# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Launched



## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

NVIDIA today announced the GeForce GTX 690, the world's fastest consumer graphics card -- with a bold industrial design to match. Powered by dual Kepler architecture-based GeForce GPUs, the GTX 690 is meticulously designed -- inside and out -- to deliver the most refined, elegant and smooth PC gaming experience possible.

The surprise announcement was made by NVIDIA CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang during his keynote address at the NVIDIA Game Festival in Shanghai, which is being attended by more than 6,000 gamers from across China. 



 

 




Engineered to reach a new threshold in gaming performance, the GTX 690 also looks the part. Its array of innovative technologies is complemented by sleek materials that contribute to the exotic design of the card, including: 
An exterior frame made from trivalent chromium-plated aluminum, providing excellent strength and durability 
A fan housing made from a thixomolded magnesium alloy, which offers excellent heat dissipation and vibration dampening 
High-efficiency power delivery with less resistance, lower power and less heat generated using a 10-phase, heavy-duty power supply with a 10-layer, two-ounce copper printed circuit board 
Efficient cooling using dual vapor chambers, a nickel-plated finstack and center-mounted axial fan with optimized fin pitch and air entry angles 
Low-profile components and ducted baseplate channels for unobstructed airflow, minimizing turbulence and improving acoustic quality
The GTX 690 is powered by a total of 3,072 NVIDIA CUDA cores, all working to deliver awesome gaming performance for ultimate gaming setups. Designed for the discriminating gamer and ultra-high-resolution, multimonitor NVIDIA Surround configurations, the GTX 690 delivers close to double the frame rates of the closest single GPU product, the GTX 680. Plus, it is more power efficient and quieter when compared to systems equipped with two GTX 680 cards running in NVIDIA SLI configuration. 



 

 



"The GTX 690 is truly a work of art -- gorgeous on the outside with amazing performance on the inside," said Brian Kelleher, senior vice president of GPU engineering at NVIDIA. "Gamers will love playing on multiple screens at high resolutions with all the eye candy turned on. And they'll relish showing their friends how beautiful the cards look inside their systems."

The GTX 690 graphics card is designed using GeForce GPUs based on NVIDIA's 28-nanometer Kepler architecture, following the introduction late last month of the GTX 680. 

*Availability*
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 GPU will be available in limited quantities starting May 3, 2012, with wider availability by May 7, 2012 from NVIDIA's add-in card partners, including ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, Palit and Zotac. Expected pricing is $999.





*View at TechPowerUp Main Site*


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## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

Tada!


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## entropy13 (Apr 29, 2012)

Still too expensive. 

A $999 price would mean a $1200 price (converted) over here.


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## Volkszorn88 (Apr 29, 2012)

$1k !!!!!!!


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## radrok (Apr 29, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> Still too expensive.
> 
> A $999 price would mean a $1200 price (converted) over here.



And 999 Euro here 

1->1 conversion for computer goods in Europe is awesome :shadedshu

I have one little question though, is TPU going to review this? I'd really hope so, W1zzard's reviews are the most extensive and cover everything.


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## jalex3 (Apr 29, 2012)

So DAMN sexy! ,   but I wont be buying it.


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## Nordic (Apr 29, 2012)

Does anyone else think they are going all out because they are using their mid end card as their high end card, and have large margins. At least if they had any to sell.

Even for a high end card, this sounds even more high end.


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## sanadanosa (Apr 29, 2012)

that price, better go with GTX 680 SLI


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## KainXS (Apr 29, 2012)

if they can make a dual 680 then the full GK110 is almost definitely finished and they're sitting on it, dammit nvidia just release it and stop cashing in on your lead.


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## TheLostSwede (Apr 29, 2012)

Anyone else noticed the motherboard? Looks like an Intel DX79SI, but with two extra USB 3.0 ports...


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## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

TheLostSwede said:


> Anyone else noticed the motherboard? Looks like an Intel DX79SI, but with two extra USB 3.0 ports...



What motherboard?


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## Maban (Apr 29, 2012)

That is the hottest, sexiest thing I have ever seen. If I was in the market one of them I would pay $850 tops. $1k is ridiculous.


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## kroks (Apr 29, 2012)

dat sli bridge


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## GC_PaNzerFIN (Apr 29, 2012)

So it is decided, finally a card I approve. Better start saving so I can afford one in few months! That really is the sexiest piece of hardware I have seen for years if coupled with EVGA backplate


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## option350z (Apr 29, 2012)

And POP goes the VRMs. Hopefully it won't be as terrible as the 590 with those issues. Pushing that much current has side effects you know. Where is the WTB for this thing now? They need to make a WTB themed after that.


