Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 review

Performance in Dirt 3 in Surround mode, running at 5,760 x 1,080, was also huge, with 49.6fps. This is significantly quicker than the AMD Radeon HD 7970’s 41.5fps when running at the same resolution in Eyefinity mode. Even during this punishing test the card became very warm but still stayed relatively quiet. However, we did find the GTX 680 slightly more power-hungry than AMD’s Radeon HD 7970; with the graphics card under load, our test PC drew 285W when fitted with the GTX 680, compared to 236W with the HD 7970. Also, when fitted with AMD’s card our test PC drew just 54W when Windows turned the monitor off, compared to 71W for Nvidia’s card – AMD seems to have the edge when it comes to shutting down as much of the graphics card as possible when it’s not needed.

Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 680 is a triumph; it’s the fastest single-GPU graphics card we’ve seen, is relatively compact and works with even mid-range power supplies. It’s also not particularly expensive; Nvidia’s suggested retail price is £429, which makes it only around £20 more than the Radeon HD 7970, and Nvidia’s card is significantly faster. It wins an Ultimate award.