# NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 4 GB



## W1zzard (Apr 30, 2012)

Today NVIDIA releases their new GeForce GTX 690 flagship. The $999 card is based on two GK104 graphics processors that have their full potential enabled. The new card has one of the most extravagant designs, making heavy use of metal which adds to the experience. Performance is outstanding, being neck to neck with a dual GTX 680 SLI setup.

*Show full review*


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## mtosev (May 3, 2012)

Awesome card. I didn't expect such a good card from nVidia
AMD's answer to this card will be interesting


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## LAN_deRf_HA (May 3, 2012)

How did they achieve the same performance as 680 sli with lower clock speeds? More than just sli/xfire on a stick for once?


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## Athlon2K15 (May 3, 2012)

great review


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## entropy13 (May 3, 2012)

It really is GTX 680 SLI in just one card, thus saving on space and power. Looks like the slightly lower default core clock doesn't really hurt it too.


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## zsolt_93 (May 3, 2012)

This is awesome. It is what a dual gpu card was meant to be. Good power consumption and good thermals while being as fast as two separate gpus, only drawback is the ocability, but that is a calculated risk when using a dual gpu. It will be hard for the 7990 to beat it not in performace, but in power consumption and efficiency things that don't really excel with the current 7970s compared to the 680. Performance of 7990 i think is expected to be a little higher than the 690 as crossfire worked better for amd this generation than nvidias sli.


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## imitation (May 3, 2012)

Wow, that is one great card! They managed to put two 680s on one board without sacrificing performance, but still reduced power consumption over two individual cards.
It will be interesting what AMD comes up with to compete with this beast. I seriously doubt a 7990 will beat this. 

Thanks for the review!


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## DarkOCean (May 3, 2012)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> How did they achieve the same performance as 680 sli with lower clock speeds? More than just sli/xfire on a stick for once?



The gpus are on the same board wich results in lower latency and much higher boost.


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## Benetanegia (May 3, 2012)

Excellent review. I love the fact that you included GTX680 SLI results and they are very interesting.

As to the card I think this has to be the best dual-GPU card ever made. Too bad it costs so much, though I guess it makes more sense than GTX680 SLI which would cost the same and produce more noise and heat..


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## Chaitanya (May 3, 2012)

mtosev said:


> AMD's answer to this card will be interesting



wait for Computex...


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## imitation (May 3, 2012)

DarkOCean said:


> Quote:
> Originally Posted by LAN_deRf_HA View Post
> How did they achieve the same performance as 680 sli with lower clock speeds? More than just sli/xfire on a stick for once?
> The gpus are on the same board wich results in lower latency and much higher boost.



Dynamic O/C pushes the 690 to clocks similar to two 680s (page 32).


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## ViperXTR (May 3, 2012)

$999 ugh


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## Athlon2K15 (May 3, 2012)

This isnt a mainstream card,and we all expected the high price tag. so im not sure what the fuss is about? It is the fastest GPU available,and even when AMD releases there 7990 it wont touch this 690


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## okidna (May 3, 2012)

Top review, w1zz.

Those power consumption.... Wow.. Dual GPU, nearly twice the performance of single GTX 580 and only consume a couple watts more from GTX 580. Amazing.


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## DarkOCean (May 3, 2012)

imitation said:


> Dynamic O/C pushes the 690 to clocks similar to two 680s (page 32).



Still the dynamic oc push 680's even higher to 1111mhz.


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## mstenholm (May 3, 2012)

Thx w1zzard. Good review. You might want to look at this phrase again - lowers maximum boost clocks by 13 MHz each *10°C*, so there would be an extra 13 MHz if the card ran 1.5°C cooler.


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## EarthDog (May 3, 2012)

$1k for this thing? LOL!

Great review Wiz!


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## dj-electric (May 3, 2012)

I'm gonna say meh.
There, i said it


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## Crap Daddy (May 3, 2012)

Well, that's it. Fastest dual card "in the universe". Goodbye GK110 for the GTX600 series. Average improvement over 7970 crossfire 21% (That's in another review from the web).
They knew why they launch before AMD. A dual AMD card based on Tahiti can't beat this. 
Now all we need is some... money.


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## D007 (May 3, 2012)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> How did they achieve the same performance as 680 sli with lower clock speeds? More than just sli/xfire on a stick for once?



Well, you start by charging everyone about $200.00 more dollars, than any other dual gpu on the market.. Then I guess, that allows you, the head room, to screw them.. Said it before, I find the prices insulting..


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## Steevo (May 3, 2012)

Benetanegia said:


> Excellent review. I love the fact that you included GTX680 SLI results and they are very interesting.
> 
> As to the card I think this has to be the best dual-GPU card ever made. Too bad it costs so much, though I guess it makes more sense than GTX680 SLI which would cost the same and produce more noise and heat..



It is an amazing card. This might turn me from the red side......


So, full coverage waterblocks........when do we get them?


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## Fluffmeister (May 3, 2012)

What an amazing card, ass tons of performance whilst running cool, quiet and consuming less power.


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## Woodhull (May 3, 2012)

*dbA*

All that extra expense and hype for the stock cooler and it's still 42 dbA @ load.  They need to learn from Arctic, their 6990 air cooler took the 6990 from the loudest card @ 53 dbA to around 33.4 dbA (Furmark, per KitGuru).  It is triple slot, but it also has to dissipate more wattage.


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## mastrdrver (May 3, 2012)

Thanks for doing the multi monitor resolution. Is this something your going to do with certain cards from now on or for all cards?

Also shouldn't that be the resolution in the performance summaries instead of 2560x1600?


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## raptori (May 3, 2012)

Power consume is very good ... good job Nvidia really good job


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## W1zzard (May 3, 2012)

mstenholm said:


> Thx w1zzard. Good review. You might want to look at this phrase again - lowers maximum boost clocks by 13 MHz each *10°C*, so there would be an extra 13 MHz if the card ran 1.5°C cooler.



at each full 10°C step. like 70°C, 80°C, 90°C


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## W1zzard (May 3, 2012)

mastrdrver said:


> Thanks for doing the multi monitor resolution. Is this something your going to do with certain cards from now on or for all cards?



all future reviews (where supported). no plans to include it in performance summaries until all cards work with it. otherwise a 0% would screw with summaries


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## mamisano (May 3, 2012)

Wish there was a 7970 CF setup included...


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## Fluffmeister (May 3, 2012)

mamisano said:


> Wish there was a 7970 CF setup included...



From the Hardware Canucks review:







Source: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...iews/53901-nvidia-geforce-gtx-690-review.html


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## Protagonist (May 3, 2012)

So i guess no dual GPU for the nvidia 7xx series, will be like the 295 days.. good card, unfortunately its is a trophy due to the price tag. I want me one of this but i love my self too much to sell my kidneys. I accept gifts too, to Nvidia send me one of this please as a gift then i pledge to only use nvidia GPUs if you send me on of this.


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## the54thvoid (May 3, 2012)

Steevo said:


> It is an amazing card. This might turn me from the red side......
> 
> 
> So, full coverage waterblocks........when do we get them?



I'm due back pay which my gf knows I'll blow on something silly.  This card is out of bounds to me though until it comes with water.  I'm with you Steevo.

But yeah, very awesome card.  Not so much the performance, it was to be expected but the power consumption and noise, tremendous.

The 7990 might surprise a few folk but it will not come anywhere close to the noise or power profile of this card.

