Overclockers

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.

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 :-\

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5699/n...gtx-680-review

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

Added VR-Zone.

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!!

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.

That is just insane, thanks for sharing Hokie

If these things truly beat out dual 6990's I may be looking to sell my 6950's as a pair and make up the difference for one of these babies, I guess time will tell.

TiN's guide to fully modding your GTX680. Not for the faint of heart!

Nice burebista; interesting they used an untouchable on air and that it survived 1.5V without issue. Thanks for sharing!

As far as our end of things, I've been told a card from EVGA was shipped yesterday. EarthDog purchased one from Newegg (a Gigabyte model) so we've got two of these beasts coming for review so far!

Impressive...I see the DVI stack has an odd shape so none of the existing 3-fan aftermarket coolers will fit the 680

I suspect 685 will be the next single GPU Kepler

As I understand it (not from NVIDIA, just from reading around) GK110 isn't finished yet, so they couldn't release that. AMD was kicking their prior gen in the rear-end and they had something that could beat it at a better price point. Thus, GK104 was released at a lower price.

AMD has reportedly said they aren't sweating and can beat this (with one GPU), so it was actually smart business not to tip their hand with the full GK110 beast.

It might not be the best for the consumer, but these guys exist to make money. Why release something that puts the competition squarely in their rear-view and charge $600 when you can beat it by a little bit and charge $50 less than the competition at $500?

The GK110 wasn't anywhere close to done. It just taped out in January/February if you believe the rumor mill. The GK104 wasn't released simply because it was competitive, it was released because it's what they had available. Regardless of what it was "supposed" to be or what chip it follows up on is irrelevant. Nobody here was in the nVidia board room during planning, so nobody knows. Just because the GPU number makes it coincide with the 560ti doesn't mean it was initially intended to be a 660ti. Fact is, it is what it is, and it's what nVidia brought to market. It's a compelling product with good thermals, moderate power consumption, and very good performance at a price point that's extremely competitive. Given its relatively small die size, the price should stay competitive for quite some time. Neither nVidia nor AMD have any obligation to sell their wares for any given percentage over their cost. All these companies have shareholders, and shareholders tend to demand profits, so the products are priced at a level that they think the market will bear. I wish this stuff were less expensive too, but reality is reality and if wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets, y'know?

I tend to think that the GK110 will be a 700 series card, but with the naming shenanigans of recent GPU generations, nobody can really say for sure. nVidia might go to the 7 series just to catch their numbering up to AMD. Time will tell.

Our first victim has arrived. Please excuse the cell photo.



Unfortunately we have visitors this weekend and I can't touch it until next week, but rest assured it will be tortured as much as I can well when the time comes!

But thats how you compare... Stock vs Stock. Sure you can overclock a 7970 to the moon, but is it enough to beat an overclocked 680 (which also clocks well (maybe not as far as 7970)? Is it worth the extra $50 (in the US), power consumption, noise to see? Thats up to the user.

I dont think I have witnessed that sentiment (acceptable b/c its Nvidia). There are a couple of games the 7970 wins, but the rest the 680 takes it (Read: Anandtech review, Tom's, Techpowerup).

In reading the Anand review, it beats out the GTX 580 by an average of like 30-40%. Thats big. Prior to its release, the GTX580 was selling (in the US) from $400-$530 (non watercooled). Now its $360 - $500 (non watercooled).

I dont understand this... I would imagine it would catch up and possibly beat it. BUT, (like fractions) do to one side what you do to another. When you overclock the 680, I would imagine it still beat out the 7950.

Mmm... I am waiting for IB to be launched for my next rig, and am still wondering:7970 or 680?

As it's been said already, it seems that the 7970 overclocks somehow higher than the 680, and this is OCF, no?

IF the 7970 price drops by $/€50-100 , I think I will go AMD. If not, it will be 680 for me...

