GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - FINAL

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Sat, 26 May 2012 08:23:08 GMT

pinealogik

Well, that.s not too bad. I'm used to lots of noise with my 480's, so that's nothing!I've got a very good case too, so that's not a problem.

The 480s are noise monsters... the 580s are much better acoustically... the 680s are similar to the 580s.

kcuestag

You use 85% fan speed for gaming? Whoah that's loud!

I use ~75% to keep them below 65ºC-66ºC at most.

Yeah, but I only game wearing headsets so I don't notice it over the din of pew pew.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (pinealogik)

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:20:26 GMT

mwparrish

pinealogik

With the "EVGA GTX 680s SLI - +100 Mhz Offset" when you get 18k performance score, was both card really hot? Do you think if I used those setting I would need cooling?

thanks

Ha, no. Highest temps at 85% fan is around 65*C on my system. If you're case has poor ventilation or your ambient temps are hot (no A/C), then you'll see some issues.

Well, that.s not too bad. I'm used to lots of noise with my 480's, so that's nothing!I've got a very good case too, so that's not a problem.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (kcuestag)

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:06:00 GMT

You use 85% fan speed for gaming? Whoah that's loud!

I use ~75% to keep them below 65ºC-66ºC at most.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:01:46 GMT

pinealogik

With the "EVGA GTX 680s SLI - +100 Mhz Offset" when you get 18k performance score, was both card really hot? Do you think if I used those setting I would need cooling?

thanks

Ha, no. Highest temps at 85% fan is around 65*C on my system. If you're case has poor ventilation or your ambient temps are hot (no A/C), then you'll see some issues.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (pinealogik)

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 16:59:38 GMT

With the "EVGA GTX 680s SLI - +100 Mhz Offset" when you get 18k performance score, was both card really hot? Do you think if I used those setting I would need cooling?

thanks

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (kcuestag)

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:34:27 GMT

Thanks, will give it another try tomorrow!

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:29:26 GMT

kcuestag

I recieved a high-flow bracket but I simply can't install it because the original bracket is too hard to remove. I keep trying to remove the screws with the proper screw driver but it's IMPOSSIBLE, they're way too hard, as if they had super glue on them.

Any tips?

No super glue... but there is blue loctite! I find by pressing down and applying gentle torque works best... more downward pressure than torque gets it done. The real pain is fumbling with the DVI port screw posts in my opinion.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (kcuestag)

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:13:49 GMT

I recieved a high-flow bracket but I simply can't install it because the original bracket is too hard to remove. I keep trying to remove the screws with the proper screw driver but it's IMPOSSIBLE, they're way too hard, as if they had super glue on them.

Any tips?

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:48:31 GMT

kcuestag

mwparrish, is not that the high flow bracket helped that much, it is mainly because ever since the last BF3 patch the GPU usage has dropped quite a bit in SLI systems.

The SLI performance is not as good as it used to be prior the patch, sadly this affects all SLI systems, wether they're GTX500, GTX400, or GTX600 cards.

You're probably on lower temperatures because your cards at not being as much stressed as before.

Mine hit 56-60ºC with fan set at about 70%-75%.

Play a couple rounds, mainly in 64 player servers on maps like Caspian Border, Kharg Island, Operation Firestorm... You will see your GPU usage drop quite often even below 70%.

All of my comments were based on post-update testing. I've had some time to tinker... but not enough time to play as much as I like. Your point is valid and well taken, but I'd already factored that in.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mack4033)

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 21:23:22 GMT

Nice job good pics...

Thanks,
Mack 4033

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (kcuestag)

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:32:12 GMT

mwparrish, is not that the high flow bracket helped that much, it is mainly because ever since the last BF3 patch the GPU usage has dropped quite a bit in SLI systems.

The SLI performance is not as good as it used to be prior the patch, sadly this affects all SLI systems, wether they're GTX500, GTX400, or GTX600 cards.

You're probably on lower temperatures because your cards at not being as much stressed as before.

Mine hit 56-60ºC with fan set at about 70%-75%.

