EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified Review: Pushing GTX 680 To Its Peak
by Ryan Smith on July 20, 2012 12:00 PM ESTThe Test
For our review of the GTX 680 Classified we’re using NVIDIA’s latest beta drivers, 304.79. These drives have no appreciable difference over the previous 304.42 drivers beyond some simple bug fixes.
| CPU: | Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4.3GHz |
| Motherboard: | EVGA X79 SLI |
| Chipset Drivers: | Intel 9.2.3.1022 |
| Power Supply: | Antec True Power Quattro 1200 |
| Hard Disk: | Samsung 470 (256GB) |
| Memory: | G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1867 4 x 4GB (8-10-9-26) |
| Case: | Thermaltake Spedo Advance |
| Monitor: |
Samsung 305T Asus PA246Q |
| Video Cards: |
AMD Radeon HD 6970 AMD Radeon HD 7950 AMD Radeon HD 7970 AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified |
| Video Drivers: |
NVIDIA ForceWare 304.42 Beta NVIDIA ForceWare 304.79 Beta AMD Catalyst 12.7 Beta |
| OS: | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
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Oxford Guy - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
"The 680 is cooler and quieter and higher performing all at the same time than anything we've seen in a long time..."Gee whiz. I wonder why 28nm is more efficient than 40nm.
jmsabatini - Tuesday, July 24, 2012 - link
You really needed to test Skyrim with a TON of ultra high res texture mods.Without that, your results were right in line with my expectations, i.e. not worth the extra $$$ over the vanilla card.
CeriseCogburn - Wednesday, July 25, 2012 - link
Something the regular joe moronic masses cannot seem to comprehend for the life of them, is when the cores peter out before the ram can be effectively used while maintaining a playable framerate, no amount of memory no matter how much "can help".Let me put it another way:
The card makers need a more powerful core to use more than 2GB memory.(actually less than 2, but I won't go into that)
The results are all over the web, and have been for months. No one should still be so utterly blind to the disclosed facts, still.
hammbone852 - Saturday, September 15, 2012 - link
This is disappointing but i'm guessing the drivers aren't pushing the GPU to Its fill potential. This card should be in the top 3 in all tests.Pey - Friday, September 21, 2012 - link
As a SLI user, I will buy two of these and I´ll tell you why.I tried 2 MSI 680 Lightning are the temps go up to 75-76 each card, while 2 680 reference cards reach 72°. So you guys forget that for sli users, you have to get cards with a blower -unless you have watercooling.
I know the price is not ideal, but for people like who are looking for a couple 680 with overclock and a proper watercooler-free solution, this is the card to go.
You could go for a MSI Lightning, but when you put in another card, temps will go up to 15-20° on each card, and i dont like playing while having 76-78° plus the noise.