This one awesome review is, well just, awesome:
 
http://nl.hardware.info/reviews/2641/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-quad-sli-review-english-version
 
But still, even to this day, all of the reviews that I find of the GTX 680s in SLI, 3-way or even 4-way, miss two key areas:

• What is the VRAM usage at 5760x1080 in these reviews?  I previously hit the 2.8 GB mark multiple times in BF3 at that resolution (6000x1080 "bezel corrected" is a tad more).
• While great FPS at 5760x1080, why don't they turn on 3D Vision Surround and see the FPS  drop in half.  What's the FPS like in these systems?  Though, with my personal experience, it seems to be exactly half, most of the times.  It's odd, like with Alice 3D, it sometimes peaked to 250 FPS in 3D Vision surround, but other times it's around 120 FPS (after I remove the 30 FPS limit built into the game).  My FRAPS actually tells me the FPS in half, which is interesting since it is drawing the screen twice,one for each eye.

 
Does anyone have any reviews that show Vram usage?
 
I'm even saddened a bit by that review above a bit with Quad SLI at 5760x1080.  Why?  They hardly exceed 70 to 80 FPS, and I have 120 Hz monitors to take advantage of 120 FPS.  I'm curious as to why my BF3 on 3-way GTX 580 3GB @ 850 Mhz was able to hold about 95 FPS in BF3 at 5760x1080 with everything on Ultra and 2xMSAA on the ground- with an X58 Core i7 920 C0 stepping at 3.4 Ghz (not 5.0 Ghz). "Flying missions" saw well over 140 FPS the vast majority of the time (and is most likely the reason most people demo on flying missions).
 
Anyways... I have 2x GTX 680s sitting next to me, but my build won't be done until May.  Therefore, I'm selling off the GTX 680s these week for the EVGA GTX 680 4 GB FTW versions due out in early May (thanks Jacob for the heads up!).
 
While it can peak FPS Vram, just like mine did, there are times playing BF3 and BAC that Vram just spikes - and I fear those spikes is what will cause slowness on 2 GB cards at that super resolution.
 

Interested in this as well, as I canceled my order for 3 680's and am waiting to see more information on that very topic. I don't want to run into issues at 5760x1080 either :p

i have a feeling driver maturity will play in to this a lot. Wait 3-6 months for proper drivers that scale SLI better, imho.

This is why I'm waiting for 4GB VRAM.. because of that exact issue.
I wish you could put ur two 680's on SLI right now and bench for us. I want to know how much VRAM BF3 requires at 5760x1080, that's what I'm running at as well, except I am not interested in 120hz/120fps as I have regular 60Hz monitors. However, I am interested in PLAYABLE framerates without the need for SLI.
 
The stuttering with the dual 570's I got was just unacceptable. So it is going to take ALOT out of me to go SLI again. Which is why I hope one 4GB will mend my sorrows until GK110 comes out.

shazam
This is why I'm waiting for 4GB VRAM.. because of that exact issue.
I wish you could put ur two 680's on SLI right now and bench for us. I want to know how much VRAM BF3 requires at 5760x1080, that's what I'm running at as well, except I am not interested in 120hz/120fps as I have regular 60Hz monitors. However, I am interested in PLAYABLE framerates without the need for SLI.

If I can find a buyer for the two 680s I have right now, that will let me take them out of the shrink wrap to demo this very thing, I will!  But they are worth more new in the box, ATM.
 
Hell, I'll even video it so the buyer knows this is all I did.  I have an X58 machine sitting next to me with an i7 930 @ 4.0 Ghz that I could use.
 
I just don't want to loose that $100 or so, you know...

so how much for the 680's then if your going to sell them?
I don't mind the 2gig version as i only use single monitor and i will be upgrading to a 27 inch 1080p monitor so they will do just fine. pm me if your serious!

shazam


This is why I'm waiting for 4GB VRAM.. because of that exact issue.
I wish you could put ur two 680's on SLI right now and bench for us. I want to know how much VRAM BF3 requires at 5760x1080, that's what I'm running at as well, except I am not interested in 120hz/120fps as I have regular 60Hz monitors. However, I am interested in PLAYABLE framerates without the need for SLI.

The stuttering with the dual 570's I got was just unacceptable. So it is going to take ALOT out of me to go SLI again. Which is why I hope one 4GB will mend my sorrows until GK110 comes out.

The SLI/Crossfire scaling have increased in this new 28mm GPU line up for both vendors ATI/Nvidia and it is going to get better with mature drivers by the end of the year.

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1512497
 
And moving to the correct Forum... 

eduncan911

shazam
This is why I'm waiting for 4GB VRAM.. because of that exact issue.
I wish you could put ur two 680's on SLI right now and bench for us. I want to know how much VRAM BF3 requires at 5760x1080, that's what I'm running at as well, except I am not interested in 120hz/120fps as I have regular 60Hz monitors. However, I am interested in PLAYABLE framerates without the need for SLI.

If I can find a buyer for the two 680s I have right now, that will let me take them out of the shrink wrap to demo this very thing, I will!  But they are worth more new in the box, ATM.

