NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Review: Retaking The Performance Crown
by Ryan Smith on March 22, 2012 9:00 AM ESTFinal Words
Once again we have reached the end of another GPU launch article and once again we have a lot of data to digest, so let’s get to it.
For the last few generations AMD has always put up a good fight and always managed to spoil NVIDIA in some manner, be it by beating NVIDIA to market by months like we saw with the 5000 series, or significantly undercutting NVIDIA and forcing them into a bloody price war as we saw with the 4000 series. This time AMD once again spoiled NVIDIA by releasing the Radeon HD 7970 nearly 3 months early, but as always, at the end of the day it’s NVIDIA who once again takes the performance crown for the highest performing single-GPU card.
What makes this launch particularly interesting if not amusing though is how we’ve ended up here. Since Cypress and Fermi NVIDIA and AMD have effectively swapped positions. It’s now AMD who has produced a higher TDP video card that is strong in both compute and gaming, while NVIDIA has produced the lower TDP and weaker compute part that is similar to the Radeon HD 5870 right down to the display outputs. In some sense it’s a reaction by both companies to what they think the other did well in the last generation, but it’s also evidence of the fact that AMD and NVIDIA’s architectures are slowly becoming more similar.
In any case, this has ended up being a launch not quite like any other. With GTX 280, GTX 480, and GTX 580 we discussed how thanks to NVIDIA’s big die strategy they had superior performance, but also higher power consumption and a higher cost. To that extent this is a very different launch – the GTX 680 is faster, less power hungry, and quieter than the Radeon HD 7970. NVIDIA has landed the technical trifecta, and to top it off they’ve priced it comfortably below the competition.
Looking at the bigger picture, I think ultimately we still haven’t moved very far on the price/performance curve compared to where we’ve gone in past generations, and on that basis this is one of the smaller generational jumps we've seen for a GTX x80 product, or for that matter one of the smaller leads NVIDIA has had over AMD's top card. But even with NVIDIA’s conservative pricing we’re finally seeing 28nm translate into more performance for less, which of course is really what we're interested in. To that end, based on GK104’s die size I’m left wondering where GTX 680 is going to be sitting by the end of the year as 28nm production improves, as there’s clearly a lot of potential for price cuts in the future.
But in the meantime, in the here and now, this is by far the easiest recommendation we’ve been able to make for an NVIDIA flagship video card. NVIDIA’s drive for efficiency has paid off handsomely, and as a result they have once again captured the single-GPU performance crown.
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saturn85 - Tuesday, March 27, 2012 - link
can we have folding@home benchmark?warmbit - Tuesday, March 27, 2012 - link
I invite you to the statement of GTX680 card performance based on the results of the eight websites (tom's too):http://translate.google.pl/translate?hl=pl&sl=...
lhotdeals - Wednesday, March 28, 2012 - link
I never posted a reply to reviews... but the conclusion of this review leaves me baffled. It is clear that 680 has its advantages, but looking at the numbers, the 680 and 7970 trades punches pretty equally in terms of performance. 680 does beat the 7970 in power usage and noise level, but the actual lead is miniscue...I do not see how the reviewer can reach the dominating position of the 680 in the conclusion... It is nothing but misleading to an otherwise great review with tons of data points.
sngbrdb - Wednesday, March 28, 2012 - link
"...at the end of the day it’s NVIDIA who once again takes the performance crown for the highest performing single-GPU card."Are you kidding me?? Are we looking at the same charts? This card only "excels" on the lower end of resolution and quality settings. And in many of your charts, the cards that beat it in higher resolutions are conspicuously absent in the lower-resolution charts (the GTX 590 and Radeon 6990 are frequently missing).
GPU reviews need to be written by someone who isn't biased toward a brand, and Mr. Smith, that is clearly not you.
CeriseCogburn - Thursday, March 29, 2012 - link
Sorry, you can't lie to yourself forever - how about a massive database with percentages and totals from many reviews...http://translate.google.pl/translate?hl=pl&sl=...
At the highest resolutions amd still loses. Amd also loses the lower and lowest Enjoy.
sngbrdb - Friday, March 30, 2012 - link
My comments are about the conclusions Mr. Smith draws form the charts he displays, not about whether the card does better elsewhere. The charts that Mr. Smith shows and the conclusions he draws from them are not logical... there may be other data out there that supports his conclusions, but that would mean the data he's displaying here is flawed/inaccurate. Either way, you can't look at those charts and act like the 680 has slaughtered AMD, you end up sounding like a fanboy.And charts need to be consistent about the cards being compared... you can't put a card in the chart for one resolution, and leave it out in another.
CeriseCogburn - Friday, March 30, 2012 - link
Yes, and anandtech's charts percentages are at the link I provided, that prove you incorrect, period.Reality doesn't make anyone a fanboy.Ignoring reality does.
_vor_ - Saturday, March 31, 2012 - link
So does replying to nearly all 40 pages of discussion flagrantly waving the NVIDIA banner. Maybe you need to look up the word hypocrisy.CeriseCogburn - Friday, April 6, 2012 - link
Vor you're angry because you got caught waving the amd flag * incorrectly*.There wouldn't be a need if there wasn't false information being spread about.
It's no wonder it happens when the amd card loses.
Addressing it is helpful and the right thing to do.
sngbrdb - Monday, April 9, 2012 - link
Um.... the charts at the link you provided point back to this article. Please do your research before being rude.From the article:
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Sources of data:
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Anandtech - www.anandtech.com/show/5699/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-review