You need to look at the overclockers uk forum then lol its proper swinging handbags !
Like I said though the gtx 680 reference card stock is 1066core mem 6000, core boost is around 1110-/= depending on tdp and temperature.
In comparison the 7970 reference stock in reviews is 925 core mem 5500. So quite a big difference. As i'm sure you're aware it'd be easier to do our own reviews on the hardware we own, but i cant afford a 7970 and 680 to compare.

Please don't think i'm trying to derial this thread by the way I'm still working out with reviews and findings to the performance difference betwen the two cards. The problem with different review sites is they all have
different hardware ie cpu, ram etc. and different ways to measure .
Like techpoweup sometimes dont use msaa 4x in some benches, where anandtech do.

For the 1536 mb 580's (aircooled) the prices havent really changed here in the uk at around 320- 340 gbp.

The only reason I brought up the 7950, is because for its price average = 330-350 gbp its around 80-100 gbp
cheaper than a 7970 and 680.
Martini currently owns a 7950 oc, and he has just bought a 680. He is going to put them back to back. Of course
the luck relies upon on the silicon overclocking, but hopefully he'll be able to work out the max oc of both
cards. The end result will be how much of a punch the 7950 offers for the money.

This is only a snippet of info I was able to attain so far, as im at work,
but on guru 3d it shows how much the 7970 scaled in 2 games from overclocking.
I'm not biasing this info it's just the only info I have found at the moment.


Summarised Crysis 2: 1920 x1200
DirectX 11
High Resolution Texture Pack
Ultra Quality settings
4x AA
Level - Times Square (2 minute custom time demo)

Standard 7970 61 fps
Asus duII oc 1000x5600 66 fps
Asus duII oc'd 1250x6000 76fps
std 680 1006 1058 6000 63fps
680 oc'd 1264 1264 6634 70fps

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alien vs pred 1920x1200 4x aa 16af

Standard 7970 55 fps
Asus duII oc 1000x5600 61 fps
Asus duII oc'd 1250x6000 71 fps
std 680 1006 1058 6000 52 fps
680 oc'd 1264 1264 6634 58 fps
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes this is only 2 games, I'm well aware of the potential of the 680 in bf3 and other games vs the 7970. This is

just to prove how much the 7970 can scale when overclocked and how benchmarks showing the std 7970 vs the 680

could show different results.

For the links from my summary here they are
http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-r...u-ii-review/23
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-680-review/25


Like I said if i owned both cars id bench them with a wide variation of games.
but its hard to cross reference different review sites with their fps because the results differ. Just like my pc would someone elses.

@ davedree i here you, it's hard to cross reference fps from different web sites. I've been wanting to update my pc for a year now but looking at benchmark from different sites they get me going crazy because i shouldn't be beating the numbers they are throwing up or coming close but since i been on this site i heard about anAndtech web site it seems to be more realistic.The links you put up i cant believe there is no way i can beat a 580 let a lone a 680

What are you comparing that to?

@ frakk i'am comparing it to davedree links

ok thanks, i will look them over tomorow to catch the fullest of what your getting at.

I just looked, thats confusing, looking at that it looks like you beat a stock GTX 680 with a 6950?!?!?!

That's not right and i have noticed it myself,- in that apparently similar setups from different sites do not match at all sometimes, at times even similar benches from different times from the same reviewer are way off eachother....

One could argue its down to different hardware or even drivers but some look so far off it looks like numbers they have simply pulled out of there collective rear ends.

Strange old going on.

(With respect)


Perhaps, for its just just hot air, "we have a supper dooper end all card in the form of GK110 but its not quite ready yet, when it is it will change the world... look at how good we are, now buy my T-Shirt"

A large serving of salt with that please....

Companies posture and talk themselves up all the time, making bold claims is one thing. putting it on the shelves is quite another

Yes, the last thing i want is to get into an argument over this, what i see on the shelves is no killer, what i see is something that is a little better and a little cheaper, a little is not a lot to make up or beat.

