ASUS GeForce GTX 680 Direct CU II 2 GB Review

Item: ASUS GeForce GTX 680 Direct CU II 2 GB
Rating: 5
Author: W1zzard (TPU)

W1zzard

on Apr 20th, 2012,

in Graphics Cards.

Manufacturer: ASUS

Packaging & Contents »

Introduction

NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 680 was introduced just weeks ago and has taken the enthusiast market by storm. It offers great performance at significantly reduced power consumption. NVIDIA's dynamic overclocking algorithm works well and provides a nice speed boost for the card. We are now seeing the first custom GTX 680 board designs pop up, the ASUS GTX 680 Direct CU II is the first to reach our labs.

ASUS has chosen to go triple slot with their GTX 680 Direct CU II TOP. The triple slot DirectCU concept has been introduced a while ago and has been very successful with users who have large cases and want to focus on better thermal performance and reduced noise levels.

In addition to the new cooling solution, ASUS has increased the clock speeds of the card significantly. Base clock is now at 1058 MHz, and the card will ramp up to 1280 MHz when conditions allow. Pricing is increased by a reasonable amount, ASUS is asking $520 for their card.

ASUS GTX 680 DCII TOP Market Segment Analysis
	Radeon HD 6970	Radeon HD 7850	Radeon HD 7870	GeForce GTX 580	Radeon HD 7950	Radeon HD 7970	GeForce GTX 680	ASUS GTX 680 DCII TOP	Radeon HD 6990	GeForce GTX 590
Shader Units	1536	1024	1280	512	1792	2048	1536	1536	2x 1536	2x 512
ROPs	32	32	32	48	32	32	32	32	2x 32	2x 48
Graphics Processor	Cayman	Pitcairn	Pitcairn	GF110	Tahiti	Tahiti	GK104	GK104	2x Cayman	2x GF110
Transistors	2640M	2800M	2800M	3000M	4310M	4310M	3500M	3500M	2x 2640M	2x 3000M
Memory Size	2048 MB	2048 MB	2048 MB	1536 MB	3072 MB	3072 MB	2048 MB	2048 MB	2x 2048 MB	2x 1536 MB
Memory Bus Width	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	384 bit	384 bit	384 bit	256 bit	256 bit	2x 256 bit	2x 384 bit
Core Clock	880 MHz	860 MHz	1000 MHz	772 MHz	800 MHz	925 MHz	1006 MHz+	1058 MHz+	830 MHz	607 MHz
Memory Clock	1375 MHz	1200 MHz	1200 MHz	1002 MHz	1250 MHz	1375 MHz	1502 MHz	1502 MHz	1250 MHz	855 MHz
Price	$340	$240	$330	$380	$380	$450	$500	$520	$700	$750