GTX-670 SLI, GTX-680 SLI, or GTX 690 (Which one)

[bigbubba2]

Which cards or cards should I get for my PC I'm running games on my Dell 30" screen resolution 2560 x 1600. I want to buy the best one for the money and one that will last me for a while. I know the GTX-670 is the cheapest one, but is it the right one? Here is a short description of the cards that I'm considering. The following info. is based on one card only not a SLI combined.

GTX-670 Superclocked, will be running this card in SLI
GPU Speed 967Mhz
Pixel Pipeline 1344
Boost Clock 1046
Ram 4096
Price x 2 = $980

GTX-680 Superclocked, will be running this card in SLI
GPU Speed 1110Mhz
Pixel Pipeline 1536
Boost Clock 1176
Ram 4096
Price x 2 = $1260

GTX-690
GPU Speed 915Mhz
Pixel Pipeline 3072
Boost Clock 1019
Ram 4096
Price x 1 = $1000

Thanks for any advice!

CPU i7 920 OC to 3.8Mhz, Ram 12GB OC to 1523Mhz, GTX-285 OC, SSD Crucial 240GB

 

[psirohi]

Well for sheer value for money the 670 SLI... (its only slightly off the 680 in performance, and a fair bit cheaper)

best performance today.. the 680 SLI...

for dreaming of adding another card in future to make a godly sli-- the 690 .

 

[17seconds]

I would get the 690. Nvidia really went all out to make it the best. By contrast, the GTX 670's are a bit of a budget construction. The 670's in SLI will start to get loud with reference coolers and an overclock. GTX 680's in SLI is expensive and not likely to be worth it over one of the other two cheaper options.

Now if you could find a pair of custom 670's for SLI, that might be different.

 

[psirohi]

Agree again with matto... just one more thing the 680 SLIs wil likely be faster than the 690... life's a bitch aint it

 

[bigbubba2]

I would get the 690. Nvidia really went all out to make it the best. By contrast, the GTX 670's are a bit of a budget construction. The 670's in SLI will start to get loud with reference coolers and an overclock. GTX 680's in SLI is expensive and not likely to be worth it over one of the other two cheaper options.

Now if you could find a pair of custom 670's for SLI, that might be different.

I'm not sure what you mean about custom 670's? I can purchase 2 of the described 670's above which I though where custom.

 

[17seconds]

Now, I do have to say that several articles comment on how quiet the 670 is, but I have also read about the "hum" noise at load in several articles as well.

The other comment is that $980 seems high for a pair of GTX 670's. I thought they were going for $400 each.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/evga-geforce-gtx-670-sc-review/9

Quote:
"For the card in a fully stressed status (in-game) 43 dBA, now that is slightly audible as you can hear some airflow from the graphics card in a silent room. The reference based coolers also makes a low 'hum' noise once stressed."

 

[ilysaml]

GTX 670 in SLI = GTX 690

I see no point grabbing $1000 GPU when you can get the same performance with $800.

Last price of the Gigabyte card linked above was $399 on newegg, If you get it for $410 or $420 still you're in a win, the Gigabyte runs much cooler than the GTX 690 as well.

 

[whoareyou1982]

If the ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II card ever comes out (if it's available somewhere I haven't seen it yet) I would SLI two of those (if they actually retail for the supposed $420 like they're supposed to). Crazy cooling performance at crazy low dbA.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_670_Direct_Cu_II/27.html

Just my $.02.

 

[super-smashman]

Unless you have a surround setup this is all crazy talk. One 670 is ample GPU for 1080p gaming. 150 FPS BF3 max is wasted money.

In surround, however... Amazing.

 

[whoareyou1982]

Unless you have a surround setup this is all crazy talk. One 670 is ample GPU for 1080p gaming. 150 FPS BF3 max is wasted money.

In surround, however... Amazing.

Read the first sentence of his first post.

 

[ilysaml]

GTX 690 = GTX 680's in SLi

The end result is a dual-GPU product that runs two ICs called and tagged the GK104, these are the very same GPUs you'll find on the GeForce GTX 680,
and in it's bare essence the GTX 690 is in fact two 680s clocked marginally slower.

True, but because of the GTX 690 is lower clocked than GTX 680s (915 vs 1006) the GTX 680s Scaling is superior.
And because the GTX 670s almost clocked the same as the GTX 690, the results are the same.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-670-2-and-3way-sli-review/
So personally I'd go GTX 670s SLI.

 

[zakattak80]

680 sli is pointless, with the hundred dollar cheaper 670 is only 5 percent slower. but, i would get a 690 for three reasons, it's much more power efficient then the other two setups, well keep your case clean and tighty for any upgrades, and lastly the niose and cooling well no doubt be much better then any duel gpu setup. nvidia has probably created the greatest duel gpu of all time. at this point there is no other way for a high end nvidia sli system then a 690 right now

 

[monsta]

The 690 has more pros than cons going for it over a 670, 680 SLI set up.
The less power draw, heat and noise is a great reason to get it.
For a single card that can do everything you need out of it makes it an easy choice.
Less cables and clutter, better airflow in your case...sounds good to me.

 

[dreadlokz]

2x GTX670!