Whats on the shelves has not lived upto its hype.

It is better no mater how you look at it (we agree on that) yet far from all that... its clocked much higher then its competition, its just possible all they have to do is release one at similar clocks and drop the price, job done.

I don't recall it coming from nVidia marketing. I recall the "2x performance per watt" coming from leaks and leaked internal slides. Please correct me if I'm wrong (with source links if possible). It's possible the 2x performance per watt thing was an internal goal. Internal goals are typically aggressive in order to drive innovation and encourage engineers to consider everything they can. They're not typically public because they're not always met.

If the information Frakk is basing his criticism on was never meant to be public, I think it's more than a bit unfair to judge based on that metric. Now, that Italian PR guy with the "It'll be untouchable" or something to that effect statement before launch, HE certainly deserves a good slapping.

GeForce GTX 680, Part 2: SLI, 5760x1080, And Overclocking

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ound,3162.html

Haven't read it yet, going to now!

oops

Just been playing BF3 for a while this morning. Temps are reasonable, 70C (~25C room temp) seems to be the limit, as because it drops down one boost clock multiplier at this point which prevents it from going over 70C. The game runs very smoothly with everything on ultra, even on the larger maps. Around 1700MB Vram is in use, but varies map-map. Definite improvement over my HD5970 - the 1GB of memory wasn't sufficient to avoid FPS drops in firefights.

^^

Is your avatar crooked or is it just me?

lol, it seems to have rotated.

That's usually the way of it from one generation to the next. In order to beat my SLI 260s, I would've had to buy a GTX580. GTX570 would just match the performance. Granted, it would do it with less heat produced, more features (DX11), and with a single card instead of two, but once you go SLI and get used to the performance it offers, it's kinda tough to go back to a single GPU type of setup.

I had like 30min, so I installed the card and ran a couple benchmarks. This thing is a beast. It also looks to be just under an inch shorter than an HD 6970, so it's big power in a small package. No photos yet. For one of the first times ever I chose to run it before taking photos. Time is precious.

These are run bone stock with a 2600K (2133 RAM) & GTX 680.



That graphics score beats the stock 7970 by 3724 marks.



This one beat the stock 7970 by 2430 marks.

Wow.

Why does it say PCI-e @ 1.1 on your GPU-z?

The GPU does this? In my gpu-z it says it is always running at 2.0x mode :s

Seems to overclock quite well, left mine at +150Mhz for now and has been running well in BF3 and on Cuda units (I cannot seem to get 2 instances to run yet):

That makes sense, just got a bit confused because it sounded like the GPU was responsible. I am waiting for Ivy Bridge before finally upgrading my CPU, still on LGA 1366

That's a nice OC, seems pretty easy..

You won't havy anything to worry about with that processor! You have it overclocked? That will reduce any possible bottleneck by the CPU! I don't feel bottlenecked and I am using a Core i7 965 (sig).

That CPU wont bottleneck anything, other than maybe some specific CPU intensive games, but even higher end CPUs will still have difficulty in the same games. If anything, the GTX680 further removes CPU dependency by optimizing for DX11. The 680 is the king of the hill with DX11, it LOVES DX11.

It all depends on what you mean by bottleneck. There isn't a single GPU benchmark that I am aware of that doesn't benefit from OCing a 2600K from 5GHz to 5.5GHz.
Does that mean it's bottlenecked? Hard to say IMO.

In any case you won't find a faster CPU till IB comes out anyway, so don't worry about it. (Technically SB-E might be faster, but if the SB is OC'd it will probably be OC'd further than the SB-E due to heat, which makes up for the slightly lower clock/clock performance)

I haven't got them installed currently, also had to reset the CMOS on the motherboard to just get the pc to boot after switching cards, so I am back at stock CPU speeds for now I won't have much chance at scoring well on those compared to people with 2600K's

Any word on the evga gtcx 680 hydro classifieds?

