I don't like the colouring or the patterns on it, but I do like the slimness of it. I'm wondering about the sound level and heat as well.

EVGA GTX 680 FTW EDITION SINGLE SLOT ANYONE? 
 
Hmmmmmmmmmm 

Because reference GTX680 has stacked 6-pin and DVI, a non-reference single-slot would be a bit more expensive to re-route that since nVidia didn't do it than just reducing the profile of the heatsink.  I'm pretty sure EVGA's market for such a card is greater with a HC waterclock attached given the extra cost to build the card in this fashion.   But, if enough people demand a single-slot air-cooled card, at least EVGA has the option in terms of a pre-existing infrastructure.
 
 

The heatsink reminds me of the GTX 480's visible metal plate. Does anyone else notice this? I hope the single-slot design won't end up like the GTX 480's ridiculous cooling system space-heater implementation.
 
IMO, no single-slot design is worth it if it's cooling isn't as effective as the dual-slot design. Less overclocking, more noise, more heat, plus being insanely long, isn't a good trade-off for having more expansion card options. Hopefully the cooling will still be efficient but the other problems would still be there.
 
Also consider that on most mobo's you'd just be freeing up a legacy PCI slot or a PCIe 1.1 x1 slot. Granted, most new high-end motherboards use PCIe 2.0/3.0 x8 slots instead but with limited bandwidth for the whole PCIe bus system, what good are they? You might have to operate your main/first graphics card at x4 bandwidth if you wanted to use all 6/7 PCIe slots. Either that, or sell both your kidneys to be able to afford a rig based off of the SR-X mobo

lehpron


Galaxy (and the alter ego known as KFA2) made a single-slot GTX260 and single-slot GTX460 before, both with the same range of wattage as GTX680.  See reviews in those links for how they were to get an idea of a single-slot GTX680.

Thus once again proving this is a mid range card (jk)

blacksapphire08

lehpron


Galaxy (and the alter ego known as KFA2) made a single-slot GTX260 and single-slot GTX460 before, both with the same range of wattage as GTX680.  See reviews in those links for how they were to get an idea of a single-slot GTX680.

Thus once again proving this is a mid range card (jk)

Not jk, actually you're right on the money.

Brad_Hawthorne

blacksapphire08

lehpron


Galaxy (and the alter ego known as KFA2) made a single-slot GTX260 and single-slot GTX460 before, both with the same range of wattage as GTX680.  See reviews in those links for how they were to get an idea of a single-slot GTX680.

Thus once again proving this is a mid range card (jk)

Not jk, actually you're right on the money.

I was jk cause some people seem to get a bit upset about that. I've never been fond of Nvidia's naming schemes as it does nothing but confuse consumers although one could argue that AMD has done the same (not nearly as bad IMO).
 
All i'm saying is that if you tried this kind of setup with a full wattage (~250W) flagship card like a GTX 580, you'd have some serious heat control issues. It reminds me of the fanless design they tried with the Radeon 6850 which proved disastrous under load.

blacksapphire08

I was jk cause some people seem to get a bit upset about that. I've never been fond of Nvidia's naming schemes as it does nothing but confuse consumers although one could argue that AMD has done the same (not nearly as bad IMO).

All i'm saying is that if you tried this kind of setup with a full wattage (~250W) flagship card like a GTX 580, you'd have some serious heat control issues. It reminds me of the fanless design they tried with the Radeon 6850 which proved disastrous under load.

It's all marketing psychology that if you scratch the surface you probably won't like the fecal matter you see underneath. It's not out of character for any targeted consumer marketing though. People don't like to be told that others have problems with their latest $500 magic gizmo. In fact people will typically get quite offended that you question the item because they have $500 of emotional investment in it.
 
The GTX680 is an excellent card. It's $350 excellent, not $500 though. The GTX680 is the Apple of video cards. Elegant, well polished and overly expensive.

I don't know how you guys can single out GTX680 while it's perfectly priced with respect to AMD's 7970 and 7950. AMD's parts were out there first, but complaints about their price were nothing like this. With the high manufacturing costs, both AMD's and NVIDIA's prices are not ridiculous.
 
I always liked single-slot cards and I hope EVGA can come up with one too. With Galaxy card, I don't have much hope for market availability, if their GTX260 and GTX460 single-slot history is of any example.
 

lehpron


Because reference GTX680 has stacked 6-pin and DVI, a non-reference single-slot would be a bit more expensive to re-route that since nVidia didn't do it than just reducing the profile of the heatsink.  I'm pretty sure EVGA's market for such a card is greater with a HC waterclock attached given the extra cost to build the card in this fashion.   But, if enough people demand a single-slot air-cooled card, at least EVGA has the option in terms of a pre-existing infrastructure.

