Need opinion on GTX 680

[Groove]

I want one, should i buy one? :D

 

Some opinions from people already owning one would be awesome!

[Cedaway]

Why not GTX 670? Approx the same power but much cheaper...

Check the tests...

[Kuky]

Hey it's a good card, if you really want it and can afford it then just get it :)

Nothing like getting something when your heart really wants it :smilewink:

[Cali]

I have the 670 and it is a awesome card, just a tad bit slower then the 680....from what I have seen and heard. Saved me about $100, but I may be getting a new card when I get back. My 670 runs DCS-A-10C on high, in pit with no MCFD on at 65-75 FPS. I haven't messed around with it too much, so I don't know what kind of FPS I'll get with them on.

[Sov13t]

I opted for 4GB 670 when I was making my decision. Extra VRAM helps with HD textures.

[Cowboy10uk]

I went for the 4gb 680, love the card, currently running 3 screens at 5760 x 1080 with all settings and shadows on, and she is smooth, planning to add a 4th monitor shortly for Helios. The card can run everything I've thrown at it running at the above res and max settings.

 

If you can afford it, I would strongly recommend the card. Flight sim wise, I'm currently running, FSX, Rise of Flight and DCS on max settings.

 

Other games I'm running at max, Skyrim with graphical mods and BF3. This card is stunning and hasn't even broken a sweat yet.

 

Using surround is very easy for multi monitor users.

 

Cowboy10uk

[Pyroflash]

I can only comment on the 680, as I do not own the 670, but so far, it has been a really good card. It runs fairly cold (32C-40C) most times, and has never come up with any problems, or performance issues. It is also the first card in Nvidia's lineup with a boost clock, where the target performance can be instantly increased by up to 15% or more if applications are more demanding for short periods of time. It also does extremely well for itself on power consumption. It's not exactly a light weight fighter in that respect, but it isn't a sumo wrestler either like the Fermi cards were. It is also (for once) the quietest thing in my case. My old AMD card sounded like a jet engine. Great for flight sim immersion, but terrible for trying to get to sleep at night. Basically, yes, buy one, buy one right meow.

 

I've only has one REAL problem, my first card was defective, but EVGA replaced it within a week. Since then I have not had any issues running the latest drivers.

 

Note: I only have the base 2GB version.

Edited September 28, 2012 by Pyroflash

[ComradeLucifer]

get a 690, fantasticc card and future-proof

[cichlidfan]

get a 690, fantasticc card and future-proof

 

Only if you have a short future planned. ;)

 

After two years ....

[Pyroflash]

Only if you have a short future planned. ;)

 

After two years ....

 

Yeah, plus it is a dual GPU setup. Terrible for DCS.

[ComradeLucifer]

i would say future proof for 4-5 years- maybe not the best settings, but still runnable and reasonable :)

[Pyroflash]

i would say future proof for 4-5 years- maybe not the best settings, but still runnable and reasonable :)

 

Yeah, but if I buy the 680 now, I can run everything at max graphics that is out currently, and for the next year, Plus, I can buy the 880 in two years, and have double the performance of a 690 for the same price (680 + 880 would be around $1000). Plus I get to stick with all single GPU cards, and simply replace aging hardware (i.e. remove the 680 and insert 880).

[ComradeLucifer]

True, I think the 690 is worth if you were planning on SLI'ing two or more 680s as one 690 is practically, with a small, small performance drop, the same as 2 680s. Having that power in one card means down the road you could get another 690 or 880 and have at least the equivalent of 4 680s (with the 2 690s in SlI) or greater with the coming 880 in a couple years.

[Pyroflash]

True, I think the 690 is worth if you were planning on SLI'ing two or more 680s as one 690 is practically, with a small, small performance drop, the same as 2 680s. Having that power in one card means down the road you could get another 690 or 880 and have at least the equivalent of 4 680s (with the 2 690s in SlI) or greater with the coming 880 in a couple years.

 

Not really, SLI only gives you a ~15-30% performance increase over a single card. Not only that, but in some cases (i.e. DCS) it actually decreases performance over a single card, with extremes leading into games simply not working with SLI (Keep in mind, that a 690 is basically two 680's SLI'd on the same board). Plus if you wanted to deal with SLI'ing a 880, you'd have to replace everything and buy another 880, because SLI only works with two of the same card (they must be synced for it to work). So really, the 690 isn't a good option to recommend to people outside of MAXFPS enthusiasts who have a LOT of disposable income, buy new computers every year, and only play games that are SLI compatible. Plus the 690 is an absolute power hog, and is grossly inefficient compared to the performance per watt you are getting out of a single 680.