I want 2 :-)

Maximum CPU is totaly dependable on system. On system with low heat-capacity the SB-E with a slight stock volt-OC is more powerful than a volt raised OC-K series (cant handle that heat), even for gaming. Although, nothing can be build that cheap and provide so much power for the bucks such as a K-system. Although i still think that the future will be 6 core and as soon as a game is using it well, its very hard to catch up with 6 cores on a 4 core CPU, because every core will have to work 33% faster. Mostly it only works because most games arnt supporting 6 threads very well but that behaviour may change. So finally, systems with high heat capacity (high is the stuff which allows for non heat capped OC) can always push further using SB-E. Systems with no heat capacity will come further too. Best stuff for 4 core is mainstream systems with average heat capacity or systems which have to be cost-effective. On IB-E the heat issue will become lower, so the smaller systems will be at advantage and IB-E, might become volt-OC able, everywhere except laptops.

Until yet, there wasnt a single game able to push a Nehalem-E, SB-E or equivalent stuff to its very limit as long as only a single GPU used and at least 1080P. The GPU is the limiting factor at below 60 FPS. Everything above makes no sense to me.

I never heard about such a thing such as DX11 CPU dependency. The elements implemented in DX11 are pretty much a GPU only matter. As far as i can remember, the CPU was never of that low importance in whole history because pretty much any low cost CPU (I3 150$ CPU = very sufficient) nowadays is sufficient for gaming. That was not like that in the past and i paid much more for a C2D which was never truly sufficient but more sufficient than any single core (compared to price).

I'll check NVIDIA control panel as soon as I'm able. Frantically trying to finish up a motherboard review so I can properly test this thing. Unfortunately that includes re-installing windows for SSD cache testing.

The shroud definitely doesn't have GTX670Ti etched into it. Unless it's under the EVGA sticker and is so shallow it can't be felt through it.

You can OC A 2600K rather significantly before you hit the same heat output as a stock sb-e.
People have been saying "wait till stuff uses more threads, then you'll see!" for most of a decade now, you really have to look at how things are now, rather than how they might be "soon".

The xbox has 3 cores. I think the one in the PS3 (the Cell processor) is either 6 or 8, but is [as far as I know] only used in a PS3 and its computational power isn't close to what a current day quad can do.

2007 was 5 years ago, and at that time a dual core was pretty much all that was needed. I had my E8400 until 2008 when I built myself an i7 920 system (which I ran with HT off most of the time for less heat/more overclockability)

Its 2012. That information, 5 years ago, was correct.

Back when Quads were new, I always recommended people get them since they would hold up better over time and offer more performance right away at the time. Same thing with when dual-core cpu's were new... each time, people didn't want to believe it. *shrug* Indeed 5 years ago that info was correct.

After reading Guru3D's SLI testing I think I'll wait. I wanted to replace my twoGTX570's in SLI with a single GTX 680 but my GTX 570's in SLI are faster. So until I can afford two cards I'll pass. Also I would have liked to have seen more VRAM. 2GB is not really enough for high end games in 5760 x 1080 surround.

Maybe a "GTX 685" could be a single card replacement for my current SLI cards.

AMDs six+ core is barely more expensive than a egg for lunch compared to Intel SB-E which costs a huge fortune. A high end user usualy get the six+ pack AMD as far as i know, everything different is foolish. Regarding Xbox, its 3 cores but 6 threads (resulting in almost same behaviour such as a 6 core). A 6 core SB-E is 6 core and 6 threads without HT. PS3 is 6 active cores, 1 of them is used as a backup.

A Quadcore at OC is still able to run ANY game nowadays. "Good" is a relative term because for a OCer good means 200 FPS and for a standart user it would be 40-60 FPS. But the impact is still not that high as it seems to be, quads still can hold up well in most games.

I always think 4-5 years in advance because im usualy not gonna replace a PC CPU for that time. In term of C2D, it got nasty the last 1-2 years of its lifetime (outdated at 2010+).

