Will I soon regret buying a GTX 680?

Gregster · 11 Apr 2012 at 10:09

IanWilcox said:
Ive just ordered one.... I am sure i wont regret it moving up from a GTX 550ti

I moved up from a 560ti and have not regretted a thing bud. I didn't realise what smooth really meant till I got the 680.

Rusty0611 · 11 Apr 2012 at 10:12

The Running Man said:
what argument? if i buy a 400 quid card important expecting it to last for 2-3 years.

2gb vs 3gb might not make any difference right now but it might in 12 months. given this guy is upgrading from a 550ti tells me he doesn't have £££ to throw away. true i will only buy nvidia cards now but would i spend 400 on this one? nope..

What Andybird123 said to this.

The GPU is going to limit performance on a 680 in 2-3 years time before the VRAM will. Based on previous GPU/game improvements that is.

mattius1989 · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:00

I jacked in my two 6870s for my 680 and am thoroughly impressed. With the money I got for the cards it only ended up costing me £200. I don't regret it and don't plan on regretting it. Just enjoy your card.

Phage · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:04

Hell, I don't even regret my 7970.
Relax and get the best card you can afford. Right now - it's a 680.

Cleeecooo · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:11

The Running Man said:
what argument? if i buy a 400 quid card important expecting it to last for 2-3 years.

2gb vs 3gb might not make any difference right now but it might in 12 months. given this guy is upgrading from a 550ti tells me he doesn't have £££ to throw away. true i will only buy nvidia cards now but would i spend 400 on this one? nope..

The GPU will be a bottleneck long before the VRAM will be. If you then decide to have quad SLI, then the VRAM may be the limiting factor, but if you can afford a quad SLI ready rig you can probably afford buying a new graphics card. SLIing to add more power is only really a stop gap solution, eventually you'll need a new card instead of constantly delaying the inevitable

Alz_D · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:15

The problem is that at some point everyone is going to have doubts like this.

I bought 2 x 7950's to run in crossfire - ignoring advice to wait for kepler or wait for a price drop

I could have waited and saved and bought 2 x 7970's, or waited and bought a 7990, or a 680 or 2 x 680's, or waited for the 78XX series or waited for the next cheaper miracle card....

I feel the danger with that outlook is that you will either never buy due to fear of the next big thing being just around the corner or regret every purchase as and when the better and possibly cheaper technology becomes available.

I am happy with my cards - they do everything that I want them to do and more. I suppose a part of me wishes that I had the ability to wait to have seen what the green crew brought to the party but that just isn't me.

The 680 from what I have seen is a fantastic card and yes you will prob be a little peeved when the inevitable happens and a newer faster card comes out for less money but I wouldn't say you should regret your purchase.

I am from now on not going to think about it and just play games until my cards start to struggle - which I hope will be quite a while........

Rusty0611 · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:17

Alz_D said:
I bought 2 x 7950's to run in crossfire - ignoring advice to wait for kepler or wait for a price drop I could have waited and saved and bought 2 x 7970's, or waited and bought a 7990, or a 680 or 2 x 680's, or waited for the 78XX series or waited for the next cheaper miracle card....

I feel the danger with that outlook is that you will either never buy due to fear of the next big thing being just around the corner or regret every purchase as and when the better and possibly cheaper technology becomes available.

I am happy with my cards - they do everything that I want them to do and more. I suppose a part of me wishes that I had the ability to wait to have seen what the green crew brought to the party but that just isn't me.

The 680 from what I have seen is a fantastic card and yes you will prob be a little peeved when the inevitable happens and a newer faster card comes out for less money but I wouldn't say you should regret your purchase.

I am from now on not going to think about it and just play games until my cards start to struggle - which I hope will be quite a while........

+1

Kyzou · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:24

andybird123 said:
why would you expect it to last 3 years? when has a graphics card ever lasted 3 years?

My GTX280 lasted me a good 3 and a half years and even then, it wasn't struggling with games, it just died

andybird123 · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:40

Kyzou said:
My GTX280 lasted me a good 3 and a half years and even then, it wasn't struggling with games, it just died

considering the GTX280 wasn't a DX11 card I'm pretty sure it couldn't still play games maxxed out after 3 and a half years...

even on the DX9 only path in Crysis 2 the 285 struggled so the 280 would have been even worse

I had a 560ti when Crysis 2 came out and even that wasn't completely 100% smooth and the 560 was a far faster card than a 280

Cleeecooo · 11 Apr 2012 at 11:40

Rusty0611 said:
+1

Not going to quote the long bit, just reply to it

IMO it's best to wait if there are new cards on the verge of realease and then wait until cards have come out from both red an green before buying

straxusii · 11 Apr 2012 at 12:04

ed79 said:
The reason I ask is that a couple of years ago I was very close to spending £400 on a GTX480 but was then very glad I didn't when the GTX570 came out with very similar performance for a lot less money.

I'm just worried that the same could happen if a newer GTX 770 or something comes out later this year.

