Nvidia Kepler - Geforce GTX680 Thread - Now with reviews

Durante said:
Sure. It's faster, more efficient, has better driver compatibility and more software features than its nearest competitor, while being cheaper. I don't know why it isn't widely available!
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But there's no way that something could be more popular than my AMD brand (TM) graphics card!
 
Durante said:
Sure. It's faster, more efficient, has better driver compatibility and more software features than its nearest competitor, while being cheaper. I don't know why it isn't widely available!
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This is not the first and definitely wont be the last such card. Doesnt excuse the availability issues.
 
It's funny, couldn't find the 7970 anywhere at launch. The 680 I can find easily and have it by tomorrow. ( In my Country, obviously. )
 
Ahhhhhh it feels good to be back on team Green.

photofgy05.jpg


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^ jeez dude, brace yourself for the OCD-GAF (cut your nails mang)

Kaako said:
Wow, these things are still not readily available?
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Bu bu bu because its sooooo good!

My frustration regarding 680's (un)availability is that it isnt putting any pricing pressure on AMD.
 
artist said:
^ jeez dude, brace yourself for the OCD-GAF (cut your nails mang)


Bu bu bu because its sooooo good!

My frustration regarding 680's (un)availability is that it isnt putting any pricing pressure on AMD.
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Yes, that's a good point. WTF are you doing NVidia? Make this readily available so AMD could drop price and maybe bust out the new hotness, then you do the same and the cycle continues...would be good for us consumers.
 
The more I read about it, the more disappointed I am with the 680's 70c ceiling for overclocking (as in, once you get past 70c the card throttles your overclocks down). This is incredibly shortsighted and disappointing. I hope someone figures out a way to remove that limit, because I don't mind running a card at 80-85c to get the best OC and performance out of it.
 
BoobPhysics101 said:
The more I read about it, the more disappointed I am with the 680's 70c ceiling for overclocking (as in, once you get past 70c the card throttles your overclocks down). This is incredibly shortsighted and disappointing. I hope someone figures out a way to remove that limit, because I don't mind running a card at 80-85c to get the best OC and performance out of it.
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Wait... seriously? I'm also used to running cards at 85c+ since I have a GTX 470. A shame if they limit your overclocks when you reach a measly 70c.
 
Zel3 said:
Wait... seriously? I'm also used to running cards at 85c+ since I have a GTX 470. A shame if they limit your overclocks when you reach a measly 70c.
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Yeah. Once you hit 70c, it downclocks you. So you have to try to get your max OC without going past that 70c limit. Fucking stupid. Should've been 80-90c limit... or no limit at all!

It's especially pitiful when you consider I'm hitting 960 Mhz @ 1.1v core clock on one of my 570's (from a stock clock of 732 @ 0.963v) and not going over 82-83c.
 
BoobPhysics101 said:
Yeah. Once you hit 70c, it downclocks you. So you have to try to get your max OC without going past that 70c limit. Fucking stupid. Should've been 80-90c limit... or no limit at all!

It's especially pitiful when you consider I'm hitting 960 Mhz @ 1.1v core clock on one of my 570's (from a stock clock of 732 @ 0.963v) and not going over 82-83c.
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Thats so dumb. Makes me not want to bother with the 680. I guess I could understand if the chip just wasnt designed to run at high tempetures >_> but still....

FERMIS THAT RUN AT 92C REPRESENT LOL.
 
Zel3 said:
Thats so dumb. Makes me not want to bother with the 680. I guess I could understand if the chip just wasnt designed to run at high tempetures >_> but still....

FERMIS THAT RUN AT 92C REPRESENT LOL.
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470 SLi. Makes my room feel so cosy.
 
BoobPhysics101 said:
Yeah. Once you hit 70c, it downclocks you. So you have to try to get your max OC without going past that 70c limit. Fucking stupid. Should've been 80-90c limit... or no limit at all!