As far as the power inputs, the PCB looks to have an extra 6-pin spot next to the stacked one already, so they might just be able to put two regular ones side-by-side without too much problem.
 

theGryphon


I don't know how you guys can single out GTX680 while it's perfectly priced with respect to AMD's 7970 and 7950. AMD's parts were out there first, but complaints about their price were nothing like this. With the high manufacturing costs, both AMD's and NVIDIA's prices are not ridiculous.

I always liked single-slot cards and I hope EVGA can come up with one too. With Galaxy card, I don't have much hope for market availability, if their GTX260 and GTX460 single-slot history is of any example.

The math I use validates my point. The GTX680 is only a 294 mm^2 chip. Historically that puts it as a mid-range product. GK110 is the true GTX 680.

Brad_Hawthorne

theGryphon


I don't know how you guys can single out GTX680 while it's perfectly priced with respect to AMD's 7970 and 7950. AMD's parts were out there first, but complaints about their price were nothing like this. With the high manufacturing costs, both AMD's and NVIDIA's prices are not ridiculous.

I always liked single-slot cards and I hope EVGA can come up with one too. With Galaxy card, I don't have much hope for market availability, if their GTX260 and GTX460 single-slot history is of any example.

Check the mm^2 on the 7970 vs the mm^2 on the 680. Both are 28nm processes. Both are made at TSMC. You can't tell me that the 7970 should be priced the same as a 680. Just because AMD dropped the ball doesn't mean NVIDIA should have called this a GTX680 and priced it like that.

 
I can't say that and I didn't. You can't say the opposite either, we don't have all the facts regarding manufacturing costs. Die size is just one factor.
On the other hand, I didn't say manufacturing costs are the only factor in the price either. It's very possible NVIDIA has a higher profit margin than AMD comparing these parts (although, again, we don't know), but what matters is price per performance, and GTX680 is fairly priced comparing it to 7970 and 7950. Even if NVIDIA is making more money than AMD, the question is, why do you care? Just look at what you're getting for the price, I mean as a customer, I suppose that should be what you're looking at.
 
I understand the disgruntlement because you "know" NVIDIA has a better part under their sleeve. What I'm saying is if you think GTX680 is overpriced, so are 7970 and 7950, and you need to acknowledge that.
 
 
 
 

At the moment all 28nm process is overpriced from TSMC. When did I not acknowledge that? Why does my argument have to be about AMD vs NVIDIA? My point only is NVIDIA vs NVIDIA. I find AMD irrelevant to the topic of GK104 vs GK110.

my sneaky suspicion is that gk100 was flawed and gk104 beat out amd flagship.7970
 
fixing gk100, testing,and getting it out would take probably them into the refresh time period(gk110 would come out) - so they dropped it (and they were talking refresh at end of year)
 
so what you are getting in gk104 as flagship and gk110 is second generation kepler just like GF110 was second generation fermi
 

Thats kinda interesting but I'd figure that card would be roasting with a loud fan.

AzN-SoLjA


Thats kinda interesting but I'd figure that card would be roasting with a loud fan.

At 294mm^2 the thermals simply aren't that bad. It can afford a single slot solution.

i bet this will be underclocked 680 to generate less heat.  this will be good for mATX form factor especially when SLI'ed leaving PCI-E x1/x4 lanes open or the bottom PCI/PCI-E slot open too. 

-

anony-moose

Less overclocking, more noise, more heat, plus being insanely long, isn't a good trade-off for having more expansion card options.

But that is not the point for this card.  Members here may SLi and thus think in terms of more expansions for gaming or folding, but those that only buy single-slot cards don't multi-GPU at all, for the most part.  For one, they probably are not overclocking let alone run the card full blast all the time, so not as much noise and heat as your might think. My key point is that the primary target customer for this product is not represented on EVGA forums, which is why EVGA may not make one.

rjbelans

As far as the power inputs, the PCB looks to have an extra 6-pin spot next to the stacked one already, so they might just be able to put two regular ones side-by-side without too much problem.

Good to know there are power provisions, but no provisions for tandem DVI ports which still appear stacked.
 
Of course Galaxy simple eliminated one DVI, proving at least that someone getting a single-slot GTX680 isn't interested in multi-monitor.  If EVGA were to make a single slot waterblock setup for GTX680, they would have to eliminate one DVI port, but because they along with nVidia push Surround multi-display, that's not going to happen.

