nVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Pro Reviews

NVIDIA made summarizing the GeForce GTX 680’s performance nice and easy. To put it simply, the GeForce GTX 680 is the fastest single-GPU based graphics card we have tested to date. Generally speaking, the GeForce GTX 680 was between approximately 5% and 25% faster than AMD’s Radeon HD 7970, depending on the application. Although, the Radeon HD 7970 was able to pull ahead in a couple of spots, like Alien vs. Predator. In comparison to NVIDIA’s previous single-GPU flagship, the GeForce GTX 580, the new GTX 680 is between 15% and 50% faster. Versus ultra high-end, dual-GPU powered cards like the Radeon HD 6990 and GeForce GTX 590, the GeForce GTX 680’s performance still looks good, as it was able to outrun those dual-GPU powerhouses on a few occasions.

NVIDIA has also surprised us by providing an efficient GPU. Efficiency is out of character for NVIDIA, but surely we welcome this cool running and quiet GTX 680. NVIDIA has delivered better performance than the Radeon HD 7970 with a TDP and power envelope well below that of the Radeon HD 7970. NVIDIA has made a huge leap in efficiency, and a very large step up from what we saw with the GeForce GTX 580. NVIDIA has raised the performance metric at the $499 price point. This is what we expect out of next generation video cards, moving efficiency forward as well as performance at a given price point. The $500 segment just became a lot more interesting, and will give you more performance now than ever before. We've given many awards to Radeon HD 7970 video cards, and those were well deserved. Now that the GeForce GTX 680 is here, the game changes again, and there is no doubt in our minds that this video card has earned HardOCP's Editor's Choice Gold Award. NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 680 has delivered a more efficient GPU, lower in TDP, that is better or competitive in performance, at a lower price.

It all comes down to pricing and performance, and you'll find that on both price and performance GeForce GTX 680 SLI wins. GeForce GTX 680 MSRP is $499, and the Radeon HD 7970 is $549. When you throw two of these video cards into the mix the difference comes out to $100. Two GeForce GTX 680 cards will cost you $1000 and two Radeon HD 7970 cards will cost you $1100. When you are spending so much money on a graphics solution you want every dollar to count, and to save those dollars where possible. In every game we tested GTX 680 SLI was faster, and provided gameplay options Radeon HD 7970 CFX did not. We were not bottlenecked at all at 5760x1200 with GTX 680 SLI. In fact, in BF3 Multiplayer GTX 680 SLI provided better performance, higher in-game settings, and a smoother experience, and this is a highly memory sensitive game. When we looked at power utilization we found GeForce GTX 680 SLI was more efficient in every single game, using less power, but giving us more performance. With GeForce GTX 680 SLI you will be paying less money for a more efficient solution, getting more performance, a superior gameplay experience, and a smoother gaming feel than you will with AMD Radeon HD 7970 CrossFireX.

One thing is certain after our overclocking, the default GPU Boost settings are not the highest frequency the GeForce GTX 680 is capable of. The GPU frequency can certainly be improved by manual overclocking. There is a bit of headroom yet to be had with this GPU. We strongly feel that it is voltage that is holding this GPU back. We look forward to custom-built GeForce GTX 680 video cards. With a custom-built PCB, custom-HSF, and all the high-efficiency hardware add-in-board partners like to use, we can't wait to see custom capabilities with the GeForce GTX 680. Despite the not-so Earth shattering overclocking results we achieved today, the GeForce GTX 680 is still able to compete well with the Radeon HD 7970, even overclocked. The fact remains that for a less expensive price the GeForce GTX 680 remains a cost saving venture for a similar experience. Overclocking will buy you 15% or so better performance on a reference design board, but if you are interested in overclocking, we suggest you look toward custom add-in-board video cards for what may truly be possible out of the GeForce GTX 680.

