NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Kepler 2 GB

W1zzard · Mar 16, 2012

Today NVIDIA released their new GeForce GTX 680 which is based on the company's brand-new Kepler architecture. The card comes with massively improved performance per Watt. It also introduces an automatic dynamic overclocking method which gives the card the leading edge, making it the fastest single GPU graphics card in the world.

Show full review

W1zzard · Mar 22, 2012

If you have any questions regarding dynamic overclocking, post them here, I will try to answer them.

Recus · Mar 22, 2012

Kepler is super.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru.../52616-nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-2gb-review.html
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=28910
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-680-review/1

15th Warlock · Mar 22, 2012

Thanks for the excellent review W1zzard, as always, very thorough

I have a question, now that NDA has lifted, do you know when the card is officially available for sale? It's past 6am PMT and Newegg is yet to show any results.

Thank you once more

mtosev · Mar 22, 2012

the card got 9.5 and the editor's choice award.nice gfx by nvidia

Mindweaver · Mar 22, 2012

Great review! :toast:

Now let the price wars begin! I want a 580 for around $200.. hehehe

Supercrit · Mar 22, 2012

Now AMD has to drop prices due to nvidia being cheaper, on what earth are we living on now?

Yellow&Nerdy? · Mar 22, 2012

Great review as always from W1zzard. Not really sure what advantages the dynamic overclocking brings, but overall the card seems pretty good. 5 - 10% faster than the 7970, with less power consumption and a lower price puts quite some pressure on AMD to lower the price of their top cards. Now I'm hoping that Nvidia releases some more affordable cards, so that we can get a full on price war.

okidna · Mar 22, 2012

Great review! :toast:

Also thorough explanation about the new overclocking method. :toast:

Great card too.

Well done NVIDIA, this time there will be no keplerishotbbqgrill jokes anymore :laugh:

jpierce55 · Mar 22, 2012

An Earth when AMD knew Nvidia would be a little late and took advantage. If we see a price war we will know that for truth. I wonder what we can expect on their mid range card.

Crap Daddy · Mar 22, 2012

As I understood well, the max OC with this card, from a traditional POV is around 1300MHz (1150 plus offset 150 MHz)?

Fairlady-z · Mar 22, 2012

W1zzard said:
If you have any questions regarding dynamic overclocking, post them here, I will try to answer them.

Dear Wizzard,

Do you think I should dump my two 7970's with two EK Nickel Acetal blocks, two EK back plates in exchange for two GTX 680's? I have a Corsair 800D case, and it gets hot it there; therefore, I thought about watercooling my cards. The current catalyst is a little clunky and pain in my butt on boot up, as the eyefinity wont shift to arranged monitor when it boots Up, as I have to fire up the catalyst controller for it to work. Anyways, sorry for the rant, but I feel bummed out or am I wrong for feeling this way? I think I got the very short end of the stick performance and quality component wise. Not wealthy by any means, but the cost of the cards is not a concern to me.

Thanks,

Fairlady-Z.

DarkOCean · Mar 22, 2012

Ok card but the dynamic oc seems like a pain in the ass to me.
I would have liked to see 7870 on those graps as well, why isnt there?

LifeOnMars · Mar 22, 2012

Killer product, great job Nvidia. Also a very thorough review Wizz and Kudos for adapting and including the new features that Kepler brings.

I want SLI cards of these bad boys now and thats what I'm saving for.

johnnyfiive · Mar 22, 2012

They're slowly popping up on newegg fellas! I'm waiting for evga's to show up.

Fourstaff · Mar 22, 2012

AMD is in for a rude shock. Gogo price wars!

15th Warlock · Mar 22, 2012

johnnyfiive said:
They're slowly popping up on newegg fellas! I'm waiting for evga's to show up.