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## GC_PaNzerFIN (Apr 29, 2012)

option350z said:


> And POP goes the VRMs. Hopefully it won't be as terrible as the 590 with those issues. Pushing that much current has side effects you know. Where is the WTB for this thing now? They need to make a WTB themed after that.



I don't think VRM will be a problem now, dual GF110s were much more power hungry than these.


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## hhumas (Apr 29, 2012)

its cheap ... 590 is around 700$


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## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

Btw, that bridge chip is PLX-made, in a slightly different package (no IHS for starters).


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## jman20nnsss (Apr 29, 2012)

*all nvidia reference cards shd have this design*

all nvidia reference cards shd have this design


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## jman20nnsss (Apr 29, 2012)

kroks said:


> dat sli bridge


hot


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Apr 29, 2012)

Looks pretty fancy for reference. Is that a windows with rivets? At least it looks like a grand, though it's worthless at 2 GB per gpu. I've gone over that limit 5 times today.


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## radrok (Apr 29, 2012)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> Looks pretty fancy for reference. Is that a windows with rivets? At least it looks like a grand, though it's worthless at 2 GB per gpu. I've gone over that limit 5 times today.



I agree, I ranted on another thread that they should have gone 8GB (4x GPU) or this would have been wasted. 
Come on this VGA is wasted on 1080p, it is clearly aimed at higher resolutions and they cripple it from the start


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## Protagonist (Apr 29, 2012)

Too damn expensive, but oh well some people have the money for this,... just not me i eint got that much money to spare on a GPU, I love playing games with all the i candy and maxed out settings but i have a life $1000 damn, it does appear to me that most of this new gen cards i might pass from both AMD Radeon or Nvidia Geforce price being the main issue for this, then again Nvidia not being that good on what it brought to the table compute, then again i know its not about compute gaming is the main thing they nailed it but at a high price and a mid tier turned high end card while they are seating on the top tier chip somewhere the GK100 which should command the prices we are seeing now.

I thought AMD Radeon this time round they got gaming and compute but still they are the ones who started with the high prices so, and i never wanted to be exploited, so i think to my self my GTX460 1GB still does me right. ill hold off till the next gen of cards which will be AMD Radeon 8xxx Series or Nvidia Geforce 7xx or ultimately when the prices drop like the current Radeon 6xxx or Geforce 5xx, so till there is a super price drop to acceptable prices i eint in a hurry to change my GPU, ill be changing any other thing on my rig just not the GPU for now, plus i play most of my games on PS3 and my GTX460 is still very nice on my rig,...


If i ever decide to get one of the current gen cards from any of the two camps, then nothing less than for Geforce GTX670 or for Radeon 7870


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## DarkOCean (Apr 29, 2012)

1k for a production graphics card ...really!? The end of the world is coming indeed.


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## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

radrok said:


> I have one little question though, is TPU going to review this? I'd really hope so, W1zzard's reviews are the most extensive and cover everything.



Yes, TPU review(s) on May 07.


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## sic_doni (Apr 29, 2012)

what a shocking expecting price $999


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## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

Intel has been charging $999 for processors since the dawn of time. I don't see the shock value.


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## behemoth. (Apr 29, 2012)

Who in their right mind would buy this?! 

Better off buying 2 680s. I'm certainly interested in what ATI is going to do now with the 7990.


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## stinger608 (Apr 29, 2012)

Got one sitting here!! Paid $450 shipped for it............................















LOL, just kidding!!


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## user21 (Apr 29, 2012)

Nvidia FTW


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## neko77025 (Apr 29, 2012)

I just dont see the point ... dont get me wrong I want one .. who dont.

But we are getting too the point hardware has really out lvled the software.  The only thing the 690 is good for is higher benchmarks ..and if you are going for that .. you are going too want 2x (2000.00)


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## Shinshin (Apr 29, 2012)

Why Nvidia isn't releasing the lower GPUs first? like AMD did.
The market for these high end cards is so small compared to other segments.
Nvidia has the most powerful GPU, the 680, it doesn't need to show off... Well, until AMD release their dual GPU in a card (a.k.a 7990) next month.
Also, I read on another site that Nvidia is having hard time to supply the 680s (because of demand), and basically as the 690 is 2x680 bind together, supply will be even worse.


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## mtosev (Apr 29, 2012)

hardcore looking card and also a hardcore price


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## Bullly (Apr 29, 2012)

btarunr said:


> Yes, TPU review(s) on May 07.


Whyyyy sooo late?