While we know not a lot people run triple-card video configurations, looking at the gameplay experiences between NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 3-Way SLI and AMD Radeon HD 7970 Tri-Fire CrossFireX sure gives us an interesting topic for discussion and surely brings some things to light when it comes to Red vs. Green. This is the ultimate build in terms of gaming performance, but the experiences between both couldn\'t be more different. There is an overall smoothness and consistency advantage to SLI that is superior to CrossFireX when gaming at high resolutions like 5760x1200. These types of configurations are mostly going to be used to push multiple displays and high resolutions. You would think that the advantage would go toward HD 7970 Tri-Fire since it has more VRAM and memory bandwidth. Indeed in some cases we saw where we could technically use higher settings with Tri-Fire. However, even in those circumstances SLI still felt smoother, and there wasn\'t a large noticeable visual quality difference. We do think GTX 680 3-Way SLI could still benefit from more VRAM, we were definitely seeing limitations of 2GB in some instances. In games that really matter, like BF3 Multiplayer GTX 680 3-Way SLI provided better performance, a smoother experience, and even higher in-game settings. We hear from sources that there are 4GB GTX 680 cards coming. These customized video cards are likely to be expensive, but these might just be the thing to truly make 3-Way SLI shine. A 3-Way SLI setup of three GTX 680 4GB video cards will have the room to push settings in all the games here were we discovered VRAM limitations. This will most certainly be the ultimate and superior setup compared to Radeon HD 7970 Tri-Fire when those are released.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB GPU is a much-improved reimagining of what a high-end GeForce graphics card should be like. It takes the underlying Fermi architecture, first seen in GeForce GTX 480, by the scruff of the neck and improves it in practically every meaningful way. GTX 680 aims to be a fast, feature-rich, and power-efficient GPU, and many of the design decisions strike a sensible balance between these three facets. Learning painful lessons from GTX 480's poor showing, NVIDIA uses the latest 28nm fabrication technology to manufacture a GPU that's not hell-bent on pure speed. Make no mistake about it, GTX 680 could have been faster, perhaps significantly so, yet AMD's modest leap in performance for its Radeon HD 7900-series GPUs has made NVIDIA's task that bit easier. Also catching up with AMD on the multimedia front, NVIDIA's flagship single-GPU card can now drive four screens off the bat. It can also drive three panels with 3D Surround in tow, if that's your wont.

GeForce GTX 680 has been lavished with bombastic praise since its arrival last week. Most of this is deserved, because it is a mighty fine high-end GPU. Our numbers and real-world playing also tell us that it would be foolish to dismiss the Radeon HD 7970, for it's also a very good enthusiast-orientated card. The corollary of this evaluation is startlingly simple: one cannot buy a bad high-end card right now. Yet spending £400 on a single graphics card entails making a hard choice. Knowing what we do and having played game after game and seen more benchmark results than are advisable, our advice would be to opt for the GeForce GTX 680, unless your particular game du jour happens to run better on Radeon hardware.

Purchasing the very best graphics card today means choosing between the GeForce GTX 680 or Radeon HD 7970. Both cards provide excellent performance at a full-HD resolution; indeed, a strong case can be made for saying they're overkill for monitors with a native 1,920x1,080 resolution. 30in, 2,560x1,600-resolution monitors remain expensive, and while popular technology sites such as HEXUS use them for evaluating graphics cards, the real-world implications aren't clear cut. Of greater import, perhaps, is seeing how these monster GPUs perform when tasked with running three full-HD monitors for truly widescreen gaming. Knowing that a trio of said monitors costs about the same as either of these £400 cards and that it's easy to set both cards to push pixels to an effective 5,760x1,080-resolution display, our high-quality benchmarks show that the GeForce GTX 680 has the edge over the Radeon HD 7970. The results are a little surprising given how NVIDIA has engineered the card - one would assume a 256-bit memory bus, 2GB framebuffer and comparatively-low ROP throughput would cause it to stutter at such settings.

For the last few generations AMD has always put up a good fight and always managed to spoil NVIDIA in some manner, be it by beating NVIDIA to market by months like we saw with the 5000 series, or significantly undercutting NVIDIA and forcing them into a bloody price war as we saw with the 4000 series. This time AMD once again spoiled NVIDIA by releasing the Radeon HD 7970 nearly 3 months early, but as always, at the end of the day it’s NVIDIA who once again takes the performance crown for the highest performing single-GPU card. What makes this launch particularly interesting if not amusing though is how we’ve ended up here. Since Cypress and Fermi NVIDIA and AMD have effectively swapped positions. It’s now AMD who has produced a higher TDP video card that is strong in both compute and gaming, while NVIDIA has produced the lower TDP and weaker compute part that is similar to the Radeon HD 5870 right down to the display outputs. In some sense it’s a reaction by both companies to what they think the other did well in the last generation, but it’s also evidence of the fact that AMD and NVIDIA’s architectures are slowly becoming more similar.

AMD's 7000 series relies on a graphics architecture that is drastically different from previous AMD chips, so we may still see much better performance with driver improvements, but right now, if you have £400 to spend on a graphics card, the GeForce GTX 680 is the clear winner.

Running a pair of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680's in 2-way SLI took our Ultra HD gaming on the Dell 30-inch display to the next level by running everything at acceptable frame rates!