Hell, I'll even video it so the buyer knows this is all I did.  I have an X58 machine sitting next to me with an i7 930 @ 4.0 Ghz that I could use.

I just don't want to loose that $100 or so, you know...

Open em up and play with em. People are selling them for $540 right now that have been used.

have to say I disagree with this post being moved to the lesser- used multi monitor discussion thread. I think this is a pressing issue for potential 680 buyers and should (at least at this early point in the 680 life cycle) be located in the 600 series thread. that is all! :P

atfrico

The SLI/Crossfire scaling have increased in this new 28mm GPU line up for both vendors ATI/Nvidia and it is going to get better with mature drivers by the end of the year.

 
It's the microstuttering.. which is very bad at 40-60 fps. I doubt they fixed Microstuttering with a new die size, just don't see it happening. Regardless, If one 680 4GB can pull an avg of 50-60 fps on 5760x1080 then I ask for no more. Because 2 570's certainly can't (without micronubbin).

eduncan911

If I can find a buyer for the two 680s I have right now, that will let me take them out of the shrink wrap to demo this very thing, I will!  But they are worth more new in the box, ATM.

Hell, I'll even video it so the buyer knows this is all I did.  I have an X58 machine sitting next to me with an i7 930 @ 4.0 Ghz that I could use.

I just don't want to loose that $100 or so, you know...

 
Man they're going on eBay $550, and $520 a pop.. Used.. I wouldn't worry too much about price right now. Card is only 2 weeks old. IT WILL SELL, with no $100 loss.
 
I just want to see one person do a proper bench ffs.. all these reviews are useless as they do not give ANY technical details to VRAM usage and comparison between single, sli, tri-sli, and quad-sli..
 

hoserx


have to say I disagree with this post being moved to the lesser- used multi monitor discussion thread. I think this is a pressing issue for potential 680 buyers and should (at least at this early point in the 680 life cycle) be located in the 600 series thread. that is all! :P

 
I agree... this is a 680 thread, that should belong in the 600 series forum. I don't understand why it's moved to a place that will most likely DIE in.

I agree with others, this is a 2 GB VRAM concern on the 600 series cards - not a multi-monitor thread and shouldn't have been moved (though, it does require multi-monitors to get that high, but one could get 2560x1600 up almost 2/3rds the way - which IS a single monitor!).
 
As to the other links (thanks BTW), all results are posted with "No AA".  That's horrible!  Who can hide as a sniper and pick off people 200 yards away without MSAA?  Everything moves with those jagged edges during your breathing at that distance.  You got to run 2x or 4xMSAA.
 
Now, those that will say "FXAA FTW!", I've read in other threads that you need at least 2xMSAA to enable FXAA?
 
Blah, the point of the original thread is we want reviews with VRAM details at multiple AA levels.

hoserx


have to say I disagree with this post being moved to the lesser- used multi monitor discussion thread. I think this is a pressing issue for potential 680 buyers and should (at least at this early point in the 680 life cycle) be located in the 600 series thread. that is all! :P

While your thought has merit, no single monitor gives that high of a resolution at this time. That is the single reason for the move.
 
Now had the issue been 2560x1600... No one would have thought of moving it.
 
And, folks asked for this Category because these types of threads disappeared off the first page so fast causing folks to start another one (Just look at all the "Locking because Dup" threads we lock in the 600 category as it is).
 
And, most with this knowledge do look in here throughout the day. Hopefully offering more "Value" answers vs. just answers form those not even having three monitors and basing their info off of assumptions or regurgitating others info who also does not have any clue. 
 
Answers/activity does not mean quality 
 
Good Lord, sorry for the long winded answer there 

Post should be here imho (Title says 5760x1080) not that what I think means anything.
 
Not sure if some of you guys missed it, [H] did a great review of SLI'd 680's in Surround at a very similar resolution (57x12).  Here is page 5 where they tested BF3 (probably the game that eats VRAM the most):
 
http://www.hardocp.com/ar...li_video_card_review/5
 
Taken from conclusion page:
 
"In every game we tested GTX 680 SLI was faster, and provided gameplay options Radeon HD 7970 CFX did not. We were not bottlenecked at all at 5760x1200 with GTX 680 SLI."
 
This is THEIR analysis, not mine:) 

Johnny_Utah


"In every game we tested GTX 680 SLI was faster, and provided gameplay options Radeon HD 7970 CFX did not. We were not bottlenecked at all at 5760x1200 with GTX 680 SLI."

Eric,
 
I sent a PM to EVGA on your needing access to the Market Place. Please note they are really busy with the 680 launch and may take a tad more time than normal =]

Oh... And now you know why I have been trying to help people in so many threads when talking about Vram. It can and does matter...
 

Afterburner
I sent a PM to EVGA on your needing access to the Market Place. Please note they are really busy with the 680 launch and may take a tad more time than normal =]

Thanks buddy.  Yeah, when I applied for access several hours ago, the note at the top of the forum said, "No need to PM me, I check the forums several times a day."  So, I didn't.  
 

Afterburner
Oh... And now you know why I have been trying to help people in so many threads when talking about Vram. It can and does matter... 
 

