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[zephervack]

Holy crap, so kepler can handle 4 screens in 1 card? Game changer for me, first time I will be able to go to green camp in a while , eagerly awaiting benchies @ 5760 * 1200, dont let me down nVidia.

 

[Fallout-NL]

So... this means we're going to see 7 or 800 dollar single gpu cards now?

 

[artist]

Holy crap, so kepler can handle 4 screens in 1 card? Game changer for me, first time I will be able to go to green camp in a while , eagerly awaiting benchies @ 5760 * 1200, dont let me down nVidia.

From what was said in that hkepc review I posted it seems like the periphery screens are refresh capped, from the sound of it looks retardish but I'll wait judgement before I hear more feedback from reviews or experience it personally.

So... this means we're going to see 7 or 800 dollar single gpu cards now?

Whatever gave you that idea .. dont forget single GPU cards have launched in the past for $749 (thank you Nvidia!)

When GK110 launches, there will be a price cut on GK104.

 

[Xyber]

1D_FTW, you currently have an AMD card, right? I'm curious why you're looking to make the switch to nvidia.

I would guess it's for the same reasons as me. Better driver support in most games and all of the awesome anti-aliasing you can do with Nvidia Inspector compared to RadeonPro/CCC.

 

[Totobeni]

Nvidia is the way it's meant to be played.

Also they moneyhat a shitload more than ATI of recent.

I don't really care about their moneyhatting as long as I can play day 1 hassle-free,and Nvidia do this right, so it just about the gaming for me.

My relationship with Ati/AMD was just super bad,X800, HD 3600 and HD 4770 my years with them were full of problems, crashing, not working games, games not really playable till long time later..ect, it just was a way lesser experience than even on consoles for me, and it do made me play more on consoles, I even left PC gaming completely for years.

Then I jumped to GeForce with 9500 GT just to test the water/Witcher EE , everything was just as I wanted or dreams , then got GT 220, GTX 460, and then GTX 570 and I have never been happier, now I know I will never look back to AMD or buy anything from them ever again.

 

[Durante]

From what was said in that hkepc review I posted it seems like the periphery screens are refresh capped, from the sound of it looks retardish but I'll wait judgement before I hear more feedback from reviews or experience it personally.

Actually, what that review said is that, when playing in surround, if the framerate drops the card will prioritize the main screen (and preferably drop frames in the peripheral screens). That sounds pretty smart to me.
(Though ideally I'd want them to drop spatial instead of temporal resolution in the peripheral screens, but I guess that's harder to do and less effective)

 

[BoobPhysics101]

So... this means we're going to see 7 or 800 dollar single gpu cards now?

We saw that years ago. 8800 GTX/Ultra, for example.

 

[1-D_FTW]

1D_FTW, you currently have an AMD card, right? I'm curious why you're looking to make the switch to nvidia.

No. I have an Nvidia GTX 460. And a lot of games redline it at 100 percent utilization at 1080P. I'm not looking to switch back I did that a number of years ago and unless AMD has the vastly superior card, it's really not the direction I want to go. Irfan got really pissed at me for saying that a couple years ago, but it's true. If Nvidia is even remotely close, that's my preference. Not saying AMD can't win me back, but my own personal experiences have biased me in Nvidia's favor.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Looks like GTX 680 might be an OC'ing beast...

And that's on STOCK voltage (0.987v). I cannot wait to OC one of these! A 1.05v overvolt should allow 1.2-1.3 Ghz core clocks. And dat RAM OC...

 

[godnorazi]

amd/ati has had the power efficiency advantage for the last few generations... hoping kepler can close in on that

 

[PowerK]

Gigabyte GTX680
http://www.overclock.net/t/1231113/gigabyte-gtx-680-2gb-already-arrive-at-my-shop

 

[Corky]

A hint at us-prices perhaps :

 

[Lulubop]

I probably won't bite for 550. Bleh, I was really looking forward to upgrading.

Hopefully the 670 proves more enticing.

 

[demigod]

Good thing i'm out of the country atm, shitty price for reference cards. Hopefully they have their own fans by the time I get back to the States.

 

[PowerK]

It seems, performance-wise, a single GTX680 = two GTX560Ti in SLI.

 

[amstradcpc]

It seems, performance-wise, a single GTX680 = two GTX560Ti in SLI.

And price wise much cheaper buying two GTX560TI than a GTX680...

 

[TheVampire]

Hows these new cards performing compared to a gtx590?

That dual gpu card is what I have and Im just wondering if I should bother upgrading.

 

[michaelius]

And price wise much cheaper buying two GTX560TI than a GTX680...

