GTX 680 vs. SLIed GTX 460s - How Much Faster?

[JM Popaleetus]

DefRef: What's the difference between the 580 and 680? That should give you a guesstimate of the jump since your first post said the 460GTX SLI and the 580GTX were about equal. I have 2 460GTX 768s in SLI in rig 3 below and they work great. I bought a 6970 for rig 2 at Christmas (had gift cards) and it has the advantage of 2G Vram and is very smooth but those 2 460s (eventhough only 768Vram) are warriors! SLI has not been a problem. If the urge is strong and you can get a decent price for your 460s go for it.

This.

The same metric I used to decide that the jump from my two 6850s wasn't quite worth it yet.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Not really worth it, unless you want to save some power. Pretty "big deal" these days for some people.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

IMO 460 SLI to 680 OC is a significant jump in performance. Like going from a 570 OC to 680 OC, definitely a must do upgrade.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Price per performance is poor, though. By the time, 460 SLI gets you unplayable FPS, 680 will have seen a few price drops and then it will be a logical time to upgrade.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

That is relative. If you play at settings where 460 sli doesnt average 60 fps but 680 oc has a minimum close to that, those games and settings are worth it

 

[Ieat]

Price per performance is poor, though. By the time, 460 SLI gets you unplayable FPS, 680 will have seen a few price drops and then it will be a logical time to upgrade.

This logic only holds true if the gtx 460s hold their value while the gtx 680's value drops. If they both drop at a similar rate then there's no real point in waiting. And since its 2 gtx 460s he has to get rid of they only have to drop at half the rate of the gtx 680 for waiting to be pointless.

 

[Vdubchaos]

I don't think it's worth the extra money. Especially with the graphics quality of the game this day and age (no major improvements/jumps).

My 460s kick butt and 2nd one cost me $100 about a year ago....

I see absolutely no reason to upgrade

 

[DefRef]

Wow, a blast from the past.

As my signature indicates, I bit on the GTX 670 SC 2GB (the day it was announced) and it WAS a massive improvement for me.

* RAGE used to take 30 seconds to chug at 1 fps while it loaded outdoors levels. Now it takes 3-5 seconds to be ready to roll.

* BF3 could be played at native 1920 x 1200, but no AA; now I have everything maxed out and it stays at 60 fps (only dipping lower slightly occasionally.)

* Metro 2033 crushed the SLI rig, requiring a rez drop to 1680 and no AA. Now I can run 1920 and IIRC may have some AA turned on.

* Adaptive Vsync has done away with the microstuttering that seemed to plague so many of my games. Not missing that distraction.

* It's hella quieter. The SLIs made a noticable racket; now it's a lot quieter.

* My new monitor came with a DisplayPort cable and it's nice to have that connection for when I'll need HDCP compliance.

I haven't bothered to put my original X-Fi Titanium back in because I managed to score a PCI-E version for $50 off Craig's List, but at least I have the option of getting my Live Drive back.

All told, I'm happy with my upgrade and even happier that I saved the $80 over a GTX 680's price tag.

 

[Vdubchaos]

* BF3 could be played at native 1920 x 1200, but no AA; now I have everything maxed out and it stays at 60 fps (only dipping lower slightly occasionally.)

I'm maxing out BF3 with 460in SLI at 1200p

I see consistent 60s and it does dip into 30s every now and then.

 

[DefRef]

I had to turn off all AA in order to get playable frame rates with the 460s. I have FRAPS shots from the beginning of the SP campaign, when you get out of the APC in the Iraqi city and with everything turned on I was getting mid-20s; with the 670 I get almost triple. I think it's the extra RAM that really makes the difference. Since I have Adaptive Vsync on, I don't know how much over 60 fps I'm getting, but I did notice a bit of chug when atop the TV station building looking out over the map in that B2K maps and it was in the 40s for a bit.

 

[Vdubchaos]

you had 765mb models?

