NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Review: Retaking The Performance Crown
by Ryan Smith on March 22, 2012 9:00 AM ESTCrysis: Warhead
Kicking things off as always is Crysis: Warhead. It’s no longer the toughest game in our benchmark suite, but it’s still a technically complex game that has proven to be a very consistent benchmark. Thus even four years since the release of the original Crysis, “but can it run Crysis?” is still an important question, and the answer continues to be “no.” While we’re closer than ever, full Enthusiast settings at a 60fps is still beyond the grasp of a single-GPU card.
While Crysis was a strong game for the GTX 580, the same cannot be said of the GTX 680. NVIDIA is off to a very poor start here, with the Radeon HD 7970 easily outperforming the GTX 680, and even the 7950 is tied or nearly tied with the GTX 680 depending on the resolution. On the bright side the GTX 680 does manage to outperform the GTX 580, but only by a relatively meager 17%.
Given the large gap in theoretical performance between the GTX 680 and GTX 580, as it turns out we’ve run into one of the few scenarios where the GTX 680 doesn’t improve on the GTX 580: memory bandwidth. In our overclocking results we discovered that a core overclock had almost no impact on Crysis, whereas a memory overclock improved performance by 8%, almost exactly as much as the memory overclock itself. When it comes to the latest generation of cards it appears that Crysis loves memory bandwidth, and this is something the Radeon HD 7900 series has in spades but the GTX 680 does not. Thankfully for NVIDIA not every game is like Crysis.
The minimum framerate situation is even worse for NVIDIA here, with the GTX 680 clearly falling behind the 7950, and improving on the GTX 580 by only 10%. At its worst Crysis is absolutely devouring memory bandwidth here, and that leaves the GTX 680 underprepared.
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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