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FRONTPAGE NVIDIA Launches GEFORCE GTX 680, aka Kepler

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Overclockers.com

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Nov 1, 1998
tt_gtx680_image.jpg

Good morning faithful readers! While we truly wish we had a review for you today (and indeed were promised we would have a card pre-launch at CES so we could bring you one), we are unfortunately left holding the short end of the stick today. That's ok though, we're working our hardest to get a partner card for you ASAP and have already been in talks about future, non-reference versions coming up this spring. In the mean time, we have some links for you. :)

... Return to article to continue reading.
 
I'm personally very frustrated with nVidia over this. Forgive the venting post, but we were told at CES to work with their partners to secure cards. We were promised a card by a partner. Then, a matter of days before launch, we get that we're not getting a card. We'll get cards post launch, but we do our best to jump through the various hoops so we can be on top of new releases and do a proper Overclockers.com review of all the major hardware, and when we get knocked back like this it's very poor.
 
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Updated to 15 reviews and added Newegg link. ASUS cards are already out of stock. If you want one of these, you'd better jump now!

EDIT - David, you should check out the first page of TweakTown's review. We're not alone. Being in Taiwan they managed to get their hands on one, but they did a pretty good job at spitting on NVIDIA's NDA. :p
 
It seems that there are a lot of areas other reviews have not had the time to look at, such as overclocking for one and the turbo-boost features of the card. I'm sure one of the benching team members will have one on hand and keep us posted. After all, we cannot control what companies do and being a bit late to the party is not that big of a deal. People still consider us a trustworthy source and I'm sure our guys will be adding useful data to the pool.
 
I see your point, and we will get a good review up.

However, our hardware reviewers are all (very busy) volunteers, who had set time aside to give Kepler a proper going over. So not only are we sat with no Kepler review, we don't have content that could otherwise have been prepared during that time.

There is a stark contrast between dealing with AMD and dealing with nVidia. The former are forthcoming, open, clear and honest. If nVidia had just said 'no' it wouldn't be so bad.

I'm just working myself up into a mood over this :-\
 
As I recall Nvidia snubbed us when the GTX580 launched as well, not sure why they dont like us?
That said we have been very fortunate getting review samples so we should not complain too much
 
^ I dont see the 7970 as a appointment, maybe I'm missing something, AMD is still pretty close to the latest Nvidia offering
 
Both HD7970 and GTX680 are beasts, definitely no disappointments from either side.
 
You guys want overclocked results? How about from the king himself?


k|ngp|n said:
New green cards out. IMO the most impressive GPU's NVIDIA ever produced. They are marketing it as the fastest GPU ever built. After benching it this past week with my lab mate TiN, I think I have to agree. These cards are monsters and have really insane overclocking potential on both air and extreme cooling. I think for most common end user of high end discrete gpus, you will be EXTREMELY happy with what they have done for your high end gaming system. You will also get a glimpse of what these sick cores are capable of with extreme LN2 cooling and PROPER voltage/modding/tuning. We invited our good friends over at VR-ZONE to stop by the lab in TAIWAN for a pre-launch visit to give a LIVE demo of high the cores can overclock on LN2 :D

Here we have the new EVGA GTX680's in both single and quad sli setups being tested fully overclocked on air using STOCK VRM/REFERENCE fan sink design to showcase what kind of potential there is for high end HW enthusiasts. I am using the most demanding 3dmark apps to fully load the cards. 3DMARK 11, 3DMARK VANTAGE, and HEAVEN. I will also be using EVGA's brand new VGA overclocking utility PRECISION X that was designed around and made to work perfectly with GTX680.

Lab test setup:
EVGA GTX680 (single and quad sli)
EVGA X79 CLASSIFIED + 3930K / 3960X
EVGA SR2- CLASSIFIED + X5690

16GB GSKILL RIPJAWS memory
EVGA CLASSIFIED 1200W psus


I manage to overclock this card to nearly 1420mhz on air with fans running @full speed. Crazy job NVIDIA!! Easy 4.6ghz on 3960X.

When comparing my GTX 680 or really any results with those of 7970, always keep in mind that all scores here are done with FULL TESSELATION and not using any sort of driver cheats that reduce it in TESSELATION heavy benchmarks as AMD drivers do.
3DMARK 11 (all 3 presets)
E18375-GTX680-AIR.jpg

P12510-GTX680-AIR.jpg

X4313-GTX680-AIR.jpg

3DMARK VANTAGE (P and X presets)
P45180-GTX680-AIR.jpg

X24548-GTX680-AIR.jpg

DX11 HEAVEN
2422-Heaven-GTX680-AIR.jpg

Now for quad numbers I was really impressed that I nearly hit the the same clocks for 3DMARK 11 in 4-way as I did single due to the great thermals on the card. 1388mhz core frequency in QUAD SLI not bad for reference air cooling and stock vrm:

3DMARK11 (all 3 presets)
E29480-GTX680-QUAD-AIR.jpg

P28938-GTX680-QUAD-AIR.jpg

X14093-GTX680-QUAD-AIR.jpg

TiN is really sick guys and I am so lucky to have this guy working by my side @EVGA labs. A lot of hard was put in here to show you guys what these GTX680 cores are capable of when they are given the proper tuning, modding, and overclocked without limits. As I said at the top, we invited the guys from VR-zone to come by the lab and check out what this new gpu core from nvidia is capable of on extreme cooling.
How about 1850mhz? :D Just a little little bit short of current 15k single card 3D11 WR using only 5.5ghz 3930K and slower gpu memory speed here, and again that is with full tesselation running 3dMARK 11 the way it is meant to be used, the score would be nearly 1k higher with a huge boost in GT4 if the same driver hacks that AMD is using were used.
Setup is capable of 16k single card regardless when pushed all the way and today we got 1900 stable, we think 2ghz is possible with more tuning. Just need more time. Tried 2 cards on Ln2 to obtain this result so far...its all modding that makes this frequency possible
:eek:
1850mhz-GTX680.jpg
 
Oh my god... 1848Mhz... And people were bragging about the 7970 hitting 1800. DOn't get me wrong, the 7970 is a fantastic card, but the 680 is just that notch above and if it can OC just as much (using Epower board), then that's INSANE.

My MSI 680 order is currently "processing" over @ NCIX.ca ... DAM YOU HURRY UP NCIX!! :D
 
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I doubt that was on the stock VRM. These are the two premier overclockers employed at EVGA.

A lot of hard was put in here to show you guys what these GTX680 cores are capable of when they are given the proper tuning, modding, and overclocked without limits. As I said at the top, we invited the guys from VR-zone to come by the lab and check out what this new gpu core from nvidia is capable of on extreme cooling.
...
Tried 2 cards on Ln2 to obtain this result so far...its all modding that makes this frequency possible

Chances are it had an untouchable attached to the cards.
 
Is it just me or does this card look like its going to have severe memory bandwidth issues? I mean, just look at some of the reviews, at 1920 the card seems a lot faster than the 7970 but at 2560 and high they're about the same. When you go below 1920 the card just gets so much faster % wise.

Either way its a great looking card and will drive prices down which is what I want. :)
 
They just need to get that modded bios out so we all can reach those speeds. Without it, I believe the dynamic overclocking will step in and knock it back... :(
 
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