GTX680 to arrive at the end of February!

[MichaelM]

Apple wants all the 28nm wafers? Don't they use Intel cpu's and AMD gpu's in desktops and powervr in mobiles?

 

[And]

Apple wants all the 28nm wafers? Don't they use Intel cpu's and AMD gpu's in desktops and powervr in mobiles?

AFAIK A6 processors for ipad/iphone (v3/v5 respectively) are 28nm (TSMC).

 

[andybird123]

That would be true except, they both designed and built a card capable of far higher speeds..... errm, which suggests it was both designed and most definately built for faster speeds.

here's a hint, if it wasn't built to run at 1200Mhz +, it couldn't, it wouldn't have VRM's more than overspecced for such speeds, it wouldn't have a cooler capable of dealing with those speeds, etc. Extra VRM's, or higher spec vrm's and a better cooler than it needs all add's cost, or reduces profit. It is unquestionably built to go faster, suggesting something else is daft.

As for not blaming AMD and the rolleyes, considering I errm... blamed AMD, you can point your eyes elsewhere thanks.

check some more reviews, not every card is hitting 1200+, and if they do they are noisy as hell, so no the cooler is not specced for 1200 because if it was it wouldn't be so damn noisy while doing it

there's more than one review where even with the fan set at 100% they are hitting low 1100's as the max... 15% is still a decent overclock, but it's no greater than a decent overclock on a GTX 580 either

VRM's HAVE to be overspecced anyway to stop the heat from running away - a VRM with 30% headroom will run quite cool, but a VRM with 5 or 10% overhead will get very hot very quickly - the fact that you are sometimes able to push them so hard is not what they were designed to do, it's lucky, which is what all overclocking is

the reference card has been built to meet a set of limitations, limitations that improve it's mass appeal - like a cooler that exhausts some of the hot air - overclockers will tend to have a decent case with decent air flow and would rather have a quiet big cooler than a smaller noisy one the exhausts the air, but the overclockers market is smaller than the market for those that just want to bolt on a card and let it run with out messing about with it

for the overclockers there are the partner boards with aftermarket coolers that are bigger, cooler and quieter, those are the coolers that are designed to run at 1200 and oh guess what, they cost a lot more and you have to hope that that partner is binning chips for their OC models that can reach 1200 anyway, because in general what I've seen so far is that it is only the handpicked few that can do 1200, with reference models it's pot luck

with a partner board that is "guaranteed" to hit 1200 you are paying an extra £80-100 for that extra 100mhz - worth it?

 

[Locky]

I was about to say that 1200mhz is not the norm on 7970 overclocking.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How are the Overdrive limits for the HD7900 series?? AFAIK,with the HD5800 and HD6900 series overclocking was pretty nerfed until third party software supported them better.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

BTW,I added another rumour to the list!!


Summary of rumours in thread so far:
1.)The first Kepler models will be released in either late February,or late March/early April or June 2011
2.)It will be faster than an HD7970,as fast as an HD7970,slightly slower than an HD7970 or slightly faster than an HD7950
3.)It will be priced around the same level as a lower end GTX570 or higher end GTX560TI or priced higher
4.)It will either have additional hardware for PhysX or not
5.)It will have a higher TDP than an HD7950 or a lower one
6.)Nvidia is not worried about GCN or is worried about GCN
7.)The GPU being released first is meant to be smaller than the Tahiti GPU used in the HD7900 series
8.)Performance will vary wildly from one game to another. Benchmarks may not be indicative of performance.

 

[xsistor]

Haha I love that list.

to add to that:

9) It will either have dedicated ageia physx hardware or it won't have dedicated ageia physx hardware

 

[MooMoo444]

BTW,I added another rumour to the list!!


Summary of rumours in thread so far:
1.)The first Kepler models will be released in either late February,or late March/early April or June 2011
2.)It will be faster than an HD7970,as fast as an HD7970,slightly slower than an HD7970 or slightly faster than an HD7950
3.)It will be priced around the same level as a lower end GTX570 or higher end GTX560TI or priced higher
4.)It will either have additional hardware for PhysX or not
5.)It will have a higher TDP than an HD7950 or a lower one
6.)Nvidia is not worried about GCN or is worried about GCN
7.)The GPU being released first is meant to be smaller than the Tahiti GPU used in the HD7900 series
8.)Performance will vary wildly from one game to another. Benchmarks may not be indicative of performance.