It's especially pitiful when you consider I'm hitting 960 Mhz @ 1.1v core clock on one of my 570's (from a stock clock of 732 @ 0.963v) and not going over 82-83c.
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http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/04/nvidia_kepler_geforce_gtx_680_overclocking_review/6 appears to disagree with you.
 
Some have complained about the 70c, but I know alot of "real" users that have their 680's at +200 offset and +450 on memory and they are around 66c total heat. That is a pretty damn good OC...with boost, some are hitting 1350 with good temps (below 70c). I hear there might be a bios flash that raises the threshold, but no one knows for sure if this is going to happen.

With non-reference cards on the horizon, there is no way they can/will have the this 70c ceiling before the boost downclocks.
 
Newegg had ove a 100 EVGA SC w/backplates earlier today. I think they lasted for about 30 minutes or so. So they are beginning to flow more, but demand is pretty crazy right now and seeing 100 cards disapear in around 30 min is pretty damn fast!
 
Does the downclocking at 70c have anything to do with the new turbo boost feature? Or is it just a more general safety precaution?
 
Elsolar said:
Does the downclocking at 70c have anything to do with the new turbo boost feature? Or is it just a more general safety precaution?
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It is more a safety thing from what I have read and it downclocks the boost..but honestly, I have not hit higher that 64c and that is SLI (top card) and I am using a +100 offset to the core and +400 on the memory. With boost, I hit close to 1200mhz on the core and temps are really good.

I know some users on evga's forum that are able to go alot higher with the offset and still temps are good and below 70c. I do run with a custom profile that matches the temp with the fan speed, so when my cards hit 60c, my fan goes to 60. These cards are pretty silent and even at 60 you can barely hear them (at least I cant over my front intake fans).

I do agree with Boob that the 70c is a little low for a boost throttleback, but since these are new cards, there may be a reason for it. I beleive these cards have a thermal threshold of 98c, so it seems like there is room and so far the fans max speed is 85%, no vendor has released a update to unlock the fan speed to go higher if needed.

It does make me curious as vendors release non-reference cards. Evga is working on the FTW (For the Win) 4gb cards and the flagship 4g Classifeds that have 8+ 8+ power versues the 6+ 6+ than reference have...so with the more voltages, temps should be higher which in-turn will have to raise the 70c threshold..unless they have some advanced air cooling method.
 
Hawk269 said:
Some have complained about the 70c, but I know alot of "real" users that have their 680's at +200 offset and +450 on memory and they are around 66c total heat. That is a pretty damn good OC...with boost, some are hitting 1350 with good temps (below 70c). I hear there might be a bios flash that raises the threshold, but no one knows for sure if this is going to happen.

With non-reference cards on the horizon, there is no way they can/will have the this 70c ceiling before the boost downclocks.
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Those guys are probably using expensive cases and live in fuckin' Canada/Finland where ambient temps are -20C hahahaha. :P

Hawk269 said:
It is more a safety thing from what I have read and it downclocks the boost..but honestly, I have not hit higher that 64c and that is SLI (top card) and I am using a +100 offset to the core and +400 on the memory. With boost, I hit close to 1200mhz on the core and temps are really good.

I know some users on evga's forum that are able to go alot higher with the offset and still temps are good and below 70c. I do run with a custom profile that matches the temp with the fan speed, so when my cards hit 60c, my fan goes to 60. These cards are pretty silent and even at 60 you can barely hear them (at least I cant over my front intake fans).

I do agree with Boob that the 70c is a little low for a boost throttleback, but since these are new cards, there may be a reason for it. I beleive these cards have a thermal threshold of 98c, so it seems like there is room and so far the fans max speed is 85%, no vendor has released a update to unlock the fan speed to go higher if needed.

It does make me curious as vendors release non-reference cards. Evga is working on the FTW (For the Win) 4gb cards and the flagship 4g Classifeds that have 8+ 8+ power versues the 6+ 6+ than reference have...so with the more voltages, temps should be higher which in-turn will have to raise the 70c threshold..unless they have some advanced air cooling method.
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Yeah, they need to release BIOSes which allow higher thresholds... but maybe they won't because that'll force little nerds to buy "superclocked" and higher end non-reference cards if they want to OC. It's always great when companies punish consumers and make overclocking harder/more expensive!
 
