HWCanucks GTX 680 review
 

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum…gb-review.html









Long story short this looks like a great card - cheaper, faster(avg 6-16% than the 7970 depending on resolution + settings) and lower power consumption.

I'm torn on whether to buy a gtx 680(hopefully after a round of price cuts by AMD then Nvidia again) or wait for GK110 sometime in Q4…

Next on my upgrade list will be a new monitor… ATM looking to do a group buy on a Korean made Yamakasi Catleap Q270 IPS 2560 x 1440 with the PCB upgrade to handle 120hz for hopefully ~400USD.

Not in the market right now, but I must admit that those specs look impressive, especially the downward trend for power consumption.

Im planning to sell my old 280 and 580 to get this. 680 runs cooler, is quieter and consumes less energy than 580.

My plan exactly. For the games I play this card should last me 3-4 years at least…
Hell, I don't really have a particular reason to drop my 5870 yet, really. Stalker 2 looking really doubtful these days, I guess the Witcher 3 may be a good canditate to push me to an upgrade…

I usually skip a generation befopre buying a new card. So it will likely be the gtx 780for me.

pibbur Who

I sold my 280 and 580 for 330e and ordered EVGA 680 for 519e. Im down only 189e for this upgrade. It will save me some money in electricity bills (thats what i told her).

This card has some monster performance, but that price tag is pretty monstrous as well.

519e? … ouch.

Yep, totally insane. Not giving a euro over 400 for it, so I guess I'll have to wait a year or so :)

This has been the price for like as long as I remember. Best card is 500e while card with best money-performance ratio is around 200-300e.

EDIT:

I really need to start selling my hardware more often. They basiclly ripped the cards from my hand! I got 350€ from them in the end.

Having browsed some reviews, it seems that the GPU compute performance (GPGPU applications, CUDA and the like) is significantly worse than a GTX580. I was thinking of upgrading my GTX480, but I need both double prec. GPU compute perf (for CUDA simulations) and a good gaming experience (for me ;). Anandtech pretty much confirms the sacrifice of GPU compute perf for gaming performance in Kepler. Although they (or someone…can't remember where I say that) hint that there may be a later generational update which adds some back? Also, the drivers could be optimized somewhat more. I'll wait to see what happens….

Yeah, this card isn't an x80 - more like an x70 if you look at how much memory it has. I'm guessing the 690 will be the monster card. Inflation is everywhere, you know.

When you buy the really high-end cards, you tend to get pretty good mileage. I'm still rocking an 8800gtx and I have yet to play a game that makes me think I really need to upgrade. I'm sure that will change relatively soon, but hey, I got my money's worth at this point.

Not shifting from my 580 until something comes along it can't deal with. As I only play on a 1680x1050 resolution monitor, that could take a while.

Oh definitely. This is a straight up gaming card and they sacrificed GPU compute performance. The scary thing is, the die is smaller so it should be cheaper to have TSMC manufacture it, right? Well, I had read(can't seem to find it now) that nvidia was bitching there is no money to be made at the 28nm node. Which means either production or yields are lacking.

Anyhoo GK110, nvidia's upcoming flagship, is supposed to see a hard launch sometime between sept - dec. Oh and it's big at a rumored 6 billion trannies.

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Some rumors have it as improving GPU compute and others have it as simply a larger version of GK104.

I'll be buying a GTX 680 soonish, probably after a few special versions are out (for example the EVGA version with a built in water cooler).

I was hoping to get it before Risen 2 is out, but it doesn't look like that will be possible.

Looks like an absolute beast. Unfortunately, I think I will be stuck with my two 570's for a couple years…not that I am complaining about them.

Not a big enough jump from 2 480's in sli. I'll wait for the rumored gtx 685.

So I can play my console ports in style.;)

That thing (GK110) is a power (and money) hungry monster. The only interesting thing about it (to me) is that it will drive gtx680's price down(I hope), Dec would be great…

What I don't like about the gtx680 (other than the price) is that the 2GB of memory may not be as future proof as I would like…

That remains to be seen. The GTX 680 was surprisingly moderate in the power hunger department ;) . The GK110 is going to be at the max of high end so it would be crazy to expect wonders but I think that there is a good chance that it won't consume more power than the -until recently top of the line- GTX 580. Given the expected performance boost of GK110 that would make for an impressive power/performance ratio.

The latest rumors said September for the GK110. And I agree that it would be very wise to wait for any GTX 6xx upgrade until then.

The current console gen will probably still be around until xmas 2013 or some time in 2014. There is no reason to expect a sudden increase in memory demand until then. 2GB will be just fine.

I personally favor an accelerated upgrade cycle with graphics cards anyway. I would never buy a $/€ 500 card and then hope it will last me a few years. I'm a firm believer in being better off by buying a second best card (like a GTX 570), keep it until the next gen, or the one after that at the very latest, then buy a new second best card, eBay the old card, rinse, repeat… that way you can be sure to always benefit from the latest technology improvements or updated DirectX support or whatever a new generation might bring with it and with the sale of the old card the investment for the new tech will always be moderate.

That is true. I was more thinking of cases using insane ultra quality textures and tweaks in mods. i.e the first instance I hit the limit of my 1 GB 5870 (hard) was when texture modding Skyrim in conjunction to having upped the uGrid value… I'll probably be Ok at 2GB though as I doubt I'll ever game above 1920x1080… Also It is expected that the 4GB cards will be expensive due to the very fast GDDR. I am actually hoping it will be them that will make the 2GB versions more affordable.

What works quite well for me is actually buy a slightly less than flagship card i.e the HD5870 (bought when 5890 was out I guess the same as buying a 580 when the 590 was out) on a good price and then keep it 2-3 years. But what makes it possible I guess is gaming in a 1680x1050 resolution (22") and not really caring about cutting edge shooters (RPGs are usually graphically modest and even the Witcher 2 was a breeze in that resolution and everything maxed +16AF)…

Actually the main reason I am looking at an upgrade is that I am itching to get a bigger monitor (i.e this Samsung) and I doubt that the 5870 will be up to the task at 1080p for the games (the demanding ones) I want to play for the next few months (Risen 2,Witcher 2 replay, Another Stalker COP replay with the complete mod and perhaps a Metro 2033 replay). But I just can't throw away more than 400-450 max on a graphics card these days (I'd rather give them on games and books and coffee beans ;) ) so I will have to wait…