SOLVED 670 FTW vs 680 FTW vs 680 Classified

kristian221 · Dec 12, 2012

So I am went through all the cards in the 4GB section, and came out with these 3 as my top contestants. I play on Nvidia Surround with 3 1920x1080 monitors, I like to crank up all the settings, and hate anything under the 60fps mark. What do you think would best suit me here?

Card comparison

Knufire · Dec 12, 2012

Any reason why you're only looking at NVDIA? Unless you're doing 3D too...a 7970 might be a better option. GPU power of the 680 with 3GB of vRAM for like $80 less than the 4GB 670.

In general, there's no such thing as overkill for triple monitor.

kristian221 · Dec 12, 2012

Knufire said:
Any reason why you're only looking at NVDIA? Unless you're doing 3D too...a 7970 might be a better option. GPU power of the 680 with 3GB of vRAM for like $80 less than the 4GB 670.

In general, there's no such thing as overkill for triple monitor.

Honestly just because I have pretty much always used Nvidia, and it has always been reliable. A lot of developers hire Nvidia to optimize their game for the Nvidia cards (which is a shady practice on Nvidia's part to be honest), I enjoy the driver updates with noticeable difference, PhysX, and just how overall it just....feels more professional to me? Can't really explain that last part, but maybe it is just because when using AMD in the past I have had problems. I'm in college so if I am going to be dropping this much on something, I want it to be something I feel very safe with.

MattNo5ss · Dec 12, 2012

Fixed your thread title from 5xx to 6xx.

For nothing under 60 FPS at 5760x1080 in BF3, looks like you'll need 3-way SLI based on TPU. I'd go with GTX670's since their performance is VERY close to GTX680's and it'll save you ~$100 per card.

EarthDog · Dec 12, 2012

^^ This.

A couple of high end cards should do the job. 2x 7970's will come close, as will 2 670s/680s.

kristian221 · Dec 12, 2012

MattNo5ss said:
Fixed your thread title from 5xx to 6xx.

For nothing under 60 FPS at 5760x1080 in BF3, looks like you'll need 3-way SLI based on TPU. I'd go with GTX670's since their performance is VERY close to GTX680's and it'll save you ~$100 per card.

Oh wow I named it 5xx series?

Brain fart I guess.

Hmmm honestly I don't play BF3, I play planetside 2, Skyrim, looking into Arkham City, Witcher 2, ect. and if a game is crazy on the graphics front like Crysis I am fine with using just one monitor, surround is only available in certain games anyways. I wouldn't have the money to do 3 way SLI, or even 2 way SLI, I just found the opportunity to sell my current cards and pay the difference to get a new one.

MattNo5ss · Dec 12, 2012

A single card on 5760x1080 won't give you minimum 60FPS with all the settings cranked, you'll need a multi-GPU solution for that. If you look through the other gaming results in the article I linked, Arkham City was at ~35FPS with no AA and SKyrim was at ~43FPS with 4xAA when testing at 5760x1080 on a single GTX670/680.

If you can only get a single card, I'd still recommend the GTX670 since the GTX680 isn't worth the extra ~$100 in my opinion. You'll just have to turn the eye candy down or use one monitor, like you mentioned, if you want to increase FPS.

Anonaru · Dec 12, 2012

kristian221 said:
Oh wow I named it 5xx series? Brain fart I guess.

Hmmm honestly I don't play BF3, I play planetside 2, Skyrim, looking into Arkham City, Witcher 2, ect. and if a game is crazy on the graphics front like Crysis I am fine with using just one monitor, surround is only available in certain games anyways. I wouldn't have the money to do 3 way SLI, or even 2 way SLI, I just found the opportunity to sell my current cards and pay the difference to get a new one.

Warning: You will have some frame rate staggers no matter what card(s) you use in Planetside 2.. That game just cannot escape its addiction to needing your CPU >_>

7970, 670 4GB, or 680 4GB will be your best bets for the most part

kristian221 · Dec 12, 2012

Ok, so now I am pretty much looking at a one monitor situation (though still using the other 2 as seperate displays) in stead of surround. That help with the desicion at all?

I see the FTW edition of the 680 is more popular, yet the classified 680 looks to be the same card but slightly more overclocked for only a small increase in price, what's the difference other than that?

MattNo5ss · Dec 12, 2012

The Classified is meant for extreme OCing with LN2, phase, DICE, and hard mods for voltage control. It has a beefier power section to handle the extreme OCs, but the since EVBot connector was removed there's no need for the beefy power section since there's no voltage control without hard mods (0.005% or less people actually do hard mods) this killed the only real advantage the Classified had over the vanilla GTX680.