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## Protagonist (Apr 29, 2012)

If this was a race then i got left at the starting line, damn 1K for a GPU


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## W1zzard (Apr 29, 2012)

I hear NVIDIA will be sending out cards this week. We have a national holiday on Tuesday, so it might take a day longer to get to me.

Rest assured, I'll work as quickly as possible, and as thoroughly as always, to get you the review.
(No NDA this time, so I expect some sites will post quick articles just to get the extra traffic)


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## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

Bullly said:


> Whyyyy sooo late?



Because today's is a textbook paper-launch. Nobody will post reviews today, other than the performance numbers NVIDIA gave.


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## Frick (Apr 29, 2012)

radrok said:


> And 999 Euro here
> 
> 1->1 conversion for computer goods in Europe is awesome :shadedshu



You pay more taxes. So it makes sense.

Anyway nice! I didn't even know it was due so soon. Interestinger and interestinger.


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## cadaveca (Apr 29, 2012)

btarunr said:


> Because today's is a textbook paper-launch. Nobody will post reviews today, other than the performance numbers NVIDIA gave.



So, you mean...this is a *preview*.





I really like the way this card looks. The windows in the heatsink are an interesting idea. I am not impressed with the dual 8-pin though.


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## btarunr (Apr 29, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> So, you mean...this is a *preview*.



Less than a preview. The graphs with performance figures are NVIDIA's.


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## GSquadron (Apr 29, 2012)

Found this on nvidia's facebook page:
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/article-keynote/#sf4056679


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## jamsbong (Apr 29, 2012)

Very happy to see Nvidia and ATI pushing the boundaries of PC graphics. This time of course is Nvidia leading the way in efficiency.
Reminded me of the 4870 underdog win. History is repeating again.

I hope Nvidia and ATI continue putting money into GPU business so that we will be less dependant on CPU power.

I've always love companies that steps forward. Nvidia is a good example where they put great efforts to aid software developers to build their software that make use of Nvidia hardware. I mean, people might hate TWIMTBP titles but ATI should have done similar stuff to aid dev to make use of their hardware.
Instead, I think ATI prefer to adapt their drivers to suit a particular game after the game has been opt for Nvidia card. Perhaps it is more economical, but that just means ATI will always trail Nvidia. That said, DX11's strict requirements meant these two cards are very similar in performance, so ATI can always catch up to Nvidia with driver update.


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## mak1skav (Apr 29, 2012)

The most shocking thing for me is that there are still people out there that find those prices normal and acceptable and they even try to defend the companies that try to get our money with those price strategies.

I think 500-600 dollars/euros should be the price limit for the top of the line VGA cards.


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## LAN_deRf_HA (Apr 29, 2012)

I would expect realistically for the 7990 and 690 to duke it out at $870-920


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## Frick (Apr 29, 2012)

mak1skav said:


> The most shocking thing for me is that there are still people out there that find those prices normal and acceptable and they even try to defend the companies that try to get our money with those price strategies.
> 
> I think 500-600 dollars/euros should be the price limit for the top of the line VGA cards.



This thing is a complex beast so I think the price is if not good value it's "ok" in my book. I don't have to buy them.

I mean I get your point but on the other hand these things are BEASTS. They do cost a lot of money to make, especially at an early stage. I don't know how good the production run of the 680 have been though so I can't really comment on that..


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## erixx (Apr 29, 2012)

Get the crowbar ready W1zzard!


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## N3M3515 (Apr 29, 2012)

Frick said:


> This thing is a complex beast so I think the price is if not good value it's "ok" in my book. I don't have to buy them.
> 
> I mean I get your point but on the other hand these things are BEASTS. They do cost a lot of money to make, especially at an early stage. I don't know how good the production run of the 680 have been though so I can't really comment on that..



I can bet you they can sell this card at $600 and still make a LOT of money.


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## raptori (Apr 29, 2012)

1st they should make the GTX 680 more available


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## Capitan Harlock (Apr 29, 2012)

radrok said:


> And 999 Euro here
> 
> 1->1 conversion for computer goods in Europe is awesome :shadedshu



i pray you joke,im italian and if you make the right conversion the price is 999€ for the shit iva at 21% here in italy its the shittest thing in the world have the same price for tax like mafia


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## 1c3d0g (Apr 29, 2012)

MAN! I would kill to see some BOINC/Folding@Home crunching numbers from this monster!


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## HTC (Apr 29, 2012)

Capitan Harlock said:


> i pray you joke,im italian and if you make the right conversion the price is 999€ for the shit *iva at 21% here* in italy its the shittest thing in the world have the same price for tax like mafia



I'll gladly use your 21% if you use my 23%: deal?