[B12]

I bought a GTX 680 on day of release so a 2GB card ... damn my impatience :) I should have waited for the 4GB cards for my resolution, but in all honesty at 2560 x 1600 its mostly been fine, a 4GB card would handle this resolution better especially when I add second or third LCD's.

 

Its a great card, PCI-E 3.0 ready, shorter than old GTX 570/580's, draws less power, runs cooler, runs more silent ... just a more refined more powerful GPU really.

 

The guys are right, GTX 690's although a good choice for some games are not ideal, run hotter and louder, draw more power, need more case space ... but are still not as quick as two GTX 680's in true SLI if you really want to push the boat and hardly any quicker in most flight sims as most of them cant use SLI or Crossfire Acceleration anyway.

 

EDIT: unless anything has changed in the way Nvidia do their dual GPU cards, a GTX 690 is not like two GTX 680's in SLI, its nowhere near it, the mem speeds and timing will be way down and so will the GPU speed too ... I think you would be very lucky if a single GTX 690 managed two 670 GPU's on board, probably less.

Edited October 3, 2012 by B12

[ComradeLucifer]

actually a 690 is pratically two 680s in SLI, look up some benchmarks dude. I don't know what hours of research is supposed to net people, when they could just talk to you guys, who seem to know everything about everything.

 

I guess all that research, all those sites, benchmarkings, they are all crap right, because 2 670s is superior to one 690. I think this is crap, obviously. The 680s are essetially dead tech and offer almost no room for future proofing, the same for the 670s. This is the only site I've seen that councils users to invest in old tech in favor of state of the art. If you have the money, I recommend the 690 as it is MUCH better than 2 670s- this is ludcrious and honestly pretty funny. And, if you look up the WEALTH of info on the net, you'll see how close the 690 performs against the 680. Yeah, I guess the 880 will be better, but it isn't out yet. The 690 is currently the best card you can get, and if you have the money ahd the cooling ability, I highly recommend it (as do most review sites and users). But, you guys can delude yourselves and have fun playing with your old cards and dead end socket systems. I'm outta here.

[Kuky]

We know already DCS does not run well on dual GPU cards or SLI/CF so no point recomending it, I've had both dual GPU card and CF and they are not worth the price, not unless the game you play is coded with dual GPU in mind... and DCS is not

[Groove]

Thanks for your input, really appriciated.

 

I think i will go for the 680 4 GB...

[TZeer]

Eh, I don't know where you guys get the SLI is not working from, or SLI only gives you 15-30% performance boost in general....

 

Early days of SLI and Crossfire, yes. It wasn't that good.

 

Now days we are talking average 80-90% performance boost from a SLI or Crossfire setup. But to see those gains you need to think high graphic settings and so on. If the CPU is not capable enough, the cards will be bottlenecked, and you can end up getting only 15-30% boost as mentioned.

 

In DCS though, Crossfire doesn't work, but SLI does. I'm running 2 x GTX 580 in SLI, and both cards get's around 70-80% workload while flying.

If I disable SLI, one card will be at 100% most of the time, and I get alot of stutters and inconsistent FPS.

Before DCS World 1.2.1, I could run the sim @ high on all settings, max range on trees and so on @ 60FPS without a problem. I also used Kuky's high.lua file as well (Thanks mate). Only problem I had was around certain areas where the CPU would be used 100% and my FPS dropped down to ~40 FPS.

 

But after 1.2.1 version it's not that good, I don't know what happened on ED's side, but both my 580's are taxed at 100% almost constantly.

[Python]

I have the 680 and love it, ive only had it a few days so haven't thrown much at it yet but i can tell you it runs BF3 and all DCS titles with all settings maxed out smoothly. It is the EVGA superclocked edition which is also available with a custom cooler, I have the reference cooler which does the job, I did put decent fans in all round mind. A 690 would of course be nice but at almost £1k I can settle for the 680 for a few years I think ;) http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=02G-P4-2682-KR Its also a nice looking card compared to the gigabyte 670 I had before it and I even like the garish Green logo aswell so win win.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Python