Play a couple rounds, mainly in 64 player servers on maps like Caspian Border, Kharg Island, Operation Firestorm... You will see your GPU usage drop quite often even below 70%.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:20:14 GMT

Okay, this is probably the final update, but I wanted to document things here for *posterity*.

So, I've been out of town for a bit and finally got back in to install the high-flow brackets.

After 45 minutes in BF3, where temps were usually around 62*C at 22*C ambient, they're now down to 56*C. It appears the highly-restrictive stock brackets are really killing the airflow on these cards. For the high-flow brackets to affect a 6*C delta is pretty impressive. I wanted to be sure I shared this with the group as it will directly relate to the GPU Boost potential.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Sat, 31 Mar 2012 13:21:07 GMT

Ok, I put these on a few days ago, but didn't bother taking pics or whatever til this afternoon. Here's the rig again, with backplates on the 680s... a much sleeker, look if you ask me.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:51:39 GMT

shinobier

Strange.. TC's results are better than mine all around.. He gets like 5-6 fps or so over my setting and higher score in benchmark all around except for 3d mark 11. Is it because he's having sandy bridge-e extreme processor? I heard this processor don't effect much in gaming so it comes down to.. err.. having x79 motherboard and running in pci-e 2.0 @16x speed? Maybe he enabled pci-e 3.0 and running it @ 16x speed. Who knows? My board is pci-e 2.0 and I can only run sli @ 8x speed.

The difference is yours is SLI @ PCI-E 2.0 x8/x8 link vs SLI @ PCI-E 2.0 x16/x16. The give back is about 2-4% in interface throughput which more than likely accounts for some, if not all, the difference.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (shinobier)

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:33:24 GMT

Strange.. TC's results are better than mine all around.. He gets like 5-6 fps or so over my setting and higher score in benchmark all around except for 3d mark 11. Is it because he's having sandy bridge-e extreme processor? I heard this processor don't effect much in gaming so it comes down to.. err.. having x79 motherboard and running in pci-e 2.0 @16x speed? Maybe he enabled pci-e 3.0 and running it @ 16x speed. Who knows? My board is pci-e 2.0 and I can only run sli @ 8x speed.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (jabachata)

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:15:03 GMT

so without backplates, I should expect around 72-75c SLI , ultra , maxed out at 1080p 120hz? I get much higher with current 580sli, almost 90c at times. If that is my case I should expect similar results or slightly better temps than my 580's?

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 19:37:12 GMT

FYI, I just put the backplates on... and I can confirm 2*C lower temps on each... so with backplates... lower any temps by 2*C... I now stay under 70*C in BF3 at all times.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:01:17 GMT

hawk269

Junglekorak

hawk269

Have to go to work in about an hour or so, but started testing at 110+ offset and 400+ on memory with power set to 132% and been through 2 runs and now running a benchmark run on Unigine with no....never mind..just crashed. It looks like +100 is the best I can do in SLI. Little dissapointed in that. Temps never hit above 64c too...so the cards are not overheating or anything.

Would you be dissapointed if 580´s running on sli at 1100MHz with 64C´s ?

On Air??? The best I could get my 580's was 975mhz with temps hitting 78c..that was on air though.

Flip it sideways, set dry ice on the vapor chamber... proceed directly to winning.

J/K, it doesn't do too much... will help you need a few degrees to set a personal record but it's nothing like using actual DICE pots or LN2.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (hawk269)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:39:00 GMT

Junglekorak

hawk269

Have to go to work in about an hour or so, but started testing at 110+ offset and 400+ on memory with power set to 132% and been through 2 runs and now running a benchmark run on Unigine with no....never mind..just crashed. It looks like +100 is the best I can do in SLI. Little dissapointed in that. Temps never hit above 64c too...so the cards are not overheating or anything.

Would you be dissapointed if 580´s running on sli at 1100MHz with 64C´s ?

On Air??? The best I could get my 580's was 975mhz with temps hitting 78c..that was on air though.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (Junglekorak)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:15:45 GMT

hawk269

Have to go to work in about an hour or so, but started testing at 110+ offset and 400+ on memory with power set to 132% and been through 2 runs and now running a benchmark run on Unigine with no....never mind..just crashed. It looks like +100 is the best I can do in SLI. Little dissapointed in that. Temps never hit above 64c too...so the cards are not overheating or anything.