Besides, yes there is games using 6 cores:
-EVE Online (does support almost endless amount of cores as far as i know. At some tests, a E-type had a very balanced load at all 6 cores)
-WoW (high core AMD CPU is huge gain)
-Supreme Commander (close to endless core support)

Games which benefits from 6, isnt fully tuned for but still is at advantage (off load):
-Civ 5 and much more.

Possible to support *put amount inside* cores? Yes. Why not using it? We are lazy developer and only support Intel.

As long as only playing 1080P, it isnt. Higher than that, and eyefinity, i would not feel to confident at some games in near future. Futureproof (usualy means +5 years to me) means clearly 3GB+. RAM is fun stuff, as long as sufficient, they are not noticed. As soon as overused, they will be noticed more than any other part...

Remember: Xbox720, PS4, Wii U is soon to be released, PC demand will soon improve good margin as it usualy will react to it. Because many stuff is a improved port with much better graphic and finally exorbitant RAM use.

?!?! You can disable HT, i know of no gamer who is enabling HT. HT is for applications outside gaming who will actually benefit from. 4 core got HT too, they will have 8 threads but gamer usualy disabling it.

Core i7-3930K is not a SB-E, thats a K-type. Although, for gaming it would probably perform the same so i would say its best deal when a gamer feels the urge to go 6 cores.

I don't see what your argument is in the post that I quoted. You say that SB-E is 6c/6t with HT turned off... which is true, but I don't see what the point is? The point is that it can do 12t if it is desired by the user, AMD CPUs cannot.

Lastly, these last 10 or so posts have pretty much nothing to do with the Kepler lineup.

I read that too and call me a snob but 50-60 FPS @ 5760 x 1080 4xAA in BF3 or Metro 2033 is just not enough to get me to run out and buy two.

I went through my Nvidia surround phase. BFBC2, Just Cause 2 and other games looked and ran great. But I pretty much gave up when BF3 came along. I could get two or three of the 3GB GTX 580's but that's very expensive and uses a lot of power.

These cards do look like a step in the right direction don't get me wrong. I just wish they came with 4GB of RAM for the high eye candy settings. I think that is what is holding them back. But drivers may need optimization and such so I hold out hope. I'll keep saving my $$ just in case!

It seems to be holding its own at very high res so far, but i still don't think its wise to give such a high end card the minimum Vram needed to compete right now.

Games are not standing still. they are moving forward very fast and it looks like they will be becoming more and more Vram hungry as there will be more graphical elements they need to deal with.

Vram is starting to become important.

@ Bobnova, take cost into account, 2600K = £240, Phenom II x6 £130. There are aeriers where the £130 x6 will beat a £170 2500k.
Its not as black and white as that.
Also, there are games where the £190 FX-8150 will match or beat the £240 2600K frame for frame, F-1 2011 is one of a few where it beats it, just as an example.
Its more dependant on the programmer, and whether or not they can be bothered.

The amount of submissions on the bot, and the challenges for overclocking compared to what people are throwing out with 7970's is also a concern for me.

I'm a benchmarker though, not a gamer... So pure overclockability is more important to me. Also, if anything, the results by TiN/Kingpin give me more concern than they do confidence - they were using a modded BIOS (non-public?) to work around the default performance scaling behavior, and TiN has hardware modding skills that enable performance well beyond what is attainable by most.

I see the 7970 getting crazy overclocks and bench numbers by a great number of overclockers, and I'm watching to see if the same becomes true of the 680. So far its not looking good though its very early - but the 7970 jumped out of the gate with ferocity. The 680 came out of the gate with a thud.

I like its gaming performance, and I'm glad its competitive. But on pure overclockability, it doesn't seem to lend itself to the masses as well as the 7970 thus far.

Agree with this (IMOG).

I am a gamer, more so than a bencher these days () and at 2560x1440, so I need this horsepower.

