** Official 680 review thread **

[Besty]

having trawled through the current reviews, the ones that stands out (again) is the one by the techreport.com team, the detail they go into on the benchmarks is very impressive.

 

[RavenXXX2]

Having looked at a load of reviews I'm gonna have to go for the 680 when I get payed at end of month. Its 1080p performance is stellar and even at extreme res with three monitor gaming it still manages to top the performance board. Yeah I don't like the overclocking but I'll live with it.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/03/22/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-2gb-review/10

 

[ALXAndy]

Have any of the reviews started out with the 7970 overclocked?

You know, like fairly?

Basically the 680 is overclocking itself. So it's a bit of a rough comparison if the 7970 is at stock clocks.

Any one know of a review that starts out with the Radeon at 1125?

Just curious to know what's in it when the Radeon is sporting the same kind of boosts.

 

[MichaelM]

Looks great for source engine (Portal2) and BF3. Keep it under 70C and it's the best single GPU.

I could buy one now but I want to see how consumers get on with the overclocking first. I would love one under water but I don't fancy being the one to void my warranty by taking off the cooler and then have this turbo boost thing burn anything out


Don't like Nvidia usually but it is impressive to have them lead the way in temperatures, noise and performance. A very positive step above Fermi.

 

[straxusii]

All the reviews seem pretty positive

I've looked at around 7 now and all recommend it hands down over the 7970, even Hard OCP

 

[beejjacobs]

I've looked at around 7 now and all recommend it hands down over the 7970, even Hard OCP

I thought it might struggle more at 1600p but it seems to do quite well against the 7970

 

[straxusii]

Have any of the reviews started out with the 7970 overclocked?

You know, like fairly?

Basically the 680 is overclocking itself. So it's a bit of a rough comparison if the 7970 is at stock clocks.

Any one know of a review that starts out with the Radeon at 1125?

Just curious to know what's in it when the Radeon is sporting the same kind of boosts.

That's not relevant for these reviews Andy, they are reviewing the stock cards like for like.

Some then look at overclocking and I'm sure we'll see o/c 7970 vs o/c 680 but at launch you are mainly going to see stock cards against stock cards.

 

[straxusii]

I thought it might struggle more at 1600p but it seems to do quite well against the 7970

Indeed when I started reading the Hard OCP review I was sure it was going to come off second best starting at 1600P and then going up to multi monitor but it didnt.

 

[rare]

Its doing pretty well. Its obviously extremely impressive engineering when you consider that its hampered by its lack of memory bandwidth in comparison to a 7970 and yet its able to beat and or match the 7970 in almost every test.

I just really hope the 7970 comes down in price so I can get another. Not worth selling my 7970 and replacing it with a 680 though as the performance difference at 1440p is fairly marginal all said and done.

 

[eyetrip]

Just noticed bit-tech used launch drivers for 79XX series

Not sure about the others, but make same wonder which would be a fairer test - using the latest available or the release drivers...

 

[TwsT]

Just for the record, my 7970 runs at an everyday overclock at stock voltage of 1150/1650.

I think it's mightily strange we've not seen any overclocked benches on the 680

yes how strange................... only been out of an hour and all


my 680 has been running at + 150 MHz for 2 days solid

will bench mark it some more tonight only had time for heaven so far

which are posted in this thread

 

[Besty]

I am finding it interesting that the two sites that measure the cards the closest in terms of performance are both HardOCP and Techreport. This seems to be because they are just not slapping up a bar chart with average frame-rates, they are looking at the whole picture.

Not much in it at all in 1600p in the games I play.

Can't wait to see the Tri-SLI round-up now.

To the gent who wants to see the 680 over-clocked, the hardwarecanuks review has such info. Looks like it does the same sort of 20-25% OC as the 7970.

Bit confused as to why they did not throw up the 7970 OC numbers at the same time though.

 

[tommybhoy]

Cost me 390 for my 680

Just to play Rome Total War?

If it didn't stress your 7950 it won't stress the 680 either!

 

[straxusii]

And in the case of Hard OCP not benching lower than 2560x1600, 7970 and 680 get a lot closer above 1080p

 

[Deleted member 66701]

Have any of the reviews started out with the 7970 overclocked?

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/gpu_displays/nvidia_gtx680_review/1

Has OC'd 7970 compared against OC'd 680 - performance gap shrinks in this scenario

 

[dave_beast]

got some screenshots of my ASus GTX680 for you all to look at

Heaven Benchmark

+150 Core and +600 Mem

Not bad for day 1 drivers

But 7970 is better at my everyday overclock

 

[TwsT]

doesn't suprise me


oc3d sums it up tbh

What cannot be denied is that the GTX680 is another great card from nVidia. It's the Fermi concept refined and polished to a high-sheen and delivers high performance at low power, which surely is the way forwards. In terms of actual frame-rates it's nearly identical to the HD7970 and for the first time in a long while you truly can throw your hat in with whichever company you prefer and know that you aren't compromising anything. The performance, low power, quietness and general usability ensure that the GTX680 is worthy of our OC3D Gold Award.

It's a great time to be a geek.

Also I'm on pci 2.0 so will have to wait for someone to post pci 3.0 compatible results see if there's any improvement.

 

[King Damager]

Just looked at the AnandTech review... For the games I play this is incredible... Trading blows with a 6990 in some games o.O

kd

 

[ALXAndy]

ATI 7970 does seem to have the slight edge when both cards are overclocked, but the NVIDIA card seems to be better optimised in games.

^ From Gibbo.

Let's face it. Dynamic overclocks against a static card are hardly fair are they? The card is overclocking to put out better scores. When we turn the tables and overclock the 7970..

Seems that guy from Georgia was right. They're pretty much level.

 

[King Damager]

ATI 7970 does seem to have the slight edge when both cards are overclocked, but the NVIDIA card seems to be better optimised in games.

^ From Gibbo.

Let's face it. Dynamic overclocks against a static card are hardly fair are they? The card is overclocking to put out better scores. When we turn the tables and overclock the 7970..

Seems that guy from Georgia was right. They're pretty much level.

Yeah, probably true to be honest.

As someone who has always preferred nVidia (not a fan boy, I'd buy an AMD card if it was head and shoulders above the competition), and someone who doesn't particularly overclock, I'm quite pleased with the 680. I'm managing holding off getting one at the moment purely because I'd get one for 3 screen support, but don't have 3 screens yet xD

In any case, this has ended up being a launch not quite like any other. With GTX 280, GTX 480, and GTX 580 we discussed how thanks to NVIDIA’s big die strategy they had superior performance, but also higher power consumption and a higher cost. To that extent this is a very different launch –the GTX 680 is faster, cooler, and quieter than the Radeon HD 7970. NVIDIA has landed the technical trifecta, and to top it off they’ve priced it comfortably below the competition.

Seemed like an interesting summary to be honest...

Agree that they basically are trading blows so, it is a fantastic time to be looking to buy a new GPU. Remarkably interested in what the next gen may bring though, or even the 'additional' 6xx cards may bring...

kd