EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified Review: Pushing GTX 680 To Its Peak
by Ryan Smith on July 20, 2012 12:00 PM ESTThe Test
For our review of the GTX 680 Classified we’re using NVIDIA’s latest beta drivers, 304.79. These drives have no appreciable difference over the previous 304.42 drivers beyond some simple bug fixes.
CPU: | Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4.3GHz |
Motherboard: | EVGA X79 SLI |
Chipset Drivers: | Intel 9.2.3.1022 |
Power Supply: | Antec True Power Quattro 1200 |
Hard Disk: | Samsung 470 (256GB) |
Memory: | G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1867 4 x 4GB (8-10-9-26) |
Case: | Thermaltake Spedo Advance |
Monitor: |
Samsung 305T Asus PA246Q |
Video Cards: |
AMD Radeon HD 6970 AMD Radeon HD 7950 AMD Radeon HD 7970 AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 EVGA GeForce GTX 680 Classified |
Video Drivers: |
NVIDIA ForceWare 304.42 Beta NVIDIA ForceWare 304.79 Beta AMD Catalyst 12.7 Beta |
OS: | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit |
75 Comments
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ubernator44 - Monday, September 17, 2012 - link
edit, sorry 17 phases :P 14+3 phases :Psan1s - Friday, July 20, 2012 - link
This isn't really intended for ordinary gamers, but rather overclockers using exotic cooling. In that case, the overclocking features this card provides makes it a far more valuable card to them in comparison to reference cards.RussianSensation - Saturday, July 21, 2012 - link
Ya, but in that case the MSI Lightning 680 imo is the better card. It has more premium components and is also ready for LN2.CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
And has a 375 W ceiling..... right....Sabresiberian - Sunday, July 22, 2012 - link
As far as cooling solution, that's just your opinion, (actually from what I've read it's wrong because the Lightning gets warmer) and a lot of people aren't going to like MSI's because they want the warm air moved out of the case.The big kicker for me though is the 4GB of memory; if you plan on running 3x 2560x1440, 2GB just isn't enough. I'm an MSI fan, but I can't use their product to fill my needs. If I want 4GB and "unlocked voltage" my only choice is the EVGA Classified.
Amoro - Friday, July 20, 2012 - link
I wonder why the SC version is the only one with overclocked memory. Does that mean that overclocking the memory isn't valuable? Typo maybe?ltcommanderdata - Friday, July 20, 2012 - link
Probably because stable memory overclocking is difficult to achieve when you are trying to drive double the VRAM. Seeing 4GB of VRAM seems to be overkill, keeping 2GB of VRAM and increasing memory clocks would probably have been more worthwhile although it doesn't quite have the same marketing ring to it as "4GB".CeriseCogburn - Sunday, July 29, 2012 - link
I wondered where all the blabbering amd fanboys skittered off to in their constant 3GB ram drone psychosis....Let me just share a quote : " Quote :
The 4GB -- Realistically there was not one game that we tested that could benefit from the two extra GB's of graphics memory. Even at 2560x1600 (which is a massive 4 Mpixels resolution) there was just no measurable difference. "
LOL
So now the blabbering jerks will yapper about cost, complain about the 7970 6GB being "superior" and have the most enormous and gigantic brain fart concerning their endlessly godless and irritatingly stupid 3GB ram superiority dance vs 2GB 680 670.
It's a freaking TOTAL BLACKOUT at alcoholic blood toxic death level.
Just wait, because no amount of evidence will do it for the amd fanboy, and their masters at amd have known this for years, and have been playing them like a retarded out of tune fiddle gets played. A week or a day on they will be back at it, on some other article , any webspot they land... and the brain fart will be what they are not even aware of.
It's clear how Hitler came to power.
mpschan - Friday, July 20, 2012 - link
Where are their mid-range offerings? Where are their $200-300 cards on this latest architecture?I'm starting to think that by the time we see a 660 AMD will be releasing their 8000 series.
superccs - Friday, July 20, 2012 - link
Yeah I totally clicked on this article thinking it was a 660 review. WTF? Nvida, you no like midrange anymore?Bork!