Again, the GTX670 is the way to go, in my opinion. It's almost identical to the GTX680 in performance, yet ~$100 cheaper. You can't go wrong with the GTX680 either as far as performance goes, but you'll be paying like 25% more money for less than 10% more performance.

Boulard83 · Dec 12, 2012

Im currently running a SINGLE GTX670 2gb on a surround setup (5760x1080) and BF3 with ULTRA settings ( no MSAA ) runs 50-60 FPS without any stutter or slowdown on a single card at 1050mhz. If i push the card to 1200-1250mhz, she can handle a constant 60FPS. The only few place where the FPS drop under 50fps is on very open maps and massive explosion and stuff going on but this is nothing that really is visible on gameplay, its only visible on FPS meter. My CPU is a 3820 @ 4.2ghz.

[fanboyON]I dont want to act as the "nvidia fanboy" but alot of review from HardOCP seems to "demonstrate" that Nvidia SLI feels better that ATI CF, mostly on 3 monitor setup. They say that the game need more FPS on ATI VS Nvidia setup to have the same smoothness in game. So in the end, even if the Nvidia setup is a little behind on paper, the gameplay is better. [FanboyOFF]

Ill surelly add a second GTX670 2gb to my setup but i currently dont need more GPU power and i dont play title like VF3 that much, my racing Sims are on the Vsync all the time on this single GPU + surround setup.

kristian221 · Dec 12, 2012

Yeah leaning towards the 670, I have heard a LOT of people saying the 680 is out of place due to its minor increase in performance. And so in other words the FTW is better than the classified unless your looking to do some serious overclocking?

50-60fps at that resolution with ultra settings?? Kinda contradicts what he was saying earlier.

Anonaru · Dec 12, 2012

kristian221 said:
Yeah leaning towards the 670, I have heard a LOT of people saying the 680 is out of place due to its minor increase in performance. And so in other words the FTW is better than the classified unless your looking to do some serious overclocking?

Hit the nail on the head. I personally suggest the 670s.. Really the 670s in my sig are going to out last my 680s due to their 4GB onboard. Shame, isn't it?

EarthDog · Dec 12, 2012

EXTREME (cooling) overclocking, yep.

Boulard83 · Dec 12, 2012

Read my post just above yours, we posted at the same time.

kristian221 said:
Yeah leaning towards the 670, I have heard a LOT of people saying the 680 is out of place due to its minor increase in performance. And so in other words the FTW is better than the classified unless your looking to do some serious overclocking?

Both the Classy and the FTW ( and the Normal ) will OC at ~1200mhz. You have a little better VRMs on the FTW, and even more on the Classy but in the end, the limiting factor is the chance you have on the GPU. AFAIK, they dont bin these GPU so a simple GTX670 may end up OCing further that a Classy. But the Classy/FTW have better chance to last longer over time due the better VRMs.

Edit : As EarthDog said, under Xtrem cooling, with better VRMs, The FTW and Classy could acheive better clock.

kristian221 · Dec 12, 2012

All right, I think I have decided on the 670 FTW edition (unless you know a better one). But i just want to make sure with you guys, I won't see any DECREASE in performance at all will I, switching to one 670 from two OC 560s?

Anonaru · Dec 12, 2012

kristian221 said:
All right, I think I have decided on the 670 FTW edition (unless you know a better one). But i just want to make sure with you guys, I won't see any DECREASE in performance at all will I, switching to one 670 from two OC 560s?

Doubtful, especially looking forward where more vRAM is necessary.. You won't regret the silky smooth feel that a single card offers

EarthDog · Dec 12, 2012

I havent seen any direct comparison benchmarks is the problem. 2 560ti's are a lot faster than a 580 with proper scaling. If they are 560's (non TI) then I would guess absolutely, but 560ti's Im thinking it will be close...but the less power consumption, less heat, less trouble with a single card, would lead me to the 670 regardless if I lost a few FPS. A 670 is MORE than enough on a single monitor.

kristian221 · Dec 12, 2012

They are just 560's, not the 560ti.

Anonaru · Dec 12, 2012

kristian221 said:
They are just 560's, not the 560ti.

You will not regret it one bit then.. It will look better, feel more responsive, and seem smoother than multi-GPU solution..

Also gives you a future upgrade path, and futureproofing. Also, the 670s are just smexy cards

SOLVED 670 FTW vs 680 FTW vs 680 Classified

Member

Senior Member

Member

5up3r m0d3r4t0r

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

Member

5up3r m0d3r4t0r

Member

Member

5up3r m0d3r4t0r

Member

Member

Member

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

Member

Member

Member

Gulper Nozzle Co-Owner

Member

Member

Similar threads