Buy another GTX 680 in a year or less? Or wait until the next gen cards?

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gecko97

gecko97

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Feb 13, 2012
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In my current build I have a reference Zotac GTX 680 with 2GB of VRAM. Originally when I purchased the card soon after launch, I thought I would grab a second one for SLI when it could no longer play new games on high/ultra at a reasonable framerate (>40 fps). However the card only has 2GB of VRAM, and I worry that by the time it is no longer able to perform as well as I like, games will be surpassing or nearly hitting that 2GB limit. And, as I'm sure most of you know, SLI allows additional performance but essentially only makes use of the amount of VRAM on one of the cards (both need to store the same data).

So, to reiterate my question, should I keep waiting on that second 680 with 2GB, or just wait until I can grab a single nVidia 800 series card (or comparable AMD) and stick the gtx 680 into storage for use in another build.

Thanks to all in advance.
 
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You won't be able to find a 680 in a year, it's a solid card so people will be hanging onto them and any store bought ones will be gone since performance is pretty much identicle to the 770 (bar newer drivers).
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ThermalV

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You won't be able to find a 680 in a year, it's a solid card so people will be hanging onto them and any store bought ones will be gone since performance is pretty much identicle to the 770 (bar newer drivers).
 
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gecko97

gecko97

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Alright, so I guess I won't wait that long to get a second one, if I do get it at all. But outside of the buying restrictions I am genuinely curious as to what you guys think about the games catching up to the 2GB of VRAM limit and so on. For instance, if it makes sense to do the SLI instead of a single card next year, then I will buy a second one now while they are still in good supply, rather than waiting.
 
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bryonhowley

bryonhowley

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Are you gaming on a single monitor? And at what resolution are you running at?
Those two question would dictate if you even need to go SLI. For a 1080p monitor a single GTX 680 would be more than enough. Heck for a single 1080p monitor my GTX 670 is more than enough. I only needed to go SLI on my Gigabyte GTX 670 for Surround on my 3 27" monitors. And both of my cards are 2gig versions. So far I have not run into a game they can't handle.

As far as going SLI I guess it would depend on if you have ran into any game that your setup can't handle with a single card? If yes then get a second card. If everything runs great then you might wait until some of the next gen games come out and see if that still holds true. If at that time you feel it does not give you the performance you want then go for SLI. Waiting until the end of the year will still give you plenty of time to get a second one if needed.
 
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gecko97

gecko97

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Yep single monitor at 1920x1080, though I think I'll grab a second one soon to just have the desktop and an internet browser up etc. The only game I have had trouble with is Guild Wars 2 but that game, being a beautiful looking MMO, really taxes even high-end cards at the highest settings; it has to render an expansive world AND tons of players in some areas (at least that's what I hope, either that or nVidia's drivers aren't playing nice, or my card is underperforming). Also Arkham city gets a little jumpy too when it's cranked up, but I suspect that's a software optimization issue but what do I know...thanks for the advice, I will wait until New Year's more or less, and see how BF4 as well as those sweet Ubisoft E3 announcements go.
 
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