Nvidia’s GTX 680 arrives! “Faster, Smoother, Richer” – is it enough to take the Performance Crown?

Conclusion

This has been quite an enjoyable if far too short, 2-week exploration for us in evaluating our new GTX 680 since Kepler Editor’s Day in San Francisco.  It did very well performance-wise comparing it to the the GTX 580 where it brings higher performance for the same launch price as the GTX 580’s launch price and the GTX 480 before it. We were totally impressed with the cool-running Kepler chip that has such outstanding overclockability for a good price.  It slots right above the HD 7970 and fairly far above the GTX 580 and it offers more advantages than just price.

We see good overclockability with quietness at stock voltage and fan profile from even the regularly-cooled reference design GTX 680 as well as from the custom-cooled HD 7970. The GTX 680 is a better value overall than the HD 7970 if you are looking at performance.  Especially since the HD 7970 is currently priced fifty dollars more than the GTX 680.

Pros

• Price – for $500 it is a versatile flagship card that is designed for heavy DX11 gaming; it is not more expensive than last generation’s flagship although it has more performance and new features.  It is priced fifty dollars cheaper than the HD 7970 although it out-performs it overall.
• TDP and power draw is excellent.  Performance per watt is better than its competitor’s more expensive flagship 28nm HD 7970.  Unlike the HD 7970, the GTX 680 only needs two six-pin PCIe connectors which still allows for good overclocking.
• Overclockability is excellent – GPU Boost works as advertised.
• The reference design cooling is quiet and efficient; the card and well-ventilated case stay cool even well-overclocked.
• It is possible to use three of these cards for extreme Tri-SLI performance without needing a massive PSU
• 3D Vision 2 and PhysX enhance gaming immersion and both are improved using the GTX 680 compared to the current generation.
• Surround plus an accessory display can now be driven off of a single GTX 680 without requiring SLI; 3D Vision Surround works with an active DP to Dual-link DVI adaptor
• New AA allows for high performance without jaggies in deferred shading lighting engines
• Adaptive VSynch reduces stuttering while retaining the advantages of minimizing tearing.
• The GTX 680 is the fastest single-GPU video card – period!

Cons

• Surround requires DP or a passive DP adapter plus 2 DVI; 3D Vision Surround requires an expensive active DP to Dual-Link DVI adapter (or SLI).

The Verdict:

• If you are buying a flagship video card right now and looking for the highest performance, the GTX 680 is a great value and bang-for-buck gaming video card that will stand tall even among the fastest dual-GPU cards with just a bit more overclocking.  When a great value is offered like this in a flagship card, and comes in priced less expensive than its competitor, we feel it deserves ABT’s highest award – the “Kick Ass” award.

We do not know what the future will bring, but the GTX 680 brings an excellent top-performer to the GeForce family.  With great features like PhysX and the second generation of 3D Vision, you can be assured of immersive gaming by picking this card for 1080p or even higher resolutions including for Surround or for 3D Vision Surround.

If you currently game on an older generation video card, you will do yourself a big favor by upgrading. The move to a GTX 680 will give you better visuals on the DX11 pathway and you are no doubt thinking of SLI or even Tri-SLI if you want to get ultimate gaming performance.  We expect that many enthusiasts will – like us – upgrade to Intel’s Ivy Bridge  – and this is the perfect video card to compliment their fastest processors.

The competition is hot and AMD offers their own set of features including Eyefinity and HD3D with the competing Radeon HD 7970.  However, we expect that they will be forced to drop pricing on the reference and stock-clocked HD 7970s, down from the premium pricing they are asking for it and we also expect that they will feature more overclocked and super-overclocked versions as their process matures.  Of course, Nvidia’s partners will do the same and we can expect overclocked SKUs at launch, and we look forward to evaluating the GTX 680 with higher overclocks by using higher voltages and more aggressive fan profiles.

Stay tuned, there is a lot coming from us at ABT.  Next up is a long delayed evaluation of the Thermaltake Frio and Frio OCK CPU coolers which have allowed us to increase our Core i7-920 +200MHz to 4.2GHz just for this review.  And you can expect more great reviews from our Mobile Tech guys to put into our new section; expect a Genius product review also this week!  And don’t forget to check our forums!  Our tech discussions are becoming among the best to be found anywhere!!

Nvidia Chocolate Cookie - delicious!

Mark Poppin

ABT Senior Editor

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