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## mtosev (Apr 29, 2012)

Capitan Harlock said:


> i pray you joke,im italian and if you make the right conversion the price is 999€ for the shit iva at 21% here in italy its the shittest thing in the world have the same price for tax like mafia


order computer hardware from germany.comparing the prices in slovenia and germany stuff in germany costs 30% less on average.I ordered all of the hardware for my computer from germany and I saved about 300-350eur


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## mtosev (Apr 29, 2012)

HTC said:


> I'll gladly use your 21% if you use my 23%: deal?


VAT rate standard 	VAT rate reduced
Azores (Portugal) 	   	imposto sobre o valor acrescentado (IVA)
	16,0% 	6,0% 
u can always move to Azores


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## Capitan Harlock (Apr 29, 2012)

mtosev said:


> order computer hardware from germany.comparing the prices in slovenia and germany stuff in germany costs 30% less on average.I ordered all of the hardware for my computer from germany and I saved about 300-350eur



oh thanks man xd its a good idea


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## Frick (Apr 29, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> I can bet you they can sell this card at $600 and still make a LOT of money.



I have no idea, but these cards are expensive to make. They kinda have to be. It would be interesting to know how much Nvidia "makes" for each card sold.

And @taxes: 25% here! But seriously taxation is also complex and it's not just "they're stealing our moneysss!!!!1!1!" because that's not how it works. Well Italy is in a bit of trouble because of that thing but if it works I'll gladly pay that 25% "extra".


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## vavyn (Apr 29, 2012)

You not taking $999 from me..


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## H82LUZ73 (Apr 29, 2012)

erixx said:


> Get the crowbar ready W1zzard!



I seen that promo PR pic and thought Oh Boy Nvidia is going to have Half Life 2 EP3 for the 690.....That is one sexy card ,But at $999 your better off buying 2 680 and be within 1-2 % performance wise to this.or be like most of us in the real world (I think the guys at Nvidia all think everyone is millionaires like them)And buy 2 7970 and be done with your graphics until Late June October when the refreshed models hit.


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## Yellow&Nerdy? (Apr 29, 2012)

999$? Jesus. Why couldn't they make a dual GPU card with like two GTX 660 Ti's? It would still beat the GTX 680, while still having a reasonable price-tag.


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## W1zzard (Apr 29, 2012)

erixx said:


> Get the crowbar ready W1zzard!








the crowbar is tiny .. i doubt i could steal a chewing gum from downtown gangster kids with it. must be for asians with small hands


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## HTC (Apr 29, 2012)

mtosev said:


> VAT rate standard 	VAT rate reduced
> Azores (Portugal) 	   	imposto sobre o valor acrescentado (IVA)
> 16,0% 	6,0%
> u can always move to Azores



And come to work on my bike, like always, in the main land?


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## LiveOrDie (Apr 29, 2012)

Nice looking card hat goes off.


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## mtosev (Apr 29, 2012)

@HTC
Find a job on Azores. Wiki says that the population of Azroes is 250.000.

Or you can move to another EU country that has lower taxes
Lux is a good place


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## Filiprino (Apr 29, 2012)

Spain has a VAT of 18% for these kind of products (and not much longer ago, we had 16%). And know what? That doesn't make any difference on the final price. We've got the same prices as other countries with higher VATs, so if you have a business, it's better for you to buy from another country because then that country we'll have to make you a bigger payment of that VAT that the consumer has to pay.

The thing is that while 1 euro has a value of 1'33 USD dollars, the taxes don't go up to 33%. So yes, with their 1 euro = 1 usd policy they're charging an extra 15% on average, and that is without taking into account the taxes of USA, that although being lower, you also have VAT.

Apple for example does have different prices for Europe and for USA. And I think Dell also applies correctly the euro conversion.


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## Animalpak (Apr 29, 2012)

1000 dollars ?? Too much !


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## MicroUnC (Apr 29, 2012)

Do i have to upgrade to PCI-E 3.0 to use it properly, does anyone know???


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## Fluffmeister (Apr 29, 2012)

Wow, that is one GORGEOUS card.


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## TiN (Apr 29, 2012)

Let's see what zombies can do with it


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## dude12564 (Apr 29, 2012)

At least the power connectors aren't piggybacked


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## Lionheart (Apr 29, 2012)

MicroUnC said:


> Do i have to upgrade to PCI-E 3.0 to use it properly, does anyone know???