And then you realise 680 has TDP equal to single 560ti, more ram on card which avoids chokes in ultra high resolutions, and always work without any quirks that can happen with dual card setups...

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

Looks like GTX 680 might be an OC'ing beast...

And that's on STOCK voltage (0.987v). I cannot wait to OC one of these! A 1.05v overvolt should allow 1.2-1.3 Ghz core clocks. And dat RAM OC...

I don't understand X3390 as a score. Someone explain?

 

[specialguy]

I think you underestimate the pull of the Green Goblin Nvidia has almost always managed to make more money than ATI/AMD, even when they were slower / late to the party, and they're not slower in this case.

I dont know about slower, they've almost always been indisputably faster in the last few years, but this time will be there slimmest lead yet, if they have one.

Meaning, 580 clearly>6970, whereas gk104 seems <>7970.

 

[-SD-]

 

[Hawkian]

I've had tons of problems with HDMI audio

Wait; have we solved whatever needs to be solved so that you can get audio from your PC ported over an HDMI cable connected to your graphics card?

 

[mr stroke]

Hows these new cards performing compared to a gtx590?

That dual gpu card is what I have and Im just wondering if I should bother upgrading.

Probably not, I really want to jump on the GTX680 too, but with a current 6990 I don't see the point of upgrading with the current games out now, even with a 2560 res monitor.

Maybe in the Fall when more demanding games come out(Far Cry 3, Arma 3, etc...)

 

[pestul]

Maybe if we're lucky the prices seen are only a bit of early gouging and not the actual MSRP. Seems to be a few GTX680s out and around now according to some forums (just reading HardOCP). One guy tested it with an i3 for godsakes..

 

[Izayoi]

Now let's see some benchmarks.

 

[Yoritomo]

Being able to triple screen without displayport converters is a pretty awesome win if true. And should prevent tearing that's due to output mixing.

Will still need to mix outputs if you want 3 x 120 hz monitors though.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Maybe if we're lucky the prices seen are only a bit of early gouging and not the actual MSRP. Seems to be a few GTX680s out and around now according to some forums (just reading HardOCP). One guy tested it with an i3 for godsakes..

An i3 2120 will beat any AMD processor. At stock speeds, it pretty much runs toe to toe with the 2500k and i7s in gaming benchmarks. It's only through overclocking and the rare exception that there's any separation. So he could have definitely done a lot worse (anything AMD).

Threads are more important than cores with today's games. And the i3 is 4 threads.

 

[Hazaro]

Maybe if we're lucky the prices seen are only a bit of early gouging and not the actual MSRP. Seems to be a few GTX680s out and around now according to some forums (just reading HardOCP). One guy tested it with an i3 for godsakes..

That guy is awesome.
Not only is it a good test for i3 systems being CPU limited it also will provide a good bench for scaling from 2C/4T to 4C/4T and even 4C/8T.

This is best metric so far that I've seen: (IF true)
*GTX680 @ 1110/1800 = 7950 @ 1260/1800*

*Stock 680 seems to be about a stock 7970 as well
http://www.overclock.net/t/1231254/retail-gtx-680-vs-7970-benchmarks

 

[artist]

This is best metric so far that I've seen: (IF true)
*GTX680 @ 1110/1800 = 7950 @ 1260/1800*

That would be a big win for AMD as the 7950 is the best OC card ever and costs $100 less. (That is if the 680 costs $549 and doesnt have as much OC room)

Average oc result is a shade below 40%. This is mind boggling because the previous best overclocking champ was the GTX460 and it was below 30% ..

 

[BoobPhysics101]

I don't understand X3390 as a score. Someone explain?

It's the 'extreme' version of the 3DMark11 benchmark. If I remember correctly, a stock 7970 is hitting around 2800-2900 in that benchmark. So the OC'd 680 is around the same speed as an OC'd 7970 roughly.

 

[pestul]

That guy is awesome.
Not only is it a good test for i3 systems being CPU limited it also will provide a good bench for scaling from 2C/4T to 4C/4T and even 4C/8T.

This is best metric so far that I've seen: (IF true)
*GTX680 @ 1110/1800 = 7950 @ 1260/1800*

*Stock 680 seems to be about a stock 7970 as well
http://www.overclock.net/t/1231254/retail-gtx-680-vs-7970-benchmarks

Yeah, especially with the resolution of the Heaven benchmark (1600x900 in his case). Of course it has a lot of people up in arms. "Wait until we see 2500k @ 4.4GHz!". Well, you are right with the i3. I didn't realize that it is a very appropriate cpu to test in this scenario scaling well with gaming performance. Looks like the 680 will be similar in price and performance to the 7970, which I know will be a disappointment to many.