From The GTX 680 announcement story on Nvidia's site:

SMX doubled the performance per watt, but what if the GPU wasn't actually using its full power capacity? Going back to the light bulb analogy, what if a 100 watt light bulb was sometimes running at 90 watts, or even 80 watts? As it turns out, that's exactly how GPUs behave today.

The reason for this is actually pretty simple. Like light bulbs, GPUs are designed to operate under a certain wattage. This number is called the thermal design point, or TDP. For a high-end GPU, the TDP has typically been about 250 watts. You can interpret this number as saying: this GPU's cooler can remove 250 watts of heat away from the GPU. If it goes over this limit for an extended period of time, the GPU will be forced to throttle down its clock speed to prevent overheating. What this also means is, to get the maximum performance, the GPU should operate close to its TDP, without ever exceeding it.

In reality, GPUs rarely reach their TDP when playing even the most intensive 3D games. This is because different games consume different amounts of power and the GPU's TDP is measured using the worst case. Popular games like Battlefield 3 or Crysis 2 consume far less power than a GPU's TDP rating. Only a few synthetic benchmarks can push GPUs to their TDP limit.

For example, say your GPU has a TDP of 200 watts. What this means is that in the worst case, your GPU will consume 200 watts of power. If you happen to be playing Battlefield 3, it may draw as little as 150 watts. In theory, your GPU could safely operate at a higher clock speed to tap into this available headroom. But since it doesn't know the power requirements of the application ahead of time, it sticks to the most conservative clock speed. Only when you quit the game does it reduce to a lower clock speed for the desktop environment.

GPU Boost changes all this. Instead of running the GPU at a clock speed that is based on the most power hungry app, GPU Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed based on the power consumed by the currently running app. To take our Battlefield 3 example, instead of running at 150 watts and leaving performance on the table, GPU Boost will dynamically increase the clock speed to take advantage of the extra power headroom.
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I could see this being the reason (or at least the official reason) for the low temperature threshold. Although most IHVs support overclocking officially, reference cards generally aren't supposed to go over ~60c when under load, if the lifespan of the card is at all a priority. If this new "GPU Boost" feature is causing cards to self-overclock on a regular basis, then it makes sense for them to have a very low temperature threshold because they don't want the cards to ever be operating at temperatures that could negatively impact the card's lifespan.

And yes, I'm aware of how ridiculously low a temperature threshold 60c is, I'm just trying to think from Nvidia's point of view.
 
Elsolar said:
From The GTX 680 announcement story on Nvidia's site:



I could see this being the reason (or at least the official reason) for the low temperature threshold. Although most IHVs support overclocking officially, reference cards generally aren't supposed to go over ~60c when under load, if the lifespan of the card is at all a priority. If this new "GPU Boost" feature is causing cards to self-overclock on a regular basis, then it makes sense for them to have a very low temperature threshold because they don't want the cards to ever be operating at temperatures that could negatively impact the card's lifespan.

And yes, I'm aware of how ridiculously low a temperature threshold 60c is, I'm just trying to think from Nvidia's point of view.
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I understand what you're saying, but fuck card lifespan. Oh no, it's gonna last 5 years instead of 10 because I'm running more voltage, boo hoo! Nah, Nvidia can lick an ass if that's what they're thinking. There's something more to it. Users can figure out where they want their card to run at, we don't need artificial limits. If we want to run at 85c all the time and the card only lasts 3 years, big deal. Most people upgrade every 2-3 years so it's pointless.

I personally think it's a way to force people to buy higher-end, factory OC'd cards instead of letting us OC the reference versions. I can totally see Nvidia going to all of the manufacturers and saying 'gee, how would you like to limit OC'ing on lower end models and be able to force people into paying $50-150 more for the unlocked factory OC'ing cards?'

