Well I originally was going to sell the HD7970's and buy the new GTX 680's off of New Egg. The bad news is New Egg sold the cards to me and then ran out of stock so they said " We can put you on a waiting list"
I told them heck no. But I found someone (Locally) who wanted to do a trade.... my two HD7970's W/Water blocks for his GTX 680's. I did it and have my new water blocks (For the GTX 680's) on the way. He was newer to water cooling (So blocks were already installed for him) and he was more into Eyefinity so it was a great deal for both sides.

In comparison.... looking back there are some things I really like about the GTX 680's compared to the HD7970's but there are somethings they lack too.

On average the GTX 680's yes are faster then the HD7970's but in real life tests not by much!
Also when you factor in Nvidia's new offset clocks it's not always a for sure thing to keep the clocks you are shooting for.
Example* You could set your offset to be 1250Mhz but because of built in thermal throttling the cards will down clock to an approved Nvidia Temp. Sure there is a work around but it is still not a for sure thing.
When you set the HD 7970's to 1300Mhz that is where it stays.

Nvidia's clocks are a more for sure thing if someone was using Water cooling or NO2 but for someone using Air anything that raises the cards temps above Nvidia's approved 70c the cards will throttle down just a little. You can raise the GTX 680's Power limit to by pass this a little but again I will stress these cards will down clock if they go past Nvidia's approved temps.

Now there are some nice things about the Offset feature. *Example* your GPU's are not constantly running at such high clocks burning them out quicker. It also saves power. Also I have noticed that with the Offest feature the top stock speed for these cards is not 1056 it can actually be higher but it ranges from card to card. As long as the card is under the approved temp and the card needs the power.... the GTX 680 will continue to clock up. Just like it mentions in this thread at another site.... https://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?...e=1&print=true The top speed for my cards for example is 1124Mhz Stock (If it needs the performance and stays under Nvidia's temps)

Maybe I should write a review as coming from someone who has owned both cards. But right now.... I would say I really do like them both equally! And anyone with a HD7970 thinking of upgrading to a GTX 680..... If you really want to go a head otherwise in terms of performance you won't get any real gain even in bench marking.

I'm glad to hear you're happy with your 680s, I know you used to have 580s before also, so a mini review with your perspective would be really helpful for a lot of people out there.

To me both the 680 and 7970 are top performers, must have been nice for you to have taste of both :D

What kind of chair is that :eek:

The 680 is just a beast of a card, there was no need to OC it

Ill be getting a second one that for sure, seeing as it hits 1200/1650 so far and barely breaks 50c

I returned it due to the fact tha i couldnt play games in 3d or watch movies in 3d because of my monitor being more geared to AMD

Yeah... playing with both is great.... I got to enjoy the GTX 680 and HD 7970 both before they were released as well..... because of where I work. I can tell you that I have been playing with these cards for longer then most people.

I will give you one extra bonus BTW..... Be prepared from the Nvidia camp they have something else on the way! I haven't played with it yet.... but according to higher ups from EVGA there will be something coming out in the August/September area.
I also have some info from the red front but I'll keep that for myself.

I think your right I will write a small overview of the card/cards......I think it might give people some insight into which to buy.

Your right if you just wanna play games.... but what would be a good reason to overclock one??? Well.... because the HD7970 would demolish it otherwise!

It's the "Cohesion XP 11.2 Gaming Chair Ottoman with Wireless Audio"; I told the wife that it folds into an ottoman when not in use so it would look nice in our room, after I got it and showed it to her she said "that's the ugliest ottoman I've ever seen in my life", but it was too late by then :p

Got it from amazon for $125 in case you're interested.

Sorry to hear that :( for me it was the other way around, I wanted the 7970 since the day it came out but it didn't support my surround monitors in 3D, it's very sad that monitor manufacturers haven't adopted a standard for 3D displays forcing users to either pick AMD or Nvidia, makes me very upset as these monitors aren't cheap either, and once you invest in them you're effectively locked with one video card manufacturer :nutkick::mad:


I kinda suspect what card you're referring to, GK100 should be released by then, and the real fun will begin, thanks for the sneak peek :p

I know you can't say, but I presume that is big kepler (GK110). I had thought it was going to come later like about November time area.

Do you think the 7970s would be better with 3 screens or the GTX 680s? I know you don't have the screens, just wondering.

I would say the HD7970's would do better with 3 screens.... for a few of reasons.... Eyefinity is less picky.
When I have tried using Nvidia's Surround setup.... it was very buggy (Not on everything but on more then Eyefinity was)
The HD7970 will also give you 3gb of memory instead of 2Gigs. 2 Gigs isn't bad but for higher resolutions the HD7970 3Gigs will do you much better. (In real life tests regardless of what some reviews are showing)
The HD7970's also let you run more monitors per card. (Up to 6 monitors per card) so if you wanna go with more monitors in the future it leaves room for that.

