We've previously looked at a custom-cooled GeForce GTX 680 in the form of ASUS' big-ass TOP. Shipping with higher-than-default speeds and making mincemeat of benchmarks, particularly at a full-HD resolution common on most monitors, there is more than one way to construct an aftermarket version of the best single-GPU graphics card. Predominantly known as a motherboard manufacturer, Gigabyte is carving out quite a name in high-end graphics, for both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs, with its mix of quiet cooling and top-line performance.
One of the latest members to this line of custom cards is the GeForce GTX 680 OC [GV-N680OC-2GD]. Equipped with the now-familiar WindForce 3x cooler and presented on a blue PCB, this card will actually play second fiddle to the five-fan SOC model that's due out soon. Don't let this second-rung status fool you into thinking this is the manifestly poorer cousin; the OC, as the name implies, ships with faster-than-reference frequencies. A regular GTX 680 chimes in at 1,006MHz core and 6,008MHz memory; this one ups the core/shader speed to 1,072MHz - and GPU Boost to 1,137MHz - but keeps memory at default.
We consider the Gigabyte card to be a mid-level 'OC' card, because ASUS' aforementioned TOP runs at 1,137MHz, plus GPU Boost, while EVGA's Superclocked+ also breaks the default 1,100MHz barrier. It's a shame that Gigabyte doesn't also overclock the memory, really, as competitor cards from Palit and EVGA do.
Priced at £470, thereby around £70 dearer than a reference model, this card's main competition will most likely come from super-clocked GeForce GTX 670s - our previous editorial has highlighted their propensity to GPU Boost to significantly higher speeds. What's more, they cost around £100 less than this offering.
Gigabyte uses three 80mm, PWM-controlled fans on the WindForce cooler, which is attached to the GPU by four holding screws on the back. A bracket keeps the PCB rigid and, catering for the enthusiast that may want to run more voltage for overclocking purposes, Gigabyte upgrades the left-hand PCIe power connector to the eight-pin variety.
Custom boards tend not to meddle with the NVIDIA-specified outputs on the rear. Gigabyte, too, follows convention, with two dual-link DVI [DVI-I and DVI-D], alongside full-size HDMI and DisplayPort. Avid readers will know you can drive three monitors, in 3D, from one card. Also note that the WindForce 3x cooler is dual-slot, rather than the triple-slot monsters seen on some of the competition.
Strip away the cooler and the 10in PCB comes into view. Gigabyte sensibly adds a second heatsink to the hot-running VRM components - very much needed when overclocking - and overall layout is decent enough, though with PCB real estate to spare, there's no need for the company to use the stacking connectors of the original. The SLI fingers remain clear of obstruction, enabling many-way SLI for those deep of pocket.
The heatsink uses three 8mm heatpipes, flattened at the point at which they touch the GPU, to wick away the heat and ferry it to the numerous aluminium fins. Truth be told, the GTX 680 isn't difficult to cool, given the sub-200W TDP, and the same type of cooler appears on the Radeon HD 7970 OC version, too. As you can see, there's a perfunctory effort to cool the underlying 2GB of RAM chips. We'd normally pass comment on how other companies are offering double-sized, 4GB framebuffers but we see little need to have 'wasted' VRAM on a consumer graphics card.
With nothing of note in the box, Gigabyte's charging a £70 premium for mid-level core overclocking and, going by history, whisper-quiet cooling. A near-£500 outlay is a tremendous amount of money for a single graphics card, especially with the sub-£400 GTX 670 OCs nipping at its heels, so let's see how well the OC does in our slew of benchmarks.
There's been a lot of chatter in the community about the SOC editions with the massive cooler and 5 fans. Honestly I have to hand it to Gigabyte, I love the innovation and doing things differently -- so for that alone I applaud them. The SOC edition works well, it's amongst the fastest clocked GTX 680 cards we have tested.
The cooling performance is definitely impressive. I mean we do reach 68 Degrees C under full GPU load, but that's only because Gigabyte wants to keep the fan RPM on the five fans as low as possible to keep noise down. Once you crank them open then the temps fly downwards rapidly. Unfortunately the noise level then rises nearly exponentially at undesirable levels.
At default and overall the card is not silent, it's not massively noisy either but it's certainly there. That you have to keep in mind if you are a bit of an audiophile. A product like this is however targeted at certain audience and it's the pro-overclockers and tweakers that find extreme air based cooling like shown here enticing and wonderful.
The big quandary however with NVIDIA'S HIGH-END series is that NVIDIA is closing down everything in higher-level tweaking matters. There is a voltage limitation set at 1.175V, as a result you can boost 100Mv on the GPU core but that's it. Next to that there is a limit on the power usage, it's set at 124% and once you pass that power envelope the GPU automatically starts clocking down to match that 124% maximum power usage.