 
Yep.  I knew all along there had to be an issue.  But with all of this tri-monitor reviews going up, FPS avg at 5760x1080, no one said anything about vram issues.
 
Looks like [H] finally took a close look at that.

Afterburner
 Eric

 
Now how did you know my name was Eric?  /me thinksa has accessa to mesa's info.

AB = cough cough stalker cough cough...j/k
Click on your forum name and we can see who you are....,muahahaha 

eduncan911

  
Now how did you know my name was Eric?  /me thinksa has accessa to mesa's info.

Your public Profile 
 
 

dtrunk


i have a feeling driver maturity will play in to this a lot. Wait 3-6 months for proper drivers that scale SLI better, imho.

SLI has never scaled well. It's always been non-linear diminishing returns. That's why you always start with the largest single GPU you can then SLI.

That's because AB is really:
 

 
G-Man
 
"As it is clear the G-Man may not be human, he also bears impossible abilities. For instance, he seemingly has the power to appear in any place he chooses, including moving to and from other dimensions on a whim. He is also able to stop or slow down time at various points."
He worked at the Black Mesa Facility.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G-Man_%28Half-Life%29

Once you hit that Vram limit the amount of GPU power you have starts to make very little difference in frame rate... Its one of the reasons people saw 2GB on the 680's and screamed ****?

Running a single, yes bf3 chews up vram like no other but we already knew that,  the frame rate may not be optimal but I can see in the heli now! All worth it. 5860x 1200 90fov with as much eye candy as possible to stay above 40, fun to play around in an empty server but not optimal, had to drop down to 4395x900 80fov balance detail to maintain 60fps, still looks great and plays smooth. I will be going after some 4gb cards when they are available or wait for the 110.
 

nice work

eduncan911

Johnny_Utah
http://www.hardocp.com/ar...li_video_card_review/5

Thank you for the link.  It's now official...  In this review, we learn a few things and confirm what we feared:

• VRAM is maxed out on the GTX 680 2 GB cards at 5760x1080.  Don't let that "hey, there's 28 MB remaining" fool you.  I myself constantly saw a "wall" at 1.198 GB on my GTX 470s when I was running into "slow downs".  It was the vram, as if I kept it under 1.1 GB total, the same recorded scenes didn't have an issue.  Only when I would hit the wall of 1.198 GB, on a card with 1.25 GB of ram, is where the "vram limit" was.  I conclude the memory differences in the resolution a byproduct of frame buffering with different MSAA settings - maxing out.
• VRAM usage INCREASES with the use of MSAA.  Meaning, if you want to use MSAA at this resolution (combined with the review I originally posted in the first post) you need 3- or 4-way SLI to keep FPS well over 70 FPS.

 
Finally, the answer!

Ok, now to post my cards up for sale in the EVGA marketplace.  (still waiting for access!)

Wait a Sec, Doesnt the 7970 only have 3gb of Vram, How is it using over 4gb?!

proctous

eduncan911

Johnny_Utah
http://www.hardocp.com/ar...li_video_card_review/5

Thank you for the link.  It's now official...  In this review, we learn a few things and confirm what we feared:

• VRAM is maxed out on the GTX 680 2 GB cards at 5760x1080.  Don't let that "hey, there's 28 MB remaining" fool you.  I myself constantly saw a "wall" at 1.198 GB on my GTX 470s when I was running into "slow downs".  It was the vram, as if I kept it under 1.1 GB total, the same recorded scenes didn't have an issue.  Only when I would hit the wall of 1.198 GB, on a card with 1.25 GB of ram, is where the "vram limit" was.  I conclude the memory differences in the resolution a byproduct of frame buffering with different MSAA settings - maxing out.
• VRAM usage INCREASES with the use of MSAA.  Meaning, if you want to use MSAA at this resolution (combined with the review I originally posted in the first post) you need 3- or 4-way SLI to keep FPS well over 70 FPS.

 
Finally, the answer!

Ok, now to post my cards up for sale in the EVGA marketplace.  (still waiting for access!)

Wait a Sec, Doesnt the 7970 only have 3gb of Vram, How is it using over 4gb?!

Though I don't have an ATI crossfire setup (never have), I believe I read that ATI's memory reporting is for total usage of VRam across all cards: each card has an exact copy of the buffer/frame, so it's a total, and just divide by the number of cards you have in crossfire to know how much ram is in use per card.
 
Unlike Nvidia, where it reports the memory usage on a per card basis (you have to query each card).

well if thats true than 4769MB for 4x AA on a 7970 would be around 2400MB on each card than. I really though ATI and NVIDA memory was about the same. when in CF mode, yeah the textures and what not are copied to both cards, but once the card gets full at 3gb it drops FPS. If that is true than 680 is using 4080 MB total VRAM of its 6gb total, But I never read memory as being added, the first card only matters, and the GPU on second card just helps the first I though.

proctous

well if thats true than 4769MB for 4x AA on a 7970 would be around 2400MB on each card than. 

That's correct sir.  Each card was using about 2.4 GB of ram.
 
And my GTX 580 HC2s with 3GB showed about 2.7 GB peak in BF3 at 5760x1080 at 4x AA, for the record.