Hopefully the bios' get out to the public so it can be a bit easier to do it like the 7970.

^ Yeah, I don't see the point of buying this card if you're gaming at 1680x1050 on a 460. If you really want a new card maybe waiting until a '660ti' comes out. Or just SLI your 460 on the cheap.

Depends on your definition of "shortly". GK110 rumors have launching in August if all goes well.

Valid points. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens when companies like EVGA release their non-reference cards with things like 5 phase power with 8+6 connectors. Hopefully that will improve things on the overclocking front.

This is easy. Buy a bigger monitor.

Good news hokie

I canceled my MSI 680 (backordered) and ordered an in-stock evga, should ve here friday or early next week!

From benches it looks like the GTX680 is equal to or better than the HD7970 at 5760x1080 or less. The GTX680 also uses less power, creates less heat, makes less noise, and even costs less. What is being milked?

By the time more than 2GB of vRAM is needed on a resolution less than triple screen, the GTX680 and HD7970 will be old as dirt (in PC years) and there will be much better cards available performance wise that will also have more vRAM...

What am I missing

The cost of the 4GB version over the 2GB will probably make it a waste of cash to me, but if prices were very close then I guess I'd consider it.

YAY! I just received track for mine! look like this is gonna be a very good friday!

Apparently user of X79 are stuck at pci-e 2.0 for now:

http://www.techpowerup.com/162942/Ge...E-Systems.html

It's capable not I believe it's not certified.
Check on Intel x79 website
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...s-chipset.html

Kind of funny. Seems Intel has been having issues with chipsets lately. They fix it but I wish they would solve issues like this before hand.

Well...this GPU is (very painfully) heading to MattNo5ss for the rest of its review. I have, um, something else coming that's going to take up all my time and just couldn't do this nice piece of hardware justice. Alas, parting is such sweet sorrow.

I am sure he will not confirm
or deny.

You should watch some PG movies..

lol I mean G-rated, like Disney's Tinkerbell.

It was funny, I'll give you that!

I now own a copy of Tinkerbell, the movie.

For this thread Dawn > Tinkerbell...

Kepler "New Dawn" Tech Demo

Ditto. And when are we gonna be able to download the new tech demos for ourselves? I keep checking nvidia's site..

Yep, and this article is biaised: on every bench, the 680@stock is faster/better than the 7970 overclocked, and still, it says that, visually, they "could not make a difference"... Of course, between 55 and 65 FPS, the human eye (inless being bionic!) doesn't make any difference.

But in the coming games taking advantage of this 10/15% extra fps, then it wil be visible: 40 vs 45/48 DOES make a visual difference. And let's not even talk of multi displays setups.

Its pretty clear there is a winner when averaging things out (IMHO). In your link Frakk, in the stock vs stock graph (as clock for clock comparisons are frankly asinine to me - you are overclocking one card with a COMPLETELY different architecture to match another card's clockspeeds which makes no sense) it wins 12 of 18 benchmarks @ 1920x1080 w/ AA (the most common resolution). Some games just work better naturally with different implementations and some are TWIMTBP games and others sponsored by AMD. So you add up winning in most games/benchmarks, costing $50 less, using less power, and quieter in reference form, it seems pretty clear to me(most) who stands a bit taller between the two. Excluding the other stuff and focusing on performance for the majority (1920x1080 or less) its still heads above the rest in most cases. The only way I can see that stance holding water is if you only play the 2 games where there is actually a difference (AvP, Civ V). Will you notice some of the differences, like the hexus article said, you really dont, but that is when the other factors come in to play (price, power, noise).

Performance wise it wasnt a knockout punch (wins across the board), that I agree with, but it sure was a solid left to the chin (winning most, a lot handily 10%+), especially being a 'mid-range' card if you go by the core used. Then it took a few more body blows with the pricing/power side of the house... so then you have a softened fighter.

Boxing analogy FTL!

