GTX 680 classy 4gb vs gtx 770 acx 2gb

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

I always purchase used EVGA GPUs because the warranty transfers to me and it's a good way to save money. I recently purchased the evga gtx 770 acx 2gb and i love it. however amazon now has the gtx 680 classified 4gb for the same price as the 770 used. $365. I am wondering if it is worth it to return the 770 and get the 680. I do not want to upgrade my PC for about 3-4 years. So is it worth it to get the 4gb over the 2gb? I think the 680 classy will be about as fast as the stock 770. Thanks in advance!

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

Sorry i forgot to post my specs.
i5 4670k @ 4.2ghz
msi z87-g45
seasonic 750w gold
single samsng 120hz 1080p monitor
I will never go to more than one monitor so that is not an issue.

Intel God · Jul 1, 2013

I wouldn't buy a 680 anymore. The 770 is the card you want unless gaming at 1440P/1600P or multi monitor

Even at 1600 the 770 is a great performer

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

Intel God :

I understand the 770 has bettr performance than a stock 680 but seeing as they are the exact same chip with a higher clcok and higher memory clock I do not see why a heavily overclocked 680 wouldn't match a 770. The main issue here is the 4gb vs the 2gb on the 770. Since they are both the same price and i want my gpu to last 3-4 years would it be worth it to get 4gb even if i only plan on gaming at 1080p for the next 3 years.

Intel God · Jul 1, 2013

sullyman86 :

770 has 7Ghz memory, 680 has 6Ghz memory. Most 770 owners are hitting 8000+mhz effective memory clock. Something a 680 will never even get close too

sam_p_lay · Jul 1, 2013

It depends if you're gonna overclock. If not then it's exactly like you say - near enough the same performance but the added advantage of 4GB. If you're just looking at out-of-the-box performance (nothing wrong with that!) then that GTX680 is a good find.

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

Intel God :

sullyman86 :

770 has 7Ghz memory, 680 has 6Ghz memory. Most 770 owners are hitting 8000+mhz effective memory clock. Something a 680 will never even get close too

nikoli707 · Jul 1, 2013

you should be looking for the card with at least 3gb vram. everybody has their opinions. i was one of those who fell for the vram trap back when the gtx570 came out and 90% of peeps said 1.25gb vram would be more than enough for quite a while, not 4 months later battlefield 3 and skyrim came out and crushed the 1.25gb vram.

needless to say, i learned my lesson very quickly and this last gen was easy to pick amd for their 3gb vram, which i still come pretty close with skyrim and crysis 3 @ 1440p... 2.8gbvram and 2.6gbvram used respectively.

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

nikoli707 :

See i have nothing against AMD the only problem i have is that they have no good options as far as warranty goes. EVGA takes care of you, amd has nobody. XFX used to be good but now their cards suck as well as their service. Sapphire is out of china and service is spotty

Intel God · Jul 1, 2013

sullyman86 :

nikoli707 :

See i have nothing against AMD the only problem i have is that they have no good options as far as warranty goes. EVGA takes care of you, amd has nobody. XFX used to be good but now their cards suck as well as their service. Sapphire is out of china and service is spotty

XFX is bottom of the barrel anymore. They'll be going bankrupt soon

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

any suggestions for an amd 7970? one with could warranty support and well made cards?

sam_p_lay · Jul 1, 2013

Shame EVGA don't do both types. 4GB EVGA GTX680 is an excellent option though - maybe you don't need more than 3GB, but what harm is there in having a bit extra? That's what I'd do.

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

sam_p_lay :

I know I wish they did. I just can't buy a sapphire card when I know they have issues and poor support. I bought the 4gb evga gtx 680 classified. At least I will have good support and 4gh to last me at least 3 years. Settings may have to be turned down over the years but no over vram limit means no extreme slowdowns

sullyman86 · Jul 1, 2013

Thank you everyone for your help!

sam_p_lay · Jul 2, 2013

Pleasure

And good choice! Turning down settings would reduce the VRAM requirements anyway, but this should keep you gaming longer before you need to drop settings (and it certainly won't be lack of VRAM you'll need to drop them for). It may well not be for another three years until we see something more demanding than Crysis 3 so you'll be fine for a while.

sullyman86 · Jul 5, 2013

okay guys i received the gtx 680 classified a few days ago and have been able to get it stable at Boost = 1280mhz and vram = 7000mhz which should put it faster than a gtx 770. i laos have an evga gtx 770 ACX on hand which overclocks to boost = 1306mhz and vram 7800mhz. THe classified is 4gb of vram and the gtx 770 is 2gb. They both cost me the same $375 used but the gtx 770 was unregistered so i was able to get the free backplate. My question is which do i keep. I will send one back to amazon. I also have the option to get a gigabyte radeon 7950 with original invoice from craigslist for $200. Thanks again!

sam_p_lay · Jul 5, 2013

Well you know my vote! But it would be interesting if you could benchmark both and post the results? If there's very little difference then obviously keep the GTX680. If the difference is more significant, keep whichever is fastest.

sullyman86 · Jul 5, 2013

Okay I am at work now so I won't be able to run anymore benchmarks until tomorrow. I was able to run each card once through the unigine valley bench. The gtx 770 clocks itself to 1137mhz under load and will not go up on its own even though thermals are under 70c. Gpu boost 2.0 doesn't seem to do anything. The gtx 680 classified clocks itself at 1202mhz under load. For this bench I ran the classy at stock speeds and I overclocked the gtx 770 to 1202mhz. The results at extreme hd settings were the gtx 770= 49.2fps average and the gtx 680 45.9 fps.

sam_p_lay · Jul 6, 2013

Interesting - 7% is about the gain you'd expect with them both at stock clocks. I suppose that will be the faster memory helping the GTX770 there. I'd personally hold on to the GTX680 since 7% is only enough to turn 30fps into 32fps - hardly noticeable! Whereas when you run in to a game that exceeds 2GB, you're gonna drop by a LOT more than 7% unless you start dropping settings. I just started Max Payne 3 (got a LONG intro!) and that uses 2030MB VRAM with everything turned up to max.

GTX 680 classy 4gb vs gtx 770 acx 2gb

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