triple monitor setups are b*tchin'..... quad seems too much. However, I can't wait until we have six-monitor support with a chair that has a protracting keyboard that turns based on the movement of the mouse.
Nvidia's Kepler GTX 680: Powering the Next Gen
By
Mark Walton, Senior Staff Writer - Reviews
Quicker, quieter, and more power efficient, the GTX 680 is new "world's fastest" GPU.
A Closer Look at Kepler
SMX Design
Since the GTX series, Nvidia GPUs have been based on the Fermi architecture, which introduced DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.0 support, as well as a new pipeline technology for improved tessellation performance. Kepler builds upon Fermi, but instead of simply increasing clock speeds to achieve better performance, it actually decreases them in favour of having more processing (CUDA) cores operating at lower speeds. It's much like Intel's transition from the "hotter than the surface of the sun" architecture of the Pentium 4, to the much more power-efficient Core architecture.
"Kepler is much like Intel's transition from the 'hotter than the surface of the sun' architecture of the Pentium 4, to the much more power-efficient Core architecture."
The 680's CUDA cores reside within the SMX. Most GPU functions are performed by the SMX, including pixel and geometry shading, physics calculations, texture filtering, and tessellation. Each SMX contains 192 CUDA cores, which is six times as many as Fermi, and the 680 contains eight SMX blocks for a total of 1,536 cores. This increase provides two times the performance per watt of Fermi. What that means for you is a graphics card with much greater performance at reduced power consumption of 195W compared to 250W in a GTX 580. The reduction is so great that the card requires only two six-pin power connectors, meaning less heat is generated, and smaller power supplies such as those in Alienware's console-sized X51 desktop can be used.
GPU Boost
Another performance-pushing feature of the 680 is GPU Boost, which dynamically overclocks the GPU from the base clock speed of 1GHz. That's possible thanks to some clever monitoring of the GPU's Thermal Design Power (TDP). Many games and applications don't tax the GPU to its maximum, leaving some TDP headroom available. In those cases the clock speed of the GPU is increased on the fly, typically by around 5 percent, but sometimes by as much as 10 percent, giving you a boost in performance.
What's neat is that feature is entirely automated, being integrated into the 680 drivers and hardware, so you get better performance with little effort on your part. That's not to say performance junkies can't push things further; like all previous GeForce cards, the 680's base clock can be overclocked as far as you're willing to push it.
FXAA
One of the key features in getting Samaritan to run on just a single graphics cards is FXAA, Nvidia's own custom anti-aliasing. Good anti-aliasing is important if you don't want your games to look like a jaggy mess around the edges of objects, with most modern games using some form of it. The most common is multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA), which was used extensively in the first Samaritan demo. While MSAA produces some beautiful results, it's a bit of a resource hog.
Nvidia's FXAA produces similar (if not better) results with its pixel shader image filter and other post-processing effects like motion blur and bloom. And it does so using much less of the GPU's resources. That means a performance hit of around 1ms per frame or less, resulting in frame rates that are around two times higher than 4xMSAA.
While FXAA has been around for some time, it has previously been dependent on developers' implementing it: if the game you'd bought didn't support it, you were out of luck. With the GTX 680, FXAA can be turned on from the Nvidia control panel, making it compatible with most games.
TXAA
And, as if that weren't enough AA talk for you, the Kepler architecture also features TXAA, which is a brand-new film-style AA technique that works exclusively on the GTX 680. It's a mix of hardware anti-aliasing, a custom CG film-style AA resolve, and--in the case of TXAA 2--an optional temporal component for better image quality.
Like FXAA, it also requires much less processing power, resulting in better performance. TXAA offers similar visual quality to 8xMSAA, but with the performance hit of 2xMSAA, while TXAA 2 offers image quality that is superior to 8xMSAA, but with the performance hit of 4xMSAA.
It's certainly impressive but will require game developers to support it in future titles, so you won't be able to go TXAA crazy from day one. That said, MechWarrior Online, The Secret World, Eve Online, Borderlands 2, BitSquid, Slant Six Games, Crytek, and Epic's upcoming Unreal Engine 4 have all promised to support the technology.
Adaptive VSync
"Like FXAA, Adaptive VSync doesn't require developer support, so you can simply turn it on in the Nvidia control panel when needed."
If you get annoyed by screen tearing or random stuttering in your favourite games, then Adaptive Vsync is for you. VSync is the process of presenting new frames at the same refresh rate as your monitor, that is, 60fps for your typical 60Hz monitor. The problem is, if you suddenly hit a particularly taxing area in your game that causes the frame rate to drop, rather than simply decreasing the frame rate slightly, it drops right down to 30Hz. This causes noticeable stuttering.