Do you have a link? I seem to be unable to get to display any results for gtx 680.
Thank you

johnnyfiive · Mar 22, 2012

" Thank you for ordering from Newegg.com. "
EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814130768

Man these are selling out quick already. Had the ASUS one as I was going to check out, GONE.
Got the EVGA one in the cart as soon as I saw it show up. Sheesh.

entropy13 · Mar 22, 2012

Ahead somewhat in raw performance over the 7970, still a bit ahead in perf/watt, way ahead in perf/$.

johnnyfiive · Mar 22, 2012

EVGA

EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GD...

deadmansclick · Mar 22, 2012

Fourstaff said:
AMD is in for a rude shock. Gogo price wars!

prices are the same in the uk for 680 & 7970 atm

Psychoholic · Mar 22, 2012

Hmm.. so 6% (Avg) over 7970, guess i don't have a reason to go jump on one of these, was kinda hoping I would be compelled hell might just order one to play with

I'd like to see a comparison with 7970 at the same clocks though, should be pretty close clock for clock.

DarkOCean · Mar 22, 2012

deadmansclick said:
prices are the same in the uk for 680 & 7970 atm

That's because new products prices are always inflated they will become lower eventually.

Fourstaff · Mar 22, 2012

deadmansclick said:
prices are the same in the uk for 680 & 7970 atm

Yeah, very soon AMD will have to cut their asking price of the 7970 to below £400 to stay competitive. Not everyday your opponent comes up with a product which is faster, consumes less power and cheaper at the same time.

DarkOCean said:
That's because new products prices are always inflated.

GTX 680 is very price competitive, as you just saw.

15th Warlock · Mar 22, 2012

johnnyfiive said:
EVGA

EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GD...

Thank you so much! just ordered from my phone

Order Summary
Qty Product Description Price
Order #:*******(shipped via UPS Guaranteed 3 Day)
2
EVGA 02G-P4-2680-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #:*N82E16814130768
VGA Replacement Only Return Policy
$1,019.98
$999.98
($499.99 ea)
Subtotal $999.98
Tax $72.50
UPS Guaranteed 3 Day $2.10
Rush Processing (Preferred Account) -$2.99
Rush Processing $2.99
Order Total $1,074.58

You rock!

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

Processor	Ryzen 7 5700X
Memory	48 GB
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080
Storage	2x HDD RAID 1, 3x M.2 NVMe
Display(s)	30" 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Software	Windows 10 64-bit

Processor	Intel
Motherboard	MSI
Cooling	Cooler Master
Memory	Corsair
Video Card(s)	Nvidia
Storage	Western Digital/Kingston
Display(s)	Samsung
Case	Thermaltake
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	Seasonic
Mouse	Glorious
Keyboard	UniKey
Software	Windows 10 x64

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
Motherboard	Gigabyte Aorus X870E Elite
Cooling	Asus Ryujin II 360 EVA Edition
Memory	4x16GBs DDR5 6000MHz Corsair Vengeance
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX 4090 AMP Extreme Airo
Storage	2TB Samsung 990 Pro OS - 4TB Nextorage G Series Games - 8TBs WD Black Storage
Display(s)	LG C2 OLED 42" 4K 120Hz HDR G-Sync enabled TV
Case	Asus ROG Helios EVA Edition
Audio Device(s)	Denon AVR-S910W - 7.1 Klipsch Dolby ATMOS Speaker Setup - Audeze Maxwell
Power Supply	beQuiet Straight Power 12 1500W
Mouse	Asus ROG Keris EVA Edition - Asus ROG Scabbard II EVA Edition
Keyboard	Asus ROG Strix Scope EVA Edition
VR HMD	Samsung Odyssey VR
Software	Windows 11 Pro 64bit