 

[Tallshortman]

Are there any official reviews yet? Would love to see some benches for real game performance.

EDIT: Sort of funny meltdown by a few people on overclock.net since people were saying the 680 was going to blow the 7970 away and they seem even atm with the 680 having 1GB less VRAM. We need to change the title if this proves true when all the other benches come out...

 

[SapientWolf]

An i3 2120 will beat any AMD processor. At stock speeds, it pretty much runs toe to toe with the 2500k and i7s in gaming benchmarks. It's only through overclocking and the rare exception that there's any separation. So he could have definitely done a lot worse (anything AMD).

Threads are more important than cores with today's games. And the i3 is 4 threads.

I'm not so sure about that. It looks like your min framerates take a huge hit in quad core friendly games like BF3. Dual core becomes especially limiting in certain RTS titles. I wouldn't compare i3 680 runs to a 7970 on a high end quad.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

I'm not so sure about that. It looks like your min framerates take a huge hit in quad core friendly games like BF3. Dual core becomes especially limiting in certain RTS titles. I wouldn't compare i3 680 runs to a 7970 on a high end quad.

Excellent point.

 

[1-D_FTW]

I'm not so sure about that. It looks like your min framerates take a huge hit in quad core friendly games like BF3. Dual core becomes especially limiting in certain RTS titles. I wouldn't compare i3 680 runs to a 7970 on a high end quad.

Am I missing something? Isn't he just disabling 2 cores on the i2500? No doubt it's gonna suck. 2 thread gaming has been having issues for years now. The i3 is 4 threads. It's 2 core/4 thread. The 2500k is 4 core/4 thread. So there's no difference in the amount of threads. A 2500k with 2 cores disabled is <<<<<<<< than an i3 2120.

 

[Hazaro]

I'm not so sure about that. It looks like your min framerates take a huge hit in quad core friendly games like BF3. Dual core becomes especially limiting in certain RTS titles. I wouldn't compare i3 680 runs to a 7970 on a high end quad.

True, but 2100 HT helps out a tad here so it isn't as bad as that (tmk).
Still, all things considered I would get an i3 for a budget gaming rig due to increased performance across a wide array of titles and the upgradability of the platform.

 

[SapientWolf]

Am I missing something? Isn't he just disabling 2 cores on the i2500? No doubt it's gonna suck. 2 thread gaming has been having issues for years now. The i3 is 4 threads. It's 2 core/4 thread. The 2500k is 4 core/4 thread. So there's no difference in the amount of threads. A 2500k with 2 cores disabled is <<<<<<<< than an i3 2120.

Actually, people are reporting smoother performance on BF3 with HT off .

http://www.overclock.net/t/1151970/my-own-bf3-benchmark-hyperthreading-on-vs-off

But if there are benchmarks showing massive performance improvements with it on I'd like to see them.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Yeah, especially with the resolution of the Heaven benchmark (1600x900 in his case). Of course it has a lot of people up in arms. "Wait until we see 2500k @ 4.4GHz!". Well, you are right with the i3. I didn't realize that it is a very appropriate cpu to test in this scenario scaling well with gaming performance. Looks like the 680 will be similar in price and performance to the 7970, which I know will be a disappointment to many.

I said this months ago, that Kepler wouldn't blow away the 7970/7950. Some people thought I was crazy. Perhaps GK110 would've blown away Tahiti, but not GK104.

Either way, Nvidia should price this lower than the 7970 and force competition. If they price it at $450 then AMD will have to drop both the 7970 and the 7950 at least $50.

 

[1-D_FTW]

I said this months ago, that Kepler wouldn't blow away the 7970/7950. Some people thought I was crazy. Perhaps GK110 would've blown away Tahiti, but not GK104.

Either way, Nvidia should price this lower than the 7970 and force competition. If they price it at $450 then AMD will have to drop both the 7970 and the 7950 at least $50.

Problem is people like Nvidia better and will pay the premium. They have like what, 66 percent of the discrete market? And some would argue AMD was giving better value/performance during this period. So they don't have to under cut. If they get close, it's good enough for most people.

 

[artist]

Yeah, the last thing either Nvidia or AMD want is a price war.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Problem is people like Nvidia better and will pay the premium. They have like what, 66 percent of the discrete market? And some would argue AMD was giving better value/performance during this period. So they don't have to under cut. If they get close, it's good enough for most people.

I think it's 59% or something like that.

Yeah, the last thing either Nvidia or AMD want is a price war.

Yeah, of course they don't want that... so they can continue making higher profit margins.

 

[1-D_FTW]

I think it's 59% or something like that.



