NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 4 GB

[DS]

This is Super!

 

[Assimilator]

Beautiful card in all respects, except of course the price. If AMD manages to beat this I will be extremely impressed, but given the fact that GK104 launched 6 months after R1000 and managed to get a dual-GPU card out first, not holding out much hope.

Looks like the days of exploding 590s are well and truly behind us.

 

[wolf]

Yeah, but if it's $200-$300 less expensive ...

looks to me like their only choice at this point

 

[qubit]

Love to have this card but..

Great card + horrible price = mediocre card. Especially in times of console ports.

Get the price below $700 bucks and I'd buy one.

I'm forced to agree with you again, dammit.

 

[Fluffmeister]

If the 7990 does outperform this it will be at the expense of heat, noise and power consumption.

And of course drivers play a big part, the 6990 isn't that old and even in this review it clearly isn't working properly in a couple of titles.

 

[hardcore_gamer]

Love to have this card but..

Great card horrible price = mediocre card. Especially in times of console ports.

Get the price below $700 bucks and I'd buy one.

Finally a post that makes sense. Price it at <$750, and I'll call it the best card ever released in the universe.

If 7990 is priced above $700, it'll also be a big fail considering that they have enough SKUs in supply.

 

[Casecutter]

W1zzard said,
"We can see that both GPUs run different clocks, with the first one being typically higher clock and voltage while the second one uses more balanced clocks and voltages."

That's the most interesting... And do they have two sets of dynamic control components? Or did they figure a way to provide separate outputs using the same voltage controller. Heck I don't pick out the INA219 power monitor chips (there probably there someplace) or anything in appearance to the Richtek RT8802A voltage controller which had its own little PCB on the reference GTX680? That's the telling piece of this, if they have freed up some PCB real-estate and invested a new means of dynamic clock (less pricey?) components, then maybe a GTX670 with Clock Boost might see light. Has anyone paid attention to how AIB's 680 custom PCB's are implementing dynamic clock and what component?

It’s the new standard to compete to, for that it’s a marvel, the use of separate boost profiles is what gave it the lower Peak power (23%) over 680’s in SLI huge and the first time cost such dual card vs. SLI shows merit with no real difference in performance.

Here’s my question two 690’s in SLI, would all 4 GPU with one running a higher clock and voltage, while the other three run the balanced clocks? That be really "green" of it!

For those who need this level to play 2650x and above it will turn out to be good day when it arrives…? Well it still doesn’t play Metro 2003 @2650x... what’s up with that.

 

[MicroUnC]

Finally a post that makes sense. Price it at <$750, and I'll call it the best card ever released in the universe.

If 7990 is priced above $700, it'll also be a big fail considering that they have enough SKUs in supply.

Agree!

But Nvidia don't care what you call it, at $750.

 

[EarthDog]

However, what I'd like to know is how they managed to slightly outperform 2 GTX 680's in SLI, with the GPU clock speed slightly reduced?

The interface used to communicate with the 2 GPU's on this card seems more efficient is my first guess.

 

[15th Warlock]

Great review! Amazing card! I personally don't ever remember a dual GPU card ever reaching the performance at two high end cards at stock!

Now the question is one of availability, this is going to be a halo product and I expect extremely limited quantities to actually reach the hands of gamers, and Nvidia is pricing it as such...

 

[phanbuey]

Do you have to send the review sample back or do you get to keep it?

 

[qubit]

I'm waiting for the two GTX 690's in SLI review. Come on W1zz, don't keep us waiting too long.

 

[W1zzard]

I'm waiting for the two GTX 690's in SLI review. Come on W1zz, don't keep us waiting too long.

i got only one card, sorry, no sli review

 

[GC_PaNzerFIN]

Price for one is 1039€ here. Gotta love no competition

Yeah, probably going to buy one anyway later this year...

 

[Frick]

Finally a post that makes sense. Price it at <$750, and I'll call it the best card ever released in the universe.

If 7990 is priced above $700, it'll also be a big fail considering that they have enough SKUs in supply.

I don't understand why people complain about price really. You get GTX680 SLi performance on a single card for about $20 extra and less power draw and cooler etc etc.

 

[GC_PaNzerFIN]

I don't understand why people complain about price really. You get GTX680 SLi performance on a single card for about $20 extra and less power draw and cooler etc etc.

Few years ago you got GTX 295 for 500€, that was one expensive card to manufacture even when compared to this (GTX 295 had 2x487mm2 GPUs, two seperate PCBs etc.). Easy to see why people question the price.

 

[qubit]

i got only one card, sorry, no sli review

I hate you sometimes.

Where am I gonna get my nerd fix from now?

 

[OneCool]

Woow!

Great card but a little unreasonable in price.AND STILL NO FREAKING BACKPLATE NVIDIA!!!!!!!


Cheap bastards :shadedshu

 

[douglatins]

Will there be a limit to how much video cards achieve? A few years ago 600USD was the utmost.
Now its 1K, what is this, raging inflation?

 

[symmetrical]

Wow, I'm not a huge fan of dual GPU's, but somehow they managed to make this actually seem worth the price tag if you compared it to GTX 680 SLI's. As usual this is possible because of TPU's review and decision to include 680 SLI's for comparison sake. Lower power consumption, heat, noise with almost the same performance. Excellent review.

Good or not though, not most people will be able to afford dropping $1000 on just a GPU. But for those who can afford it, then best of luck to you.

 

[Melvis]

Great review! Amazing card! I personally don't ever remember a dual GPU card ever reaching the performance at two high end cards at stock!

4870X2

This card is Epic unlike the 590 which was (in W1zzards own words) Epic Fail.

 

[HammerON]

I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?

 

[douglatins]

I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?

If i'm buying 2, it should be cheaper. There is only one PCB, maybe fewer components and only one box.

It should be 850-900

 

[GC_PaNzerFIN]

I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?

It really isn't the problem that it cost double the price of one card. Its the price of that individual card. HD 7970 being sold at <400€ the 680 prices don't look very nice anymore.

 

[symmetrical]

I don't understand the issue with the price for this true dual GPU. It performs the same as two GTX 680's so why should it cost less than two GTX 680's?

Yes it's valued as two GTX 680s, and is probably more worth it than two 680s. It still doesn't remove the shock factor.