 for mining. For any non-bitcoin friends I could certainly recommend this card.

Actually, since they moved to an architecture that has a lot of simple shaders, wouldn't this be a beast at mining?

 

[Imouto]

More OC results. 7970 kicks it pretty good when both Oced - as soon as people figuer how to disable these nebulous restrictions NV placed on us the better.

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/15196-geforce-gtx-680-kepler-samt-sli/20#pagehead

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2581156&postcount=20
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2581204&postcount=25

Dunno why everyone is ignoring this.

 

[blackened23]

Well, 15 % will get you around 1300MHz. Can you reach/play games with your 7970 at those clocks?

I said 15% in reference to overclock scaling, the max scaling i've seen so far with the 680 has been 15% scaling.

I'm seeing scaling on the 680 ranging from 0-15%, with 0% scaling in witcher 2 and 15% scaling in bf3 with a 150ish mhz overclock. Meanwhile the 7970 scales 50-60% with 1200+ overclocks.

I really think its something to do with an nvidia imposed limitation and GPU boost. They really should scale better than this, hopefully the crew at guru3d figures a way around it.

 

[Chiropteran]

Actually, since they moved to an architecture that has a lot of simple shaders, wouldn't this be a beast at mining?

There was a lot of theoretical talk about it on the bitcoin forums, some people thought it would be the best mining card yet for that reason, but so far I haven't seen anything come of it. It's possible it will be a good miner, but I suspect it won't be.

 

[Crap Daddy]

925 * 115% = 1063mhz. Yes, most 7970 can handle that overclock and play games just fine. Mine has been running 24/7 at 1050mhz while undervolted to reduce power usage and temperature. 1063 is an incredibly easy OC to reach on a 7970.

I asked if he can run the card at 1300MHz not at 15% OC. Well do you?