Honestly, if these limitations weren't enforced and we'd get 1.30~1.35 Volts on the GPU to play with with say a 200% power usage limit, then you'd be able to get 1400~1500 MHz out of cards like these with ease. Well, perhaps not with ease, but it would definitely be doable. The impressive board design from Gigabyte certainly can take it, and when cranked upwards the cooling can take it as well. Unfortunately it is what it is. So open up the Power limit to 124% and set Voltage a 100Mv higher. That in combo with a little added MHz on the core will get you at roughly 1300 MHz when overclocking, but ever there the GPU will clocking down here and there once it meets its maximum power enveloppe.
Good news then, the factory overclock is significant, the reference products are all clocked at 1006 MHz and this card comes with a factory clock set at 1132 MHz while it boosts towards roughly 1200 MHz. While doing so temperatures actually stay under 70 Degrees C which is absolutely fine. Power consumption as well impressed us, with the GPU at 100% load our X58 Core i7 based AMD test PC was consuming roughly 300~350W. When we input the variables and reverse calculate the TDP, we end up at a score of give or take 175W for this graphics card, and that's worth mentioning.
A rather big miss for Gigabyte is the 2GB memory framebuffer, while 2GB is fine for gaming up-to a 2560x1600 resolution, then you go higher or use multiple monitors and then that where memory starts to matter. So we certainly expected a product of this caliber and price to be fitted with 4GB of graphics memory, this is enthusiast grade hardware.
As mentioned quite a bit in this review, the card comes factory overclocked for you. The GPU core has been set a good notch higher, overall resulting into a slight boost in performance compared to the reference products. With any GTX 680 review I mention it, the Dynamic Clock Adjustment [boost] technology remains a little weird to observe, it however is a clever trick for the card to clock a little higher when the power envelope justifies it. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 SOC edition baseclock is 1132 MHz [1006 MHz = NV reference] and the "Boost" clock at 1202 [1058 MHz reference] gives the card way more headroom to play with.
The end result is a card that performs well, there's not a game out there that it can't deal with. Anno 2070 at the best quality settings and 4xAA pushes 100 frames per second on average at 1920x1200, and still 62 fps at 2560X1600. In Crysis 2 we end at an average of 66 FPS in 1920x1200 with Ultra quality settings and that high resolution texture package and 4x AA. Battlefield 3 is another example, with all eye candy opened up in game and again at 4xAA the card still pushes 60 FPS at 19x12 and that makes it the amongst the fastest single GPU based graphics card on the market.
Right, it's time to wrap it up. The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 SOC edition is superb really, but caters a small segment of the market. You need to be able to accept higher then normal noise levels as the card does make noise.
Our biggest dilemma remains NVIDIA's limitations. This card can do so much more then it is allowed to do. But if all cards become relatively equal in tweaking matters then why invest a great deal of money and accept higher noise levels if the same product with that superb Gigabyte WindForce cooler achieved nearly the same tweak levels at pretty much no noise and excellent cooling levels ?
At the time of writing I do not have a pricing just yet, but we expect the card to be really expensive. But I'll refrain from comments on that until I hear the final pricing. Much like other high-end SKUs I will say this, this card is not just about playing games, it's all about that other sport, tweaking and fooling around with it to break and set records. With NVIDIA setting all kinds of restrictions in tweaking matters lately it create a dilemma. The reality remains though that the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 SOC edition is
So if the product suits your needs and requirements, we can very much recommend the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 SOC as it is a truly impressive product. But realistically I would advise a lower noise product and not spend too much on tweaking features. Look at factory overclocks, cooling and boards design -- we say.
Is A GTX 680 good for gaming?
In my testing, the GTX 680 2GB card was able to beat AMD's flagship single-GPU card in Battlefield 3, Skyrim, DiRT 3 and Batman: Arkham City.” “Our testing showed that this card did phenomenally well with DirectX 11 game titles and is currently the overall fastest graphics card for gaming.”
How many watts does GTX 680 use?
Being a dual-slot card, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 draws power from 2x 6-pin power connectors, with power draw rated at 195 W maximum.
What games can you play on a GTX 680?
This PC graphics card has a chip that can run 716 of the top 1000 games - so we give it a 71% rating. Games that this graphics card can run include Fortnite, Apex Legends, PUBG, GTA V, League of Legends and Overwatch.
How much power does a MSI GTX 680 need?
Requirements. 550 Watt or greater power supply with a minimum of 38 Amp on the +12 volt rail.