GTX 680 4gb Review

[hostage67]

Finally found a 680 4GB review that was decent...

http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.php....html?start=16

In most cases you see little to no difference with the 4GB card, but if you look at the specific page I linked above where they are focusing on using up the 4gb's of memory you can see what happens when you max out your memory usage...

They were testing at 2560x1600 (not sure why they didn't use surround for this test as they did do separate tests for surround). But they were able to max out the 2gb's using Skyrim...

Resolution: 2560x1600
MSAA: 8x
SGSSAA: 8x
AF: 16x

A 2gb card with these settings is brought to it's knees with only 1.2fps because it is using more memory than it has available the card basically stops processing. But with the 4gb card you can still see it chugging along at 29.4fps.

With a surround setup we would have seen these limits reached much sooner, but they have clearly proven the point. It is possible to push past the 2gb limit on the base 680's, and worth considering the 4gb model particularly if you wish to max out all settings in a surround environment.

The rest of their tests showed little to no difference as expected. The 4gb's of memory really only plays a role when you have gone past the base 2gb's which all but shuts down your GPU.

If you have a 2gb version no need to get upset, you don't need all settings in every game, by toning down settings just slightly you can still get almost the same quality image with basically identical performance. The 2gb card still allows most settings to be maxed, just a few key settings like the AA may need to be dropped down a little if you run into problems.






EDIT:
Looks like EVGA is getting closer to releasing their 4gb version of their FTW GTX 680. They finally have the full list of specs up...
http://www.evga.com/articles/00669/#GTX680FTW

Base Clock: 1110
Boost Clock: 1176
Memory Clock: 6008

Texture fill rate bumps up a little to 142GT/s

The rest of the stats haven't changed, rumor puts this card as releasing within the next two weeks, but availability for the 680's across the board has been pretty lame, so getting your hands on one might still be a challenge even after they release.

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

ugh. i run surround and have hit the 2gb limit on crysis 2 already. can't wait to get an evga 4gb card. i'm going to be scouring the website every day until release to try to snag one.

[hostage67]

Last I heard the EVGA 4gb FTW edition is expected some time around the middle of the month, so another week or so. That's one of the last things I have been waiting for.

[Sephiroth]

you know.. seeing all these reviews in 2560x1600 kind of put me off into the assumption that there were a plethora of monitors with this kind of resolution and that my measily 23" was 'just bearly' not good enough.

Nope.

30" 3d $1000+ monitors need only apply.

you guys can keep/enjoy your 4Gb cards, us peasants will make due with our 27" play-things and lowly 1080P resolutions.

I mean christ, some of those 30' 'things' cost nearly as much as my 55" LCD in my bedroom.

[hostage67]

The biggest place this will be noticeable isn't with the single large 30" monitors you are referring to. But in an eyefinity/surround setup where you are using 3 standard 24" monitors. This takes a normal resolution from 1920x1080 up to 5760x1080. This makes the memory use skyrocket pretty quick.

So if you are running a single monitor setup, even with the large 30" TV's you won't really need the 4gb cards except for very few games and only with max settings (crysis for example).

[Urbanfox]

Originally Posted by Sephiroth

you guys can keep/enjoy your 4Gb cards, us peasants will make due with our 27" play-things and lowly 1080P resolutions.

My 27" is 2560x1440

I don't know how anyone would game on a 27" 1080P

[hostage67]

Originally Posted by Urbanfox

My 27" is 2560x1440

I don't know how anyone would game on a 27" 1080P

There are a few out there, but IMO no point in going 27" and remaining at 1080p. Most 27" are at 2560x1440, and most 30" run 2560x1600, but there are always exceptions.

[jbmcmillan]

I have one I got it as a replacement for my 24" that couldn't be fixed under warranty.I got a refurbished 27" and it's not too bad at 1080P.

[Mikebee21]

maybe they should get the 2 gb in stock sometime this year before they release all these other versions.

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

Originally Posted by Mikebee21

maybe they should get the 2 gb in stock sometime this year before they release all these other versions.

newegg had them when i checked earlier, but they were the KR version

[Mikebee21]

Originally Posted by §k¥¥ |{£øúÐz

newegg had them when i checked earlier, but they were the KR version

They are all out of stock now lol.

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

I guess you'll have to use the auto notify so you can hop on the mobile web app and buy it asap when you get the email lol

[hostage67]

Ya, if you are looking for a 680 you really need to use the auto notify. They come into stock regularly but sell out very quickly so you'll need to get on it right away.

[Drozdov]

got mine directly from evga through their auto notify.

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

well their website shows the 4gb model now, but no websites list it yet

[johnerz]

Look at the review for the 670, it shows better performance OC'd that a stock 680 and some reports that it OC's better that a 680, only

Its as always far from conclusive, but the release date is on Thursday and pricing looks to be about $100 down on the 680

http://www.overclock.net/t/1253432/g...rsion-hands-on

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

evga's website lists the gtx 680 ftw 4gb as $629. that makes me wonder if i should just spend $270 more and get a 690? they also have 4gb of ram. it just seems silly to pay $130 more for 2gb of extra vram when it gets that close to the price of a 690

[Lurid]

The 690 is effectively 2GB x 2, not actually 4GB as the memory doesnt actually stack. They always say this with dual GPUs.

[§k¥¥ |{£øúÐz]

Originally Posted by Lurid

The 690 is effectively 2GB x 2, not actually 4GB as the memory doesnt actually stack. They always say this with dual GPUs.

yeah i knew that you only get one card's worth of video ram when sli'ing two cards, but i thought it might work differently in the 690

EDIT: this leads me to believe that the 690 isn't a good choice for nvidia surround 2d on three monitors. i wonder if they'll make a 3 or 4 gb version of the 670? two of those in sli would be nice. (similar to my two 570's i currently have)

[hostage67]

Originally Posted by §k¥¥ |{£øúÐz

evga's website lists the gtx 680 ftw 4gb as $629. that makes me wonder if i should just spend $270 more and get a 690? they also have 4gb of ram. it just seems silly to pay $130 more for 2gb of extra vram when it gets that close to the price of a 690

Well... depends on what you are doing exactly.

Keep in mind that while a 690 will give great processing power, it won't increase the usable ram. You are still limited to only 2gb's of VRam.

If you are running a single monitor then frankly you probably only need a single 680 making the 690 mostly worthless to you unless you are after 120hz.

If you are running Surround video (5760x1080) then the extra processing power will definitely be worthwhile. On the other hand, you also could be running out of VRam, making the 680 4gb versions more ideal, but realistically with just a few tweaks mostly to MSAA you can drop your vram usage down below the 2gb limit of the 690 making it a viable option still.

So in short with a 690 or 2gb 680 you may not be able to run every setting at absolute max, but you can get pretty close. If you just absolutely must run the maximum settings then you should really be looking at the 4gb version of the 680 as that is really the only way to do it without hitting the memory cap.