I want (read need!) a 680. Its going to replace a 5870 - and I intend for it to last 3-5 years. I have a 24" monitor at 1920*1200 and am nearly addicted to BF3 I am currently looking at: 1) 2GB EVGA GTX 680 SC Signature 2, GPU 1097MHz / Boost 1163MHz, 6208MHz GDDR5 - 5 year extended warranty for about £30 extra 2) 2GB Gigabyte GTX 680 Windforce 3X 28nm, GPU 1071MHz / Boost 1137MHz, 6008MHz GDDR5 - 3 year warranty 3) 2GB MSI GTX 680 Lightning, GPU 1110 / Boost 1176MHz / 6008MHz GDDR5 - 3 year warranty 4) 2GB Zotac GTX 680 AMP Edition, GPU 1110MHz / Boost 1176MHz, 6608MHz GDDR5 - 5 year warranty free upon registration Your thoughts please?
First of all never expect something to last, we can't predict the future so don't know what will happen in a few years. a 680 is a great card but more than what's needed for 1920x1200 with the current games.
the lightening by a long shot!! its a custom PCB with improved vrms and most components!! itll easily overclock more than air cooling can handle and lets be honest it looks the best!!
Why hasn't no one told you to get a GTX 670 instead?... The performance is about the same, and yet some 670's OC better than some 680's. So save yourself the £100 and get a GTX 670.
An overclocked 670 is about the same as a 680 but a 680 overclocks too. Buy the cheapest 680, they all seem to overclock in similar ballpark. Of the ones listed what differentiates then, does the MSI enable higher voltages?
From what i have seen the Zotac seems the best choice. The extra RAM speed and fastest clock (with the MSI) make them very impressive. If it was my money though, i would get the Zotac 670AMP instead. Beats a stock 680 by a long way and saves you £100+ (if it gets too slow later, SLI it )
How are you saving 100+ ? difference between highend 670 and low end 680 is bugger all, the high end 670 will be as fast as a stock 680 if not a touch faster sure (beats a stock 680 by a long way is probably overstating things a bit) but that is glossing over the fact the 680 overclocks too.
670 overclocked performs as a stock 680 does in most games main exception is bf3. Every 680 will hit 1100mhz core and +250 MHz on ram without issue though I'd buy evga every time, the normal evga 680 is fine and getting cheaper.
Sorry, ill stand correct. Prices have come down a bit since i last looked. I was comparing the Zotac 670Amp to the listed cards, so up to an £80 saving then (depending on where you shop)
Yup it was £380 last week for an EVga 680, I almost bought a second, so not even as much as 80, a Zotac 670 AMP is not £300, if you were going for single fastest Nvidia card you may as well get a cheap 680 and take your chances on overclocking it rather than a pre overclocked 670, though admittedly being based on the same silicon you can make the same argument for the 670 and buy a cheapo one of those. If you were going to go SLI then two 670 makes sense for the cumulative cost saving and little performance deviation due to SLI overheads. My 680 plays quite nicely at +192 which is 1250 typical with boost though some times goes a touch higher and the RAM does +600, its just a boggo one, perhaps I am lucky?
I have to agree, the lightning is best DAMN i quoted the wrong post The point is i would choose the lightning OKAY??
In fact, if Tweaktown's "review" of the 660 is anything to go by, I'd suggest saving quite a few pennies and going for that in a fortnight when it's released. Than add another down the line if things change.
There's barely any difference between a 670 and a 680, none when overclocked, I'd save a bit of cash and go for 670 or a 7970, if you really want to spend more then a 4GB GTX670, only if you;re planning on getting a higher res monitor at some point though.