Well done Nvidia.


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## Prima.Vera (May 3, 2012)

Why no 7970 Cross also in the test?? Hmm?


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## renq (May 3, 2012)

Wonder if PCI-E 2.x would've bottlenecked this card...

You were using PCI-E 3.0, riiight?


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## fullinfusion (May 3, 2012)

great review...


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## slyfox2151 (May 3, 2012)

why does it say high power draw as a con in the conclusion... i thort the power draw was right where it should be.. (minus the zerocore power from amd side on idle)





renq said:


> Wonder if PCI-E 2.x would've bottlenecked this card...
> 
> You were using PCI-E 3.0, riiight?




i doubt it very much.


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## W1zzard (May 3, 2012)

slyfox2151 said:


> why does it say high power draw



because the watt _number_ is high


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## yogurt_21 (May 3, 2012)

Prima.Vera said:


> Why no 7970 Cross also in the test?? Hmm?



see post 29 if you want that info. While not W1z it should give you an idea.


excellent review W1zzard! I for one didn't think we'd be seeing a dual gpu card match SLI for a while now. Price is a pity but all good things to those who wait. I personally love the trend of lower power consuption with much more performance. GPU efficiency is getting quite amazing.


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## slyfox2151 (May 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> because the watt _number_ is high



229 watts is high? its using about the same amount of power as a single GTX480.


a bit less on average, and SLIGHTLY more on peak..


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## the54thvoid (May 3, 2012)

Prima.Vera said:


> Why no 7970 Cross also in the test?? Hmm?



Other sites have it.

Summary, 7970 Crossfire wins in the usual suspects of AVP, Metro 2033 and Crysis (+Warhead) and also compute.  However, shitty drivers means that it tanks to single gpu levels in some titles and it still consumes much more power.

If I bought another liquid cooled 7970, that would be £1000 on crossfire AMD.  I would never do that option but I *would* consider water cooled sli options.  No matter how much I love my 7970, the Nvidia camp has far better software and are back on top of power.  But... I think daddy Kepler, when he arrives will be a power muncher as it will be fully compute enabled.

These are not Quadro quality cards remember.  These are gamers delights cards.  But as Anand says, he's wary of the 2GB memory for such an expensive solution as a few years down the line, that might start to take the shine off the 690.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5805/...view-ultra-expensive-ultra-rare-ultra-fast/19


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## slyfox2151 (May 3, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> Other sites have it.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





a few years? pft its time to upgrade again next year when the 790s come out


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## the54thvoid (May 3, 2012)

slyfox2151 said:


> a few years? pft its time to upgrade again next year when the 790s come out



You're actually probably right.


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## Lionheart (May 3, 2012)

So where can I steal one of these bad boys


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## Prima.Vera (May 3, 2012)

Now all that remains are some good quality games. For me is irrelevant if a card pushes 45fps or 300fps. I have 2 cards from 2009 and I absolutely feel no need to upgrade yet...


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## Axaion (May 3, 2012)

Am i the only one whos getting annoyed that nvidia keeps releasing the new drivers for the 6xx family only, and leaving the rest in the dust?
 (Unless you want to mod that inf file ofcourse.)


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## the54thvoid (May 3, 2012)

What rich bastard is going to start the GTX690 owners clubhouse? 

And if they don't have at least a 2560x1440 monitor we get to laugh at them.


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## xenocide (May 3, 2012)

Excellent review.  Interesting that you made the jump from the i7-920 to a brand new IB setup


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## Spaceman Spiff (May 3, 2012)

Physical dimensions please wiz!!

Outstanding review.


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## slyfox2151 (May 3, 2012)

Axaion said:


> Am i the only one whos getting annoyed that nvidia keeps releasing the new drivers for the 6xx family only, and leaving the rest in the dust?
> (Unless you want to mod that inf file ofcourse.)



no... chances are the new drivers for 6xx  wont have any real effect on the older cards.


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## W1zzard (May 3, 2012)

slyfox2151 said:


> no... chances are the new drivers for 6xx  wont have any real effect on the older cards.



nvidia press review drivers include very limited support for other cards.

i'm sure nvidia whql will be out soon and support every card in recent years


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## Completely Bonkers (May 3, 2012)

With the (surprisingly better than expected) performance per watt of the 690 - it makes me very interested in the yet to be released but within my budget 660 Ti


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## HammerON (May 3, 2012)

This card is actually pretty impressive
A dual gpu done right!!!


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## bogami (May 3, 2012)

Hmm. Much to expensive for midle class preformes GK 104 chip.9800gt2 was  600$ at the start ( i hew them ) .Hew dolar dropt so drasticly, I no € didnt still wee will hew to pay for thes card -1000 €  wich is to much.so wat can we expect from gk 110. 1000$ a pis . som will sey mout of the muny go to diwelepmend , ill sey in som hungry pokets .Sins this card will be popular for 1or2 mans , Intel wee see rell dell KG 110 model. i'll not bee sucked on som good lucks es hapend befor on 9800gt. bb, i'll buy rell foll dell meybe not meybe ill weyt for MAXWEL.Sins  is giwen sach a cer to desigen and in the end in price this card hew pure moudeng options .2 slot fett dell So if you intend to get a slot back for any  secend card on minibord to geth rely litle power pack PC with SLI ,dont bother nVidia dont thinck so. nVidia disigne teem shood get lesns from ATI teem wich giwe as 1 slot moudeng option on 6990 and i biliwe will liwe thes on 7990 model. 
Sory for baad speling .


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## cadaveca (May 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:
			
		

> For me this is one of the most sexy and elegant coolers out there.




+1. That alone is enough that I know what GPU I'm saving to buy now. Or trying to save for, since I has no paying job. 

ALl things considered, although many are upset over pricing, it seems quite jsutified, both by hardware design, and performance. I don't care if the "7990" is faster...it's not going to have anything near the same quality of hardware(I mean cooler parts).

I don't want a $1000 lump of plastic in my rig:shadedshu, nVidia did a good job really setting the 690 apart from other cards with the metal shroud. 



Magnesium and stuff? YESSSS!!!


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## Frick (May 3, 2012)

I'm rarely interested in high end cards but this is awesome. Price isn't that bad too actually. A 680 here is about €450 and the 690 is €920. And it doesn't run that hot and it's not that loud and power consumption is pretty good imo. Excellent.

BTW, why are the cards different in the 5760x1080 graph?


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## Lipton (May 3, 2012)

bogami said:


> Hmm. Much to expensive for midle class preformes GK 104 chip.9800gt2 was  600$ at the start ( i hew them ) .Hew dolar dropt so drasticly, I no € didnt still wee will hew to pay for thes card -1000 €  wich is to much.so wat can we expect from gk 110. 1000$ a pis . som will sey mout of the muny go to diwelepmend , ill sey in som hungry pokets .Sins this card will be popular for 1or2 mans , Intel wee see rell dell KG 110 model. i'll not bee sucked on som good lucks es hapend befor on 9800gt. bb, i'll buy rell foll dell meybe not meybe ill weyt for MAXWEL.Sins  is giwen sach a cer to desigen and in the end in price this card hew pure moudeng options .2 slot fett dell So if you intend to get a slot back for any  secend card on minibord to geth rely litle power pack PC with SLI ,dont bother nVidia dont thinck so. nVidia disigne teem shood get lesns from ATI teem wich giwe as 1 slot moudeng option on 6990 and i biliwe will liwe thes on 7990 model.
> Sory for baad speling .