I guarantee you that XFX, EVGA, MSI, et al would be like 'FUCK YES!' Intel did it to great success by limiting real OC'ing to K versions only, so why wouldn't Nvidia want to do it as well? More profit for them and their AIB's.
 
Ok, did a little digging around... this might do the trick for beating that 70c barrier.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1235411/installation-of-rev-2-icy-vision-on-gtx680

600x401px-LL-d3d96af4_D.jpeg


$55 USD supposedly... looks pretty easy to install.

Results:
OK~ one of end user in H.K. tested ICY on his GTX680 with dual monitors,
Stock cooler: around 50C(idle), Full load 85C(Max)
ICY:28C(idle), Full load 54C

h t t p://www.hkepc.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=1775284&extra=page%3D1
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Damn, 31c drop in temps. I'm guessing that might be enough to max out voltage and hit 1.4 Ghz or so on the core...

Also, Accelero Twin Turbo II works on it:

http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038557526&postcount=10


Zomoa said:
Yeah. Getting great temps, 29c idle, 54c load with 1.150v and a gpu clock of 1300mhz.
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Aw yeah. Tempting.
 
That getting a card down to 28* idle? Almost seems unbelievable, the heatsinks themselves don't look like they could sponge up much heat and only two fans to move it all away again? But if it is true then I'm very impressed. I'm probably too used to the old stoves that is Fermi.

Also impressive it fits on a reference 680 when it isn't made for it.
 
Waiting to see if MSI is going to come out with a similar Lightning Xtreme 680 like they did for 580. Love these cards.

Was funny that I had a bit of a revelation yesterday. Was messing around with various games, one of course being BF3 MP. Had everything on Ultra including 4x MSAA. At one point I just stopped in middle if action and looked around and said "this looks fucking amazing", while averaging about 90fps in MP. Why do I need to upgrade?!

So at this point I think the only way I do upgrade is for NVIDIA Surround as I've been reading that its so much better/nicer on the 680.
 
Smokey said:
So at this point I think the only way I do upgrade is for NVIDIA Surround as I've been reading that its so much better/nicer on the 680.
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yeah, shame you need a massively overpriced adaptor if you want to do 3 x 120hz on 1 card though, as i recently found out :/

VERY nice cards though
 
bee said:
yeah, shame you need a massively overpriced adaptor if you want to do 3 x 120hz on 1 card though, as i recently found out :/

VERY nice cards though
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DisplayPort -> Dual link DVI adapter right? How much is it if that is correct?

I'm assuming you have Surround setup with 3x 120hz monitors based off your response. If so why wouldn't you go 680 SLI with something like that?
 
Wazzim said:
Why are you crazy people buying reference cards? :p
It's good to be patient with GPU releases.
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Indeed, some people are just extremely impatient :P

On another note, Galaxy has updated their 4GB OC model with clock speeds, was TBD yesterday. So a step in the right direction for its release.
 
Smokey said:
DisplayPort -> Dual link DVI adapter right? How much is it if that is correct?

I'm assuming you have Surround setup with 3x 120hz monitors based off your response. If so why wouldn't you go 680 SLI with something like that?
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single link adaptor is £10, dual link adaptor is £75 :/ and apparently 3D doesn't work through some of them

i want to run 3 monitors off 1 card for a while for games like iracing that will still run at around 120fps maxed out with aa etc on 1 card, then when the prices drop in a month or 2 get another 680
 
the 4GB palit jetstream version will be in stock in the UK next tuesday the 11th for a truly laughable £540
 
I was reading up on the Palit Jetstream. They claim it's running 8 degrees slower than a reference cooler - What the fuck? How can you have that massive thing and only get it 8 degrees down?
 
scogoth said:
Reference coolers are well designed, just louder.
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No, they suck. I would never use a reference cooler ever again, unless it's an engineering marvel.

Even on this page there's examples of third party coolers kicking down the temperatures tremendously. What palit has is just a piss poor design if that temp is true.
 
Sethos said:
No, they suck. I would never use a reference cooler ever again, unless it's an engineering marvel.

