GeForce GTX 680, Part 2: SLI, 5760x1080, And Overclocking

by
107 Comments

Test System And Benchmarks

Test Hardware
Processors
Intel Core i7-3960X (Sandy Bridge-E) 3.3 GHz at 4.2 GHz (42 * 100 MHz), LGA 2011, 15 MB Shared L3, Hyper-Threading enabled, Power-savings enabled
Motherboard
Gigabyte X79-UD5 (LGA 2011) X79 Express Chipset, BIOS F9
Memory
G.Skill 16 GB (4 x 4 GB) DDR3-1600, F3-12800CL9Q2-32GBZL @ 9-9-9-24 and 1.5 V
Hard Drive
Intel SSDSC2MH250A2 250 GB SATA 6Gb/s
Graphics
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2 GB

Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2 GB

2 x AMD Radeon HD 7970 3 GB

AMD Radeon HD 7950 3 GB

AMD Radeon HD 6990 4 GB

Nvidia GeForce GTX 590 3 GB

Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 1.5 GB
Power Supply
Cooler Master UCP-1000 W
System Software And Drivers
Operating System
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
DirectX
DirectX 11
Graphics DriverNvidia GeForce Release 301.10 (For GTX 680 performance in MediaEspresso)

Nvidia GeForce Release 300.99 (For GTX 680)

Nvidia GeForce Release 296.10 (For GTX 580 and 590)

AMD Catalyst 12.2
Games
Battlefield 3
Ultra Quality Settings, No AA / 16x AF, 4x MSAA / 16x AF, v-sync off, 1920x1080 / 2560x1600 / 5760x1080, DirectX 11, Going Hunting, 90-second playback, Fraps
Crysis 2
DirectX 9 / DirectX 11, Ultra System Spec, v-sync off, 1920x1080 / 2560x1600 / 5760x1080, No AA / No AF, Central Park, High-Resolution Textures: On
Metro 2033
High Quality Settings, AAA / 4x AF, 4x MSAA / 16x AF, 1920x1080 / 2560x1600 / 5760x1080, Built-in Benchmark, Depth of Field filter Disabled, Steam version
DiRT 3
Ultra High Settings, No AA / No AF, 8x AA / No AF, 1920x1080 / 2560x1600 / 5760x1080, Steam version, Built-In Benchmark Sequence, DX 11
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
High Quality (8x AA / 8x AF) / Ultra Quality (8x AA, 16x AF) Settings, FXAA enabled, vsync off, 1920x1080 / 2560x1600 / 5760x1080, 25-second playback, Fraps
3DMark 11
 Version 1.03, Extreme Preset
HAWX 2
Highest Quality Settings, 8x AA, 1920x1200, Retail Version, Built-in Benchmark, Tessellation on/off
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm
Ultra Quality Settings, No AA / 16x AF, 8x AA / 16x AF, From Crushblow to The Krazzworks, 1920x1080 / 2560x1600 / 5760x1080, Fraps, DirectX 11 Rendering, x64 Client
SiSoftware Sandra 2012
Sandra Tech Support (Engineer) 2012.SP2, GP Processing and GP Bandwidth Modules
CyberLink MediaEspresso 6.5
449 MB MPEG-2 1080i Video Sample to Apple iPad 2 Profile (1024x768)
LuxMark 2.0
64-bit Binary, Version 1.0, Room Scene
Previous Next
Summary
  1. Multi-Card, Wide-Screen Gaming, And Your Feedback
  2. Testing With EVGA’s GeForce GTX 680 2 GB
  3. Test System And Benchmarks
  4. Benchmark Results: 3DMark 11
  5. Benchmark Results: Battlefield 3
  6. Benchmark Results: Crysis 2
  7. Benchmark Results: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
  8. Benchmark Results: DiRT 3
  9. Benchmark Results: World Of Warcraft
  10. Benchmark Results: Metro 2033
  11. Benchmark Results: Overclocking
  12. Benchmark Results: Sandra 2012
  13. Benchmark Results: MediaEspresso And LuxMark 2.0
  14. Noise And Temperature
  15. Power Consumption
  16. On SLI, Competition, Overclocking, And Availability
About the author
Chris Angelini

Chris Angelini is an Editor Emeritus at Tom's Hardware US. He edits hardware reviews and covers high-profile CPU and GPU launches.

Read more
This thread is closed for comments
107 comments
Comment from the forums
    Your comment
  • tacoslave
    amds driver team needs to get off its ass i mean look at those crossfire results thats downright pitiful .
  • bystander
    tacoslaveamds driver team needs to get off its ass i mean look at those crossfire results thats downright pitiful .

    What is wrong with their crossfire performance?

    You do have to look at the high resolution benchmarks to see actual crossfire results, as 1080p benchmarks are being bottlenecked by the CPU.
  • I am a PC
    It is quite clear that the Radeons are more powerful but that once again the Nvidia favoring benchmark suite once again favors Nvidia.
  • Would like to see CUDA compute instead of openCL stuff. Something like Blender/Cycles benchmark.
  • cangelini
    I am a PCIt is quite clear that the Radeons are more powerful but that once again the Nvidia favoring benchmark suite once again favors Nvidia.

    If you were to hand-pick a suite to favor AMD, what would it include? :) You did notice the Radeons doing really well in Battlefield and Metro, right?
  • cangelini
    AgonothetaWould like to see CUDA compute instead of openCL stuff. Something like Blender/Cycles benchmark.

    Our Blender test is being working on right now--currently we're only utilizing the Tiles/Cycles engines for CPU reviews.
  • My MSI 7870 came with Catalyst 12.3, so why use 12.2 if 12.3 is out there?
  • weatherdude
    You know, I'm starting to wonder what the Tom's Hardware labs are like. I hope it has something to keep the staff sane as they run tests over and over again.