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## wolf (May 3, 2012)

AMD are going to have to work VERY hard to beat this card, they basically need to at *least* have two fully fledged and clocked 7970's to give it a run, to beat it they would literally need to clock the two GPU's faster than 7970's... it just can't be done under 300w ..

Nvidia has AMD this time round, hands down. I just don't see the 7990 being the *better* card. Even if it were as fast it would surely be louder, hotter and need considerably more juice.

hats off to Nv!


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## Kreij (May 3, 2012)

wolf said:


> Nvidia has AMD this time round, hands down. I just don't see the 7990 being the better card. Even if it were as fast it would surely be louder, hotter and need considerably more juice.



Yeah, but if it's $200-$300 less expensive ...


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## Prima.Vera (May 3, 2012)

~1000 Euros for this only to be outperformed by a medium class card 2 years from now...No way Jose. Go find your sucker nvidia....


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## HTC (May 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> at each full 10°C step. like 70°C, 80°C, 90°C





W1zzard said:


> all future reviews (where supported). no plans to include it in performance summaries until all cards work with it. otherwise a 0% would screw with summaries



There's a button to the right called "Multi-Quote": you should learn to use it ... 

Regarding the 2nd quote: shouldn't there be a negative @ the conclusion regarding the failure to deliver @ multi-monitor resolution (the zero from some of the games tested)? Multi-monitor support is in the positive @ conclusion, isn't it?

In any case, i'm pleasantly surprised by the performance of this card but what really impresses me is the power consumption, when compared to SLI, and the noise levels: congratulations to nVidia are in order, IMO.

Given it's performance, it's price isn't too high, IMO. Way out of my league, though!


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## Over_Lord (May 3, 2012)

Well done with power consumption while keeping performance


Well Done nVidia

Now AMD, lets have a 7990 at 699$ shall we


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## brandonwh64 (May 3, 2012)

30%+ faster than 590/6990

OMG


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## the54thvoid (May 3, 2012)

AMD won't beat it.  Sure in some games it'll win but consider the 690 is clocked lower than 7970 speeds, it has some magic juice in it.  If AMD don't scrap the 7990 altogether I can see them releasing it at sub $700 just to take the shine off Nvidia.

Watch this space, scrapped card or surprisingly low cost.


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## W1zzard (May 3, 2012)

Frick said:


> BTW, why are the cards different in the 5760x1080 graph?



because not all the cards support triple monitor gaming. for 5760 i picked a set of cards that's completely independent from the rest



HTC said:


> There's a button to the right called "Multi-Quote": you should learn to use it ...


too lazy to use multiquote  and i'll get away with it .. but i'll merge teh two posts i just made



> shouldn't there be a negative @ the conclusion regarding the failure to deliver @ multi-monitor resolution (the zero from some of the games tested)? Multi-monitor support is in the positive @ conclusion, isn't it?


that's a good point. i'll think about it.


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## Captain.Abrecan (May 3, 2012)

ViperXTR said:


> $999 ugh



A better option if you were going to go 680 sli anyways, by the looks of it.  Save space and all.


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## Kreij (May 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> too lazy to use multiquote  *and i'll get away with it*



... and this is how you know that W1zz is up front and honest with us. 

BTW, great review .. as always.


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## MicroUnC (May 3, 2012)

Luckily i got my 30 inch dell monitor!


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## jrs3000 (May 3, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> AMD won't beat it.  Sure in some games it'll win but consider the 690 is clocked lower than 7970 speeds, it has some magic juice in it.  If AMD don't scrap the 7990 altogether I can see them releasing it at sub $700 just to take the shine off Nvidia.
> 
> Watch this space, scrapped card or surprisingly low cost.




AMD will beat it.  Hardocp has 7970 cfx in that review and numbers aren't far off in games with amd at stock clocks.  Just need to clock it higher stock and maybe use 12.4 drivers.


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## redeye (May 3, 2012)

what is the speed of a card that can't be purchased?... hint; its the same answer/philosophy for "what is the sound of one hand clapping"?

and " if a tree falls in a forest, and no one is there to observe/hear it" did it happen... ah the trust issue... on techpowerup we know it happened...


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## Protagonist (May 3, 2012)

MicroUnC said:


> Luckily i got my 30 inch dell monitor!
> 
> http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj247/MicroGTX/NV-GTX-690-91.jpg
> 
> http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj247/MicroGTX/NV-GTX-690-92.jpg



nice


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## atikkur (May 3, 2012)

...and then where is the demo to push the muscle power of this card?
(im looking at samartian , when will it be released to the public?)


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## HTC (May 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> too lazy to use multiquote  and i'll get away with it .. but i'll merge teh two posts i just made



I demand punishment from a moderator: time to give W1zzard an infraction 




W1zzard said:


> that's a good point. i'll think about it.



IMO, if one is there, so should be the other.


Something i noticed regarding multi-monitor:






Compare it to (from Hardware Canucks):






Your single 680 failed but theirs didn't. I see you used different drivers: could that be why?


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## EarthDog (May 3, 2012)

jrs3000 said:


> AMD will beat it.  Hardocp has 7970 cfx in that review and numbers aren't far off in games with amd at stock clocks.  Just need to clock it higher stock and maybe use 12.4 drivers.


Thats the problem... when you put 2 GPU's on a single PCB, PCIe spec is max of 300W so it needs to fit in that envelope. Obviously overclocking wouldnt help make it fit under that number soooo.........


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## avatar_raq (May 3, 2012)

Typo in page 1 "Which makes it the most expensive reference design graphics card ever *relased*".


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## qubit (May 3, 2012)

This really is an amazing, exceptional card. Wicked.  Yeah, I want one. 

However, what I'd like to know is how they managed to slightly outperform 2 GTX 680's in SLI, with the GPU clock speed slightly reduced?


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## erocker (May 3, 2012)

Love to have this card but.. 

Great card + horrible price = mediocre card. Especially in times of console ports.

Get the price below $700 bucks and I'd buy one.


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## DS (May 3, 2012)

This is Super!


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## Assimilator (May 3, 2012)

Beautiful card in all respects, except of course the price. If AMD manages to beat this I will be extremely impressed, but given the fact that GK104 launched 6 months after R1000 and managed to get a dual-GPU card out first, not holding out much hope.

Looks like the days of exploding 590s are well and truly behind us.


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## wolf (May 3, 2012)

Kreij said:


> Yeah, but if it's $200-$300 less expensive ...



looks to me like their only choice at this point


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## qubit (May 3, 2012)

erocker said:


> Love to have this card but..
> 
> Great card + horrible price = mediocre card. Especially in times of console ports.
> 
> Get the price below $700 bucks and I'd buy one.



I'm forced to agree with you again, dammit.


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## Fluffmeister (May 3, 2012)

If the 7990 does outperform this it will be at the expense of heat, noise and power consumption.

And of course drivers play a big part, the 6990 isn't that old and even in this review it clearly isn't working properly in a couple of titles.


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## hardcore_gamer (May 3, 2012)

erocker said:


> Love to have this card but..
> 
> Great card   horrible price = mediocre card. Especially in times of console ports.
> 
> Get the price below $700 bucks and I'd buy one.




Finally a post that makes sense. Price it at <$750, and I'll call it the best card ever released in the universe.

If 7990 is priced above $700, it'll also be a big fail considering that they have enough SKUs in supply.


