amazon Gigabyte GV-N680OC-2GD reviews
GeForce GTX 680 GPU-based architecture, Kevlar graphics support, DirectX 11 graphics support, Vision 2 visualization technology, PCIe EE 3.0 interface, and Ultra Durable VGA technology make the card efective operational when overclocking.
DESIGN
The Gigabyte GV-N680OC-2GD is based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 GPU based on the GK104 GPU (Kepler architecture) with up to three times the performance / watt rating of previous generation Fermi GPUs. Similar to the Radeon HD 7970, the GeForce GTX 680 is NVIDIA’s fastest single-core graphics processor for desktops.
The Kepler GPU is expected by NVIDIA to create a breakthrough in graphics processing technology. Applied 28nm technology with 3.54 billion transistors on 294mm2 die; Compared to the AMD Tahiti GPU is 4.31 billion transistors on 365mm2 substrate size.
The Kepler graphics architecture also dramatically improves multi-threaded processing, making better use of the ability to handle multiple graphics pipelines at the same time and without significantly affecting performance. The Kepler GK104 has 1536 “CUDA” cores that are newly arranged into four Graphics Processing Clusters (GPCs) that share the same L2 cache.
In addition to GPU Boost technology with real-time GPU acceleration, the GTX 680 also features a new FXAA (fast approximate anti-aliasing) and TXAA (temporal anti-aliasing). Much more than the traditional anti-aliasing (MSAA).
The GIGABYTE GV-N680OC-2GD is a graphics card that manufacturers have overclocked, so the GPU is clocked at 6.5 to 7.5 percent above the NVIDIA standard. Specifically, the clock speed is 1.071MHz and can accelerate to 1.137MHz in GPU Boost mode. In addition, the card is equipped with 2GB GDDR5 clock frequency (mem clock) clock frequency and 1502 MHz memory interface 256 bit.
The GV-N680OC-2GD is also capable of displaying 3D images in 3D Vision technology. 2. DVI-I, DVI-D, DisplayPort and HDMI output and nVidia Surround technology allow up to 4 monitors With a single card for displaying high-resolution images for gaming, movie slideshows or multi-tasking applications.
The card also supports 3-way SLI technology, ready for game configurations or multiple graphics cards.
Unlike some graphics cards equipped with GeForce GTX 680 GPU only need 2 power lines + 12V PCIe 6 pins and power supply 500W. The GV-N680OC-2GD has been overclocked so it requires two 12V power supply lines, one 6-pin PCIe, one eight-pin PCIe and 550W power supply to ensure the power required for the entire system.
The GV-N680OC-2GD supports the next-generation PCI Express 3.0 (PCIe gen3), DirectX 11.1 graphics library, OpenGL 4.2.
The Triangle Cool heat sink incorporates three 80mm (WindForce 3x) cooling fans to enhance heat dissipation as well as minimize the noise generated when operating at high loads.
In addition, the GV-N680OC-2GD is equipped with Ultra Durable VGA (UDV) technology; Similar to Ultra Durable 3 on its BMC. According to Gigabyte, the application of UDV technology will reduce the card’s temperature by about 5-10%, save 10-30% of power and provide overclocking capability of 10-30% compared to previous generation graphics cards.
The accessory is quite simple, including two power cables (VGA molex power connector), driver’s manual and driver’s disc, and overclocking utility.
PERFORMANCE
To test the power of the GIGABYTE GV-N680OC-2GD graphics card, Test Lab uses a test configuration built on the Z77 BMC chipset, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit SP1 and the driver included card. Graphics tests include CineBench R11.5, 3DMark 11, Heaven Benchmark v3.0 and some DirectX 11 games such as DiRT 3, Alien vs. Predator 1.03 and Crysis 2. The results of the tests are averaged over three runs.
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Overall results show that Gigabyte’s high-end graphics card easily conquered all tests according to the Test Lab scenario built at 1600×1200 resolution with the highest graphics setting. The higher GPU pulse rate (6.5-7.5%) also helped the GV-N680OC-2GD achieve slightly better results than some GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards without overclocking. Of the two tools 3DMark 11, Heaven Benchmark v3.0.
With DiRT 3 games, Alien Vs. Predator 1.03 and Crysis 2, GV-N680OC-2GD still outperform the “standard” 30 fps (fps) at both 1600×1200 and Extreme Graphics; However, these results are not consistent when compared to some graphics cards in the same line.
With the Cinebench R11.5 (64 bit) tool, the test configuration achieved 56.53 fps (fps) in OpenGL graphics tests.
In our tests of multi-threading performance and graphics card based on 3DMark 11, GV-N680OC-2GD scored 9.381 points with performance configuration, resolution 1280×720 and reached 3,334 points with extreme configuration, resolution 1920×1080 resolution; Zotac Geforce GTX 680 graphics card is about 3.7% (extreme configuration).
With the Heaven Benchmark, the graphics benchmark is quite similar to 3DMark 11, but mainly in Tessellation technology; One of the most prominent technologies in the DirectX 11 graphics library. The GV-N680OC-2GD’s processing power is well above the 30 fps level of around 69%, both in Ultra mode with the highest graphics setting (tessellation: extreme , Shaders: high, 8xAA and 16xAF). In addition, the results also show that the GV-N680OC-2GD’s frame rate is only slightly better than the Zotac Geforce GTX 680 (Ultra mode).
With games DiRT 3, Alien Vs. Predator and Crysis 2, GV-N680OC-2GD still confirm the power of high-end graphics cards through the number of frames per second achieved. Even with Crysis 2, one of the games is classified as “hardware assassin” today, the results of the card test at 1600×1200 resolution, graphics quality Extreme is also higher with the “milestone” 30 fps around 41%.
Experimental games also show the advantage of each graphics card at the same resolution and set different graphics quality. The GV-N680OC-2GD, for example, did a good job with the DiRT 3, while the Zotac Geforce GTX 680 was no match for the Alien vs. Predator scores. With Crysis 2, tested at 1600×1200 resolution with two very high and extreme graphics settings, the GV-N680OC-2GD’s score is about 22% higher than the Zotac Geforce GTX 680. However, Tested to the highest level in Test Lab test scenario, GV-N680OC-2GD only reached 52.17fps, 1.66% lower than Zotac Geforce GTX 680 (53.05fps).