Sums up the Graphics section of the forum nicely, not just this topic.

 

[dave_beast]

How are the Overdrive limits for the HD7900 series?? AFAIK,with the HD5800 and HD6900 series overclocking was pretty nerfed until third party software supported them better.

Unlocked CCC

 

[MooMoo444]

Why don't you try setting to 2000 core and see how far you get

 

[1kiwi]

Unlocked CCC
snip

Hi Dave -I seem to remember that you have BF3. Would you mind benching BF3 multiplayer at that speed on Ultra settings?

 

[dave_beast]

Hi Dave -I seem to remember that you have BF3. Would you mind benching BF3 multiplayer at that speed on Ultra settings?

Been playing with FRAPS running since day 1 of owning card, and since the 2nd driver update from AMD i'm getting 90-110fps on Ultra all settings maxxed 1920x1080 at 1150/1650 @1.25v. Running with vsync on at 60fps there are no framerate drops, even on 64 player servers. Will run a 90sec benchmark in FRAPS later tonight as off out to a client now.

The problems with ridiculous framerate drops are non optimised drivers for crossfire 79** cards, which will be addressed on the unified driver 11.13

 

[StonedPenguin]

Soooooo, Any more news on the 680 coming in 4 weeks?

 

[xsistor]

Soooooo, Any more news on the 680 coming in 4 weeks?

Apart from a string of tautologies compiled by CAT-THE-FIFTH, nope. And those apply to GK104 (i.e. GTX 660ish rather than the 680)

 

[oweneades]

Been playing with FRAPS running since day 1 of owning card, and since the 2nd driver update from AMD i'm getting 90-110fps on Ultra all settings maxxed 1920x1080 at 1150/1650 @1.25v. Running with vsync on at 60fps there are no framerate drops, even on 64 player servers. Will run a 90sec benchmark in FRAPS later tonight as off out to a client now.

The problems with ridiculous framerate drops are non optimised drivers for crossfire 79** cards, which will be addressed on the unified driver 11.13

The new drivers have really surpised me in BF3. I gained around 10% at 3560x1920 over the 11.12 "Disc" drivers. My card is now sitting at around 75% faster than a HD6970 at the same settings (before it was roughly 60%).

 

[Ary101]

Don't know whether to wait for Kepler :/

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Don't know whether to wait for Kepler :/

I would, even if you're not going to buy one it can only serve to drive down AMD pricing.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

I would, even if you're not going to buy one it can only serve to drive down AMD pricing.

You're assuming Nvidia price match AMD, rather than doing what AMD have just done and price higher performing cards higher

 

[1kiwi]

Been playing with FRAPS running since day 1 of owning card, and since the 2nd driver update from AMD i'm getting 90-110fps on Ultra all settings maxxed 1920x1080 at 1150/1650 @1.25v. Running with vsync on at 60fps there are no framerate drops, even on 64 player servers. Will run a 90sec benchmark in FRAPS later tonight as off out to a client now.

The problems with ridiculous framerate drops are non optimised drivers for crossfire 79** cards, which will be addressed on the unified driver 11.13

The new drivers have really surpised me in BF3. I gained around 10% at 3560x1920 over the 11.12 "Disc" drivers. My card is now sitting at around 75% faster than a HD6970 at the same settings (before it was roughly 60%).

Thanks allot both. I have recently upgraded from 1920X1200 - 2560X1600 and have taken a performance hit. I think under water the 7970 maybe what I'm looking for. I think it's clear from this thread that I should hold out for the nvidia offering.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

You're assuming Nvidia price match AMD, rather than doing what AMD have just done and price higher performing cards higher

I'm hoping Nvidia price their new cards at their current lineup's.
If so, they'll basically undercut AMD and force their prices down.

Remember the GTX 480 launched at 450 and it wasnt long after was cut to under 400.
Even the GTX 580's main model the 1.5GB is under 400.