+1
I couldn't say it better myself

Truer words never spoken IMO

@ EarthDog just relax dude there is little in them, you talk up this card rather a lot, its not that special its just the latest high end card with a little step over the last high end single GPU card, no one disagrees its cheaper (right now) or a that its good allround card.

Soon the will be another one to take its place, that's how the cookie crumbles..

I think you can make better word choices than that, don't you Frakk? -hokie

@Frakk

I don't really see how EarthDog was inflating the GTX 680 in his post. He was merely saying that you can't compare clock for clock especially when one of the cards has to overclock or underclock to make such a comparison. Making stock clock comparisons is fine and fair, and we all know how that ends...

any1 seen any of these around US e-tailers??

EVGA 02G-P4-2684-KR

Nope.. but looks like EVGA has you covered.

You can also try typing in that number in Froogle and see what that turns up.

With different architectures, clocks mean nothing.

What would be a good indicator would be to benchmark@stock+x% for both cards, as Bobnova wisely highlight earlier.

EDIT: competitor of the 6970 is the 570, right? The 6970 runs@860/1375 and the 570 runs@732/950. Would you compare the 570 to the 6970@same clocks? The 570 would litterally kills the 6970... Does it mean the 570 is better? No! Because the 6970 overclocks much higher under normal cooling conditions (air/water) than the 570. Which means that at their respective highest OC (still under conventional cooling), they are still neck and neck.

I run at stock. There is no need for me to overclock any of my last few cards I owned. I have been blessed to be able to have nice cards. But yeah, I dont overclock 24/7. I only overclock to benchmark.

MY only point up there was that I didnt like, in that review you linked, that they matched clocks and ran them like that was worth it.

I certainly understand your point of wanting to see how they both perform overclocked. The problem with that is every card overclocks different. So you may wind up with a dud, or a stud, you never know. BUT you are getting a midrange card in the first place so......these cards and how they clock are of little consequence in the first place. I can tell you first hand that the architecture down the chain, at least the cards I have, dont exactly scale as high as the 7900 series either. Thats why I personally look at stock clocks for comparisons.

Ehh, I'm well aware of the benefits. I do not remotely need to do so... 680 @ 2560x1440 = plenty good FPS for me in BF3 and everything. But thanks though!

(and I edited my post above. )

Can you use nvidia surround with different resolution monitors like you can with the 7xxx series AMD cards?

I ask because I happen to use one 1920x1080 and two 1280x1024 for day to day use (none gaming) right now.

Damn, did not know both manufactures would not enter low power mode in multiple monitor configurations.

Just in case the concern about not enough ram on the 680 is still kicking. Here is another review on 3 screens.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...adeon-hd-7970/

My tag is in the thread started by Janus.

By that time, there will be another BA card out from AMD or nVIdia that you won't be able to resist

I cant see the link, but know in the conclusion that they both, apparently, "suck" but the 680 beat out the 7970. My point was its not a ram issue like many have been concerned about in the past.

bah, drivers drivers drivers. When nvidia reaches level of driver maturity that AMD has, i "hope" the 680's will scale better for 2x/3x sli.

To be fair, you get better raw scaling with AMD, but worse micro-stutter problems as a general rule. Driver updates often result in measurable improvements over time with multi-GPU setups for both camps.

No microstutter in benchmarks BobN?

This is one of the few times that I have read someone praise AMD/ATI for their drivers over nVidia.

Overall I would say I have had less issues (single and dual card) with nVidia [less crashes and microstuttering] than I have with ATI. With that said, ATI has had better multi-card scaling for some time.

Just wait until the production catches up, and check once every 5 hours. It'll be in stock at some point.

instock right NOW...

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...s%20Family&sw=

edit, and they're gone... lmfao.

Had to pay an extra $25 bucks, but I noticed the Gigabyte was in stock today and I believe I snagged the last one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125421

With a static fan speed maybe. With a dynamic fan speed it'll probably be identical anyway :P