Your next question is....about "big kepler (GK110)". Your right I won't say much more.... But it's funny that you called it "big Kepler" because that is what it was being refereed to during the whole conversation. As of right now the plan is August/September release date because of the GTX 600's 18 month projected life span. But naming and release can change of course on a whim. I would take this release date to be exactly what it is.... a projection by a large company that happens to be a distributor not the manufacturer it's self. But I will guarantee one more thing.... we weren't talking about the GTX 690 that is for sure.... that will be here much much sooner then that.

No i meant that i didnt need to OC for bf3 like i have to with the 7970 to get the run the same settings as the 680

@15th Warlock

Back in the day i'd have been nervous about a sub-woofer that close to my rig haha, looks nice! can't wait to build a small but mighty rig of my own.

oh what's the sound quality like on that gaming chair? last one i saw had puny 5w speakers lol

Lol yes, that is a very low power subwoofer, haven't affected my HDD yet :) It's located on the opposing side of the case also ;)

As far as the form factor, I really love the Tt Armor A30, it has plenty of air circulation, and I only had to modify the HDD cage a little bit in order to accommodate two full lenght cards :rockout: If you're looking to build one small but powerful LAN box I would highly recommend this case coupled to an Asus Maximus V Gene, an IB CPU and a GTX680

The sound quality on the chair is nothing to right home about, it's OK, and the woofer is surprisingly deep, the tiny speakers have very good stereo separation being that close to your ears but are nothing out of the ordinary :p

Hey man, wanted to ask you, would you recommend that Thermaltake Armor case for a midrange gaming rig? :) I'm building a rig for my nephew and I'm after a good quality Micro-ATX case :toast:

Awesome setup as always BTW;)

Thanks as always! :toast:

I would definitely recommend the A30, the fact that you can fit a couple of full sized video cards with minor modifications, and that it has the appropriate air circulation to cope makes it an excellent choice IMHO.

Awesome:), sounds like the case to go for:toast: Cheers:rolleyes:

yea i've played with the A30 at frys and it looks like a nice case. I'll probably get whatever is a step down from the 680 when they come out (670 or 660ti or w/e they'll call it). I got pretty lucky when it comps to PC hardware retail stores, tigerdirect.com is within 25min, and fry's and microcenter a little less than an hr. I'm still puzzled why they put tigerdirect where they did, but i'm not complaining :)

So for the guys out there with the 7970's and the 680's, is there a definate clear winner of which is best?? From the reviews I've seen the 680 is faster but then it was out some few months after the 7970..

The only reason I'd consider a 7970 would be for the 3Gb of GPU ram but I hear that the 680's are coming out with 4Gb of ram now?? Getting 3 GPU's for one rig isn't half expensive! :lol:

I applied it to my keyboard, yes. It's quite easy to make it look perfect. I had some silver colored 3M Carbon on my mouse but I took it off and now I'm gonna put the black stuff on. :toast:



I have that keyboard, very comfy. Not a good typer because the keys feel a bit mushy but great for gaming coz the keys are linear and they seem to fill your fingers a bit more than others so you don't lose keys as often, IMO.

:D

BTW, what is that mousepad and is it good?

Nice :) I only have two recommendations that will help your friend a lot with his build if using this case: first, to try and get a video card that exhaust the hot air out of the case; and second to get a water cooler for the CPU, nothing fancy, a corsair H60 would suffice, and mount the radiator outside the case, that way the temps inside the case will be kept to a minimum and he'll prolong the life of his components ;)

That's really cool, I've heard only good things about microcenter, too bad there's no good hardware stores in my area :(

That's a very good description for the wave keyboard, I wouldn't use it for heavy typing, but it gets the job done for light use :)

The pad is a Razer aluminum pad, it's OK, but kinda big for my taste, I ordered a new medium sized steel series pad, it should be a better fit for casual use in the bedroom :)

An ally mouse pad you say? Mouse pads are about the only thing I'm willing to buy from Razer, I fear anything else will fall apart. :roll: :toast:

couldnt find a stereo to dual phono for connecting my PC to the audio system, so i made one instead :p

http://img.techpowerup.org/120417/17042012246.jpg
made it from scratch. took me almost an hour and a half :O

inside i used pure copper wires for awesomeness.

Next time try a music (instruments, not cd's) store. I play guitar and I'm always needing weird audio connections and most music shops have them.

yes. i paid Rs 50 for the parts (minus sleeving, sleeving from USA)

and the music dudes ask me Rs 300 XD

HOLY DUST !!! 7 months old without cleaning ( the case )

http://img.techpowerup.org/120418/47...32694109_o.jpg


Is my home i am a clean person, my room being always full of dust. I need to move


http://img.techpowerup.org/120418/DSC00185.jpg

http://img.techpowerup.org/120418/DSC00184.jpg

Nice rig you got :toast:

LOL your Avatar is killing me Mad!!! :laugh: