Friday, March 16th 2012

GTX 680 Generally Faster Than HD 7970: New Benchmarks

Mar 16th, 2012 12:01 Discuss (273 Comments)

For skeptics who refuse to believe randomly-sourced bar-graphs of the GeForce GTX 680 that are starved of pictures, here is the first set of benchmarks run by a third-party (neither NVIDIA nor one of its AIC partners). This [p]reviewer from HKEPC has pictures to back his benchmarks. The GeForce GTX 680 was pitted against a Radeon HD 7970, and a previous-generation GeForce GTX 580. The test-bed consisted of an extreme-cooled Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor (running at stock frequency), ASUS Rampage IV Extreme motherboard, 8 GB (4x 2 GB) GeIL EVO 2 DDR3-2200 MHz quad-channel memory, Corsair AX1200W PSU, and Windows 7 x64.

Benchmarks included 3DMark 11 (performance preset), Battlefield 3, Batman: Arkham City, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Lost Planet 2, and Unigine Heaven (version not mentioned, could be 1). All tests were run at a constant resolution of 1920x1080, with 8x MSAA on some tests (mentioned in the graphs).

More graphs follow.

Source: HKEPC

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273 Comments on GTX 680 Generally Faster Than HD 7970: New Benchmarks

#51

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

Jon A. SilversTotally truthful .

I am waiting till may 1`st and buy best price/performance gpu to 250 euros. I hope to se some price drops.

okay and then nvidia could do the same?

#52

GC_PaNzerFIN

GTX 680 isn't mid range part. Its priced at highend, so does it perform too. It is not even certain GK110 is 6xx series, if it is it might take the slot of dual gpu models at the enthusiast segment (ultra highend).

#53

Slizzo

GC_PaNzerFINGTX 680 isn't mid range part. Its priced at highend, so does it perform too. It is not even certain GK110 is 6xx series, if it is it might take the slot of dual gpu models at the enthusiast segment (ultra highend).

Core designation on the "GTX680" is GK104, which typically is a mid-ranged GPU from nVidia. GK107 is generally low end. GK100 would be full blown enthusiast part.

Quite telling that GK104 is outperforming AMD's enthusiast 7970 parts at first glance.

#54

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

GC_PaNzerFINGTX 680 isn't mid range part. Its priced at highend, so does it perform too. It is not even certain GK110 is 6xx series, if it is it might take the slot of dual gpu models at the enthusiast segment (ultra highend).

well at the beginning GK104 was suppose to replace GF114 which is the mid range chip(GTX560ti) but when performance numbers were releasing and nvidia saw what tahiti had to bring I guess it performed well enough to be high end, and with that coems the price of high end.

#55

GC_PaNzerFIN

SlizzoCore designation on the "GTX680" is GK104, which typically is a mid-ranged GPU from nVidia. GK107 is generally low end. GK100 would be full blown enthusiast part.

Quite telling that GK104 is outperforming AMD's enthusiast 7970 parts at first glance.

So far only one generation has used 104 as indicator of mid-range GPU. Naming changes, just like AMD named 58x0 replacement as 69x0.

#56

Capitan Harlock

Jurassic1024Clock for clock, really? LMAO.

With a system like yours (dual core + DDR2 RAM), maybe you should work on fixing that before you worry about how $500+ graphics cards perform against each other. ;)

with a system like mine i playing more games without spend billions, if you have to waist money for make uber for nothing its your problem not mine,look the screen on top of you, its not a default clock but oc = all highend videocards oc vs default go much faster ,im worry of what i want i dont have to give you explanation xd

#57

amdftw

nvidiaintelftwlower memory clock? the memory clock on Kepler is at an effective 6ghz. HD7970 is at like what 5.5ghz-5.7ghz

256bit vs 384bit.
Higher stock does not make sense, lower clock with 384bit outperform the higher clock with 256bit.
The other thing is on the gtx680 and the 7970 builded with the same memory chip, so easily overclock both card around 1600-1700Mhz, but the 384bit still the best.

#58

MxPhenom 216

ASIC Engineer

amdftw256bit vs 384bit.
Higher stock does not make sense, lower clock with 384bit outperform the higher clock with 256bit.
The other thing is on the gtx680 and the 7970 builded with the same memory chip, so easily overclock both card around 1600-1700Mhz, but the 384bit still the best.

yeah I guess your right.

#59

GC_PaNzerFIN

nvidiaintelftwwell at the beginning GK104 was suppose to replace GF114 which is the mid range chip(GTX560ti) but when performance numbers were releasing and nvidia saw what tahiti had to bring I guess it performed well enough to be high end, and with that coems the price of high end.

Or, GK100 was deemed impossible to mass manufacture at current 28nm process and GK104 became the top model till revised GK110 is ready. Speculation is fun, no way to know what really happened.

#60

Benetanegia

GC_PaNzerFINSo far only one generation has used 104 as indicator of mid-range GPU. Naming changes, just like AMD named 58x0 replacement as 69x0.

For a long time it's always been a number ended in 4, while it used to be a 3 before that.

NV43 (6600 GT)
G73 (7600 GT)
G84 (8600GT)
G94 (9600 GT)
GT214 (GT 240)
GF104 (GTX460)
GF114 (GTX560)

But it's kinda irrelevant. High-end always ends in 0. GK104 does not end in 0 so it's not high-end clearly. Plus the fact it's < 300 mm^2, 256 bit... 256 bit has not been used in a high-end card since the 7900GTX.

#61

jpierce55

this post needs renamed to Nvidia's flaming fanboys. Good grief!

#62

amdftw

Guys!
Good to know, these benches are made with overclocked GTX680 (1006/2012MHz), not with stock boost clock.
The boost clock is around 50-80Mhz.

So the stock GTX680 is equal with 7970.
7970 with 1125Mhz is perform around 9200 GPU score in 3dmark11, same the OC-ed GTX680.

#63

Sanhime

I want to see 680GTX vs 680GTX SLI vs 580GTX SLI.

I want to see if its worth selling my 580's for this.

#64

TheGuruStud

My OCed 7950 is still shaking it's ass ahead of this card and that's with much less beef cake ram and CPU.

#65

LAN_deRf_HA

While this may not be their original high-end design it does seem like it was tweaked to be. It uses similar power to the 7970 with similar temps despite them equipping it with their top tier cooler, which I assume was meant for the GK100. This may mean it's highly overclocked out of the box with not much headroom left. Though if it has insane overclocking abilities to begin with we may never notice.

#66

farquaid

Funny thing how they pick the game titles to test. All of the games except MW3 favours NVIDIA cards. Still With gk104 on tie with 7970 in MW3 with lower power conumption would indicate some good potential in the kepler.

#67

GC_PaNzerFIN

farquaidFunny thing how they pick the game titles to test. All of the games except MW3 favours NVIDIA cards. Still With gk104 on tie with 7970 in MW3 with lower power conumption would indicate some good potential in the kepler.

Exactly where does BF3 favor NVIDIA over AMD cards?

#68

amdftw

Corrected BF3 benches:

#69

BarbaricSoul

an extreme-cooled intel core i7-3960x extreme edition processor (running at stock frequency),

HUH?!?!?!?!?!?1:wtf::wtf::wtf: Why???:confused::twitch::confused::twitch::confused:

As for the benchmarks, I'll wait for Wizz's

#70

magibeg

I really hope that given the slightly smaller die size, that nvidia can drop the prices slightly. Maybe make it $500 instead of $549. Or lower :D

#71

CAT-THE-FIFTH

amdftwCorrected BF3 benches:
img641.imageshack.us/img641/5830/1702470727834307124.png

I hope btarunr updates the article!

#72

farquaid

GC_PaNzerFINExactly where does BF3 favor NVIDIA over AMD cards?

Yeah youre right BF3 doesnt favour nvidia. So maybe BF3 MW3 should tell the performance you can expect from gk104.

#73

OneCool

I think this mofo is going to be HOT!

#74

N3M3515

BenetanegiaFor a long time it's always been a number ended in 4, while it used to be a 3 before that.

NV43 (6600 GT)
G73 (7600 GT)
G84 (8600GT)
G94 (9600 GT)
GT214 (GT 240)
GF104 (GTX460)
GF114 (GTX560)

But it's kinda irrelevant. High-end always ends in 0. GK104 does not end in 0 so it's not high-end clearly. Plus the fact it's < 300 mm^2, 256 bit... 256 bit has not been used in a high-end card since the 7900GTX.

Man, i guess it's also irrelevant if the name is gk104. If it performs like a 7970 or better, AND there isn't any higher performer nvidia product, AND it's priced equal to amd's highend part, then IT IS highend FFS.

There isn't any other nvidia card is it?, so, until nvidia releases a higher performer, GTX680 IS THE F** highend period.

It doesn't matter nvidia did an amazing job with gk110, the fact of the matter is that IT IS NOT EXISTENT, and when it is released then amd will have an answer, maybe not a better performer, maybe, but it won't be like nvidia will release that super duper hyper mega ultra uber monster gk110 and amd will only have 7970 as its highest performer (singlegpu). By that time amd may already have 8970, for all we know.

#75

LagunaX

Don't see NVIDIA's pricing any cheaper than AMD's 7970 if it outperforms it.
I do see NVIDIA's stock price of $14.50 going closer to $16.
Buy and sell 1k shares and there's your SLI setup after taxes.

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GTX 680 Generally Faster Than HD 7970: New Benchmarks

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