You get a cookie for having David Icke as your DP


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## ZoneDymo (Apr 29, 2012)

Did anyone else spot the inconsistencies between the 2 performance graphs?
for example the first shows the GTX690 doing 80fps in bf3 while the second shows 70fps :S


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## the54thvoid (Apr 29, 2012)

ZoneDymo said:


> Did anyone else spot the inconsistencies between the 2 performance graphs?
> for example the first shows the GTX690 doing 80fps in bf3 while the second shows 70fps :S



Well spotted.  So already has a performance issue with consistency 

Though it does look like a beautifully designed piece of work.  It's a shame AMD don't put this much design effort into their cards.


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## grok23 (Apr 29, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> Well spotted.  So already has a performance issue with consistency




This is of course yet another reminder that you should ALWAYS disregard any of the charts the companies release at launch detailing performance figures, because at best they're skewed and at worst they're outright made up by the marketing guys to make sure that the new product looks to be the best thing since sliced bread.


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## jsfitz54 (Apr 29, 2012)

You still can't get a 680 and now this.
 Computer Hardware, Video Cards & Video Devices, D...

EVGA site the same, no stock.

It looks good on paper.


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## m1dg3t (Apr 29, 2012)

WOW! $1k for a GPU. I don't ever recall seeing a card this expensive, I feel sorry for who ever buy's this (if it even becomes available). Typical Nvidia fleecing the market and over charging, this is BAD for end user's as it will only drive the prices up/keep the prices up for every other card. ATi will follow suit I'm sure :shadedshu

This card should be $650/$750 & top spec single GPU should be no more than $375/$400, plus taxxes of course 

Dual GPU board should NOT cost double it's single GPU counterpart


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## cadaveca (Apr 29, 2012)

MicroUnC said:


> Do i have to upgrade to PCI-E 3.0 to use it properly, does anyone know???



Hrm, i think you might, but not sure, don't have  single PCIe 3.0 card.


What I can say, is that I have noticed differences in PCIe 2.0 cards in x8x8 vs x16x16, but it's hard to quantify for comparison purposes. I know 100% for sure, PCIe bandwidth matters with three cards, so I assume that hte same woudl translate over to faster cards on PCIe 3.0. 

Sometimes, it's not aobut the overbandwdith needed, but the number of channels the cards communicate with each other, and how they link into the CPU that can matter.

Mind you, i've been saying the same thing for a couple of years now, and not many agree with me. OH well. 


$1000 price tag seems a bit high, would have preferred if I could buy for that, tax included!


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Apr 29, 2012)

Pants off to nvidia.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Apr 29, 2012)

that design looks so damn sexy!


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## mrthanhnguyen (Apr 29, 2012)

it is limited. hell yeah, limited people will buy it.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Apr 29, 2012)

behemoth. said:


> Who in their right mind would buy this?!
> 
> Better off buying 2 680s. I'm certainly interested in what ATI is going to do now with the 7990.



I don't see how that is. The GTX690 is 2 non gimped GTX680s except for clock speed was dropped a tiny bit one PCB for the same price as 2 GTX680s. Not to mention itll run cooler, its one card rather then 2 so you save space, and with 2 GTX680 your still limited to 2GB fo ram. In sli the ram doesnt add up its only the power, so with the GTX690 the ram actually does add up so you do get the extra 2GB of frame buffer for 4GB. Call me out if im wrong though. That was the case when i ran 2 GTX260s.


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## Prima.Vera (Apr 29, 2012)

Nice. In Europe it will be more than 1000 Euros with all the shitty taxes included. *And for what?! To play console ports* that I can run in full details on my 5870 card??! LOL. Thanks, but no thanks.


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## Steevo (Apr 29, 2012)

Your wrong. Still only 2GB.

Not even a paper launch. This is just a grab at news headlines by Nvidia. Reviewers dont have card, and 680s are hard to come by so why would this card be available in the forseeable future.


The only thing they have done is to allow ATI enough time to tweak the final specs on the 7990 to beat or match the performance.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Apr 29, 2012)

Steevo said:


> Your wrong. Still only 2GB.
> 
> Not even a paper launch. This is just a grab at news headlines by Nvidia. Reviewers dont have card, and 680s are hard to come by so why would this card be available in the forseeable future.
> 
> ...



Forseeable future? There will be 680, 670, 660s and 690s on the shelves. Its not like theres never going to be any more GK104s available.


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## Shihab (Apr 29, 2012)

btarunr said:


> Expected pricing is $999.



Expected by whom ?


