Although it doesn't matter anymore, there are several bits of evidence supporting the theory that NVIDIA originally intended for its GK104-based performance graphics card to be named "GeForce GTX 670 Ti", before deciding to go with "GeForce GTX 680" towards the end. With the advent of 2012, we've had our industry sources refer to the part as "GTX 670 Ti". The very first picture of the GeForce GTX 680 disclosed to the public, early this month, revealed a slightly old qualification sample, which had one thing different from the card we have with us today: the model name "GTX 670 Ti" was etched onto the cooler shroud, our industry sources disclosed pictures of early samples having 6+8 pin power connectors.
Next up, while NVIDIA did re-christian GTX 670 Ti to GTX 680, it was rather sloppy at it. The first picture below shows the contents of the Boardshots (stylized) folder in NVIDIA's "special place" for the media. It contains all the assets NVIDIA allows the press, retailers, and other partners to use. Assets are distributed in various formats, the TIFF is a standard image-format used by print-media, for its high dot-pitch. Apart from a heavy payload, the TIFF image file allows tags, that can be read by Windows Explorer, these tags help people at the archives. The tags for images in TIFF format, of the GTX 680 distributed to its partners in the media and industry contain the tag "GTX 670 Ti".
It doesn't end there. Keen-eyed users, while browsing through NVIDIA Control Panel, with their GTX 680 installed, found the 3D Vision Surround displays configuration page refer to their GPU as "GTX 670 Ti". This particular image was used by NVIDIA on their 3D Vision Surround guide.
We began this article by saying that frankly, at this point, it doesn't matter. Or does it? Could it be that GK104 rocked the boardroom at NVIDIA Plex to the point where they decided that since it's competitive (in fact, faster) than AMD's Radeon HD 7970, it makes more business sense selling it as "GTX 680"?
What's in the name? Well for one, naming it "GTX 680" instead of "GTX 670 Ti", releases pressure off NVIDIA to introduce a part based on its "big chip" based on the GeForce Kepler architecture (GK1x0). It could also save NVIDIA tons of R&D costs for its GTX 700 series, because it can brand GK1x0 in the GTX 700 series, and invest relatively less, on a dual-GK104 graphics card to ward off the threat of Radeon HD 7990 "New Zealand", and save (read: sandbag) GK1x0 for AMD's next-generation Sea Islands family based on "Enhanced Graphics CoreNext" architecture, slated for later this year, if all goes well. Is it a case of mistaken identity? Overanalysis on our part? Or is there something they don't want you to know™?
