Gtx 680. Are you buying one? Why or why not?

[railven]

Welp, we got our GTX 680 today! Swapped out the GF's GTX 460 for it and then loaded up her favorite game - The Sims 3.

It seems that game is very dependent on your hard drive since it loads like a turtle. Cranked the settings to the highest they can go and she was getting 40FPS+ which according to her was what she'd get on her GTX 460 at medium settings.

She's happy, which makes me happy. Card installed no issue, not sure why but the two 6-pin power adapters are inverted (ie one you put with say Pin1 on the left, the other with pin1 on the right, so the clips face each other...thought that was weird.)

Happy days

 

[Stayfr0sty]

Dual GPU cards are like those inmense artifacts made by both sides during the cold war. The USSR had the Tzar Bomb, the biggest but close to useless bomb ever made.

Your clueless.

It's more that they are EOL than "sold out".

Both EOL and sold out cause of demand.

Did you see this bit....Come on man....
Theoretical Benchmarks

Care to compare 3dmark 11 graphics score? :whiste:

 

[Nemesis 1]

Yes Because I want to. I won't be guying the referance design tho . I wait on the EVGA 4gb model with Water blocks unless aquacomputer comes out with a non referance design for the EVGA . I really don't like the quality of ST waterblocks.

 

[Nintendesert]

Welp, we got our GTX 680 today! Swapped out the GF's GTX 460 for it and then loaded up her favorite game - The Sims 3.

It seems that game is very dependent on your hard drive since it loads like a turtle. Cranked the settings to the highest they can go and she was getting 40FPS+ which according to her was what she'd get on her GTX 460 at medium settings.

She's happy, which makes me happy. Card installed no issue, not sure why but the two 6-pin power adapters are inverted (ie one you put with say Pin1 on the left, the other with pin1 on the right, so the clips face each other...thought that was weird.)

Happy days

I thought that was weird on my end too, the pin connectors are opposite and face each other. I didn't get to play with it much today as I had some work to do, but hopefully tomorrow so I can get a more detailed impression of it.

 

[Dedpuhl]

I'm very happy with my 560 Ti's in SLI (for the price I paid). Unless there's a catastrophic failure, I won't need an upgrade anytime soon...

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Care to compare 3dmark 11 graphics score? :whiste:

Yeah I'd like to see that.

Make sure you give the results url so I can see the tessellation settings.

I imagine you'll get around 8k gpu score.

 

[SirPauly]

Was curious why nVidia offered their different 6 pin configuration and has to do with allowing more room for a bigger footprint for the fan and improved acoustics.

 

[Aikouka]

Hmm it seems like Splashtop no longer "crashes" Aero in Windows 7 now that I'm not using AMD drivers. The company said it was AMD's drivers, but I'll keep an eye on it anyway.

I actually had a bit of a noob moment when putting the card in and I forgot to plug in the PCI-E 6-pin power plugs. It was interesting to see that the computer won't even post; however, it will bring up a screen with some text saying, "Hey bud... plug those connectors in!" (obviously not even close to verbatim ).

I think the biggest annoyance that I've had to put up with so far is having to manually enable and disable nVision 3D. I just don't want it to turn on 3D in every damn media-related thing that I open, which includes Media Player Classic: Home Cinema and even iTunes. Fortunately, it's rather easy to just put the two shortcuts on the desktop.

Oh and EVGA... next time, put the sticker saying to remove the plastic film on the plastic film. Putting it on the card itself (or rather, on its shiny plastic-y decal) is just visually confusing. I was about to tear off the decal before I realized that it was actually part of the card.

I still need to install EVGA's PrecisionX, and see how that works.

EDIT:

I also found it interesting that EVGA requires you to buy an extended warranty (5 year at least) to be eligible for the step-up program (since the 680 doesn't have a lifetime warranty). $25 to be eligible for a possible upgrade over 3 months... :hmm:.

 

[Lonbjerg]

Waiting for Big Kepler...I have no need to upgrade to a midrange GPU(GK104)..

