Kepler GPU GeForce GTX 680

[snowhiker]

The 680 is finally here. Looks like it might bring the price of the 7970/7950 down a bit.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/22/nvidia_kepler_gpu_geforce_gtx_680_video_card_review

 

[Handruin]

All I can say is, your move AMD. Time to improve your chips and your drivers.

Anandtech also has a review here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5699/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-review/20

 

[CougTek]

There was a lot of hype about Kepler's much improved CUDA performances. I'd like a lot to see how it fares at FAH.

 

[LunarMist]

195W? Damn.

 

[DrunkenBastard]

All I can say is, your move AMD. Time to improve your chips and your drivers.

Anandtech also has a review here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5699/nvidia-geforce-gtx-680-review/20

AMD had the lead with the 7970 for nearly 3 months. Now to see what the 7990 holds in store, performance wise.

 

[Chewy509]

195W? Damn.

That's more than my whole PC...

 

[Handruin]

AMD had the lead with the 7970 for nearly 3 months. Now to see what the 7990 holds in store, performance wise.

That is why I said your move AMD.

 

[LunarMist]

I hope this trickles down to the smaller, fanless cards.

 

[CougTek]

What I'd like is a better low profile graphic card than what's currently available. Like a low profile Radeon HD 7770 or a Kepler-kin similar card.

 

[DrunkenBastard]

There was a lot of hype about Kepler's much improved CUDA performances. I'd like a lot to see how it fares at FAH.

Seems like the 680 has been crippled compared to the GTX580/590 series

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-680-review-benchmark,3161-15.html

 

[LunarMist]

Seems like the 680 has been crippled compared to the GTX580/590 series

Is that worse or is the lower number better?

 

[ddrueding]

That is worse. Someone on Slashdot said something about their change in architecture killing the GPGPU capabilities in exchange for better power consumption and slightly better graphics.

 

[LunarMist]

So better graphics is not the gaol of a graphics card now? :scratch:

 

[Stereodude]

So better graphics is not the goal of a graphics card now? :scratch:

Obviously not for some people.

 

[LunarMist]

But don't the gameheads buy the serious cards for games or is that not the largest part of the market?

 

[Stereodude]

But don't the gameheads buy the serious cards for games or is that not the largest part of the market?

Well, I think it's safe to say that serious gamers are the largest part of the market or they wouldn't have sacrificed CUDA performance for power consumption and graphics performance.

 

[ddrueding]

But don't the gameheads buy the serious cards for games or is that not the largest part of the market?

There are two markets for their last generation of cards. The largest is hardcore gamers. The other is using them for large scale scientific computing. This was awesome for the geeks, because (due to economies of scale) cards that would otherwise be special and very expensive weren't.

Now nVidia is splitting the product, and the GPGPU cards will be very expensive again.

 

[sechs]

I think that the geek population is underestimated. Especially those who are gamers by night. The loss in OpenCL performance doesn't meet the gain in graphics.

 

[Stereodude]

I think everyone is jumping to conclusions. Until the updated F@H client is completed and benchmarked everyone is perhaps complaining prematurely.

 

[sdbardwick]

The hardware changes are significantly worse for some CUDA programs (580 FP64 performance was 1/12FP32, while 680 is 1/24FP32).

GIMPS' (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) CUDA programs are returning disappointing numbers as well. Anything that needs FP64 will be worse on a 680 than 580; some FP32 instructions are negatively impacted as well, which will probably require some algorithm revisions

 

[DrunkenBastard]

The hardware changes are significantly worse for some CUDA programs (580 FP64 performance was 1/12FP32, while 680 is 1/24FP32).

GIMPS' (Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search) CUDA programs are returning disappointing numbers as well. Anything that needs FP64 will be worse on a 680 than 580; some FP32 instructions are negatively impacted as well, which will probably require some algorithm revisions

The question to be answered is if this is a deliberate crippling by nvidia so that they can push Quadro's with ungimped FP64 capability for thousands per card. Rumours are that the GTX680 was in fact originally designed to replace the 560Ti card, but outperformed expectations and was renamed accordingly, in which case we are still waiting on nvidia to release their real top end card (which may yet have 580 type FP64 performance).

 

[Mercutio]

Just watch: someone will come up with a firmware hack in a few weeks to fix whatever is retarded about the new GPUs.

 

[ddrueding]

For the record, I've moved my machines from GTX580s to AMD7970s. I was getting an nVidia driver crash about once a day (more if I was gaming) on every single machine. It would kill my Civ5 game, Youtube video, or FSX mission and then carry on. Saying something about the driver not responding and being restarted. I have no patience for that kind of crap.

 

[CougTek]

You've not updated your signature yet? What the Hell do you have to do that is so urgent that you cannot take the little time needed to update your signature? Some people really have a hard time with priorities in life...

 

[DrunkenBastard]

That is why I said your move AMD.

Looks like AMD have dropped prices in response: Bundling 3 games as well.

"Buried in this promotion was a price drop for three 7xxx cards. The 7970 drops from $549 to $479, and the 7950 goes from $449 to $399. On the other end of the spectrum, the 7770 drops $20 to $139. These cuts put the top and bottom of the lineup much closer to a ‘good buy’ than they were, but the mid-range 7800 cards still seem quite expensive.

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/04/16/amd-drops-hd7900-prices-bundles-three-games/

 

[time]

Of course it's the 7800 series - specifically the 7850 - that I'm interested in.

Apart from using less power (which I'll concede is impressive), the 7770 doesn't do anything that the (formerly) cheaper 6850 has been doing for the last 18 months.