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## Casecutter (May 3, 2012)

W1zzard said,
"We can see that both GPUs run different clocks, with the first one being typically higher clock and voltage while the second one uses more balanced clocks and voltages."  

That's the most interesting... And do they have two sets of dynamic control components? Or did they figure a way to provide separate outputs using the same voltage controller.  Heck I don't pick out the INA219 power monitor chips (there probably there someplace) or anything in appearance to the Richtek RT8802A voltage controller which had its own little PCB on the reference GTX680?  That's the telling piece of this, if they have freed up some PCB real-estate and invested a new means of dynamic clock (less pricey?) components, then maybe a GTX670 with Clock Boost might see light.  Has anyone paid attention to how AIB's 680 custom PCB's are implementing dynamic clock and what component?

It’s the new standard to compete to, for that it’s a marvel, the use of separate boost profiles is what gave it the lower Peak power (23%) over 680’s in SLI huge and the first time cost such dual card vs. SLI shows merit with no real difference in performance.

Here’s my question two 690’s in SLI, would all 4 GPU with one running a higher clock and voltage, while the other three run the balanced clocks?  That be really "green" of it! 

For those who need this level to play 2650x and above it will turn out to be good day when it arrives…?  Well it still doesn’t play Metro 2003 @2650x... what’s up with that.


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## MicroUnC (May 3, 2012)

hardcore_gamer said:


> Finally a post that makes sense. Price it at <$750, and I'll call it the best card ever released in the universe.
> 
> If 7990 is priced above $700, it'll also be a big fail considering that they have enough SKUs in supply.



Agree!

But Nvidia don't care what you call it, at $750.


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## EarthDog (May 3, 2012)

qubit said:


> However, what I'd like to know is how they managed to slightly outperform 2 GTX 680's in SLI, with the GPU clock speed slightly reduced?


The interface used to communicate with the 2 GPU's on this card seems more efficient is my first guess.


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## 15th Warlock (May 3, 2012)

Great review! Amazing card! I personally don't ever remember a dual GPU card ever reaching the performance at two high end cards at stock!

Now the question is one of availability, this is going to be a halo product and I expect extremely limited quantities to actually reach the hands of gamers, and Nvidia is pricing it as such...


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## phanbuey (May 3, 2012)

Do you have to send the review sample back or do you get to keep it?


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## qubit (May 3, 2012)

I'm waiting for the two GTX 690's in SLI review.  Come on W1zz, don't keep us waiting too long.


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## W1zzard (May 3, 2012)

qubit said:


> I'm waiting for the two GTX 690's in SLI review.  Come on W1zz, don't keep us waiting too long.



i got only one card, sorry, no sli review


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## GC_PaNzerFIN (May 3, 2012)

Price for one is 1039€ here. Gotta love no competition 

Yeah, probably going to buy one anyway later this year...


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## Frick (May 3, 2012)

hardcore_gamer said:


> Finally a post that makes sense. Price it at <$750, and I'll call it the best card ever released in the universe.
> 
> If 7990 is priced above $700, it'll also be a big fail considering that they have enough SKUs in supply.



I don't understand why people complain about price really. You get GTX680 SLi performance on a single card for about $20 extra and less power draw and cooler etc etc.


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## GC_PaNzerFIN (May 3, 2012)

Frick said:


> I don't understand why people complain about price really. You get GTX680 SLi performance on a single card for about $20 extra and less power draw and cooler etc etc.



Few years ago you got GTX 295 for 500€, that was one expensive card to manufacture even when compared to this (GTX 295 had 2x487mm2 GPUs, two seperate PCBs etc.). Easy to see why people question the price.


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## qubit (May 3, 2012)

W1zzard said:


> i got only one card, sorry, no sli review



I hate you sometimes. 

Where am I gonna get my nerd fix from now?


----------



## OneCool (May 3, 2012)

Woow!

Great card but a little unreasonable in price.AND STILL NO FREAKING BACKPLATE NVIDIA!!!!!!!


Cheap bastards :shadedshu


----------



## douglatins (May 3, 2012)

Will there be a limit to how much video cards achieve? A few years ago 600USD was the utmost.
Now its 1K, what is this, raging inflation?


----------



## symmetrical (May 3, 2012)

Wow, I'm not a huge fan of dual GPU's, but somehow they managed to make this actually seem worth the price tag if you compared it to GTX 680 SLI's. As usual this is possible because of TPU's review and decision to include 680 SLI's for comparison sake. Lower power consumption, heat, noise with almost the same performance. Excellent review.

Good or not though, not most people will be able to afford dropping $1000 on just a GPU. But for those who can afford it, then best of luck to you.


----------



## Melvis (May 3, 2012)

15th Warlock said:


> Great review! Amazing card! I personally don't ever remember a dual GPU card ever reaching the performance at two high end cards at stock!



4870X2 

This card is Epic unlike the 590 which was (in W1zzards own words) Epic Fail.


----------



## HammerON (May 3, 2012)

I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?


----------



## douglatins (May 3, 2012)

HammerON said:


> I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?



If i'm buying 2, it should be cheaper. There is only one PCB, maybe fewer components and only one box.

It should be 850-900


----------



## GC_PaNzerFIN (May 3, 2012)

HammerON said:


> I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?


It really isn't the problem that it cost double the price of one card. Its the price of that individual card. HD 7970 being sold at <400€ the 680 prices don't look very nice anymore.


----------



## symmetrical (May 3, 2012)

HammerON said:


> I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?



Yes it's valued as two GTX 680s, and is probably more worth it than two 680s. It still doesn't remove the shock factor.


----------



## HammerON (May 3, 2012)

symmetrical said:


> Yes it's valued as two GTX 680s, and is probably more worth it than two 680s. It still doesn't remove the shock factor.



Agree


----------



## EarthDog (May 3, 2012)

Its valued as that, yup. However, in previous generations of cards, like 590, 6990, etc, the pricing didnt represent performance. Those cards were usually slightly slower than its SLI/Crossfire counterparts but cost maybe 1.5x the card (IIRC), while this one is the same or a hair faster.

You didnt see GTX 295's, 590's, 6990's at twice the price though.


----------



## douglatins (May 3, 2012)

EarthDog said:


> Its valued as that, yup. However, in previous generations of cards, like 590, 6990, etc, the pricing didnt represent performance. Those cards were usually slightly slower than its SLI/Crossfire counterparts but cost maybe 1.5x the card (IIRC), while this one is the same or a hair faster.
> 
> You didnt see GTX 295's, 590's, 5970's, 6990's at twice the price though.



Fixed

+1. And 999 is like other people said too shocking to accept.
Make it 1.5x the price of a 680 and 90% the performance of a SLI setup, like always.

Would be funny if Asus decided to make a ARES 3. true TRUE 680 SLI. 1800USD.

And a 690 hidro copper, yours for only 1300USD.

Also my opinion is that 1000usd on a single card is not the best investment, dual gpu super top cards lose their value faster and are harder to sell.


----------



## 15th Warlock (May 3, 2012)

Melvis said:


> 4870X2
> 
> This card is Epic unlike the 590 which was (in W1zzards own words) Epic Fail.