 

[Grooveriding]

I also found it interesting that EVGA requires you to buy an extended warranty (5 year at least) to be eligible for the step-up program (since the 680 doesn't have a lifetime warranty). $25 to be eligible for a possible upgrade over 3 months... :hmm:.

And only 30 days to decide to pay it, after that it's gone I took a pass on it, what use is it ? 3 years is enough warranty, after 3 years the card is going to be worth $100 at most. Also there will be nothing to step up to in 90 days except for perhaps a dual-gpu gk104 card, again pass.

 

[Lonbjerg]

Post 3dmark 11 scores, lets see if these new cards will even come closs to any dual gpu solution....

You ony run 3Dmark?

This is surprising, maybe there's something wrong with the miner? I expected it to achieve at least 450-500 MH/s

Little Kepler is a gaming orientated card, expect much better results from Big Kepler in GPGPU (+gaming) ^_^

Keplers architechtual design allows NVIDIA to better tailor SKU's in specific directions (gaming(GK104), GPU, HTPC, gaming + GPGPU(GK110) ect).

 

[PrincessFrosty]

There is next to no games that are going to demand more than my GTX580 can provide even at 2560x1600, so why the hell would I bother upgrading.

The problem isnt the hardware, it seems like a really nice bit of kit and if I had money to waste I might get one just for the status, but honestly the PC games market is so shit right now that there's just no point. When we see some DX11 titles that actually demand a faster GPU then I'll buy one, until the endless stream of console ports stop the new generations of hardware aren't going to matter even slightly...and this is coming from someone powering 2560x1600...

 

[Axon]

There is next to no games that are going to demand more than my GTX580 can provide even at 2560x1600, so why the hell would I bother upgrading.

The problem isnt the hardware, it seems like a really nice bit of kit and if I had money to waste I might get one just for the status, but honestly the PC games market is so shit right now that there's just no point. When we see some DX11 titles that actually demand a faster GPU then I'll buy one, until the endless stream of console ports stop the new generations of hardware aren't going to matter even slightly...and this is coming from someone powering 2560x1600...

I agree. My 460s in SLI are still chugging along at 1920x1080, so why upgrade?

With that said, I'd prefer companies keep putting out games that allow me to max them out with existing hardware. I have no desire to go $500 deep on a GPU every time a new game launches.

 

[railven]

Hmm it seems like Splashtop no longer "crashes" Aero in Windows 7 now that I'm not using AMD drivers. The company said it was AMD's drivers, but I'll keep an eye on it anyway.

I actually had a bit of a noob moment when putting the card in and I forgot to plug in the PCI-E 6-pin power plugs. It was interesting to see that the computer won't even post; however, it will bring up a screen with some text saying, "Hey bud... plug those connectors in!" (obviously not even close to verbatim ).

I think the biggest annoyance that I've had to put up with so far is having to manually enable and disable nVision 3D. I just don't want it to turn on 3D in every damn media-related thing that I open, which includes Media Player Classic: Home Cinema and even iTunes. Fortunately, it's rather easy to just put the two shortcuts on the desktop.

Oh and EVGA... next time, put the sticker saying to remove the plastic film on the plastic film. Putting it on the card itself (or rather, on its shiny plastic-y decal) is just visually confusing. I was about to tear off the decal before I realized that it was actually part of the card.

I still need to install EVGA's PrecisionX, and see how that works.

EDIT:

I also found it interesting that EVGA requires you to buy an extended warranty (5 year at least) to be eligible for the step-up program (since the 680 doesn't have a lifetime warranty). $25 to be eligible for a possible upgrade over 3 months... :hmm:.

Yeah no kidding, haha. I had to do a double take before installing it and then realized that there was indeed a second plastic wrapper on the actual shroud. The fan cap had one too. Also, is it me or has EVGA gotten cheap on their packaging? Haha. Since I just recently bought a nVIdia Branded GTX 560 Ti from Best Buy - that packaging set some high standards. They totally ripped off Apple, but regardless it looked sweet.

Kudos to EVGA for capping unused ports. I like that.

All in all, I'd say her GTX 680 was even quiter than her GTX 460 SC. I'm very impressed with this card. I'll get to tinker with it hopefully today and tomorrow before she cuts me off haha.