You might imagine the solution is to simply turn VSync off, but that presents its own problems. With VSync off, new frames are presented immediately, which causes a visible tear line onscreen at the switching point between old and new frames. It's exacerbated at higher frame rates, where the tearing gets bigger and more distracting.
Nvidia's solution to this predicament is Adaptive VSync, which switches VSync on and off on the fly. If your frame rate drops below 60fps, Vsync is automatically disabled, thus preventing any stuttering. Once you hit 60fps again, VSync is turned back on to reduce screen tearing.
Like FXAA, Adaptive VSync doesn't require developer support, so you can simply turn it on in the Nvidia control panel when needed.
By
Mark Walton, Senior Staff Writer - Reviews
Writer, riff maker, purveyor of fine foods. Mark currently spends his days trying to overcome his small (large) obsession with high-top trainers and mobile games. He's known to respond well to Long Island Iced Tea, falafels, and karaoke, but not necessarily in that order.
287 comments
6870 been running everything new for almost 2 years now with no problem. @ minimum 1000p, with all effects always all the way up. why blow the extra $500+ for any "stronger" setup?
Sounds awesome, but we need more games developed for the pc that can take advantage of the power. I've had a GTX580 for a year now and it hasn't even broken a sweat. What a waste of money. Unless you're playing on multiple displays, what's the point. I should have stuck with my 5770.
oh deer lord Jesus i hope that card is implemented into the next consoles, and that destruction video, thats the kind of destruction i want in the next battlefield game
1 Like @bluebird08 That's assuming there will be new consoles in the near future. The way things look, doesn't look like there will be a new one within a few years. But I digress here, I am a PC gamer, so that doesn't bother me too much :P.
i will get, when i feel the need for it. So far i cant see anything that will need that kind of power for gaming. i will wait in the shadows till then lol.....................
bboy you are an idiot that should stick with consoles & cod. Good review looking forward for next gen graphics
@BrassBullet You are right about the consoles needing hardware like this in the next xbox and ps but its already been stated but not official is the next xbox gpu will be a 6780 equivalent so i very very very much doubt a 680 will go into the next gen consoles. So if the next xbox does have a 6780 and Sony stick with Nvidia i reckon it will be like a 650 or whatever they call it gpu. We shall wait and see. Oh and i dont think it was mentioned in this article but i have read in articles on the 680 that the codename for it indicates it may actually not be the highest end single gpu nvidia release. Hell they may even be goin back to the old 680 ultra naming scheme which would be awesome lol. I mean they have plenty of headroom to increase it cause of temps and power usage so nvidia could really spice things up and release some super high end single gpu which leaves ati's 7970 in the dust. Btw i own 2 6970s in crossfire so im not a ati fanboy but im liking what both companies are doing although prices are too expensive in my opinion
As a high-end PC gpu I'm underwhelmed by the 680, but I think it might just be the perfect fit for the new Consoles. First, it's very small, about half the size of the 580, this will make it cheap to produce in mass for a low margin item like a game console. Second, they stripped out a lot of the GPGPU performance. GPGPU is thr sole reason enterprises buy nvidia products, so the 680 is clearly not ment to win that market like the last few flagships. Lastly, and largely because of the last 2 reasons, it is the most power efficient high end GPU. The space and cooling constraints of a console make this a huge selling point. Especially because AMD has chosen to add more features unnecessary for a console, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if the 680 is exactly the GPU that shows up in thex Nextbox or PS4.
The GTX 680 is an excellent chip in every way, but I feel it is being a little overhyped. The Radeon HD 7970 card has more memory (2 gb vs 3gb) and actually performs on par with and often beats the GTX 680 at ultra-high resolutions, such as the 2560 x 1600 or multiple monitor setups such as 5760x 1080, which is where such cards will realistically be used. AMD aren't in trouble, they just need to price the 7970 about $20 cheaper than the GTX 680 to remain competitive. Plus, aside from gaming, the 7970 is proven to have much more compute power (read any professional review, such as Tom's Hardware's for details).
Good luck getting your hands on one from newegg anytime soon. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006662&isNodeId=1&Description=gtx+680&x=0&y=0
It's amazing really how just in 2 years since the 4xx series came out the technology difference between the 2 is insane. Kepler is clearly the next gen over Fermi, but around 2014 its expected that the next gen Maxwell will outperform Kepler by up to 10 times. Also with Nvidia putting a roadmap for mobile (Tegra) performance that will match PC performance soon with also next gen architecture, Nvidia, the way I see it is pushing technological hardware levels of humanity forward really fast.
So basically AMD's high end 7970 got its butt kicked by the not really high end gtx 680, AMD is in trouble now!