    Anyways, looks like the competition in the GPU world is going strong right now. To me both the GTX 680 and Radeon 7970 are fine pieces of work. The general compute performance of Tahiti is really really good though so will AMD really reduce the prices significantly below the GTX 680?

    Great review as usual. All your hard work is appreciated.
  • cangelini
    sniper13xMy MSI 7870 came with Catalyst 12.3, so why use 12.2 if 12.3 is out there?

    Because it's not?
  • cangelini
    weatherdudeYou know, I'm starting to wonder what the Tom's Hardware labs are like. I hope it has something to keep the staff sane as they run tests over and over again.Anyways, looks like the competition in the GPU world is going strong right now. To me both the GTX 680 and Radeon 7970 are fine pieces of work. The general compute performance of Tahiti is really really good though so will AMD really reduce the prices significantly below the GTX 680?Great review as usual. All your hard work is appreciated.

    If ever you're in Bakersfield, CA, you're welcome to drop by and check the lab out. It's like a gamer candy store, literally stacked with graphics cards higher than I can reach!
  • noobalert
    Thanks for the Review, its been good reading! I can't wait for my new z77 ivy Bridge build. Now trying to hold off on getting cards is going to be tough.

    Next I want to see how the Dual GPU's from nVIDIA, & AMD fair, And see how long the Non-reference cards take to come out.

    Would love to see a 3D - 5760x1080 shootout with 2/3/4 7970's, and GTX 680's setups in the meantime.
  • master9716
    You made My day , 2 Reviews in 1 DAY!! WOW! I was waiting for this , I will probably go with Nvidia now since I was hopping they would release a card that can do 4k resolution on a single display for when I buy my SHARP 70" 4k tv. unless Amd comes out with a driver for 4k and lowers their price.
  • masterofevil22
    Nvidia MAX'd their new card out of the gate and AMD left theirs woefully underclocked...wtf are these two companies doing? Trying to create confusion?? OC'd 7970 ftw..
  • Energy96
    Would have been nice to see how 580's in SLI compare to 680's in SLI. Afterall most people who would buy 2 680's likely already have 2 580's and would like to know if the upgrade is worth it or not.
  • I just want, the price of this come down
  • baracubra
    Again I really enjoyed this read over yesterday's review. It would have been nice to see percent performance scaling charts for SLI, but I guess if anyone desperately wanted them they could calculate themselves..

    Other than that great job, now just waiting for IB to drop. By then availability should be well sorted out..
  • sohei
    so at clock per clock is a draw?
    so guys buy what you want both cards are great, nvidia is a bit faster 7% average in gaming
    my conclusion is this. at gaming both cards are great
    at compute amd is better
    at power consumption Nvidia

    personaly i like 7970 is far better build with quality components
    in my country gtx 680 is more expensive so reality is different in prices...on paper nvidia is cheaper but ....
  • EzioAs
    I'd say both cards are in the same tier, unlike the difference between the 580 and 6970. The 7970 benefits more from overclocking and if crossfire scales well, 2 7970s performs equal to 2 680, although AMD really needs to work on the driver more as we see only a few games where it scales rally well. Pricing on the 7970 will have to drop although I hope to see less than $475 recommended in the article.

    Power issue isn't really a concern either as we've never seen any cards in the past delivering a great performance while consuming really low power. It doesn't rally matter that much whether one of them is more power efficient than the other because both of them are really power efficient cards. I'd say once the price drops, the 7970 and 680 will both be recommended cards, it all comes down to the buyer's choice and budget.

    Great article to answer all reader's feedback. Good job!
  • mayankleoboy1
    thanks for the reviews Chris ! :)

    just like to add that in the mediaespresso test, i would have like to see a SB 2500K/2600K for a reference. just to compare how the NVenc compares to the QuickSync engine.
  • mayankleoboy1
    its a shame that AMD has not yet got its drivers working right, with VEC and the other stuff still not ready for use...
  • wolfram23
    I don't quite get the point of benching Dirt 3, WoW, and especially Skyrim. Dirt 3 I can understand if for no other reason that it has a benchmark built in, but what happened to Alien vs Predator? STALKER: Call of Pripyat? 3DMark Vantage (still relevant)? How about some Witcher 2 benchmarks? Civ 5? Original Crysis??

    Seriously, though, Skyrim? That is not a benchmarking game...

    Anyway, it's still a good look at things, so thanks for the write up. I'm definitely curious to see how enthusiasts OC these cards higher and what sort of results they get. I've heard of 7970s at 1300mhz or more.
  • rush21hit
    7970, such a great potential hampered by immature driver...and awesome job for nVidia for making such a great card. Hopefully, enough to push AMD to redefine their price range, and makes everyone happy :D

    As experience said, ATI/AMD usually takes a few months later for their drivers to get fully matured. Even then, my 5850 CF still crashing on some game, like; Batman Arkham City!! Oh God Why!!??

    Then again, developers tend to go better with nVidia if they has labelled twimtbp whatnot.
  • mayankleoboy1
    where are the TXAA benchmarks?
  • bystander
    mayankleoboy1where are the TXAA benchmarks?

    TXAA has not yet been released. It is supposed to be added to drivers at a later date.
Display more comments
Most Popular
  1. GeForce GTX 680 2 GB Review: Kepler Sends Tahiti On Vacation
  2. Asetek Unveils Liquid-Cooled Notebook Prototype
  3. Adapteva Announces 700 MHz, 4096-Core Processor
The Latest On Tom's Hardware
Edition
Subscribe to our newsletter
Company
Resources
Other Purch sites
  • © 2019 Purch All Rights Reserved.