Nvidia may have shown up a bit late to this latest round of the graphics-card performance dance. Between January and March, AMD released a slew of next-generation 7000-series cards (take a look at our reviews of them all here) that all offer the same list of forward-looking features. But if the GTX 680 is any indication of what Nvidia will soon have to offer in lower-priced boards, gamers have a lot to look forward to. Even if you're a staunch AMD loyalist, impressive competing Nvidia options will no doubt drive down prices of AMD cards, making cutting-edge gaming more affordable. And who can complain about that?The Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 is an impressively fast, efficient gaming powerhouse at a price that, while still expensive, undercuts the current price of AMD's HD 7970 while often outpacing it in performance. And it does so while using quite a bit less power under load, and remaining surprisingly quiet for a high-end card. There's no real reason for GTX 580 owners to upgrade today if they are still happy with the frame rates they are getting. And early adopters of the HD 7970 shouldn't be too disappointed, as that card is still plenty impressive and powerful.

Nvidia's GeForce GTX 680 is a triumph; it's the fastest single-GPU graphics card we’ve seen, is relatively compact and works with even mid-range power supplies. It's also not particularly expensive; Nvidia's suggested retail price is £429, which makes it only around £20 more than the Radeon HD 7970, and Nvidia's card is significantly faster. It wins an Ultimate award.

I have long awaited the release of the GTX 680 for months since I first learned that it was on the way. I had a blast over the past couple of weeks learning more and more about the card and finally after having one in my hands. Seeing its results, I really don’t know how I was able to keep all this to myself. As we've even experienced at home here on OverclockersClub, there has been a lot of speculation and hearsay about what the GTX 680 is going to do and what it is capable of doing. Strong supporters of both camps have vehemently defended their own sides even while no hard evidence had surfaced, but hopefully agreements can now be met and everyone can be happy. To conclude, I have to say the GTX 680 is a great addition to the market and I can’t wait to see what the price of $499 does to the AMD cards. Price wars: right after this!

Nvidia has introduced some impressive innovations in its new single-GPU flagship card, the GeForce GTX 680. Hard-core PC gamers shouldn't expect down-the-board AMD-crushing frame rates, but reduced power bills are a distinct possibility.

To set the stage for this conclusion, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. Back in 2008 AMD introduced the HD 4870, a card that not only outperformed NVIDIA’s recently released GTX 260 but it came in at a significantly lower price point. That one product brought NVIDIA crashing back down to earth and the resulting fallout marked a turning point where high end Radeon cards became performance per watt leaders while the GeForce lineup gradually shifted towards powerful, yet inefficient designs. Well, the design mantra of yesteryear is a thing of the past and the good folks at AMD now have their own nightmare situation to deal with. After years of releasing inefficient, large and expensive GPUs, NVIDIA's GK104 core - and by association the GTX 680 - is not only smaller and less power hungry than Tahiti but it also outperforms the best AMD can offer by a substantial amount. A price that doesn’t break the $500 mark and undercuts the HD 7970 by some fifty bucks is just the icing on the cake. In our opinion, it is a true game-changer for the GeForce lineup since it bucks past trends and allows NVIDIA to essentially offer more for less. This card couldn’t have been released at a better time since AMD was not been able to ramp up HD 7970 production fast enough to meet demand, leaving many potential customers without cards and ready to embrace what NVIDIA is offering. In addition, the GTX 680 will force AMD's hand into lowering the prices of their high end lineup, making a whole generation of cards that much more affordable.

Sometimes, when a new graphics card launches, we really have to put some effort into figuring out whether the performance and features justify the price. It’s not a science, and the right answer isn’t always crystal clear.This is not one of those times. GeForce GTX 680 is now the fastest single-GPU graphics card, and not by a margin that leaves room to hem or haw. Making matters worse for AMD, the GTX 680 is priced right between its Radeon HD 7970 and 7950. Providing that Nvidia’s launch price sticks, both Radeon HD 7900s need to be significantly less expensive in order to compete. I'd expect to see the 7970 drop $100. The 7950 would have to slide $50 to leave some room between the 7870 and 7970. Every indication points to the GeForce GTX 680 beginning its life as a GK104-based embryo, destined to do its duty as Nvidia’s hunter-class card. With pointed strengths in gaming, compute performance was something it had to sacrifice, just like GeForce GTX 460. But fate dealt this chip a different hand when it proved competitive against AMD’s flagship in games. GK104 would not be following in GF104’s footsteps. Instead, it'd take the reigns from the GF110-derived tank, GeForce GTX 580. In principle, that's like Rosie taking over for Oprah. But rather than falling on its face, GK104 turns out to be a great follow-up.

We didn't expect to see NVIDIA launching the GeForce GTX 680 in March, but we are glad the card was launched early and very happy with the performance numbers and features!