Even on this page there's examples of third party coolers kicking down the temperatures tremendously. What palit has is just a piss poor design if that temp is true.
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lol, really, you ever used a gtx 680? best stock cooler i've ever used for sure. you can run it at stock and it'll be utterly silent and never go above 75c or you can simply click one button in precision x to enable auto fan control on a curve and after 3hrs BF3 it never went above 65c and was still barely audible. plus they dump all the hot air outside the case which is definitely preferable when running sli

here's the link for the palit, 4GB Palit £540, no way would i ever pay that for a single gpu card though :O
 
bee said:
lol, really, you ever used a gtx 680? best stock cooler i've ever used for sure. you can run it at stock and it'll be utterly silent and never go above 75c or you can simply click one button in precision x to enable auto fan control on a curve and after 3hrs BF3 it never went above 65c and was still barely audible. plus they dump all the hot air outside the case which is definitely preferable when running sli
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No, I haven't used a GTX 680 because I refuse to buy reference cooler designs. 75c is WAY too much and 65c is pushing it. That's not even good numbers, most high-end reference coolers can do that they just do it with a bit of noise. Kudos for being more silent but the temps are still awful. Plus that's STOCK temps, overclock it just a tiny bit and you're pushing 80c load which is waaaaaay beyond what I'd ever want to be running. People can buy reference coolers all they want, it's going to be a cold day in hell before I do and they are not praise-worthy, not by a long shot. They are made cheap.

And in this very page, it has just been stated the card downthrottles at 70c so you can't maintain an overclock. Gee a reference cooler sounds ballin' in that situation.


BoobPhysics101 said:
Ok, did a little digging around... this might do the trick for beating that 70c barrier.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1235411/installation-of-rev-2-icy-vision-on-gtx680

600x401px-LL-d3d96af4_D.jpeg


$55 USD supposedly... looks pretty easy to install.

Results:

Damn, 31c drop in temps. I'm guessing that might be enough to max out voltage and hit 1.4 Ghz or so on the core...
Click to expand...

By the way, any word on how it does with the Vram temps? Believe the Accelero Xtreme caught some flack for doing a poor job of keeping the Vram cool.
 
Sethos said:
No, I haven't used a GTX 680 because I refuse to buy reference cooler designs. 75c is WAY too much and 65c is pushing it. That's not even good numbers, most high-end reference coolers can do that they just do it with a bit of noise. Kudos for being more silent but the temps are still awful. Plus that's STOCK temps, overclock it just a tiny bit and you're pushing 80c load which is waaaaaay beyond what I'd ever want to be running. People can buy reference coolers all they want, it's going to be a cold day in hell before I do and they are not praise-worthy, not by a long shot. They are made cheap.

And in this very page, it has just been stated the card downthrottles at 70c so you can't maintain an overclock. Gee a reference cooler sounds ballin' in that situation.
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65 or 75c is high haha? how long have you been building computers? seems low to me considering its quite warm outside now and every card i've had for the past 10 years or so ran at around those temps with MUCH higher noise and quite a few of those had custom cooling solutions on them. not seen a single person criticise the stock cooler on a 680 so far, with good reason

never noticed any downclocking in BF3 with stock fan curve, certainly no performance drop but i don't have the gpu speed on the osd so i coudn't say for sure but there seems to be a lot of reviews showing higher temps with no performance loss, say the hardocp 680 overclocking article from earlier on today
 
The 680 reference cooler is actually really good as far as ref coolers go. I picked up a Twin Turbo II two days ago and while it's certainly dropped temps, it doesn't seem to help much when it comes to OCing, unfortunately. I've read online that others have had similar results, where we're not getting much more OC performance over the reference coolers. To be fair, though... the OC performance out of the box was pretty damn impressive as it was.
So yeah, while the idea of staying below 70c so that you don't get throttled is enticing, in practice it doesn't seem to be much of a factor at all with these aftermarket air coolers.
The Twin Turbo II is about a hundred times quieter, though
 
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