The “Kepler” Rides Out.
admin | March 24th, 2012 - 1:41 am
Right side view.
Left side view.
Like the HD 7970, the GTX 680 supports the latest, third generation in PCI Express architecture, which effectively doubles the bandwidth each motherboard slot has available. This does not mean that those without PCI-E 3.0 motherboards will suffer any compatability issues or performance penalties since the earlier generation of PCI-E has already been shown to deliver virtually identical speeds when running the 680, even in SLI configurations. There may be a more noticable bottleneck if, say, one were to run 3 cards in three PCI-E 2.0 x8 slots instead of a x16 x16 x16 or x16 x16 x8 three way setup, though even this scenario is unlikely to trouble any bar the most obsessive frame rate junkies. Examining the left side of the card we can identify two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors, again emphasising the lower wattage required by the GPU. Its 195W TDP is comfortably served by the motherboard’s slot and these two connectors, all of which give a combined total of 225 watts (3×75). Nvidia insists on a PSU with a minimum rating of 550 watts, capable of supplying at least 38 amps on the 12v rail, a modest requirement and no doubt great news for all that have endured the monstrous demands of previous cards and don’t want to consider yet another PSU upgrade!
The card’s backplate.
The addition of a display port connector (on the bottom left) has sparked a slightly different design from the 580. The two DVI connectors (top right=DVI-D, bottom right=DVI-I) are now “stacked” vertically and the vented area that used to cover the entire width of the backplate is a little smaller. There is an additional and very small vent in between the HDMI connector (bottom middle) and DVI-I port, evidently, Nvidia did not want to compromise on cooling!
Documentation and software.
Zotac includes three games from the ever popular Assassin’s Creed series and a “Trackmania Canyon” 3 day game pass which can be activated online. Also included are two molex to PCI-E converters and a VGA to DVI adapter, neither of which is likely to apply for much longer!
Tags: 1920x1200, 2560x1600, 3.0, 680, 6990, AA, AF, amd, amps, cards, fermi, graphics, gtx680, hd, kepler, nvidia, pci-e, performance, review, speed, x16, zotac
Both comments and pings are currently closed.