GTX 690 or GTX 680 SLI?

k1ngm4c1u51

k1ngm4c1u51

New member
Hi guys :)

Quick question: what to get for upgrade?

System specs at the moment:

i5 3570k
GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H
2 x MSI GeForce GTX 660Ti TwinFrozr Power Edition in SLi
G.Skill RipjawsX 16GB DDR3 1600MHz
Corsair HX1050W
ASUS Xonar D2X
OCZ Agility 3 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s SSD
Samsung S23A700D 120hz LED 1920x1080

The problem if we can call this problem is this board, it have PCI-E 3.0 x16 but in SLI will do x8 only so two GTX's 680 will work on x8,x8 when GTX 690 will work x16. In which option I will gain more FPS? Two 680s in sli even if they work x8,x8 or one GTX 690 x16?

Games I'm playing are:

Battlefield 3, L4D2, Far Cry 3, Borderlands 2 - all of them are fine with Sli
 
Remember that a 690 has two GPUs which share the lanes of the PCIe slot. 690 in x16 slot means that each GPU gets the same bandwidth as a x8 lane.

Also, i'm with Seumas on this one. You're only playing these games at 1080p, and you have no need to upgrade your system whatsoever. If you're having frame rate issues with your current setup, I really don't think it's your cards at fault.
 
Josh Weston - well it says in manual when one card is inserted PCI-E will operate at x16 so I was thinking that one card will operate at x16 even if it have 2 GPUs on one pcb, I didnt know that they will share bandwidth if they are in one PCI-E slot, my FPS are fine with two 660Ti but I want more :D so I cant find any reviews when someone is doing benchmarks with PCI-E 3.0 x8,x8 anyway guys what you would choose?

GTX 680 in SLI or one GTX 690?
 
Out of curiosity what kind of fps do you get in the games you play? Unless you are getting less that 40 often then there is no need what so ever to upgrade
 
PCIe 3 x8 = PCIe 2 x 16. That's plenty of bandwidth to go around.

Out of the two, i'd go for the 680s, but I really don't think they're needed.

seumasbeathan said:
Out of curiosity what kind of fps do you get in the games you play? Unless you are getting less that 40 often then there is no need what so ever to upgrade
Click to expand...

He has a 120Hz monitor, so my guess is that he wants to max that out.
 
Josh Weston and seumasbeathan

I have enough FPS don't get me wrong :) but I want to have more FPS in 2D and in 3D and lets say I have spare money to spend so that's why I want this upgrade. I know how it sounds upgrading from 660Ti to 680 or 690 but Its hobby for me :)

But if you don't mind guys lets clear this info about PCI-E please:


  1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
    * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
  2. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8)
    * The PCIEX8 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16 slot. When the PCIEX8 slot is populated, the PCIEX16 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
So please explain it to me:

GTX 690 is in first slot x16 PCIEX 3.0 it have two gpus but they are in x16 speed?

GTX 680 is in first slot and 2nd slot so they works in x8 x8 PCIEX 3.0 because they share bandwidth

I'm missing something?
I can find only benchmarks where people tests with X79 with two PCIEX x16,x16 3.0 but what about x8,x8?
 
As Josh said, the 690 is just 2 680's so even though it is in one slot the 2 680 chips will still share the bandwidth and thus work at 8x, however this is not going to make a difference when it comes to fps
 
seumasbeathan said:
As Josh said, the 690 is just 2 680's so even though it is in one slot the 2 680 chips will still share the bandwidth and thus work at 8x, however this is not going to make a difference when it comes to fps
Click to expand...

Thanks :) I was thinking if any card (even with 2gpus) is in slot 1 with x16 this will work as x16 didn't know they still share bandwith, thanks :)

So two GTX 680 in sli or one GTX 690?
 
The only reason to choose a 690 over 680s is that it has a built-in hardware solution to prevent microstutter. 680s use a software. (680 is fine though tbh)

680s outperform it, but not at a noticeable amount @ 1080p

As for the slots, they share the bandwidth of the pci-e slot because that's where they're both plugged in. Pcie-3 8x is fine though, I run pcie-2 8x for 680 sli.

edit at above: the benchmarks are wrong because 670s stomp 660tis if you apply AA. If you're running SLI @ 1080p you'll be enabling decent levels of AA lol. 670s are much closer to 680s than they are to 660tis.
 
Your 660 ti's should be plenty fine, but if you must have an answer, the 2 x 680's will perform better, plus they could probably be overclocked.
 
NRG! said:
The only reason to choose a 690 over 680s is that it has a built-in hardware solution to prevent microstutter. 680s use a software. (680 is fine though tbh)

680s outperform it, but not at a noticeable amount @ 1080p

As for the slots, they share the bandwidth of the pci-e slot because that's where they're both plugged in. Pcie-3 8x is fine though, I run pcie-2 8x for 680 sli.

edit at above: the benchmarks are wrong because 670s stomp 660tis if you apply AA. If you're running SLI @ 1080p you'll be enabling decent levels of AA lol. 670s are much closer to 680s than they are to 660tis.
Click to expand...

thanks very much for info :) in games I play 680s SLI looks better against single 690 but its not much
46183.png

46184.png

battlefield%203%201920.png
 
seumasbeathan said:
And the 670 is very close to the 680, therefore going by your logic there is no need to upgrade?
Click to expand...

there is difference if we talking about 660ti vs 680 :) I don't want to go one step forward going from 660ti to 670 if upgrade take whats on top which is 680 at the moment.
 
Are you one of these people who just buys things because "you can", As we have said, 2 660ti's in SLI is a very formidable set up and I can see no reason what so ever why you would need an upgrade at all, however if you do insist on upgrading then the 670 is a better option as it is more less equal to a 680 but much cheaper
 
k1ngm4c1u51 said:
there is difference if we talking about 660ti vs 680 :) I don't want to go one step forward going from 660ti to 670 if upgrade take whats on top which is 680 at the moment.
Click to expand...
You will probably not even notice the change from 660ti to 680... Why are you so set on upgrading?
 
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