Which 680 to get? Help needed

I own 3 of the Zotac 4Gb 670's... fantastic cards, and they use a reference 680 PCB/Cooler, so if you ever go down the watercooling road (like I will be soon), reference 680 blocks fit them. Great prices to be found on them too.

Why do you have 3? :L

Why not? : )

In all seriousness though, having tried both dual and triple card configs for my triple screen setup, I vastly prefer using 3 cards with enough VRAM to handle higher quality textures(Obligatory Skyrim Reference). Single screen it is entirely wasted, but in BF3, on high/ultra settings, I get between 70 and 105 FPS on 5760x1080, with a minimum of 65fps or so, which, even if most people say you can't really see, I can feel a difference. And with how cheap you can get them versus 4GB 680's plus my budget at the time, it all kinda worked out.

ZAngryGerman said:

Why not? : )

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Because it's pointless lol. More than 2 cards yields no performance increases in games

I just think that anything more than 2 670's is massive overkill, also is that just a gaming rig?

H'okay... guess I was a little unprepared for the response I'm suddenly getting at just dropping in my 2 coppers about a particular brand of 670's in this thread, so in response to Petrolhead, I actually disagree. Going from 2 to 3 cards for my triple screen setup, I noticed a difference in frame rates, and so did my benches, and my play experience is better in BF3. Also, nope, not just a gaming rig, but it is my main rig which I do way too much gaming on.

I dont agree with everyone else. The performance difference of 5 - 10% is only going to be for a little while. As the drivers mature the gap will be greater. As shown by the 5xx and 4xx series.

Price wise though, will the gap be worth it? A Zotac 670 4GB is $450CA, versus $570CA for a Zotac 680 4GB. Even if the gap goes to a consistent 12-15%, the price increase of about 25% makes it far from appetizing to upgrade.

And yes, I do realize the SLIGHT irony of debating this while running 3 cards myself, but playing devil's advocate is good fun sometimes and even though my rig may seem excessive, I couldn't justify getting 680's myself when there was such a large price difference you had to pay.

Oh, I agree entirely, I saw this myself with my friends 570 SLI setup versus my previous 580 SLI setup. As time went on and the drivers matured, the performance gap between us did increase. I just think that with the driver maturation and how much time it took for the prices to truly represent the performance difference, the 570's he bought were a much better buy in my opinion.

Your right, over time the price per performance will be greater like you said. BUT technology is for us enthusiasts is a game. You can wait for the price to drop and then find a few months later a new GPU is here. You either get it while its fresh or not get it at all and wait for the new one.

KING_OF_SAND said:

Your right, over time the price per performance will be greater like you said. BUT technology is for us enthusiasts is a game. You can wait for the price to drop and then find a few months later a new GPU is here. You either get it while its fresh or not get it at all and wait for the new one.

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lol, I think we're disagreeing about agreeing on the same thing. I'm just saying that if you were to spend your money TODAY on a 680, you'd be spending 25%(ish) more than if you bought a 670, for only about 5-10% performance gain. Down the road, as the drivers mature and the performance gap widens, the 680's price more accurately represents its performance potential. (Speaking hypothetically of course)

But as you said, if you were to spend your money today, and enjoy the benefits of said technology today, you'd have to look at how they perform today. And if you were to have to look back a year from now, and decide whether or not it was a good investment at the time, and how it stacks up against the competition now, I'd rather get a card that was a steal at the time for the performance level I want from it, than a card that will rock(even harder) a year from now, but currently offers small gains for a larger price tag.

Again, most of this is just opinion, and to restate, I do agree with you, just so I don't lose that somewhere in there : )

two GTX 670s.
4gb.

PetrolHead247 said:

Because it's pointless lol. More than 2 cards yields no performance increases in games

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That would be true if VRAM and/or CPU were limiting factors. Otherwise I'd say more than 3 cards based on what I've seen especially at 5760x1080 or above resolutions.

XANADV said:

That would be true if VRAM and/or CPU were limiting factors. Otherwise I'd say more than 3 cards based on what I've seen especially at 5760x1080 or above resolutions.

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Agreed. I end up with 90 to 99% GPU utilization with VSync off in BF3 at 5760x1080, so my GPU's are definitely getting worked over. Another reason I liked the Zotac 4GB model is due to the fact that it is external exhaust, and with the voltage/power maxed out, sandwiched together, and running at 99% load, they max out with around a 45 degree delta, or 75 degrees at the moment on the hottest card (Stupid summer weather...)

Can't wait to put it all under water. : )