Yeah, of course they don't want that... so they can continue making higher profit margins.

http://www.techspot.com/news/47593-jpr-discrete-gpu-shipments-down-65-nvidia-gains-market-share.html

Market shrank overall, but their market share went up to 63 percent during the all important 4th quarter last year.

Nvidia wasn't thrashing them to justify it on performance alone. It's other issues at work. Nividia isn't going to ever undercut when they know people will pay for the intangibles. It's up to AMD to be the aggressor and to put out cards that force Nvidia's hand. There's zero incentive with the current situation. It's close enough and they're not going to move the price.

 

[artist]

Yeah, of course they don't want that... so they can continue making higher profit margins.

Thats the reason why you probably wont get any price wars that you're hoping for. With such a small die, smaller VRAM frame buffer, cheaper PCB, Nvidia is going to laugh all the way to the bank. They had record profit margins, now all I can say for their next quarter is DAT MARGIN!

 

[Tallshortman]

http://www.techspot.com/news/47593-jpr-discrete-gpu-shipments-down-65-nvidia-gains-market-share.html

Market shrank overall, but their market share went up to 63 percent during the all important 4th quarter last year.

Nvidia wasn't thrashing them to justify it on performance alone. It's other issues at work. Nividia isn't going to ever undercut when they know people will pay for the intangibles. It's up to AMD to be the aggressor and to put out cards that force Nvidia's hand. There's zero incentive with the current situation. It's close enough and they're not going to move the price.

That's for Q4 alone, not total market share unless I've misread something in that article. The last article I saw for overall market share was something closer to the 59%-60% mentioned before. Anyways, AMD has re-built back up a good enough reputation since the HD 4000 series where they don't feel compelled to undercut Nvidia significantly at the high end range, especially now that initial benchmarks indicate the 680 trades blows with the 7970.

 

[1-D_FTW]

That's for Q4 alone, not total market share unless I've misread something in that article. The last article I saw for overall market share was something closer to the 59%-60% mentioned before. Anyways, AMD has re-built back up a good enough reputation since the HD 4000 series where they don't feel compelled to undercut Nvidia significantly at the high end range, especially now that initial benchmarks indicate the 680 trades blows with the 7970.

It's just the 4th quarter. Although I would assume that's the largest and most profitable quarter (and the one you want to do your best in).

Just saying, Nvidia has a healthy lead that is in no way equal to their performance difference. So if people choose Nvidia for other reasons (and they clearly do), there's no incentive for Nvidia to drop it to 450 to "compete" with the 7970. Unfortunately, it's close enough for them to get away with what they're doing.

 

[Tallshortman]

It's just the 4th quarter. Although I would assume that's the largest and most profitable quarter (and the one you want to do your best in).

Just saying, Nvidia has a healthy lead that is in no way equal to their performance difference. So if people choose Nvidia for other reasons (and they clearly do), there's no incentive for Nvidia to drop it to 450 to "compete" with the 7970. Unfortunately, it's close enough for them to get away with what they're doing.

Oh I'm not disagreeing with you in terms of anticipated pricing strategy, I just wanted to point out reasons why AMD likely won't want to undercut too much and also that market lead isn't as Nvidia favored as it used to be during the Geforce 6000-8000 series era.

 

[Jomjom]

Now that the 600 series is out, will there be a discount coming soon for the 400 and 500 series? I don't have the kind of money required for the new hotness, but I also don't care about playing games beyond 1080p and a billion FPS either.

 

[sk3tch]

Now that the 600 series is out, will there be a discount coming soon for the 400 and 500 series? I don't have the kind of money required for the new hotness, but I also don't care about playing games beyond 1080p and a billion FPS either.

Buy used as folks like me dump their perfectly good cards for the new hotness...you'll get great deals.

BTW - the GTX 680 is not yet officially out. I believe it's March 22.

 

[Jomjom]

Buy used as folks like me dump their perfectly good cards for the new hotness...you'll get great deals.

BTW - the GTX 680 is not yet officially out. I believe it's March 22.

Oooh I thought it was already out, my bad.

Is that generally safe to buy people's used cards? I don't really know too much about this kind of stuff. I just know that most enthusiasts like the kind on GAF OC their cards to hell and back. Would that decrease the life of the card?

 

[sk3tch]

Oooh I thought it was already out, my bad.

Is that generally safe to buy people's used cards? I don't really know too much about this kind of stuff. I just know that most enthusiasts like the kind on GAF OC their cards to hell and back. Would that decrease the life of the card?

Nah. It's pretty safe to buy used. Just buy through reputable folks. The b/s/t thread in Community is a great place to start. eBay/etc. are all worthwhile, as well...just do your research on the buyer, look at the return policies, etc. - you'll know pretty much right when you get a card and pop it in your box if there are problems.