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## eidairaman1 (Apr 29, 2012)

ZoneDymo said:


> Did anyone else spot the inconsistencies between the 2 performance graphs?
> for example the first shows the GTX690 doing 80fps in bf3 while the second shows 70fps :S



so its a fake! OMG WTL NV!



m1dg3t said:


> WOW! $1k for a GPU. I don't ever recall seeing a card this expensive, I feel sorry for who ever buy's this (if it even becomes available). Typical Nvidia fleecing the market and over charging, this is BAD for end user's as it will only drive the prices up/keep the prices up for every other card. ATi will follow suit I'm sure :shadedshu
> 
> This card should be $650/$750 & top spec single GPU should be no more than $375/$400, plus taxxes of course
> 
> Dual GPU board should NOT cost double it's single GPU counterpart



considering your not paying for double the PCB or components on the PCB


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## Animalpak (Apr 29, 2012)

They still planning that GTX 685 ??  For October


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## MxPhenom 216 (Apr 29, 2012)

Animalpak said:


> They still planning that GTX 685 ??  For October



itll most likely be the GTX780 if its based on the GK110 silicon


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## dj-electric (Apr 29, 2012)

the GK110 based GPU might be as fast as this dual-GPU card is... waiting patiently...


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## N3M3515 (Apr 29, 2012)

Frick said:


> I have no idea, but these cards are expensive to make. They kinda have to be. It would be interesting to know how much Nvidia "makes" for each card sold.
> 
> And @taxes: 25% here! But seriously taxation is also complex and it's not just "they're stealing our moneysss!!!!1!1!" because that's not how it works. Well Italy is in a bit of trouble because of that thing but if it works I'll gladly pay that 25% "extra".



They are not, NV and AMD just are greedy bastards that want to squeeze every single penny from us, FYI nvidia planned to sell GK104 at $299 before knowing it could compete with HD 7970.


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## N3M3515 (Apr 29, 2012)

m1dg3t said:


> WOW! $1k for a GPU. I don't ever recall seeing a card this expensive, I feel sorry for who ever buy's this (if it even becomes available). Typical Nvidia fleecing the market and over charging, this is BAD for end user's as it will only drive the prices up/keep the prices up for every other card. ATi will follow suit I'm sure :shadedshu
> 
> This card should be $650/$750 & top spec single GPU should be no more than $375/$400, plus taxxes of course
> 
> Dual GPU board should NOT cost double it's single GPU counterpart



Exactly.



eidairaman1 said:


> considering your not paying for double the PCB or components on the PCB


+1


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## yapchagi (Apr 29, 2012)

the benchmarks graphs don't look right. They're totally different. Look at Metro 2033 GTX 680 vs GTX 690, and then look at GTX 690 vs GTX 690 SLI. The number for GTX 690s are totally different for the exact same game, exact same resolution and settings.


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## HammerON (Apr 29, 2012)

I was reading over at [H] about the new cooler on this beast:

"Jen-Hsun Huang , president and CEO of NVIDIA, sent his best on a mission. That mission was to build the best dual GK104 video card they could. That mission has been successfully executed and what we have here today is the GeForce GTX 690.
GeForce GTX 690
Can you imagine a video card without any flimsy plastic parts? Now you can because the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 will not be composed of any cheap plastics. A heavy duty dual vapor chamber cooling system relying on heavily nickel plated finstacks will sweat what little heat these GPUs pump out. A cast aluminum frame with trivalent chromium plating gives the card a unique look and tremendous rigidity. An injection molded magnesium fan housing adds to the formidable stiffness of the card. A brand new thixomolding process was used to get the required part precision.
The fan housing is made from injection molded magnesium alloy. Magnesium alloys are used throughout the automotive and aerospace industry (including the engines of the Bugatti Veyron and F-22 Raptor) for their light weight, heat dissipation and acoustic dampening properties - which is the same reason we use it in the GTX 690.
Clear polycarbonate windows that let you peer inside. A center mounted axial fan with optimized fin pitch and air entry angles is a top quality unit used to move cool air through the finstack. While we have not gotten to hear the fan yet, we are told its controller is top notch, which will be underlined by the decibel specs below. A ducted baseplate works with the low profile PCB components. And that is just the cooling system. The GeForce GTX 690 thermal unit cost more than 3X more than NVIDIA has ever spent on thermal system for a retail video card before. 
The PCB and its components were not overlooked in the process either. A 10 layer, 2oz. copper PCB is supplied sporting dual 1536 core GK104 "Kepler" silicon all being pushed by a 10 phase "heavy duty" power supply, all in a 300 watt TDP package. If you take a closer look at the PCB you will notice that all usually protruding components have been "shaved" to cut way down on turbulence, allowing better airflow throughout the GTX 690. Also the less turbulence we have, the less noise we have. An on board SLI bridge logic provides independent PCI-e 3.0 x16 access to both GPUs. 