Thanks for refreshing my memory, I forgot about the 4870X2, it truly was an equal to two high end cards 

Yes, Nvidia can afford to fix some of the mistakes they made with the 590 thanks to the versatility of GK104, we have to remember that this GPU was really meant to be the GTX670, but due to its high performance, it was marketed as a high end part, now Nvidia is laughing all the way to the bank 

Can you imagine the profit margins on a 690? it's two 294mm2 dies after all, about the same size as a 9800GT (a card that was found at $300 back in the day), and they can market this card as a premium product, using materials as aluminum, poly carbonate and magnesium for the shroud alone, in my opinion, they took a page from Apple's book.

It'll take AMD to price the 7990 way low to maybe bring the price of the 690 down, and maybe not even that will be enough, as I mentioned, this is a halo product, and a major PR win for Nvidia anyway you slice it, already review sites are comparing this card to an exotic sports car, rare and unattainable by the vast majority of the population, but highly desirable, and Nvidia is pricing it as such.


----------



## HammerON (May 3, 2012)

It may be shocking, but if I want a true dual GTX 680 card and not a dual GTX 670 then the price is worth it in my opinion. I spent over a thousand dollars when I purchased my GTX 580's. There are some people that are going to buy these at the stated price, not many however. But that is okay as I am sure there will be a limited supply anyways.


----------



## qubit (May 3, 2012)

I can't wait for the bottom end GTX 620.  The performance difference will be staggering.

Oh hang on, that space is taken up with modern IGPs. Oh well.


----------



## douglatins (May 3, 2012)

15th Warlock said:


> Thanks for refreshing my memory, I forgot about the 4870X2, it truly was an equal to two high end cards
> 
> Yes, Nvidia can afford to fix some of the mistakes they made with the 590 thanks to the versatility of GK104, we have to remember that this GPU was really meant to be the GTX670, but due to its high performance, it was marketed as a high end part, now Nvidia is laughing all the way to the bank
> 
> ...



Great information here, nvidia could price the 680 all the way to 350, since it was designed for that price range, a mid range card, but performance exceeded the high end solution from AMD, so they bumped the price on it.


----------



## GC_PaNzerFIN (May 3, 2012)

Probably the most amazing thing is that this dual-GPU card stole the perf/w crown at 2560x1600 resolution.


----------



## piotrekhc (May 3, 2012)

omg world wide crysis and they just release 1k card bravo bravo lets separate riches from poorer even more clap our hands !


----------



## Benetanegia (May 3, 2012)

GC_PaNzerFIN said:


> Probably the most amazing thing is that this dual-GPU card stole the perf/w crown at 2560x1600 resolution.



Yeah that's what really surprised me the most.

That and achieving same performance as SLI 680 with 100 Mhz lower clocks. 

About that, I wonder if the GTX670 is taking so long because of a similar thing happening. I can somehow imagine Nvidia disabling a cluster and lowering clocks by 100 Mhz as they always do with the GTX x70, just to find out that performance is too close to the GTX680 for them to be comfortable. You know GPU Boost bitting them in the back. I figure it would take them some extra time to find the proper GPU Boost settings, so that it is as fast as they want in most situations but that it does not come too close to the GTX680 in others.


----------



## Casecutter (May 3, 2012)

As to price there’s two fully capable GK104, fully sorted and vetted "top shelve" parts there's work binning those.  Then, a especially this time, there's a bunch of engineering and tooling cost spread over a significantly minuscule production numbers to recoup.  That magnesium shroud is not like making a plastic part, for once can see a notable differance in the construction of pieces they used.

They look a perf/price... We got this $$$ for 6990/590, customer basically took all we made and those weren't near as nice as this.  They think let’s press to see where the market will bend, we can always lower it and still make profit. 

I don't know volume sold on other Dual Offering of the past, but if they know they sold all they could deliver on those (in an austere economy) they figure maybe we can sell "X"-more volume, with "X"-more profit now.  The same thing folks decry AMD for when the 7970 release for $550, but these things have a way of working out.

And agian there's a line forming, while other hope to justify/scrounging $1000 to throw at those marketing folks when they get to market.  Those selling don’t see it as high... if there's buyers, just those whining they can't.


----------



## N3M3515 (May 3, 2012)

Kreij said:


> Yeah, but if it's $200-$300 less expensive ...



Then it definetly would be the *better* card lol


----------



## N3M3515 (May 3, 2012)

EarthDog said:


> Thats the problem... when you put 2 GPU's on a single PCB, PCIe spec is max of 300W so it needs to fit in that envelope. Obviously overclocking wouldnt help make it fit under that number soooo.........



Think about something for a moment: amd released 7970 almost 3 months before gtx 680, and amd also has better yields of the chip, as they said they have no trouble with supply.
So, why didn't amd released 7990 before nvidia released gtx 690?
Maybe, just maybe they are up to something, maybe they managed to lower the power consumption of the gpu without lowering the clocks, maybe they will release it at 1000 or 1050 core clock. We just don't know for sure, but the fact is that amd could have released this card months ago, they just didn't, and for a good reason.

That's a lot of maybes, but hey . . . . . . . . . . .maybe


----------



## EarthDog (May 3, 2012)

Maybe... But it already had a 20-25W hurdle to overcome. That said, Nvidia manged to shave off 90W to hit the 300W spec, so who is to say that AMD cant shave off 140W.


----------



## OneCool (May 4, 2012)

I wish I could afford one myself.

With a grand I could build a nice IB gaming rig


----------



## mrthanhnguyen (May 4, 2012)

*hi*

Why did they release a gtx 690 when gtx 680 is always not in stock? $1200 for gtx 690 gives u equal performance to gtx 680 sli-$1000, less power consumption, and less slot occupied. this gtx690 cost similar as my rig. what the hell is this?


----------



## dude12564 (May 4, 2012)

mrthanhnguyen said:


> Why did they release a gtx 690 when gtx 680 is always not in stock? $1200 for gtx 690 gives u equal performance to gtx 680 sli-$1000, less power consumption, and less slot occupied. this gtx690 cost similar as my rig. what the hell is this?



Moneymaking?


----------



## manofthem (May 4, 2012)

Another great review W1zz. Love the BF3 bench to show the overclock gains, very practical!

And an awesome card too!  That would be an awesome $1k to blow.


----------



## Delta6326 (May 4, 2012)

Awesome REVIEW as always

Awesome card with a understandable price. As a company $1000 makes sense, I know most people are hating on the price but it does make sense. the 680 is $500, but you never really find it at that price its around $520-550 here so $999 is good and I think people are for getting that this is made out of magnesium alloy which makes it lighter than other dual GPU cards and its quieter than 2x 680 while saving space and cables. which in my book adds value to a card.

 I also do agree that in general GPU's are getting to $$$ for their performance, I personally think that the 680 should cost $400 and the 690 $750-800


----------



## D007 (May 4, 2012)

lol people talking about 999.00 and 500.00 what gpu's are you looking at? The prices are horrendous out there.. try more like 1200 and 600..

300-600 is what I feel they should stay at. Sony and Xbox make an entire system for that with a blu ray player.. The blu ray alone at that time was around 600 dollars. They are not being fair with pricing. They are gouging, no mystery to it.. It's upsetting really. People get in trouble for doing things like this. Like how the Ebook scenario got them sued, for fixing prices.. Nvidia and Ati keep this up, they'll be on that wagon soon enough..