Would you be dissapointed if 580´s running on sli at 1100MHz with 64C´s ?

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (hawk269)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:11:36 GMT

Have to go to work in about an hour or so, but started testing at 110+ offset and 400+ on memory with power set to 132% and been through 2 runs and now running a benchmark run on Unigine with no....never mind..just crashed. It looks like +100 is the best I can do in SLI. Little dissapointed in that. Temps never hit above 64c too...so the cards are not overheating or anything.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:00:32 GMT

Junglekorak

mwparrish

Junglekorak

mwparrish... Congrats... looking absolutely beautiful... not only the results, but OMG those Wattage numbers, unbelieveble.

I dont know is it me, but I cant see any Evga 680 cards on Evga´s EUROPE section

They're beauties for sure! We still need to see how the folding PPD shakes out before I recommend upgrading from 580s though. We know they lack a lot of the GPGPU strength the 580s had but whether it will heavily impact folding which uses CUDA is hard to say.

Hey Buddy... well, even if its equal or ofcourse more points... then I will change the card... cos I was first looking those your +600W´s, and then after a few secs I realize that it was a sli with +600W.
And remember when even you were buying more strenght to your PSU when you got 580 SLi

Looks really good.... gaming.... hmmm well, maybe I dont need that.... but for folding, if it does better better points with less power, trust me, I´ll get one. And by the way, I have about 160 Evga bucks, selling the old card, so its not much to pay... but where the hell is GTX 680 Europe section, I really cant see that

I hear ya, no clue on Europe site though. With these, I could run Quad-SLI no issues on power. These are great.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (Junglekorak)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:53:52 GMT

mwparrish

Junglekorak

mwparrish... Congrats... looking absolutely beautiful... not only the results, but OMG those Wattage numbers, unbelieveble.

I dont know is it me, but I cant see any Evga 680 cards on Evga´s EUROPE section

They're beauties for sure! We still need to see how the folding PPD shakes out before I recommend upgrading from 580s though. We know they lack a lot of the GPGPU strength the 580s had but whether it will heavily impact folding which uses CUDA is hard to say.

Hey Buddy... well, even if its equal or ofcourse more points... then I will change the card... cos I was first looking those your +600W´s, and then after a few secs I realize that it was a sli with +600W.
And remember when even you were buying more strenght to your PSU when you got 580 SLi

Looks really good.... gaming.... hmmm well, maybe I dont need that.... but for folding, if it does better better points with less power, trust me, I´ll get one. And by the way, I have about 160 Evga bucks, selling the old card, so its not much to pay... but where the hell is GTX 680 Europe section, I really cant see that

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (hawk269)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:36:33 GMT

mwparrish

hawk269

mwparrish

chump7431

I just ran Heaven 3.0 on my 2 480's max settings at 1920-1980 and got an average of 68.2FPS. I was wondering what you get with all settings max including tess and 16x anisotropy. I want to see what the 680's bring to the table. Could you please do a test run for me. THX

GTX 680 SLI - Default Settings

GTX 680 SLI - +125 Core/+350 Memory clock offsets

So, the question is, how do you feel about a 63% improvement?

You seem to have gotten 2 cards the clock well my friend. I barely can get to 92.0 fps in the same tests and settings as you and that is with a 100+ offset and memory at 350+. For my 2 cards, any higher on the gpu offset and I get a crash.

It just seems weird that your 2 stock cards are just 1 fps slower than my 100+/350+m cards. I guess yours seem to scale up a bit better than my do.

I run an open test bench (Danger Den Torture Rack) so my I get optimum ambient air into the cards... that alone could account for the difference with GPU Boost... without more info it's hard to say.

Hmmm...When running my cards even after 3-4 passes of Unigine, my highest temp is only 64c and that is on the top card..so I would think my boost should be just as good since that is not that hot for a GPU. I can see that happening more if they were at 80c or so, but I am not even close to that.