Clocks - Noise - RAM

NVIDIA tells us the sound profile of the GeForce GTX 690 will be 36db at idle and a mere 46db under full gaming load. 

Base clock on the GeForce GTX 690 is what will be considered "low" by most [H]'ers at just 915MHz Base and 1015MHz Boost, but don't get your panties in a wad just quite yet. Here is the kicker. Being that this is the most expensive and exotic cooling system ever sold by NVIDIA, you think you would expect great overclocking and we are told that you exactly should expect great overclocking. 1300MHz was thrown around more than once while discussing this new GTX 690's overclocks.

Finally this will be the one specification that some will shake their heads at, but from what we have seen in our testing, RAM has not been bottleneck for the most part except in very stressful situations as you can see here in our GTX 680 SLI Review. The GeForce GTX 690 will carry with it 4GB of RAM utilizing a 512-bit GDDR5 infrastructure."

Source: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/04/28/geforce_gtx_690_perfection_inside_out


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## xenocide (Apr 30, 2012)

That's actually an interesting read.  I kind of agree with the strategy, if you're paying for the best single card solution, why not get increased quality along with top of the line performance?  I could never afford such a card, but damn is that thing sexy, and I wish I could...


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## Delta6326 (Apr 30, 2012)

btarunr said:


> Yes, TPU review(s) on May 07.



Darn I will be on vacation from May 5 to May 11 good thing I just got a smartphone with the TPU APP.


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## eidairaman1 (Apr 30, 2012)

we can only hope they provide a plate to hold the video card up.


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## Animalpak (Apr 30, 2012)

Not anymore asus mars iii ????


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## alexsubri (Apr 30, 2012)

So, I wonder if W1zz`s reviews will be accidentally leaked? Like the accidental leaked review of the 6950/6790s


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## Steevo (Apr 30, 2012)

d





nvidiaintelftw said:


> Forseeable future? There will be 680, 670, 660s and 690s on the shelves. Its not like theres never going to be any more GK104s available.



And thats why the reviews only come out on the 7th of next month, and availability to follow by as long or longer before they are either sold out of the limited stock, or the price gouging begins.

This is like saying we have the fastest veyron, but you cant have one until the ultr rich have had thwm and moved on to something else, now be hally with just drooling over the specs and flamebaiting  with news marks.


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## alexsubri (Apr 30, 2012)

Watch out from_ behind_ *ATI!*



Let the flame WARS begin!


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## Primalz (Apr 30, 2012)

*gtx 690 = overheat fail*

What an overpriced, overheating, wasted of money. Seriously $1000 USD, here in Australia that will be more like $1200 + $$$$ what a bloody rip off.


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## Chappy (Apr 30, 2012)

*Too Expensive!*

This is just too expensive and even if I have enough money to buy this I won't get this and just wait for GK112-110 or whatever upcoming next gen gpu...


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## Animalpak (Apr 30, 2012)

Chappy said:


> This is just too expensive and even if I have enough money to buy this I won't get this and just wait for GK112-110 or whatever upcoming next gen gpu...



Then you have to upgrade for PCI EX 3.0 support...


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## Melvis (Apr 30, 2012)

Ive gone off Nvidia this last few yrs with there cards, but DAM that card is sexy, lets hope it doesn't blow up like the 590 did


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## dj-electric (Apr 30, 2012)

[yt]0rFYAKI-1u4[/yt]


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## NHKS (Apr 30, 2012)

personally, great looks & the best detailing i have seen for a 'reference' card (i doubt there will be any custom cooled designs from AIBs as with the 590), but I would have preferred darker metallic shade to the chromium shade... 
& the new GEFORCE GTX logo glows! 

here is the pcb back face






curiously, there doesn't seem to be a back plate for this card (590 had it).. I don't see any photos showing with it.. wouldn't a card of this length need it?

since available boost depends on temp/power draw of gpu.. i wonder how nvidia has placed logic to consider the TDP of both GPUs to control the 'boost' in tandem

the 999 pricing is confirmed(straight from nV)
"At a MSRP of $999, it's not a graphics card for everyone. But for enthusiasts who demand the very best and gamers who want a graphics card that will last for generations, the GeForce GTX 690 represents the ultimate in gaming from NVIDIA."