@lehpron: I don't really get the point of a single-slot version of a high-end card if it's not for multi-GPU configs because using a single dual-slot card would still leave a user with at least 2 or more empty PCIe slots that aren't being occupied by a second video card. There are mATX boards, though, as mentioned in an earlier post. Maybe this is intended for HTPC builders who want good graphics, discrete audio and maybe a TV tuner card all on a mobo with only 3 PCIe slots? The price point for a GTX 680, dual- or single-slot, is too high to justify adding to an HTPC though, I'd think. It would be more cost-efficient to use a video card that's natively single-slot.
 
To me the appeal of single-slot cards (like Hydro-Copper) is being able to max out Tri-SLI or 4way-SLI configs and still be able to add audio, wireless and/or RAID-controller cards [TV tuners are useless on that kind of machine]

anony-moose


@lehpron: I don't really get the point of a single-slot version of a high-end card if it's not for multi-GPU configs because using a single dual-slot card would still leave a user with at least 2 or more empty PCIe slots that aren't being occupied by a second video card. There are mATX boards, though, as mentioned in an earlier post. Maybe this is intended for HTPC builders who want good graphics, discrete audio and maybe a TV tuner card all on a mobo with only 3 PCIe slots? The price point for a GTX 680, dual- or single-slot, is too high to justify adding to an HTPC though, I'd think. It would be more cost-efficient to use a video card that's natively single-slot.

To me the appeal of single-slot cards (like Hydro-Copper) is being able to max out Tri-SLI or 4way-SLI configs and still be able to add audio, wireless and/or RAID-controller cards [TV tuners are useless on that kind of machine]

I'd slap up to four of them side by side in my E762 and have plenty of slot space left. I'm not overly worried about mixing 16x and 8x slot configuration if it means more port options.
 
It would be especially handy in mATX. Put a sound card in the second slot. I've never been that impressed with most on-board sound chip offerings.

@Brad_Hawthorne: I totally agree about audio cards. Realtek makes my ears hurt >.<
 
Also, my point was that I think these are probably intended for SLI setups, as opposed to single-GPU setups as lehpron suggested, for the reasons I mentioned in my post. That probably wasn't too clear though. I still think this would be too expensive a card for an mATX build, unless you're trying to do a tiny form-factor gaming rig over an HTPC...

The x16/x8 wouldn't really be an issue for 4 cards, but there isn't enough bandwidth on most mobos to run 5+ graphics cards without running some in x4 lane configurations. Of course 5+ graphics cards wouldn't be used for gaming anyways so it might not even matter....

Enthusiasts in any segment always represent a minority fraction, doesn't matter what the subject is, computers or anything else; even among the group known as "enthusiasts".  In other words, most folks buying GTX680 are only getting one, maybe they'll get more later but they aren't doing it now. Those getting more than basic now end up as smaller and smaller fractions of the whole. 
 

anony-moose

To me the appeal of single-slot cards (like Hydro-Copper) is being able to max out Tri-SLI or 4way-SLI configs and still be able to add audio, wireless and/or RAID-controller cards (TV tuners are useless on that kind of machine)

You can't think outside your appeal-- not that you have to, but how do you expect to understand something you'll never get if it wasn't meant for you in the first place?   You have to consider other uses for single-slot, one primary use is simply SFF gaming with one graphics card.  You seem to disregard that thinking because it is capable for more, that we should get more.  There is no rule.

http://www.techpowerup.com/163134/First-Single-Slot-Air-Cooled-GeForce-GTX-680-Taking-Shape.html

@lehpron: I would seriously want one of these things, despite previously mentioned issues, if Galaxy offered a warranty like EVGA's and I had the funds. I'm NOT trying to knock it, I think it's a neat concept. I was just explaining my thoughts on it. I just don't think mainstream users are going to want to spend $500+ on a graphics card, no matter how good the price/performance ratio is.
 
I still use a single slot 9800GT Superclocked in one of my rigs but it cost a lot cheaper than this will probably sell for. I will gladly eat my words though if this ends up costing below $499...

Thanks AB for directing me here. Here's that other image.

Im Hit!
 

Thanks AB for directing me here. Here's that other image. 

 

 
Why is it that manufactures have to pick the most rediculous in the way hugely visible location to place power plugs.
 
why has no one ever placed then on the back near the motherboard?  Like in the pic above. Put them near the sata ports facing the front of the case, but OH NO, pick the MIDDLE of the freaking card.
 
Seriously, this is worse than what ATI did with the 3870x2
 
Cases would be SO MUCH CLEANER.

is that how the heat gets exhausted out?
into your case
lol

SirWaWa


is that how the heat gets exhausted out?
into your case
lol

 
kinda like......every other single slot card.....