 

[psirohi]

lol... all this is getting confusing.. OP just get any of the three... you have all the reasons any of them will work well for you..

p.s. anyone know why the website is fcking up? I can see that I pm's but cant read em!!

 

[monsta]

Yeah they crazy expensive to spend that much at once, its different if you get a 670/680 now and then get another later , the hit isnt as noticeable as paying the 690 in one go.

 

[monsta]

Cool set ups guys , makes my 27inch look mediocre

 

[bigbubba2]

Now, I do have to say that several articles comment on how quiet the 670 is, but I have also read about the "hum" noise at load in several articles as well.

The other comment is that $980 seems high for a pair of GTX 670's. I thought they were going for $400 each.

http://www.guru3d.com/imageview.php?image=39436
http://www.guru3d.com/article/evga-geforce-gtx-670-sc-review/9

Quote:
"For the card in a fully stressed status (in-game) 43 dBA, now that is slightly audible as you can hear some airflow from the graphics card in a silent room. The reference based coolers also makes a low 'hum' noise once stressed."

The Gtx-670's are OClocked and have 4GB of ram each instead of the original 2GB

 

[modena1230]

Sorry to get a little off topic, but if you wanted to run 5760x1080 in ultra settings would it be worth it to wait for the 4gb version of the 670 to be released and run dual sli? or do you need more video power to get ultra settings?

Skyrim,Crysis2 these types of games.

 

[bigbubba2]

The Gtx-670's are OClocked and have 4GB of ram each instead of the original 2GB. I'm hoping that the extra ram will help with the Dell 30" Res 2560 x 1600. I'm going to buy two and use them in SLI. Is this the best choice or should I go with Gtx690?

 

[ilysaml]

As I stated above, the best bang for buck is to grab 2 GTX 670s, would be great if you grab non reference designed ones.

And No, 4GB won't make any difference.

 

[bigbubba2]

If 4GB won’t help with Res. 2560 x 1600 then what does it help? Maybe I should just buy two stock Gigabyte 670’s. I don’t know that much about all the spec’s, but I would have thought that 4GB would have helped. This is why I’m asking all the questions and really appreciate all your answers and time you guys put in.

 

[ilysaml]

Visit This Thread and read my first post regarding the extra VRAM even @ 5760X resolution.

I would be carefully looking at a non reference models for superior cooling.

If money isn't really an issue to you just grab the GTX 690 and save yourself time and thinking.

 

[bigbubba2]

Read the thread and it cleared up the extra Vram. I'm going to cancel my order for the two OC 4GB 670's cards and wait for the

GTX-690

Thanks for all the advice!

 

[JukeBox360]

Not sure if you've already purchased your 690 or not but I will say my share anyway.

I was in the same situation as you. So I went ahead and ordered both. I had a 690 and a pair of 680s in my house. In the end I stuck with the 680s SLI. A few reasons as to why.

1. Heat. Many people think you'd get less heat with 1 card vs two. In this case you don't. The 690 gets pretty hot. As does 680 SLI. Big difference between the two? How the heat is moved. With the 690 heat will exhaust inside of your case. Your case will get very hot. Temps raised inside my case by about 10C with a 690. All because it was exhausting all that heat inside of the case. Sure, my pc could handle it. But either way it's not good for everything inside. That alone was enough to make me not want to keep the 690.

2. Future proof. In the end it's cheaper t buy two 680's and enjoy them for all they are worth. Once it's time to upgrade. Throwing another one in shouldn't be a problem. I don't have to fork out another 1k. I'm sure by then. Whatever knew card were coming would most likely make the 690 feel dated or at least not worth another one.

3. Resale Value. There is going to become a time where I don't game as much. Or maybe I'll end up seeing SLI as overkill. With 680SLI I will be able to sell one of the cards and keep the other inside my case. So I'll still have a GPU if I need it and not lose everything. Also, people are willing to spend less when used. Not more. So it's going to become a lot harder to sell a 690 in the future.

4. What If A Card Breaks? Lucky me. If I had two I could use one while the other gets fixed. 690 craps out. You'll be waiting a while for the fix and be out of a GPU.

In this case the positives just don't out weigh the negs. Is the 690 the sexiest case to date? You bet! Does it have pros!? Sure. Less power and 1 PCI slot. Also it runs on PCI 3.0 even if your running a SBE.

But it also isn't as fast as 680 SLI. Pay the same for less speed? The power difference isn't huge. I'm willing to bet anyone spending that much on a GPU would have a decent GPU to begin with. 680 SLI has more connections. Looks sexier in a case. Fills it up more vs 1 card.

In short. I'll say this. Get a 690 only if you plan to buy another one in the future. IMO that's its only selling point. You'll be running quad SLI with only two slots taken. If you only plan to run 1 690 then I see no point in getting one. As 680/670 will work better and keep your case cooler.

Hope that helps.

P.S- With the 690 you must have the connections in a certain order to be able to use all 3 monitors and max 3D performance. I wanted to use all DVI ports on the 690 for 3 monitors. What they don't tell you. In order to max your performance on a 690 you must use the display port. I just spend 1000K on a GPU. Didn't like the idea of being forced to buy an adapter just to enjoy it.