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## Recus (Apr 30, 2012)

axis007 said:


> What an overpriced, overheating, wasted of money. Seriously $1000 USD, here in Australia that will be more like $1200 + $$$$ what a bloody rip off.



Because in Australia 1/2 population is crocodiles.

On topic: Best reference design I ever seen.


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## Nihilus (May 1, 2012)

Since when was it ok to charge double for a dual gpu card?  Nvidia needs to get their heads out of the asses and realease the GTX 660/670s already.  AMD is happily cleaning house with their line up.  I bought Nvidia stock for $15 a share last month thinking the only place to go was up.....
.....it is now under $13/ share.  At least i cleaned house with AMD when i bought for $4.30 share and the sold last month at just under $7 /share.  Nvidia is a piss poor ran company and that shows since Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft want nothing to do with them.


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## xenocide (May 1, 2012)

Nihilus said:


> Since when was it ok to charge double for a dual gpu card?  Nvidia needs to get their heads out of the asses and realease the GTX 660/670s already.  AMD is happily cleaning house with their line up.  I bought Nvidia stock for $15 a share last month thinking the only place to go was up.....
> .....it is now under $13/ share.  At least i cleaned house with AMD when i bought for $4.30 share and the sold last month at just under $7 /share.  Nvidia is a piss poor ran company and that shows since Sony, Nintendo or Microsoft want nothing to do with them.



For starters, Dual-GPU cards are generally very close to twice the price of their single equivalents (HD6970 was $370, HD6990 was $700), the reason they are usually a tad under, is because traditionally they are cut down versions of their individual selves or ran at lower clock speeds than an individual card to keep power consumption and heat generation down.  Not sure why people are surprised this card is around $1000 when the individual GPU's were at $500.  If you OC the GTX690 to the same clock speeds as the GTX680, I'm sure you'd get pretty much identical scaling as an SLi setup, maybe better.

As for the Console makers ditching them, at the time AMD had better products in terms of Power Consumption and Heat Generation.  Fermi was poorly designed all things considered, and just wouldn't work well in Consoles.  No shocker there.  I think Kepler would be excellent for Consoles, but they are too far into development to just up and change the GPU configurations.

You guys make it sound like Intel\Nvidia are these beings of pure evil that had people paid to sodomize Rory Reed's family several times over.  Quit sensationalizing everything to make everyone who's not AMD seem so terrible.


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## MxPhenom 216 (May 1, 2012)

axis007 said:


> What an overpriced, overheating, wasted of money. Seriously $1000 USD, here in Australia that will be more like $1200 + $$$$ what a bloody rip off.



You must know something that everyone else doesn't. Seeing how even the GTX590 didn't overheat and it had 2 GPUs that run hotter then GK104. THe GTx690 also seems to have a better cooling design, not to mention quality in the construction of the card.


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## techtard (May 1, 2012)

Too bad most game publishers are stuck on last gen 32-bit/Dx9.0c.
This is both aesthetically and a technically awesome product. But only a handful of games are going to take advantage of the power.


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## N3M3515 (May 1, 2012)

xenocide said:


> For starters, Dual-GPU cards are generally very close to twice the price of their single equivalents (HD6970 was $370, HD6990 was $700), the reason they are usually a tad under, is because traditionally they are cut down versions of their individual selves or ran at lower clock speeds than an individual card to keep power consumption and heat generation down.  Not sure why people are surprised this card is around $1000 when the individual GPU's were at $500.  If you OC the GTX690 to the same clock speeds as the GTX680, I'm sure you'd get pretty much identical scaling as an SLi setup, maybe better.
> 
> As for the Console makers ditching them, at the time AMD had better products in terms of Power Consumption and Heat Generation.  Fermi was poorly designed all things considered, and just wouldn't work well in Consoles.  No shocker there.  I think Kepler would be excellent for Consoles, but they are too far into development to just up and change the GPU configurations.
> 
> You guys make it sound like Intel\Nvidia are these beings of pure evil that had people paid to sodomize Rory Reed's family several times over.  Quit sensationalizing everything to make everyone who's not AMD seem so terrible.



all that is true BUT why pay 200% price for 160% performance?


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## techtard (May 1, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> all that is true BUT why pay 200% price for 160% performance?



Convenience, the fact that it only takes one pci-e slot.
People who buy top end enthusiast gear usually don't care about price.
That's why Intel sells extreme CPUs for $999 and Asus sells Mars and Ares GPUs for $1000+.


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## Rickkins (May 1, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> Still too expensive.
> 
> A $999 price would mean a $1200 price (converted) over here.



Seriously....a vid card for a grand...???

Not in this lifetime.


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