Exactly this will happen, time and again

shadow_boxer · 11 Apr 2012 at 12:17

@OP it depends on why you bought this card? Might seem like a silly question but if you bought it to play todays and near-future releases at maximum settings with good frame rates then no you won't regret it. The card will easily last at least a 2 years if not more before you'll have to start lowing a few settings I would expect. If on the otherhand you bought it for e-peen/bragging rights/benchmarking then yes you will regret it when the GTX685 or GTX780 or what ever it's called is released.

markymoo · 11 Apr 2012 at 17:49

All this commotion is why at the min i'm sticking with my 22" gaming at 1680x1050 using just a GTX460.
I keep checking all the latest stuff, but everything seems a little pricey at the moment. Also can play BF3 on Ultra/High, so if i got better res screen would need new graphics card.
My pocket always itches for another upgrade but im'm trying my hardest to be good ;o)

Evansd · 11 Apr 2012 at 18:34

I think you cans sit and wait and wait and wait. You never know what's round the corner. It could be another 12 months before anything else gets released - Enjoy your purchase.

DIZZY DAZZLER 2 · 11 Apr 2012 at 18:40

I just upgraded from a gtx 580 to a 680 and im still smiling! I you have the cash and want excellent frames rates then go for it? I dont think there are many people who are dissapointed other than those that want to overclock them to crazy mhz's and couldnt.

ed79 · 11 Apr 2012 at 18:54

Thanks guys - just to clarify I haven't yet bought the card. I sold my GTX460 and monitor around xmas time and then decided to wait until April cos of Ivybridge and Kepler.

shadow_boxer said:
@OP it depends on why you bought this card? Might seem like a silly question but if you bought it to play todays and near-future releases at maximum settings with good frame rates then no you won't regret it. The card will easily last at least a 2 years if not more before you'll have to start lowing a few settings I would expect. If on the otherhand you bought it for e-peen/bragging rights/benchmarking then yes you will regret it when the GTX685 or GTX780 or what ever it's called is released.

I was all set to buy a 680 for delivery in time for this weekend but due to the stock shortages I thought maybe I'd leave it a couple of weeks and see how the 670ti compared first. AND THEN I started thinking of 480/580 situation etc hence my original post.

Evansd said:
I think you cans sit and wait and wait and wait. You never know what's round the corner. It could be another 12 months before anything else gets released - Enjoy your purchase.

I agree, and in the past I've been guilty of waiting and waiting etc. For now though I think I'll see what the 670ti is like and then decide. Probably. I think.

inSilica · 11 Apr 2012 at 19:00

Alz_D said:
The problem is that at some point everyone is going to have doubts like this.

I bought 2 x 7950's to run in crossfire - ignoring advice to wait for kepler or wait for a price drop I could have waited and saved and bought 2 x 7970's, or waited and bought a 7990, or a 680 or 2 x 680's, or waited for the 78XX series or waited for the next cheaper miracle card....

I feel the danger with that outlook is that you will either never buy due to fear of the next big thing being just around the corner or regret every purchase as and when the better and possibly cheaper technology becomes available.

I am happy with my cards - they do everything that I want them to do and more. I suppose a part of me wishes that I had the ability to wait to have seen what the green crew brought to the party but that just isn't me.

The 680 from what I have seen is a fantastic card and yes you will prob be a little peeved when the inevitable happens and a newer faster card comes out for less money but I wouldn't say you should regret your purchase.

I am from now on not going to think about it and just play games until my cards start to struggle - which I hope will be quite a while........

Very well said!

@OP seriously, enjoy your card when you reach a stage where you can't play a game you really want to play for a while on max settings, dump it on MM and buy something else. These top end cards ... well ... they tend to not depreciate immensely.

AndyOcUK · 11 Apr 2012 at 19:00

ed79 said:
The reason I ask is that a couple of years ago I was very close to spending £400 on a GTX480 but was then very glad I didn't when the GTX570 came out with very similar performance for a lot less money.

I'm just worried that the same could happen if a newer GTX 770 or something comes out later this year.

Hey mate. In my opinion the whole question/ point/ argument is a non starter.

VGA is one of the fastest moving component markets on the planet. No matter what you buy, something faster/ cheaper/ better/ quieter/ more overclockable, more power efficient/ better featured (Delete as appropriate

) will be released within 6-12 months tops.

This is just a given at this end of the market and when you buy into high end gaming VGA, you just have to accept it.

I've found over the years that the best thing to do is flog your existing kit prior to a new launch before it's value plummets and use the proceeds to fund some/ most of the upgrade cost.

For many enthusiasts/ serial upgrade addicts this is all part of the fun!

ed79 · 11 Apr 2012 at 19:11

Hi Andy,

I kinda had this happen when I paid £180 for my 460 at launch and then the 560 came pretty soon after (or at least it felt soon).

The absolute latest I'd leave it would be when the 7xx cards (5 series equivalent) arrive, but as a VERY casual gamer I could probably wait say another 3-4 months max. - but if it's going to be Q4 or later then I'll buy now.

Rusty0611 · 11 Apr 2012 at 19:46

All you're going to get until nVidia release stuff themselves is rumour. They won't announce a new card is coming until it's imminent. Otherwise it kills of sales of the previous generations.

If you want to base your entry into the market on rumour alone then you'll probably find there's always going to be a new card "coming soon" which is x% faster than the previous one.

That's what you get in the graphics card market: lots of rumour and a lot of it is complete nonsense. I think you should just buy when you feel like you need to.