 

[Grooveriding]

Welp, we got our GTX 680 today! Swapped out the GF's GTX 460 for it and then loaded up her favorite game - The Sims 3.

It seems that game is very dependent on your hard drive since it loads like a turtle. Cranked the settings to the highest they can go and she was getting 40FPS+ which according to her was what she'd get on her GTX 460 at medium settings.

She's happy, which makes me happy. Card installed no issue, not sure why but the two 6-pin power adapters are inverted (ie one you put with say Pin1 on the left, the other with pin1 on the right, so the clips face each other...thought that was weird.)

Happy days

Yeah the pin connectors are funny. For me I had to twist around my second six pin because my PSU has four PCIE connectors run from it. Each connector has an 8/6pin and 6 pin on the other end.

 

[BlockheadBrown]

I have a want to upgrade, but seemingly a need is low on the list. I've got only a 460 768MB and it's doing fine. I'm finding it very difficult to justify an upgrade to a non-Kepler card. I'd rather pay for and get the new stuff. One is just not in my price range right now. ::shrug:: So, I'll wait. Depending on how the releases fare over the next few months, I may just hold out until the next refresh.

 

[Aikouka]

And only 30 days to decide to pay it, after that it's gone I took a pass on it, what use is it ? 3 years is enough warranty, after 3 years the card is going to be worth $100 at most. Also there will be nothing to step up to in 90 days except for perhaps a dual-gpu gk104 card, again pass.

I would consider swapping to a factory OC or one with better cooling (open air vs. slot). I don't really do any overclocking (myself), and I do like my computer being fairly quiet overall. My old Radeon 6950 was pretty easy to hear during gaming as it made that nice high pitched whirring noise compared to the rest of my computer's nice little hum.

 

[Grooveriding]

I would consider swapping to a factory OC or one with better cooling (open air vs. slot). I don't really do any overclocking (myself), and I do like my computer being fairly quiet overall. My old Radeon 6950 was pretty easy to hear during gaming as it made that nice high pitched whirring noise compared to the rest of my computer's nice little hum.

I would as well, but EVGA stepup is not applicable to non-ref cards of the same model. I don't believe you can even stepup to anything but reference cards from lesser cards.

 

[Aikouka]

I would as well, but EVGA stepup is not applicable to non-ref cards of the same model. I don't believe you can even stepup to anything but reference cards from lesser cards.

That's a bummer.

Oh well, if it's a huge difference in temperature or decibels (probably more preference on the latter more so than the former), I could always just purchase a new one and offload the old one or have a spare! I could always try out SLI as well.

My current goal is to keep an eye on monitors. I was originally planning on keeping my Dell U2709W (16:10) with my newer ASUS (16:9) as I figured the second monitor being larger would be nice for browsing. But playing WoW in windowed mode with two different resolution ratios is not very ideal.

 

[Soccerman06]

I get mine tomorrow, eeeeee /girly scream

 

[thilanliyan]

Welp, we got our GTX 680 today! Swapped out the GF's GTX 460 for it and then loaded up her favorite game - The Sims 3.

GTX680 to play SIMS?! Really? Is it that demanding a game? Honest question, I really don't know.

 

[Nintendesert]

GTX680 to play SIMS?! Really? Is it that demanding a game? Honest question, I really don't know.

Reading the rest of what he wrote, cranking up the settings seems to strain the video card quite a bit. So I guess so.

 

[Pwndenburg]

I had to make myself pass on that 7970 lightning. I've got the upgrade bug something fierce. Will be replacing my 5870; so, yea, I'm buying. Anyone have a clue when the second "wave" of these 680s will ship approximately?

 

[Hauk]

I get mine tomorrow, eeeeee /girly scream

girly screams over new hardware FTW!

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

More excited over the GTX 670 or GTX 670 Ti. Given this card follows suit when it comes to typical NVIDIA pricing, the GTX 670 (Ti) should be at $350. The GTX 680 is 5-10% faster than the HD 7970, so it stands to reason the card just below it will either match or slightly beat the 7950.

The 7870 would also be a very, very solid card in the future if it was dropped to $270-300.