NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Review: Retaking The Performance Crown
by Ryan Smith on March 22, 2012 9:00 AM ESTThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Prior to the launch of our new benchmark suite, we wanted to include The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which is easily the most popular RPG of 2011. However as any Skyrim player can tell you, Skyrim’s performance is CPU-bound to a ridiculous degree. With the release of the 1.4 patch and the high resolution texture pack this has finally been relieved to the point where GPUs once again matter, particularly when we’re working with high resolutions and less than high-end GPUs. As such, we're now including it in our test suite.
Skyrim presents us with an interesting scenario. At anything less than 2560 we’re CPU limited well before we’re GPU limited, and yet even though we’re CPU limited NVIDIA manages to take a clear lead while the 680 still finds room to push to the top. For whatever the reason NVIDIA would appear to have significantly less driver overhead here, or at the very least a CPU limited Skyrim interacts with NVIDIA’s drivers better than it does AMD’s.
In any case 2560 does move away from being CPU limited, but it’s not entirely clear whether the difference we’re seeing here is solely due to GPU performance, or if we’re still CPU limited in some fashion. Regardless of the reason the GTX 680 has a 10% lead on the 7970 here.
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CeriseCogburn - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
On the last page of gaming benchmarks here's the fantasy line we're given :" . It only seems appropriate that we’re ending on what’s largely a tie. "
It's just amazing - 680 takes top at highest resolution, top at lowest resolution, and witihin .6 fps at the 80 frames mark in the middle resolution, which is likely a test error that favored the wrong card, and we get this amd fan boy analysis about largely a tie.
Worse than that, this very reviewer was the one ion the blog that for a year thought Nvidia was cheating in Civ5 until he found out Nvidia followed DX11 driver rules while amd didn't hence the Nvidia huge lead.
Now, after amd was cued in and startted following DX11 rule implementations in drivers, we are treated to this lie, after the "boy things have really changed for sure" - instead of "AMD failed to properly implement drivers for Civ5 for months on end, and now that they have, they still lose to the superior Nvidia 680".
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The truth would be nice, instead we get "favorite game that was banned at anandtech offices""tied".
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I am really sick of watching Nvidia wins belittled and called ties or less, and amd lesser accomplishments cheered.
It's NOT "largely a tie" amd lost in the highest and lowest resolution miserably, and did not win in the central resolution. THAT CAN NEVER BE A TIE, LARGELY OR OTHERWISE.
N4g4rok - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
I think scrutinizing one small portion of the review isn't the right way to look at it. There's no way the review is an "amd fanboy analysis."You might want to dial back the anger a little bit. The 680 is a great piece of hardware. Whether or not it was a win or lose depends on your interpretation of the benchmarks, so it's a little hard just to say AMD loses, nVidia wins.
no one is here to belittle one company's victory over the other. And if that happens, just shake it off. opinions don't affect the performance of a GPU, regardless of how many times it's posted as a response to benchmarks.
All of those results favor the 680, and the author's analysis followed suit. Just relax. there's no need to be fighting over which toy is better than the other. Take your pick and go with it.
silverblue - Friday, March 23, 2012 - link
He's mad for buying a 7970 when Kepler was around the corner. ;) If he's got that much money to burn, he can only blame himself for jumping too quickly.N4g4rok - Friday, March 23, 2012 - link
Either way, i don't think you lose out on much.But, i'm using a 7950 with Vsync enabled on a 60hz monitor, so i'm not sure i have any room to talk about that performance lead the 680 has.
rickon66 - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
It looks like time to let the trusty old 5870 go to pasture, it has been a tad weak since I moved to 2560x1600 last year anyhow.poohbear - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
wow since im a huge BF3 and Shogun2 nut, this vid card series from nvidia seals the deal for me!!! it kicks ass in BF3!!! really hope these kind of results trickle down to their mid range line of cards!mwilli01 - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Way too many fanboi's here. You'd think some of you actually work for AMD and are trying to defend your jobs.I'll go with the cheaper option, because they are so close in everything (but price, lmao).
kyuu - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
If AMD doesn't adjust their prices, then they're foolish, and the 680 is clearly the superior buy. However, if AMD moves the 7970 to $400-$450 (and adjust the prices of all other cards accordingly), as they should, then I'd take the 7970 over this card any day.Nfarce - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Likewise - way too many red sticker fangirls who can't stand the fact Nvidia is once again pwning you people...just like Intel does to AMD. Sucks to be you all.PubFiction - Thursday, March 22, 2012 - link
Why are there so many standards for USB? clearly micro usb should do them all right? Why do they even make computers with USB A ports then?Well bigger ports are easier for people to work with, they also tend to be stronger and less prone to breaking. Ever see people fumble with their phone trying to get that micro usb port in, then watch them try in the dark. Why do printers all come with a beefier USB port?
So it seems reasonable that when putting the ports in, you are going to use the largest one your device can handle to make it easy for customers to see it, and work with it, and keep the connection in place.