Like all GPU's, especially reference, some people will get ones that work and run faster and have better OC abilities than others..it seems with the 680's....boost is not a variable of what you can get based off of pure luck.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:33:14 GMT

Junglekorak

mwparrish... Congrats... looking absolutely beautiful... not only the results, but OMG those Wattage numbers, unbelieveble.

I dont know is it me, but I cant see any Evga 680 cards on Evga´s EUROPE section

They're beauties for sure! We still need to see how the folding PPD shakes out before I recommend upgrading from 580s though. We know they lack a lot of the GPGPU strength the 580s had but whether it will heavily impact folding which uses CUDA is hard to say.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 10:30:46 GMT

hawk269

mwparrish

chump7431

I just ran Heaven 3.0 on my 2 480's max settings at 1920-1980 and got an average of 68.2FPS. I was wondering what you get with all settings max including tess and 16x anisotropy. I want to see what the 680's bring to the table. Could you please do a test run for me. THX

GTX 680 SLI - Default Settings

GTX 680 SLI - +125 Core/+350 Memory clock offsets

So, the question is, how do you feel about a 63% improvement?

You seem to have gotten 2 cards the clock well my friend. I barely can get to 92.0 fps in the same tests and settings as you and that is with a 100+ offset and memory at 350+. For my 2 cards, any higher on the gpu offset and I get a crash.

It just seems weird that your 2 stock cards are just 1 fps slower than my 100+/350+m cards. I guess yours seem to scale up a bit better than my do.

I run an open test bench (Danger Den Torture Rack) so my I get optimum ambient air into the cards... that alone could account for the difference with GPU Boost... without more info it's hard to say.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (Junglekorak)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:45:43 GMT

mwparrish... Congrats... looking absolutely beautiful... not only the results, but OMG those Wattage numbers, unbelieveble.

I dont know is it me, but I cant see any Evga 680 cards on Evga´s EUROPE section

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (hawk269)

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 00:10:14 GMT

mwparrish

chump7431

I just ran Heaven 3.0 on my 2 480's max settings at 1920-1980 and got an average of 68.2FPS. I was wondering what you get with all settings max including tess and 16x anisotropy. I want to see what the 680's bring to the table. Could you please do a test run for me. THX

GTX 680 SLI - Default Settings

GTX 680 SLI - +125 Core/+350 Memory clock offsets

So, the question is, how do you feel about a 63% improvement?

You seem to have gotten 2 cards the clock well my friend. I barely can get to 92.0 fps in the same tests and settings as you and that is with a 100+ offset and memory at 350+. For my 2 cards, any higher on the gpu offset and I get a crash.

It just seems weird that your 2 stock cards are just 1 fps slower than my 100+/350+m cards. I guess yours seem to scale up a bit better than my do.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (themasterpiece1)

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 22:47:52 GMT

Yeah I would love to get the 680 SLI and rock on my new 120Hz monitor. Unfortunately, I am a student. The max I can probably afford is a 680 or maybe 580s SLI if they cost a bit more.

Re:GTX 680s in SLI - Unboxing, Pics, and Benches - WORK IN PROGRESS (mwparrish)

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:14:48 GMT

themasterpiece1

mwparrish

The 580s in SLI are obviously faster than a single 680. A single 680 will only get about 70-75 fps avg.

Yeah I just wasn't sure how much faster it was. What is your opinion between 580 SLI for $700 and 680 for $500. Most important thing to me is performance for my 120Hz. Don't care about noise, or power consumption. Heat I keep under control with great airflow. Obviously I would love to have the money for 680 SLI but I don't. So between those 2 choices until GK110 hits, I think the 580 SLI might be better. However, then I would have to sell them when the new flagship comes out. Not sure how much more I will get back when compared to buying a 680 now and selling it later. Your opinion?

If I were you and had a hard line drawn, I'd have to get the 580s in SLI. I only upgraded to 680s because I had the money for SLI. I'd have stayed at 2x 580s otherwise. They're too good not to stick with when the only better option is a single-card that doesn't come close.