GeForce GTX680

[PZ]

Anyone know of this video card?

GeForce GTX680

[Dweller_Benthos]

I don't know, first I've heard of it. Not that expensive really, but all the links at newegg are out of stock.

I may be looking for a video card upgrade in the near future, so maybe the 500s will come down a bit and I'll grab two.

[PZ]

Yes, with a 600 series coming out, prices in the 500 series will likely come down quite a bit by the time all those new games arrive this fall.

[DKM2]

I had a 570 all picked out that I've been price watching, now this 680 looks like it'll make it a tough choice.
Seems to be approx. 30% faster than the 500s and uses less power too.

a pretty good review here;
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/52616-nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-2gb-review.html

[Art Blade]

thanks DKM2, I'll keep that card in mind  :) :-X

[Binnatics]

It is a cool car indeed! I've seen an online interview about the card where they explain that, in fact due to the failure with the high end chip that was designed to deliver the 600s high end vid card, they tweaked the mid range chip (in fact the follow up for the 560) to perform as a high end monster.
And they seem to have done a good job. I think they combine a mid range chip design with fast memory and an extra amount of transistors (possible because of the 28nm design) which results in a card that's both stronger and less consuming than its direct opponent, the HD7970. That's remarkable.
And it will indeed drop the prices of the 500 series.

But this new card is designed for PCIe 3.0 so I don't know if it is possible to stick it in a 2.0 slot :-\\
Glad my mobo is ready for 3.0, just in case :-()

[Art Blade]

But this new card is designed for PCIe 3.0 so I don't know if it is possible to stick it in a 2.0 slot :-\\

I think there is an old Japanese proverb for that situation which I first heard in The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift: "The nail that sticks out gets hammered down." :-D

(Deru kugi wa utareru. 出る釘は打たれる。)

[Binnatics]

  :-X

[PZ]

Seems to be approx. 30% faster than the 500s and uses less power too.

Wow - that would indeed make it a tough choice!  I may need to re-do my PC to make it w@&k  ????

[mandru]

I'll stick with my GTX295 for the time being.

If that plan falls short of being incredible I will pout and cry like a child. When my wife asks "what's wrong?" I'll be able to point at my computer and say that it's broked and doesn't w@&k right any more without the necessary updates.   :'(

She likes me to have a properly working computer.  It keeps me busy and out of trouble.   >:D

[PZ]

... When my wife asks "what's wrong?" I'll be able to point at my computer and say that it's broked and doesn't w@&k right any more without the necessary updates.   :'(

You're not even lying - graphic card replacement is nothing if not an update.  :-()

[nexor]

My wife don't swallow those explanations,  noway.........!! ::)   and I can't even blame the lightning for killing my GC, she's paranoid, when the thunder starts she unplugs everything, and I mean "everyrthing"....... :'(

[Binnatics]

Don't need to explain anything if you just show your dependency to that proper working puter >:D

[PZ]

... or learn how to lie better 

[Binnatics]

heheh, one thing's for sure: There IS a way to that new graph card :-()

[nexor]

you right about that..... >:D

[mandru]

Well...  :'(

The time came (as mentioned above) that I had to groan out loud and say "Oh!  Not again!"

For about a week now my GPU has adopted an annoying habit where four or five times a day it will completely forget how to be a graphics card leaving me staring at a black monitor.  Having previously discussed with Mrs. mandru that I may need to upgrade my system to be able to play the pre-ordered FC3 and AC3 a lot of the foundational efforts for the begging and wheedling that I was prepared to go through was negated.

"What's wrong?"

So I pointed at the monitor and said "Several times a day it stops sending info to the monitor and there's no way to force a recovery.  It may take me two or three restarts to get it working again.  The real trouble is there's no warning so I never know when I need to back up a document I'm working on or if I'm posting in OWG and I fail to copy and save every paragraph to a desktop WordPad doc as I add to or edit it I can end up losing a couple hours of my efforts."

She accepted that situation without missing a step and said "You've mentioned that this was something that we might need to do so let's get it done.  w@&k out the details and find the shop that can do the w@&k.  There's no sense in having you fuss with something as irritating as a computer that's on it's last leg."