----------



## HTC (May 4, 2012)

D007 said:


> lol people talking about 999.00 and 500.00 what gpu's are you looking at? The prices are horrendous out there.. *try more like 1200 and 600..
> *
> 300-600 is what I feel they should stay at. Sony and Xbox make an entire system for that with a blu ray player.. The blu ray alone at that time was around 600 dollars. They are not being fair with pricing. They are gouging, no mystery to it.. It's upsetting really. People get in trouble for doing things like this. Like how the Ebook scenario got them sued, for fixing prices.. Nvidia and Ati keep this up, they'll be on that wagon soon enough..



Judging by the fact that the 680 is $640 over here, you're a tad bit off.


----------



## Darkrealms (May 4, 2012)

Thanks for the awsome review (as always) W1zz!

Nvidia did it right this time.  Performance, power, even noise.  The price is steep but for what this card can do and the build quality of it, I can see the price tag.  If you think about the build quality there isn't a 680 out there, that I've seen, that matches it.  Granted out of my reach (willing to pay) but it will make some people very happy.


----------



## MicroUnC (May 4, 2012)

HTC said:


> Judging by the fact that the 680 is $640 over here, you're a tad bit off.



$710 here!


----------



## powow (May 4, 2012)

honest, it's an almost perfect card.. in 3 digits level, it scores 999.. in dollars too..

it's jussst.. mmm.. if i have that amount of money, i'll spend about 599 bucks to upgrading my present rig.. it can be a much better speaker and soundcard, or more hardisk space,or  another video card for SLI, or much much better PSU, etc.. and i'll have much more fun in my gaming room..
the rest 400? buying presents for my girlfriend, hanging around the real world, having so many much fun out there too.. well, fresh air is always good for you..


----------



## MicroUnC (May 4, 2012)

powow said:


> honest, it's an almost perfect card.. in 3 digits level, it scores 999.. in dollars too..
> 
> it's jussst.. mmm.. if i have that amount of money, i'll spend about 599 bucks to upgrading my present rig.. it can be a much better speaker and soundcard, or more hardisk space,or  another video card for SLI, or much much better PSU, etc.. and i'll have much more fun in my gaming room..
> the rest 400? buying presents for my girlfriend, hanging around the real world, having so many much fun out there too.. well, fresh air is always good for you..



Well that is fare enough


----------



## Nirutbs (May 4, 2012)

nice review nice card but not price... i'm sure i don't lose money for it...


----------



## Deleted member 67555 (May 4, 2012)

Go Green team! LOL
this thing is more than twice my GFX!
In less than 18 months...Sucks for me but...nothing just sucks for me....Great card


----------



## Crap Daddy (May 4, 2012)

Amazing thing is that it uses almost 100W less than a 680 SLI setup while performing similar!


----------



## ChristTheGreat (May 4, 2012)

Well, when I see high price like this, I think I might keep my HD6950 1gb for a longer time if the GTX 670 doesn't go at a right price. I have this for over a years and it's still working fine in all games, and paid it 209$ (with the MIR) from powercolor... and the price never changed, the cheaper I see is sometimes XFX at 219$...

But that GTX 690 is a huge performer.. it is maybe better to buy a GTX 680, then wait for price drop, instead of buying that 1k card :/


----------



## INSTG8R (May 4, 2012)

Impressive card no doubt but the price is just shocking really. Where does this put the GK110 if it ever surfaces? AMD will only be able to "beat" this with the 7990 with price...going to be very hard to beat it with performance.


----------



## HTC (May 4, 2012)

HTC said:


> Judging by the fact that the 680 is $640 over here, you're a tad bit off.





MicroUnC said:


> $710 here!



As i was saying, the price is the same everywhere ...


----------



## the54thvoid (May 4, 2012)

I think what is being overl......

Let me state first - Amazing card.  No doubts.  Perf/Watt God, simple as that.

I think what is being overlooked is that the GK104 chip was launched to just pip the 7970 in price.  It was a strategic price level.  Take the stock issue out of the equation and look at what marketing is involved.

AMD had to reduce price to make the 680 less attractive.  I would say it achieved that.  I can buy a 7970 for about £360 (and that's a Asus DCII).  Cheapest available 680 is about £420, averaging £440 for basic models (I'm ignoring DABS, it never has stock).

If 7970 had launched at £350, the 680 would have too (or less).  Nvidia launched the 680 to be in direct competition with the 7970.  Remember it's not a white wash, the 7970 beats GK104 in a few fairly intensive titles.

So, now 7970 is about 70+ quid less than a 680 (with prices stuck), I'd say Nvidia are taking the piss.  

However, the 690 isn't a standard dual gpu.  It's not a 295 or a 590.  It's a custom built vanilla!  The 690 probably isn't far off the mark price wise.  There's one in UK for <£800 (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Graphics+Cards+-+NVIDIA/GeForce+GTX+690).  I don't think it is overpriced at all for what is an incredibly well manufactured and exotically built card. 

I think the vanilla 680 is now terribly overpriced though.


----------



## D007 (May 4, 2012)

MicroUnC said:


> $710 here!



Holy ass hammer batman!
I thought I got raped for 600.00..
Well I have to say, that if being raped, could be gauged in levels of enjoyment. I think I'll enjoy this rape, more so than any other time, I was raped...lol..


----------



## the54thvoid (May 4, 2012)

Ouch,  found this elsewhere

http://ht4u.net/reviews/2012/nvidia_geforce_gtx_690_im_test/index3.php


----------



## Delta6326 (May 4, 2012)

jmcslob said:


> Go Green team! LOL
> this thing is more than twice my GFX!
> In less than 18 months...Sucks for me but...nothing just sucks for me....Great card



Its over 70% faster than my GPU's


----------



## N3M3515 (May 4, 2012)

Already sold out at newegg

By the way . . . .. . . .. . $1200 , so, ausies get ready for a $1500 penetration.


----------



## Darkleoco (May 4, 2012)

Everyone who is complaining about the price of this card needs to realize that if you find it so outrageously priced then it is not a card for your market segment. It's price is relatively close to that of two 680's so where is their any problem other than what you make out of it? Not to mention that $999 is not that outrageous of a price point for a dual gpu card in reality, just in August - September of 2011 590's and 6990's where not that far off of the price of a 690 and just look at what the 690 offers in performance over them.


----------



## HTC (May 4, 2012)

Question: is this card available @ $999 (retail, even if out of stock) anywhere?

If not, then the price @ this review needs fixing and so do the graphs regarding price / performance, @ least.


----------



## N3M3515 (May 4, 2012)

Darkleoco said:


> Everyone who is complaining about the price of this card needs to realize that if you find it so outrageously priced then it is not a card for your market segment. It's price is relatively close to that of two 680's so where is their any problem other than what you make out of it? Not to mention that $999 is not that outrageous of a price point for a dual gpu card in reality, just in August - September of 2011 590's and 6990's where not that far off of the price of a 690 and just look at what the 690 offers in performance over them.



"not a card for your market segment" - In the video cards market segments this is a NEW market segment alltogether, the $1200 card market segment. *past the point of reason*

"What the GTX 690 offers in performance over older generation cards" isn't a fair comparison. Those cards where 40nm.

The price is that high because of the components of the cards imho, not because of the performance. Performance is at the most +70% of the GTX 680.

