nVidia GTX680 Review

[hmmblah]

I was hoping i could buy one today , but as always.. my sell of my i7 860 was cancelled, at the last freaking moment

Bummer!

 

[killablade]

Next day air was $16 more, I caved in my moment of weakness. Newegg is already sold out of all brands.

Haha I don't blame you mate, it's an amazing card! Do let us know how it fold though :')

 

[daDonn]

Whoops - somebody forgot to add the commentary audio in for the gameplay parts of the vid - though you can still hear him shuffling around as he plays the game in the background!

 

[SnW]

Bummer!

Yea shame tho and pretty weird , as i am always very lucky

 

[Ru5ty_t00l]

great review tom!

very expensive for now. maybe in 2 years will be more "accessible" for me

nice job

 

[Paalandre]

Where is the high res tests?

 

[leejc73]

Glad the two cards are so close, not disappointed I bought a 7970.

Does make for good consumer experience when they are so closely matched. Might mean they have to start offering extras to secure sales.

 

[Josh Weston]

Watching Tom's review, and seeing how there's a small difference in games, but a larger one in the benchmarks - could this not be driver issues? Or is there something larger at work?

 

[SieB]

Good review as always and i'm also glad that they are so evenly matched as well because all this Nvidia/AMD fanboyism and being bias does my head right in.

This guy on another forum said it best, Click "spoiler" to see the quote

Spoiler

I really don't get all of this brand loyalty/finger pointing and reason to get upset over a piece of silicon... The charts say it all, the 7970 wins some and the 680 wins some. It is up to the consumer to decide which card is better for them given their uses and what games they play. The 680 beats the 7970 in Skyrim and BF3 according to the charts, so that's the card I'm going to get.

You all are acting like religious fanatics that claim their way of thinking is the only right way. Why can't both cards just be good at what they're good at? Honestly, why does it matter if one card is better at some benchmarks than the other? If you bought the 7970, then you knew fully well that the 680 was around the corner. Should you get upset when it performs better than the 7970 at some applications? No. You recover your losses and move on.

The amount of bickering between hardcore fans of both sides lately does my head in. It's the same on all of the threads with AMD vs Intel, AMD vs Nvidia, Mech vs Dome keyboards, air vs water cooling, PS3 vs 360, Console vs PC, Apple vs Microsoft, Apple vs anything, or Notebook vs Tablets. What have any of these companies given you that has made you want to so vehemently defend them? They make products, you buy them. Make smart purchases and live with the consequences.

Personally, I would buy the 680 over the 7970 because of it being quieter and using less power, but, if AMD dropped the price of the 7970 so it was coming in at £50 less (not going to happen, just sayin) I would buy the 7970 because it would be the better bang for the buck. Because of them being so evenly matched though, I don't see any major price drops for the 7000 series coming, but maybe for the 6000 series.

For the folding guys, I don't know how true this is but it is what I have read, Nvidia have not increased the direct compute power on the 680 and it's still around the same as a 580. As I said though I don't know how true that is, it's just what I have read.

Anyway, Tom, bring on the Kepler OK3D madness!!!!!!!

 

[DB006]

Here's mine, both at the same resolution/settings. 7970 destroys 680

got some screenshots of my ASus GTX680 for you all to look at

Heaven Benchmark

+150 Core and +600 Mem

Not bad for day 1 drivers

But 7970 is better at my everyday overclock

 

[UkGouki]

im just happy to see nvidia finally on kepler.. i could never afford one of these cards i can only dream of one day owning one lol

 

[SnW]

Oo please pie off with this Ati vs NvidiA

Oo and another thing!, please don't shout and come in like that, my sound was a tad to high

 

[killablade]

Here's mine, both at the same resolution/settings. 7970 destroys 680

got some screenshots of my ASus GTX680 for you all to look at

Heaven Benchmark

+150 Core and +600 Mem

Not bad for day 1 drivers

But 7970 is better at my everyday overclock

How'd you get your hands on an GTX680 so quickly? Me so jelly ;p

Anyway, that's just one benchmark. I've read tonnes of professional reviews, and in almost all of them the GTX680 is slightly better than the 7970. Doesn't really matter though, both are awesome cards.

 

[dugdiamond]

as soon as the "brands" release their modded versions of the 680, AMD will be the underdog (yet again)

this is only Day1...

amd-fanboys, make the most of this, you will not get a second chance soon

 

[Mr Muggles]

Not much better than a 580 then, can't see the point in buying one myself.

 

[Maltascorpion]

Brilliant reveiw as always Tom,

One question, the percentage mark, beside the Temp. Is that not the gpu power? If that is the case, then that card was running on half on all the game test, unlike the AMD's that was on a constant 99%

 

[magicc8ball]

as soon as the "brands" release their modded versions of the 680, AMD will be the underdog (yet again)

this is only Day1...

amd-fanboys, make the most of this, you will not get a second chance soon

I am looking forward to seeing how the MSI 7970 Lightning against the MSI 680 Lightning version comes out. Im sure they will all be neck and neck time will tell tho.

 

[SieB]

as soon as the "brands" release their modded versions of the 680, AMD will be the underdog (yet again)

this is only Day1...

amd-fanboys, make the most of this, you will not get a second chance soon

I think you need to look at the benches and watch Tom's review again, they are evenly matched, no one is the underdog. When the "brands" come out they will be evenly matched with the 7970 brands, you may also want to look at the MSI 7970 Lightning reviews as well.

This is not the right attitude, it should be about buying the best card for your money not brand loyalty, and whether you buy the 7970 or the 680 it doesn't really make much of a difference

1) they are evenly matched

2) the games where the 680 is better, or vice versa with the 7970, the difference is over the level where you wouldn't physically notice the difference. So, yet again, it doesn't really make a difference which one you have. 

 

[killablade]

Brilliant reveiw as always Tom,

One question, the percentage mark, beside the Temp. Is that not the gpu power? If that is the case, then that card was running on half on all the game test, unlike the AMD's that was on a constant 99%

I'm guessing that's the gpu fan speed you are on about ;p

 

[Maltascorpion]

I'm guessing that's the gpu fan speed you are on about ;p

I just went through some previous card, and it is GPU usage.