System Name	Core i9 rig / Lenovo laptop
Processor	Core i9 10900X / Core i5 8350U
Motherboard	Asus Prime X299 Edition 30 / Lenovo motherboard
Cooling	Corsair H115i PRO RGB / stock cooler
Memory	Gskill 4x8GB 3600mhz / 16GB 2400mhz
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080 Super / UHD 620
Storage	Samsung SSD 970 PRO 1TB / Samsung OEM 256GB NVMe
Display(s)	Dell UltraSharp UP3017 / Full HD IPS touch
Case	Coolermaster mastercase H500M
Audio Device(s)	Onboard sound
Power Supply	Enermax Platimax 1700 watt / Lenovo 65watt power adapter
Mouse	Logitech M500s
Keyboard	Cherry
Software	Windows 11 Pro / Windows 11 Pro

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Kepler 2 GB

W1zzard

Administrator

W1zzard

Administrator

Recus

15th Warlock

mtosev

Mindweaver

Moderato®™

Supercrit

Yellow&Nerdy?

okidna

jpierce55

Crap Daddy

Fairlady-z

DarkOCean

LifeOnMars

johnnyfiive

Fourstaff

Moderator

15th Warlock

johnnyfiive

entropy13

johnnyfiive

deadmansclick

Psychoholic

DarkOCean

Fourstaff

Moderator

15th Warlock

System Name	Tower of Power / Delliverance
Processor	i7 14700K / i9-14900K
Motherboard	ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 / Z690
Cooling	CM MasterLiquid ML360 Mirror ARGB Close-Loop AIO / Air
Memory	CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3600 / DDR5 2x 16gb
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti / GeForce RTX 4080
Storage	4x Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2, 2x Crucial 1TB SSD / NVM3 PC801 SK hynix 1TB
Display(s)	Samsung 32" Odyssy G5 Gaming 144hz 1440p, 2x LG HDR 32" 60hz 4k / 2x LG HDR 32" 60hz 4k
Case	Phantek "400A" / Dell XPS 8960
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC4080 / Sound Blaster X1
Power Supply	Corsair RM Series RM750 / 750w
Mouse	Razer Deathadder V3 Hyperspeed Wireless / Glorious Gaming Model O 2 Wireless
Keyboard	Glorious GMMK with box-white switches / Keychron K6 pro with blue swithes
VR HMD	Quest 3 (512gb) + Rift S + HTC Vive + DK1
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 / Windows 11 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores	Yes

Processor	Ryzen 2700X
Motherboard	Asrock X470 Master sli/ac
Cooling	Raijintek Themis Evo
Memory	Team Dark Pro 3200 cl14
Video Card(s)	GTX 1080
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus Gold Plus 850W

System Name	Just A Gaming Rig.
Processor	AMD FX-8320 @4.1GHz, 1.268V
Motherboard	ASUS M5A97 Evo R2.0
Cooling	Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Memory	8 GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	Club 3D R9 280X 3GB royalQueen, @1115/1615MHz
Storage	OS+Often used stuff: Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB, Mass storage: WD Blue 1TB
Case	Zalman Z3 Plus
Audio Device(s)	Integrated
Power Supply	Corsair CX600M
Software	Windows 8.1 64-bit

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
Motherboard	ASUS STRIX X570-E
Cooling	NOCTUA NH-U12A
Memory	G.Skill FlareX 32 GB (4 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	ASUS RTX 4070 DUAL
Storage	1 TB WD Black SN850X \| 2 TB WD Blue SN570 \| 10 TB WD Purple Pro
Display(s)	LG 32QP880N 32"
Case	Fractal Design Define R5 Black
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus Gold 750W
Mouse	Pulsar X2
Keyboard	KIRA EXS

Processor	e8200 3.93mhz@1.264v
Motherboard	P5E3 Pro
Cooling	Scythe Infinity
Memory	4gb of G.Skill Ripjaw 6-7-7-18@1404 and 1.62v
Video Card(s)	HIS 5770 v2 940/1275mhz stock volts
Storage	1TB Hitachi
Display(s)	Acer 22" Widescreen LCD
Case	Blue Cooler Master Centurion
Audio Device(s)	Onboard audio :(, and Klipsch 5.1 Pro Media's
Power Supply	650 Watt BFG
Software	Vista 64 Ultimate

