Final thoughts and rating
The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB GPU is a much-improved reimagining of what a high-end GeForce graphics card should be like. It takes the underlying Fermi architecture, first seen in GeForce GTX 480, by the scruff of the neck and improves it in practically every meaningful way.
GTX 680 aims to be a fast, feature-rich, and power-efficient GPU, and many of the design decisions strike a sensible balance between these three facets. Learning painful lessons from GTX 480's poor showing, NVIDIA uses the latest 28nm fabrication technology to manufacture a GPU that's not hell-bent on pure speed. Make no mistake about it, GTX 680 could have been faster, perhaps significantly so, yet AMD's modest leap in performance for its Radeon HD 7900-series GPUs has made NVIDIA's task that bit easier.
Also catching up with AMD on the multimedia front, NVIDIA's flagship single-GPU card can now drive four screens off the bat. It can also drive three panels with 3D Surround in tow, if that's your wont.
Oblivious to the user, the GTX 680 has some super-funky GPU Boost technology that helps keep the card working at near-maximum potential at all times, ensuring benchmark performance is high, though some users may be irked that they cannot manually control the GPU's exact frequency state.
As much as we enjoy writing about engineering aims, enthusiasts don't really care about how a certain GPU achieves them; they simply care that it does. In that regard, then, GeForce GTX 680 is a winner, because it is faster than a price-comparable Radeon HD 7970... and quieter. This is more important than a simple sentence suggests, because mainstream GeForce 600-series GPUs are to be cut from the range-topping card's DNA.
If you've read the many thousands of words in this review and glanced over the benchmark results, the outcome is starkly clear. NVIDIA has the best GPU for gamers who crave the utmost performance. It's also relatively quiet and power-efficient, which recent GeForces most certainly haven't been. AMD's not far behind, mind, and we eagerly wait to see what happens to Radeon HD 7970 and HD 7950 pricing in the next few weeks.
GeForce GTX 680 isn't a perfect GPU, however, as memory-bandwidth and framebuffer implications rear their ugly heads as the going gets tough, so don't be surprised to see 4GB-equipped GTX 680s marketed pretty soon.
Bottom line: the GeForce GTX 680 (Kepler GK104) is the Fermi architecture polished to a mirror finish. It is the best high-end GPU available right now, dethroning the AMD Radeon HD 7970 in the process.
The Good
Fastest single-GPU card going
Excellent power-draw credentials
Multi-display technology and video engine upgraded
GPU Boost performs well
The Bad
Memory-side concessions hurt it at ultra-high settings
Can't manually control GPU Boost
HEXUS Rating
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB GPU
HEXUS Awards
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB GPU
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