I went with upgrades I've already researched and decided were solid for performance as well as future proofing.  Then I contacted a computer repair shop giving them the details of the parts and the rebuild I needed done so they could give me an estimate to my specs.  Evening yesterday they called to tell us what the damages were going to be so we went right over paying for the parts so they could be ordered and we could get this show on the road.  :-X

Parts being upgraded:

* Asus Z77 Sabertooth motherboard Intel Z77 (LGA1155)
* Intel i7 3770K 3.5 GHz (3.9 GHz in Turbo)
* EVGA nvidia GTX 680
* G Skill DDR3 8Gb


We get the call the parts have all arrived, I unplug and haul the case to the shop.  Done!  :-X

Basically the only thing I'm keeping is my case, drive and power supply.  I think though I'd still like to stay with Vista and if possible without a fresh reinstall.  I'd like to do that by fooling my drive into thinking its still the same computer but with a few hardware adjustments.  I'm still arguing with the shop's techie over that one but either way I'll be ready for the latest version of DirectX when my games hit the shop.  ;D

I just remembered.  there's one interesting feature I've noticed that comes with the Sabertooth motherboard.  There is a PCIe3 express card available that can provide Thunderbolt technology connectivity (previously only available with Apple products) that runs at a 10 Gb per/Sec data exchange rate.  It gives me chills which is good because my brain is getting friction burns just thinking about it.  ;)

Just imaging hooking that up to a 2 or 3 TB SSD Thunderbolt drive loaded with whole game discs all for you gaming pleasure.  >:D

[JRD]

Sounds like a winner, mandru... excellent choice the GTX680. I just got a gtX 570Ti ,yself and must say I'm incredibly happy with it!  :-X

At first, when I took it out of the box I found it weird to see it came on a housing, which I thought would actually keep the heat near the GPU's processor but as it started to w@&k I realized it actually works better this way as the monster cooler actually drives the air through it, blowing the hot air outside the housing and thus keeping the GPU isolated from the heat!  :-X

I can hear that cooler blowing as I play my games now and if I reach the outter PC case I can actually feel how cooler it feels if compared to what it used to be with my old video card.!

I'll still have to use my summer fan to cool it off during summer but it is way less energy consuming and much more efficient anyway!  8)

Great combo... make sure you grab a few images of your new games so we can see how clear the images are!

[PZ]

...She accepted that situation without missing a step and said "You've mentioned that this was something that we might need to do so let's get it done.  w@&k out the details and find the shop that can do the w@&k.  There's no sense in having you fuss with something as irritating as a computer that's on it's last leg."

Sure does pay to politic early so when the inevitable happens the better half is already resigned to what must be done.  >:D

[Art Blade]

 :-() :-X

[nexor]

Could the "FREAKING RED MUSTANG" have something to do with it?   >:D

Congrats on the new rig mandru  :-X

[fragger]

There's nothing like breathing new life into your computing world (once the upgrading is all over, that is). That setup should really cook! I'm happy for you mandru, have fun with your new goodies :) :-X

[mandru]

Thanks guys and yeah nexor, I think the recent trip she went on may have softened her up a little bit.

In all honesty I've overstated the need for "begging and wheedling" by a huge factor for the sake of humor.  (She reads over my shoulder sometimes so it really wouldn't do to paint her as being too strict with me over the things I'd like to have.    )


JRD, other than running in DirectX 11 instead of DX 10 I'm not anticipating a big improvement in image quality because my GTX 295 was the apex monster GPU of its day with two cards harnessed in SLI where one is working the physics and the other processing the graphics.  I think the main difference that I'll see will be in frame rates but I'm willing to be surprised.  :-D

I am looking forward to having both the CPU and the GPU running much faster and at much lower wattage levels which as you said means less heat in the case.  :-X

[PZ]

...  The real trouble is there's no warning so I never know when I need to back up a document I'm working on or if I'm posting in OWG and I fail to copy and save every paragraph to a desktop WordPad doc as I add to or edit it I can end up losing a couple hours of my efforts."

Something to help with having long posts that you wish to keep working on - the new ability to save drafts.  ;)

[mandru]

Wow that's good to know.  Thanks PZ! :-X

So something I've started typing up and saved will hang in the background until I finalize and post it?  Cool.  :)  :-X

I see that button now.  I'd not noticed that before.  It must be really new or I've just gotten in the habit of overlooking it.  :-\\

I'll be finding out if a saved draft appears at the end of the posted comments that have slipped in before it can be finalized or if once posted it inserts itself into the running thread at the point the feature was initiated.  It will also be interesting to see how it notifies us that we have a pending draft awaiting completion.