About GK110, from Toms hardware:
"_I plied Nvidia for more information about a proper “Tank” in the GeForce GTX 600-series. Although the company’s representatives were deliberately vague about the existence of another GPU, they clearly indicated that GeForce GTX 690 wouldn’t be eclipsed any time soon. Personally, I’d be surprised to see anything based on a higher-end GPU before Q4. _"


----------



## qubit (May 4, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> About GK110, from Toms hardware:
> "_I plied Nvidia for more information about a proper “Tank” in the GeForce GTX 600-series. Although the company’s representatives were deliberately vague about the existence of another GPU, they clearly indicated that GeForce GTX 690 wouldn’t be eclipsed any time soon. Personally, I’d be surprised to see anything based on a higher-end GPU before Q4. _"



I'd like to see twin uncut, unthrottled GK110's - I reckon there won't be a CPU fast enough to keep up with them. Also, I wouldn't be surprised to see Asus bring out a MARS card based on two GK110's for something like $2000. _That_ would make for an interesting review.


----------



## Casecutter (May 4, 2012)

Oh man saw that one listed on EGG; it was $1200...  20% over can you say "super gouge me"! 

And those guys will brag... At least it could have Jen-Hsun Huang autograph on it for that price!  

While What... that EVGA is saying a 3 Year Warranty!  Would never thought that... and could never drop that amount for that.  
For-get-about it! :shadedshu


----------



## Darkleoco (May 4, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> "not a card for your market segment" - In the video cards market segments this is a NEW market segment alltogether, the $1200 card market segment. *past the point of reason*
> 
> "What the GTX 690 offers in performance over older generation cards" isn't a fair comparison. Those cards where 40nm.
> 
> ...



Sorry if my statement was not clear, I was not using the actual performance of the 690 as a justification of its price merely that not long ago people were forking over that kind of money for 590's and 6990's. Also you saying that it is a new market segment is not entirely true since 590's and 6990's have not been far off the $999 cost of the 690 while the ASUS Mars II was well past it. If people could justify paying that much for a card a generation ago then it is not a far stretch for them to do the same now especially when the dual gpu card of this generation so closely mirrors the performance of 680's in SLI.


----------



## OneCool (May 4, 2012)

$1200!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## MicroUnC (May 4, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> Already sold out at newegg
> 
> By the way . . . .. . . .. . $1200 , so, ausies get ready for a $1500 penetration.



$1200


----------



## RevengE (May 4, 2012)

$1,200 For a video card.. Lol.


----------



## HumanSmoke (May 4, 2012)

the54thvoid said:


> Ouch,  found this elsewhere
> http://ht4u.net/reviews/2012/nvidia_geforce_gtx_690_im_test/index3.php



Sorry, can't get overly excited about the "news" that a multi-GPU exhibits microstutter more pervasively than a single card. Seems to have shock value but little context.
Here's ComputerBase's microstutter analysis:





If anything, I'd say that the GTX 690 is somewhat of an improvement over what is already in the marketplace- especially as SS3 seems to be a worst case scenario for microstutter.

[ComputerBase]



Casecutter said:


> Oh man saw that one listed on EGG; it was $1200...  20% over can you say "super gouge me"!


"New Tax" from etailer - that sounds a bit far fetched if you ask me


Casecutter said:


> And those guys will brag... At least it could have Jen-Hsun Huang autograph on it for that price!
> While What... that EVGA is saying a 3 Year Warranty!  Would never thought that... and could never drop that amount for that.
> For-get-about it! :shadedshu


How many other graphic card vendors offer warranty's longer than 3 years ?

Casecutter scores:


----------



## powow (May 5, 2012)

MicroUnC said:


> $1200




now it becomes $601 budget for me to hanging around


----------



## DualAmdMP (May 5, 2012)

I'm still waiting for 4 GPUs (on one circuit board) Video Card Hope some company gives it a try.

http://logout.hu/dl/upc/2010-08/99862_v56000.jpg

3DFX did back in the day until........

"3dfx Interactive was a company that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units and, later, graphics cards. It was a pioneer in the field for several years in the late 1990s until 2000 when it underwent one of the most high-profile demises in the history of the PC industry. It was headquartered in San Jose, California until, on the verge of bankruptcy, many of its intellectual assets (and many employees) were acquired by its rival, Nvidia. 3dfx Interactive filed for bankruptcy on October 15, 2002" from Wikipedia.


----------



## Darkrealms (May 5, 2012)

DualAmdMP said:


> I'm still waiting for 4 GPUs (on one circuit board) Video Card Hope some company gives it a try.
> 
> http://logout.hu/dl/upc/2010-08/99862_v56000.jpg
> 
> ...



Now you've gone and made me pull out my voodoo5 again.....
Pity 3dfx management wasted them, even more of a pity that Nvidia did nothing with most of the tech they aquired from 3dfx.

I don't know if todays gpus could be that closely packed to gether.  It would be quite a bit of heat and a lot of power running through one card.
A question I don't know the answer to, would pcie 3.0 be able to transfer that much data for 4 gpus on one x16 connection?


----------



## renq (May 5, 2012)

Doubt 7990 will beat this monster in games, unless AMD does something radical.
However, 7970 is a versatile card (GPGPU, Double Precision etc), GTX680 (and 690 ofcourse) is only (very) good at gaming.


----------



## mtosev (May 5, 2012)

http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/e90461763/msi-geforce-gtx690.asp
949EUR
€ 949,-
*vorher: € 987,-*
the price went down from 987e to 949e in hours.if the price goes down to 750e by the time I'm ordering a new comp I'm getting one


----------



## alexsubri (May 5, 2012)

renq said:


> Doubt 7990 will beat this monster in games, unless AMD does something radical.
> However, 7970 is a versatile card (GPGPU, Double Precision etc), GTX680 (and 690 ofcourse) is only (very) good at gaming.



if anything the 7990 will be more power efficient running in Crossfire


----------



## mrthanhnguyen (May 5, 2012)

amd 7990 wins only if its performance equal to 7970 CF, and its price tag is $699.


----------



## _JP_ (May 5, 2012)

2 Words: DO WANT!


----------



## DualAmdMP (May 5, 2012)

Darkrealms said:


> Now you've gone and made me pull out my voodoo5 again.....
> Pity 3dfx management wasted them, even more of a pity that Nvidia did nothing with most of the tech they aquired from 3dfx.
> 
> I don't know if todays gpus could be that closely packed to gether.  It would be quite a bit of heat and a lot of power running through one card.
> A question I don't know the answer to, would pcie 3.0 be able to transfer that much data for 4 gpus on one x16 connection?



Answer to your question: 
The way I see it is that....say someone wants to run two GTX 690s in SLI on Z77 motherboard....This means that each video card will run at x8 Speed. So each GPU will run at x4 speed right? 

Anyway, I'm ready for 24" videocards


----------



## N3M3515 (May 5, 2012)

mtosev said:


> http://www.computeruniverse.net/products/e90461763/msi-geforce-gtx690.asp
> 949EUR
> € 949,-
> *vorher: € 987,-*
> the price went down from 987e to 949e in hours.if the price goes down to 750e by the time I'm ordering a new comp I'm getting one



Meanwhile, in a parallel universe.....

$1200 on Newegg out of stock

$1650 on Amazon LOL


----------



## HTC (May 5, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> *Meanwhile, in a parallel universe.....*
> 
> $1200 on Newegg out of stock
> 
> $1650 on Amazon LOL



Seems you're right, dude!

This is what happens when one manufacturer has a better product then the competition instead of similar one (in all aspects: performance, consumption, noise, OCing): said manufacturer get's to play Intel.

@ $999 this card was expensive, yes, but the price fitted IMO given the performance over the 680. @ $1200, $1648 or whatever other higher figure, it's just plain robbery: something a dominant company can afford to impose.