System Name	Old Fart / Young Dude
Processor	2500K / 6600K
Motherboard	ASRock P67Extreme4 / Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3 DDR3
Cooling	CM Hyper TX3 / CM Hyper 212 EVO
Memory	16 GB Kingston HyperX / 16 GB G.Skill Ripjaws X
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte GTX 1050 Ti / INNO3D RTX 2060
Storage	SSD, some WD and lots of Samsungs
Display(s)	BenQ GW2470 / LG UHD 43" TV
Case	Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced / Thermaltake Core v31
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar D1/Denon PMA500AE/Wharfedale D 10.1/ FiiO D03K/ JBL LSR 305
Power Supply	Corsair TX650 / Corsair TX650M
Mouse	Steelseries Rival 100 / Rival 110
Keyboard	Sidewinder/ Steelseries Apex 150
Software	Windows 10 / Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Bad Moon Ryzen
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard	Asrock B450M Pro4-F
Cooling	Vetroo V5
Memory	Crucial Ballistix 32Gb (8gb x 4) 3200 MHz DDR 4
Video Card(s)	GTX 970
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 1Tb, Samsung 860 Evo 500Gb,WD Black 8Tb, WD Blue 2Tb
Display(s)	Gigabyte G24F-2 (180Hz Freesync) & 4K Samsung TV
Case	Fractal Design Meshify 2 Compact w/Dark Tempered Glass
Audio Device(s)	Onboard
Power Supply	MSI MPG A850GF (850w)
VR HMD	Rift S

System Name	Orange! // ItchyHands
Processor	3570K // 10400F
Motherboard	ASRock z77 Extreme4 // TUF Gaming B460M-Plus
Cooling	Stock // Stock
Memory	2x4Gb 1600Mhz CL9 Corsair XMS3 // 2x8Gb 3200 Mhz XPG D41
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Nitro+ RX 570 // Asus TUF RTX 2070
Storage	Samsung 840 250Gb // SX8200 480GB
Display(s)	LG 22EA53VQ // Philips 275M QHD
Case	NZXT Phantom 410 Black/Orange // Tecware Forge M
Power Supply	Corsair CXM500w // CM MWE 600w

Processor	AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Motherboard	Gigabyte B650 Aorus Elite AX
Cooling	Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE
Memory	Kingston Fury Beast DDR5-5600 16GBx2
Video Card(s)	Gigabyte Gaming OC AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT 16GB
Storage	TEAMGROUP T-Force Z440 2TB, SPower A60 2TB, SPower A55 2TB, Seagate 4TBx2
Display(s)	AOC 24G2 + Xitrix WFP-2415
Case	Montech Air X
Audio Device(s)	Realtek onboard
Power Supply	Be Quiet! Pure Power 11 FM 750W 80+ Gold
Mouse	Logitech G Pro X Superlight Wireless
Keyboard	Royal Kludge RK-S98 Tri-Mode RGB Mechanical Keyboard
Software	Windows 10

System Name	H-A-L9000
Processor	3770k
Motherboard	Asus p67 Sabertooth
Cooling	Custom liquid CPU & GPU
Memory	4x4GB DDR3 1600MHz
Video Card(s)	sapphire 290x
Storage	256 Vector, 120 Vertex 2E, 2x 1TB Samsung F3 in RAID 0
Display(s)	Dell 2407WFP
Case	Akasa Omega
Audio Device(s)	Asus Xonar Phoebus
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Software	Win 7 64 pro

Processor	9950x
Motherboard	Asus Strix X870E-E
Cooling	Kraken Elite 280
Memory	32GB G.skill 6000mhz
Video Card(s)	Sapphire 7900XTX Pulse
Storage	1X 4TB MP700 Pro - 1 X 4TB SN850X
Display(s)	Samsung Odyssey 49" OLED
Case	Lian Li o11 Air Mini
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000x
Software	WIndows 11 Pro