I have 1gb so x2 is the same VRAM as 680....or 670


Although I did notice that they must've optimized the game better cause MSI Afterburner used to show 2gb used and now shows 1.5 or so

My AA is on X16, using 4x msaa and HBOA as well

But I'm sure 680 would run much smoother over my set up, I just don't think I can justify $500 price tag to do so...just not worth it.

 

[guskline]

you had 765mb models?

I have 1gb so x2 is the same VRAM as 680....or 670


Although I did notice that they must've optimized the game better cause MSI Afterburner used to show 2gb used and now shows 1.5 or so

My AA is on X16, using 4x msaa and HBOA as well

But I'm sure 680 would run much smoother over my set up, I just don't think I can justify $500 price tag to do so...just not worth it.

When you run SLI or CF as I understand it you do NOT double the Vram. The Vram remains the same as 1 card. You do, however, have 2 GPUs, to do rendering, thus the increase in fps in most games. Your 1g gtx460s, even in sli have a max of 1g Vram. My 1 rig below with the GTX 680 has 2 g Vram. It really makes a difference as you increase screen resolution and eyecand. However, even now, 2 GTX 460s in SLI are fast.

 

[DefRef]

you had 765mb models? I have 1gb so x2 is the same VRAM as 680....or 670

No, and no. The 460s were 1GB and the total VRAM is not cumulative over multiple cards. If you had triple SLI with 1GB it doesn't mean you have 3GB, it means you have 1GB, but multiple rendering units. AA is a frame rate killer because you're basically rendering things twice and blending it down and with the hi-rez textures and bump maps and whatnot, VRAM is critical. GTA IV can tell you how much VRAM your texture and draw distance settings are using and I was able to crank those up with the 2GB card. (It's why there are some deluxe cards with 3GB VRAM.)

Whether something is "worth it" is a subjective matter. I'm not trying to convince you that it was a good deal for me or that you're missing out because you're standing pat. If you're happy with your setup, I'm ecstatic for you. I ran SLIed 8800GTs for almost three years before doing a couple of years with the 460s. I used to upgrade EVERY cycle from the original TNT through the 8000-series, but skipped the 9000 and GTX 2xx rounds. Only hopped up to Fermi with the 460 and then Kepler with the 660. If there's a need for an 870 in a couple of years, we'll see. There are so few games which really tax hardware more powerful than an Xbox 360 I can't understand why SLId 680s would be needed other than triple-screen l337s or ePeen kids.

Did I NEED to upgrade my setup? Not really and I had been planning to wait for the next revision of Kepler supposedly coming this fall, but when they unveiled the 670, I looked at the reviews, looked at the price ($420) and was having a bad day at work, so I decided to do some "retail therapy" and treated myself to the upgrade. I really need to list the old cards so I can recoup a bit of money on the deal.

Cheers.

 

[guskline]

If you go to a multi-monitor setup, trust me, the GTX 670/680 does shine.

 

[guskline]

DefRef: I hear you. I just got an EVGA GTX 670 FTW and have a second on the way to run SLI in the 3 monitor rig. It's the real deal.

 

[Vdubchaos]

When you run SLI or CF as I understand it you do NOT double the Vram. The Vram remains the same as 1 card. You do, however, have 2 GPUs, to do rendering, thus the increase in fps in most games. Your 1g gtx460s, even in sli have a max of 1g Vram. My 1 rig below with the GTX 680 has 2 g Vram. It really makes a difference as you increase screen resolution and eyecand. However, even now, 2 GTX 460s in SLI are fast.

I see, thx for the explanation. I was under wrong impression here.

Did I NEED to upgrade my setup? Not really and I had been planning to wait for the next revision of Kepler supposedly coming this fall, but when they unveiled the 670, I looked at the reviews, looked at the price ($420) and was having a bad day at work, so I decided to do some "retail therapy" and treated myself to the upgrade. I really need to list the old cards so I can recoup a bit of money on the deal.

Cheers.

No worries, you don't have to justify your need or purchase to me. Whatever makes you happy/floats that boat is what I say.

Cheers