This is why i was hoping that, whoever won this fight, did so by a very small margin so that they'd keep fighting with the prices: no such luck this time around


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## Darkrealms (May 5, 2012)

DualAmdMP said:


> Answer to your question:
> The way I see it is that....say someone wants to run two GTX 690s in SLI on Z77 motherboard....This means that each video card will run at x8 Speed. So each GPU will run at x4 speed right?
> 
> Anyway, I'm ready for 24" videocards


Good way to look at it.

24"  @_0  My case isn't even that deep!



HTC said:


> Seems you're right, dude!
> 
> This is what happens when one manufacturer has a better product then the competition instead of similar one (in all aspects: performance, consumption, noise, OCing): said manufacturer get's to play Intel.
> 
> ...



Unfortunately that is the market, not the manufactures.  If Nvidia limited retale sales to about $1k (more for OC, water block, etc) then we would be buying them on ebay from the same sellers that are selling them for $1650 on amazon.  Either way the 690 and 680 would be more expensive than retail because of the lack of supply.


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## HTC (May 5, 2012)

Darkrealms said:


> Unfortunately that is the market, not the manufactures.  If Nvidia limited retale sales to about $1k (more for OC, water block, etc) then we would be buying them on ebay from the same sellers that are selling them for $1650 on amazon.  Either way the 690 and 680 would be more expensive than retail because of the lack of supply.



But this wouldn't happen if the 680 and 7970 were more evenly matched, which is exactly my point.


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## MicroUnC (May 5, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> Meanwhile, in a parallel universe.....
> 
> $1200 on Newegg out of stock
> 
> $1650 on Amazon LOL



This is disgusting:shadedshu This industry better sort their shit out! boycott GTX 690


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## HTC (May 5, 2012)

MicroUnC said:


> This is disgusting:shadedshu This industry better sort their shit out! boycott GTX 690



Why? Do you see any boycotts for Intel's I7 3960X?


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## N3M3515 (May 6, 2012)

$ Ranges:
$1000 - 1650 Ultra highend
$380 - 500 highend
$250 - 330 midrange
$150 - 240 <we could offer you something at this price range, but then our profit wouldn't be ridiculously high enough, you know>
$120 - 140 entry level


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## Darkrealms (May 6, 2012)

HTC said:


> But this wouldn't happen if the 680 and 7970 were more evenly matched, which is exactly my point.


Nvidia did this already.  They released the G104 as the 680 instead of the G110 which was supposed to be.  Why would they want to cripple the G104 chip to make it closer?  
Granted they could have released it cheaper than they did but again that comes back to how much would it sell for if there isn't enough stock.


Boycott are great if everyone is onboard.  Unfortunately many of the people that will buy the 3960X and GTX 690 have the money and to a degree don't care about the cost.


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## MicroUnC (May 6, 2012)

Darkrealms said:


> Boycott are great if everyone is onboard.  Unfortunately many of the people that will buy the 3960X and GTX 690 have the money and to a degree don't care about the cost.



Agree! This is one of the expressions of injustice! Like: I have the money so why should i care about someone that don't, and turning the head, the other way.


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## mtosev (May 6, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> Meanwhile, in a parallel universe.....
> 
> $1200 on Newegg out of stock
> 
> $1650 on Amazon LOL


So where do you live? in the US? its funny when europeans have better prices than americans


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## N3M3515 (May 6, 2012)

mtosev said:


> So where do you live? in the US? its funny when europeans have better prices than americans



Colombia, South America
Here, the GTX 680 costs $650 - 750 dollars.


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## ensabrenoir (May 7, 2012)

For some a mustang, for some a porsche and for a few.... A veyron  nice job green team...


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## mtosev (May 7, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> Colombia, South America
> Here, the GTX 680 costs $650 - 750 dollars.


in germany the cheapest gtx 680 costs 480eur,in slovenia the cheapest card costs 535eur


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## HTC (May 7, 2012)

N3M3515 said:


> Colombia, South America
> Here, the GTX 680 costs $650 - 750 dollars.





mtosev said:


> in germany the cheapest gtx 680 costs 480eur,in slovenia the cheapest card costs 535eur



As i said, the price is the same everywhere


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## Casecutter (May 9, 2012)

HumanSmoke said:


> How many other graphic card vendors offer warranty's longer than 3 years ?
> 
> Casecutter scores:
> http://i.imgur.com/RdGCq.jpg


Thank you for reading my opinion so intently; there are still various AIB's depending on the model that have faith in their products... Diamond: 5yr, VisionTek: Lifetime; XFX: Lifetime.  

While I believe PNY, EVGA, Galaxy all use to, but have truly shy'd away the last few generations which is suspect.  I just was indicating if I was paying that amount, I’d see it as a marketing advantage to stand behind more than the average 3Yr.  You might consider it’s satisfactory, though for me I'd wait it out to see if any AIB might have higher confidence in their offering.  That said, probably all of these will just be Nvidia manufactured and test, then delivered for stickers by the AIB, I suppose it’s not in the hands of the AIB to stand behind it further.  And while there none really accessible in the market, waiting is all anyone can do!

As to the crying  jpg. cute; although when you take it to such a personal level, and then with some unprovoked and childish retort you only undermine your own credibility.


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## cadaveca (May 9, 2012)

Casecutter said:


> XFX: Lifetime.



Uh, XFX doesn't offer lifetime on all 7-series products. 2 years now for reference cards, while only come of their "Double Dissipation" cards get lifetime.



> XFX told HardwareCanucks that their Double Lifetime warranty just wasn't sustainable and so they decided against offering it on HD 7900-series cards. This is what the warranty policies of XFX' HD 7900 graphics cards look like:
> •Cards with Double Dissipation (Double D) or whose product number ends in "R" get Lifetime warranty if registered within 30 days.
> •All other cards (ex: HD 7970 Core Edition; FX797ATNFC) get 2 Year Warranty



http://www.techpowerup.com/159346/X...-Warranty-with-New-Radeon-Graphics-Cards.html

That says XFX doesn't trust reference design, IMHO.


Just sayin'.


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## Casecutter (May 9, 2012)

cadaveca said:


> Uh, XFX doesn't offer lifetime on all 7-series products.





Casecutter said:


> various AIB's depending on the model...


Sure enough.


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## tomfuegue (May 10, 2012)

W1zzard or anyone, can you tell me if the data presented in this table are "near" to reality or too close to Sci-Fi?


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## PopulationControl (May 11, 2012)

What I find biased, is the fact that every review with nVidia cards, the HD6990 is using the dumbed down clock speeds. Those speeds at 830 were for the kids that put the 6990 in a mid tower pc. If you do an unbiased review of a gpu against the HD6990, then at least do it with the correct clock speeds. Yes I own an XFX HD 6990. I know what it can do and what it can not do. I'm running BFBC2 @ everything maxed out on triple monitors at 5760 x 1080 and can still pull off almost 200 frames per second at the default clock speed of 880 on the HD 6990 with the BIOS switch in the "correct" position. I do have my fan turned up, that is what gaming headsets are for. While I agree the fan is a bit noisy, it still is a respectable card and showed nVidia how to produce a product that doesn't catch fire. (GTX 590)


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## N3M3515 (May 13, 2012)

Making sure GTX 690 doesn't go out of stock level: Amazon


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## Ravenas (Jul 16, 2012)

I'm guessing AMD is not going to answer this card this generation?


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