NVIDIA clearly has a winner on their hands with the GTX 680. The new card, which is based on NVIDIA's GK104 graphics processor, that introduces the Kepler architecture, is a significant leap forward both in terms of performance and GPU technology. Technically GK104, as its name reveals is an upper mid-range GPU, not a pure high-end part. Following NVIDIA's naming convention such a chip would be called GK100. This subtle difference makes the GeForce GTX 680 even more impressive. Technically we'd have to compare it to GTX 560 Ti, not GTX 580. Even when compared to GeForce GTX 580, the performance improvement of GTX 680 is excellent. Averaged over our testing it increases performance by 16% (+37% vs. GTX 560 Ti!), and easily beats AMD's HD 7970. Achieving such performance levels nowadays has to go with improved performance per Watt, as modern high-end graphics cards are limited by power consumption and heat output. NVIDIA claims massively improved power consumption with their latest architecture, which is confirmed by our testing. Compared to previous-generation cards, we see over 30% performance per Watt improvement. Every power measurement has gone down, yet performance has gone up. Very nicely done.

Nvidia’s first 28nm card blows the competition away on performance, efficiency and price, and steals AMD’s high-end crown

We’ve said from the very first time we laid out hands on a 28nm GPU that you’d be foolish to rush into a high-end GPU purchase without waiting to see what the competition had to offer, and boy has it been worth the wait. While not superior in every test, the GTX 680 2GB comfortably surpasses the HD 7970 3GB on the balance of our benchmark suite when it comes to performance and power consumption, by what are in some circumstances very large margins indeed. Interestingly, the GTX 680 2GB seems to have more of an edge the lower the resolution; at 1,920 x 1,080 with 4xAA we saw frame rates up to 35 per fast faster than the HD 7970 3GB in Skyrim, but this dropped to a 22 per cent advantage in the same game at 2,560 x 1,600 with 4xAA. Could the GTX 680 2GB’s lesser memory bandwidth be telling here, particularly as this is an area often associated with high resolution performance? Regardless the advantage is still there (albeit by a smaller factor) even at 5,760 x 1,080, and is made more impressive by the fact that in more than a few of our tests, the GTX 680 2GB managed to match the dual-GPU monster that is the GTX 590 3GB. To see this sort of performance from a single-GPU card just twelve months later is great, but to see it from a card that pulls 171W less system power is just staggering.

Once again, Nvidia takes the lead by having the fastest single GPU video card currently available on the market. The development of the GK104 Kepler architecture clearly shows that Nvidia understands the needs of the gamers around the world. With Kepler, Nvidia also shows off their engineering architecture improvements over AMD's Southern Islands HD7970 video card. Not only is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 the fastest single GPU card, but it is also the most power efficient and quietest high-end flagship card we have ever tested here at Bjorn3D. The most impressive part of Kepler is its overclocking potential. At first we were skeptical, and thought the two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors on the card might not provide enough power to achieve high overclocks. However, once we fired up EVGA's Precision X overclocking utility, within 10 minutes we were able to overclock the video card by 300 MHz over its stock Core Clock speed, and 900Mhz above it's stock 6004 MHz memory frequency. This allowed us to outperform two GTX 580s in a 2-way SLI configuration in our Dirt 3 benchmark. At these overclocked frequencies, the GTX 680 still maintained a lower power consumption compared to the GTX 580 Fermi architecture.

That shouldn't take away from the fact that we've got a card in front of us that's cool, quiet and less power-hungry than Nvidia's normal top-end GPUs. It's not the power-crazed GPU behemoths we're used to from Nvidia, but it's still got the performance chops and some neat extra tricks.

Overall I'm quite impressed with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680, but it's the 28nm GK104 'Kepler' GPU that really has my attention. This article has covered many of the new product features and added functionality possible through Kepler, but imagine beyond the GTX 680. By reducing the TDP footprint to an easily manageable 175W operating range, it won't take much effort to combine two of these GPUs into the yet-to-be-announced GeForce GTX 690. I can picture it now: 4GB of GDDR5 video frame buffer memory pushed to 6.0 GHz, combined with two Kepler GPUs operating at 880 MHz before GPU Boost... and it would still run cold and quiet with a combined 300W TDP. Give a few months, and we'll see how accurate my prediction was.

I think it goes without saying that the new GeForce GTX 680 2GB graphics card from NVIDIA really has impressed me in my short time with it. The performance of the new Kepler GPU is astounding as it was able to best the Radeon HD 7970 in the large majority or our tests and really only lost to it in one — Metro 2033. While some users might stress over the variability that it introduces, I think the GPU Boost technology is innovative and really helps the GPU stand up above the HD 7970 3GB in overall performance. Added bonuses like Adaptive VSync and Frame Rate Targeting add to the differentiation of the GTX 680 and the long-awaited ability to run NVIDIA Surround gaming configurations on a single GPU really completes the story. The AMD Radeon HD 7000-series still has some advantages including 6 display support, a larger frame buffer on the HD 7970 and HD 7950 cards (along with a wider memory bus) and some pretty impressive overclocking headroom. The GTX 680 is likely my new favorite high end enthusiast graphics card, but it wasn't enough to simply cement itself as the only player. Competition is good, and competition is back.