NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Review: Retaking The Performance Crown
by Ryan Smith on March 22, 2012 9:00 AM ESTThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Prior to the launch of our new benchmark suite, we wanted to include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which is easily the most popular RPG of 2011. However as any Skyrim player can tell you, Skyrim’s performance is CPU-bound to a ridiculous degree. With the release of the 1.4 patch and the high resolution texture pack this has finally been relieved to the point where GPUs once again matter, particularly when we’re working with high resolutions and less than high-end GPUs. As such, we're now including it in our test suite.
Skyrim presents us with an interesting scenario. At anything less than 2560 we’re CPU limited well before we’re GPU limited, and yet even though we’re CPU limited NVIDIA manages to take a clear lead while the 680 still finds room to push to the top. For whatever the reason NVIDIA would appear to have significantly less driver overhead here, or at the very least a CPU limited Skyrim interacts with NVIDIA’s drivers better than it does AMD’s.
In any case 2560 does move away from being CPU limited, but it’s not entirely clear whether the difference we’re seeing here is solely due to GPU performance, or if we’re still CPU limited in some fashion. Regardless of the reason the GTX 680 has a 10% lead on the 7970 here.
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Arbie - Friday, March 23, 2012 - link
"I've always said, choose your hardware by application, not by overall results"Actually, that' is what I said. But I wasn't as pompous about it, which may have confused you.
;)
CeriseCogburn - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Well it's a good thing fair and impartial Ryan put the two games 680 doesn't trounce the 7970 in up first in the bench line up, so it would make amd look very good to the chart and chan click through crowd.Yeah, I like an alphabet that goes C for Crysis then M for Metro, so in fact A for AMD comes in first !
Sivar - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Many Anandtech articles not written by Anand have a certain, "written by an intelligent, geeky, slightly insecure teenager" feel to them. While still much better than other tech websites, and I've been around them all for some time, Anand is a cut above.This article, and a few others you've written, show that you are really getting the hang of being a truly professional writer.
- Great technical detail without paraphrasing marketing material.
- Not even the slightest hint of "fanboyism" for one company over another.
- Doesn't drag on and on or repeat the same thing several times in slightly different ways.
- Anand, who usually takes the cool articles for himself, had the trust in you to let you do this one solo.
I would request, however, that you hyperlink some of the acronyms used. Even after being a reader since the Geocities days, it's sometimes difficult to remember every term and three letter combination on an article with so much depth and breadth.
Also, for the sake of mobile users and image quality, there really needs to be some internal discussion on when to use which image format. PNG-8 for large areas of flat or gradient color, charts, screen captures, and slides -- but only when the source is not originally a JPG (because JPG subtly corrupts the image so as to ruin PNG's chance of compression) and JPG for pretty much all photographs. I wrote a program to analyze images and suggest a format -- Look for "ImageGuide" on Google Code.
In any case, the fact that I can think of only the most minor of suggestions, as opposed to when I read a certain other website named after its founder of a much shorter name.
Sabresiberian - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
I agree, another thorough review by one of the better people doing it on the internet. Thanks Ryan!As far as the dig on Tomshardware, I don't quite agree there. I notice Chris Angelini wrote the GTX 680 article for that website, and I'm very much looking forward to reading another thorough review.
;)
Sivar - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Tom's may have improved greatly since I last gave it another chance, but since not long after they were bought out, I've found the reporting to be flagrantly sensationalist and light on fact. The entity that bought them out, and the journalists he hired, are well known for just that. Many times I read the author's conclusion and wondered if he was looking at the same bar charts that I was.To be blunt, at times when people quoted their site, I felt as if I'd shifted into an alternate dimension where otherwise knowledgeable people were comically oblivious to the most egregiously flawed journalism. It was as if a group of Nobel prize winners were unthinkingly quoting Bill O'Reilly or Michael Moore on a political matter as if it was assumed they were a paragon of truth and even-headedness.
Sabresiberian - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Very well said. (I especially like the comment using both a staunch conservative and flaming liberal as examples of poor source material.)I do tend to look at specific writers, and probably give Toms too much credit based on that more narrow view. I freely admit to having a somewhat fanboy feel for the site, too, since it was one of the first and set a mark, at one time, unreached by any other site I knew about.
I have been a bit confused by some statements made by some writers on that site, conclusions that didn't seem to be supported by the data they published. Perhaps it's time to step up and comment when that happens, instead of just interpreting my confusion as a lack of careful reading on my part (which happens to the best of us).
;)
Nfarce - Sunday, March 25, 2012 - link
"It was as if a group of Nobel prize winners were unthinkingly quoting Bill O'Reilly or Michael Moore on a political matter"Well Obama, Al Gore, and Arafat were each given a Nobel Prize, so I'd hardly consider that entity a good reference point of analogy in validity. In Any event, I welcome opinions from all sides. The main stream "news" media long ago abandoned objective reporting. One is most informed by reading different takes on the same "facts" and formulate one's own opinion. Of course, you have to also research outside the spectrum for some information that the main stream media will hide from time to time: like how bad off the US economy really is.
Ryan Smith - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Thanks for the kind words, though I'm not sure whether "slightly insecure teenager" is a compliment on my youthful vigor or a knock against my immaturity.;-)Anyhow, we usually use PNGs where it makes sense. All of my photo processing is done with Photoshop, so I know ahead of time whether JPG or PNG will spit out a smaller image, and any blurring that may result. Generally speaking we should be using the right format in the right place, but if you have any specific examples where it's not, drop me a line (it will be hard to keep track of this thread) and I'll take a look.
IlllI - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
ok there seems to be some confusion here. many times in the review you directly compare it to GF114 (which i think was never present in the 580 series) yet also at the same time you say the 680 is a direct replacement for the 580.i dont think it is. what it DOES seem like however, is that this 680 was indeed suppose to be the mainstream part, but since the ati competition was so low that nvidia just jacked up the card number (and price).
CeriseCogburn - Friday, March 23, 2012 - link
So Nvidia should have dropped the 680, their GTX580($450+) killer in at $299...Charlie D's $299 rumor owns internet group think brains.