The GTX 690 is a dual-GPU version of the
GTX 680, nVidia’s best single-GPU graphics card. It costs $1405, making this a
luxury buy for even the most dedicated gamers.
Running the GTX 690 isn’t the same as
having two decent GTX 680s. You get a base clock speed of 915MHz across the
two, rather than the 1,006MHz of, for instance, the Zotac GeForce GTX 680 -
even the GTX 670 offers 915MHz.
Graphics
Card Gainward Geforce GTX 690 4GB
In other respects, though, there’s little
reduction in performance. Whereas the GTX 680 offers a memory bandwidth of
192.3GBps, the 690’s two 256bit memory interfaces boost this to 384.5GBps.
You get two lots of 128 texture units, too,
so while the GTX 680 has a texture fill rate of 128.8GTps, the 690 has a
stunning 234.2GTps. You also get double the ROP units and stream processors.
And the GTX 690 comes with a sizeable 4GB of GDDR5 memory.
Power requirements are significant but,
while the older GTX 590 specified a thermal design power (TDP) of 375W, the 690
requires just 300W. Given that the 680 lists 195W, and the 690 is almost twice
as powerful overall, that figure is remarkable. And while the GTX 680’s
real-world consumption was in the low 180s, the 690 averaged around 261W.
The noise levels don’t jump up much either,
with the GTX 690 typically just over 2dB louder than the 680. It does require
that you have two spare 8-pin connectors on your PSU, however. Unsurprisingly,
the GTX 690 butchered the competition in our tests. A circa-70 percent increase
over the 680 was common.
In BattleForge, it notched up 113.2- and
82.3fps at 1920x1200 and 2560 x 1600 respectively. The 680, in contrast,
produced 68- and 47.7fps. In Crysis 2, the 680's figures of 75.8- and 53.1fps
far outstripped the 680’s 45.6- and 31.2fps. In Stalker, the difference was
137.3- and 101.6fps against 86.4-and 62.1fps. In every test, the 680
was easily beaten by the 690.
Verdict
The
Zotac GeForce GTX 680
The GTX 690 is a high-end product. It costs
more than twice the price of two GTX 680s, but offers only around
three-quarters more speed than a single card. The lucky few who can afford such
an item will find it offers pulsating performance.
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Information
Price: $1,405
Contact: gainward.de
Read more: tinyurl.com/d7a2xu3
Specification
nVidia GeForce GTX 690; 4GB GDDR5 RAM;
915MHz core clock; 6,008MHz DDR effective; 400MHz Ramdac; 2 x 256bit memory
interface; 2 x 1,536 stream processors; 2 x 128 texture units; 2x 32 ROP
units; PCI Express; needs 2 x 8-pin power connectors; DirectX 11; 3 x DVI;
Mini DisplayPort; 2-year warranty
PC Advisor Gold
Build: 8/10
Features: 10/10
Performance: 10/10
Value: 6/10
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