Associate
- Joined
- 13 Nov 2007
- Posts
- 2,427
Upgraded a week ago after picking up a reasonable priced 680 from MM (about £350). Could have gone with a 670 but I have never been one for sacrificing any performance for minimal price differences (a decent 670 was going for about the same price).
My motto is normally "double the performance or gtfo". How does that hold up?
Took out my beloved 480 SLIs and installed the 680. Monitor Resolution is 2560x1440. My impressions:
Gaming Performance: Slower than my 480s at stock (680 also at stock so don't know how OC would affect this) - however much better handling of minumum FPS across the board. This is with the exact same settings as I used for the 480s. Also, the play experience feels a bit smoother - I am talking micro/milli-seconds here, but as a hardcore UT3/BF3 player, I can recognise the difference. Summary - it's a side-grade so far.
Heat/Noise/Power: Power consumption is halved. Peak power consumption is halved. Heat levels are much much lower - no more hot air coming out the back of my case, and PSU does not have to work so hard any more. Noise levels are phenomenally lower. You can hear the whir of the fan yes, but compared to 480 SLI when you load the GPU there is a massive improvement in noise levels (all stock settings, no profiles used).
At the end of the day the main driver for me was the noise level as the PC had been moved in the house and it was a major concern. This card delivers absolutely on that criteria.
In terms of performance its still early days - I do see more than 1.5 GB RAM being used in BF3 on occasion, and I do expect better performance as drivers mature. What happens when I OC the 680, I don't know yet. Will I move to GK110? It is very likely, but depending on corresponding price drops for the 680, I may just go SLI. My "double the performance" motto was not fulfilled in terms of FPS, but it was in terms of Power Consumption/Noise/Heat.
So far I am a very happy chappy
My motto is normally "double the performance or gtfo". How does that hold up?
Took out my beloved 480 SLIs and installed the 680. Monitor Resolution is 2560x1440. My impressions:
Gaming Performance: Slower than my 480s at stock (680 also at stock so don't know how OC would affect this) - however much better handling of minumum FPS across the board. This is with the exact same settings as I used for the 480s. Also, the play experience feels a bit smoother - I am talking micro/milli-seconds here, but as a hardcore UT3/BF3 player, I can recognise the difference. Summary - it's a side-grade so far.
Heat/Noise/Power: Power consumption is halved. Peak power consumption is halved. Heat levels are much much lower - no more hot air coming out the back of my case, and PSU does not have to work so hard any more. Noise levels are phenomenally lower. You can hear the whir of the fan yes, but compared to 480 SLI when you load the GPU there is a massive improvement in noise levels (all stock settings, no profiles used).
At the end of the day the main driver for me was the noise level as the PC had been moved in the house and it was a major concern. This card delivers absolutely on that criteria.
In terms of performance its still early days - I do see more than 1.5 GB RAM being used in BF3 on occasion, and I do expect better performance as drivers mature. What happens when I OC the 680, I don't know yet. Will I move to GK110? It is very likely, but depending on corresponding price drops for the 680, I may just go SLI. My "double the performance" motto was not fulfilled in terms of FPS, but it was in terms of Power Consumption/Noise/Heat.
So far I am a very happy chappy
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