GTX 680 now or 685 later?

[Deleted]

I'm planning on buying a new graphics card and spending up to 4500 SEK (500 eur) on it but can't really decide what to do. I'm mainly looking the most future proof and upgradeable solution and the current plans are to buy it in a month when I get the money together.

However, I'm not really sure about the GTX 680. It has to be a Nvidia card, even though I prefer AMD, I already bought a 120hz Nvidia monitor and the 3d won't work with AMD cards (currently using a HD 6850).

What makes me doubt is that the if the GTX 685 will be a lot faster and around the same price, I'd regret my decision. But if it will be almost the same or considerably more expensive too, it won't matter.

So what would be the smartest thing to do? Buy the 680 now, wait for 685 or something completely different that I haven't considered yet.

[Drakoes]

Alternatively, you could just a non-reference GTX 670 and OC the hell out of it.

The performance difference between the 680 and the 670 aren't that different, and you save quite a lot of money also by doing so. You could even go SLI with another one in the future and it will obviously still be faster than a single 685. If you do want to wait, the GTX 685 should be a good choice also, although that's probably going to be out by the end of this year or so. I would personally get a good GTX 670 and OC it though.

[Deleted]

Alternatively, you could just a non-reference GTX 670 and OC the hell out of it.

The performance difference between the 680 and the 670 aren't that different, and you save quite a lot of money also by doing so. You could even go SLI with another one in the future and it will obviously still be faster than a single 685. If you do want to wait, the GTX 685 should be a good choice also, although that's probably going to be out by the end of this year or so. I would personally get a good GTX 670 and OC it though.

I wouldn't know anything about OCing. But why 670? I don't care about saving money, I want to spend 4500 SEK and get the best possible card for it that will last and could be upgraded into SLI later(1-2 years from now).

But you think it's not worth waiting for the 685 then?

[Drakoes]

Because the GTX 670 isn't that much slower than the 680 anyway, but regardless, I would either wait for a really good non-reference GTX 680 (i.e. MSI GTX 680 Lightning whenever that comes out) or go with a 685 if you wouldn't mind waiting.

When I refer to "non reference", I'm talking about a card with custom cooling, PCB and everything that makes it run more efficient and can even be OC'd very well. It's actually easier to OC a GPU than it is to a CPU, so I wouldn't worry about not knowing how to do it, since it is quite a simple process.

[Deleted]

According to the information that is available today, the GTX685 (GK110) will be a lot faster than the GTX680.
The GTX680 is not nVidias single GPU Kepler high end model, like the 7970 is for AMD (though it has the same or an even better performance level than the 7970).

Taken from 3dcenter.org (in german): http://www.3dcenter.org/news/was-vom...u-erwarten-ist

[Deleted]

According to the information that is available today, the GTX685 (GK110) will be a lot faster than the GTX680.
The GTX680 is not nVidias single GPU Kepler high end model, like the 7970 is for AMD (though it has the same or an even better performance level than the 7970).

Taken from 3dcenter.org (in german): http://www.3dcenter.org/news/was-vom...u-erwarten-ist

I don't understand German but considering that it's true what's Nvidias history with releases like that? If they really released it with speccs like that, and it would be 30% faster but 30% more expensive too, it wouldn't really bother me, however if it would cost the same as 680 now then it might be worth the wait.

[Deleted]

They expect up to 50% performance increase compared to the GTX680, but also a 50% price increase (not considering the additional premium charge for the fastest single GPU product on the market). That would be something like 700-800 EUR today, but when it's released in August 2012, the price of the GTX680 will be probably down to 400 EUR or less, so the price of the GTX685 should be closer to 600 EUR then.

[Deleted]

They expect up to 50% performance increase compared to the GTX680, but also a 50% price increase (not considering the additional premium charge for the fastest product on the market). That would be something like 700-800 EUR today, but when it's released in August 2012, the price of the GTX680 will be probably down to 400 EUR or less, so the price of the GTX685 should be closer to 600 EUR then.

Thanks, that's the answer I was looking for. I'll go with 680 now SLI when it needs upgrading in a year or more. That price is a bit salty and not worth the long wait.