"The maker of my PC called me up and offered if I wanted the new 680 GTX that I could have it at no extra charge" Become Hulk RARRWWWRR~* Me.. Envy.. At.. Gruug~! Hulk Smash~
@NeoEnigma I agree completely. I was just stating that in terms of power, if anyone was confused by the article. The prime choice for high-end GPU would be the GTX 680, no doubt. I prefer a single GPU setup over sli/crossfire any day of the week. One of the main points of the GTX 680 is less power consumption. So in terms of performance/watt, it's hands down the best. For $500 USD, it's way better than the GTX 580 when it launched.
@Elann2008 - but with so many games having broken or no SLI support at all, I'd sooner sell my current 580 and buy a 680 rather than get a 2nd 580 and SLI it. I Just feel like it's the more stable and reliable option. My 580 will be on sale soon... :)
Just ordered a new PC with a 580 GTX. The maker of my PC called me up and offered if I wanted the new 680 GTX that I could have it at no extra charge. I said "OF COURSE!".
I can run anything with my AMD budget PC at 1680x1050. (Phenom II 955BE and OCd 5850) If I ever do decide to play at 1920x1080 I'll definitely be getting one of these. By then the price will have dropped as well! Win-win.
i just ordered one myself. can't wait for it, to test it out. the benchmarks looks promising. and consider that, most people play at 1080p these days. its the sweat spot for every gamer :)
1 Like If the guy had so much energy and strength then why was he using a torch to cut those chains? LOL....
@johnnybrac Maybe he was using it to toughen the chains. But if he was trying to cut them, you're right LMAO
I am currently running 2 560 ti cards, mixed w/ my 8 gb ram and my amd phenom 6 core, atm There is no need for me to upgrade, But when new games start to run slow, or dx12 comes out, Then it is Time ! ( imo )
@ll0stryker0ll This "review" gets so many things wrong, it's a complete joke. Sounds like it was copied out of an Nvidia press junket. 3 benchmarks, and only two of them games? At 1080p? For a high-end graphics card? Might as well just draw some lines with crayon. This card is good enough to stand on its own merits, but Nvidia still feels the need to play games with the press. It's disappointing, really.
@markiewicz "You are wrong because the CPU clocks are provided by NVIDIA and come with a warranty. The card is designed to work within these frequencies at an exact power consumption and heat output treshold." One would hope so. The problem is that Nvidia will do whatever it can to maintain the perception of a performance advantage. So it wouldn't surprise me if these cards started failing prematurely because they were clocked too high. "Difference is that Nvidia guarantees every single card you buy will hit the quoted clockspeed, including Boost." Yeah, but Nvidia's guarantee isn't exactly rock solid. See bumpgate. I mean, I wouldn't worry too much about the 680, but Nvidia in general has burned quite a few bridges in the past, which is the only reason I'm still hesitant to buy a sweet-looking card such as this one.
mine ati radeon 5770 is doing awesome work for me till now. but still this one is much powerful than mine, & its awesome
My 6950 2gb hasn't broken a sweat yet using my i7 2600k....well, I take that back, Metro 2033 was the only game that made it suffer. Especially when those damn grenades explode....
Next gen console will have to be something more then just a more powerful box. Even with this card.
this couldn't have been announced at a better time. Now I can wait for the 580 to drop so I can double up :)
B-boy I don't know what they told you on your planet Mars but the truth is everything was introduced on PC first here on Earth!!
@B-boy Your joking right?Please tell me you are joking and you are not that dumb enough to believe what you wrote.If your being serious,then I suggest doing some major research before posting such nonsense in the future.Not trying to insult you here but I have to agree with ihsiep and say that was ignorant indeed.
naryanrobinson $500 is the retail price for end consumers and will never mean their costs are around $450 or something!! this is a technology sell and one of the best in market and that is why it costs so much to end consumers as no majority of comppanies are not even capable of producing such items!! giants in tech like nvidia always throw up a lot of costs in research and development!! for a product to be successful they need to cover those costs!! what I believe is that Nvidia and ATI will be dying to get their cards be used in one of those microsoft and sony machines!! the larger they have a secured sell the lower the costs can be!! So all those who say Microsoft or Sony may use these cards in their nex gen consoles might be right!! Clearly you are not related to costing, finance or even accounts field!! :-p
hmmmm I think I'll wait for this to come out so that the 580 comes down a bit more then nab another 580 to SLI. Not worth me upgrading just yet - I only upgraded from a 768mb 280 to a 3gb 580 about a month ago and I'm happy as Larry. The FPS gain to price ratio is a no brainer for me.
This article had quatation under that said "Death of the desktop" .....Great always open with a joke.
The 680 is looking and performing good. But since I just owned a GTX560Ti here, a true upgrade would be skipping 600 series and wait for 700 series.
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Table of Contents
Borderlands 2
Not Following
-
X360, PC, PS3, MAC
- Publisher:
- 2K Games
- Category:
- Action
- Release:
- Sep 18, 2012
- ESRB:
- M
