GeForce GTX 680 3-Way SLI & Radeon 7970 Tri-Fire Review @ [H]

I came over from triple 580s and didnt realize how good I had it with Team Green.

Go Green! Nice to hear that you're enjoying you 670s. I have to admit, I've been VERY happy with my 680s. The nicest thing about them thus far has been just how much more stable my rig has been. It would have to reboot my sig rig every couple of days with the 580s. With the 680s I can go weeks without a reboot.
 
I've been using two of these beauties for about a month and they're just DESTROYING anything I throw at it. I did need to go out and buy a 1200 Watt power supply but hell, it was totally worth it. Even with just one of these it could handle BF3 just fine. These are fantastic video cards and well worth the price!
 
I've been using two of these beauties for about a month and they're just DESTROYING anything I throw at it. I did need to go out and buy a 1200 Watt power supply but hell, it was totally worth it. Even with just one of these it could handle BF3 just fine. These are fantastic video cards and well worth the price!

Which card? You didn't say..
 
Need re-test, lately AMD drivers offer big performance boost, and greater scaling, it will be very nice to see this compassion again!
 
Need re-test, lately AMD drivers offer big performance boost, and greater scaling, it will be very nice to see this compassion again!

Yes lets redo hours of testing every time new drivers come out. :rolleyes:
 
Had gtx 580 in 3-way sli. Switchted to 7970 in tri-crossfire. What can I say : Max Payne 3 with all setting maxed + 8xMSAA works like a charm at 5760x1080. BF3 maxed out works likes a charm. Same goes for Saints Row 3 and Dawn of War 2.
Witcher 2 -> while I don't have it installed anymore, drivers up to 12.4 produced negative scaling for me with uber-sampling on.
GTA IV gets some strange artifacts sometimes, but then again, it doesnt even "see" the 3gb v-ram, instea in calims I have 400mb, and I have to use config override.
Deus Ex HR works great.
Drivers 12.7 beta are overall good, except for clocks being stuck on first card at 500/1630 at 2d mode, when I disable manually ULPS, but since the cards are WC, I suppose its fine.

Currently running all three of them at 1200/1630 @ 1.231 ( voltage on all 3 cards is lower according to gpu-z, at around 1.21 on the most "hungry" one). All water-cooled.

Have to say Green camp had better suppot for their 580s, when I was using them, first drivers from ATI/AMD was a pain in the ass to work with.

P.S. 3d mark 2011/ Heaven stable
 
Yes lets redo hours of testing every time new drivers come out. :rolleyes:

I agree with every driver release but the 12.6 and 12.7 drivers should be worth a quick look. Even a simple BF3 and Skyrim apples to apples comparison on one page would be sufficient.

Most user reviews have them comparing very well which could change the entire reviews overall outcome.

Before 12.6 I'll say it was garbage and some games were just broke. Now other than Skyrims GUI issue with the 12.7 they are almost perfect.
 
Before 12.6 I'll say it was garbage and some games were just broke. Now other than Skyrims GUI issue with the 12.7 they are almost perfect.

Nah, Secret World crossfire profile is a mess, was a mess in 12.4, was a mess in 12.6, is a mess in 12.7

P.S. I still can't figure out how can I put 2d clocks when idleing, with 12.7 and disabled ULPS, my clocks stick to 500/1630 and full blown vcore of 1.231 that is set for 3d aps, they dont go down to 0.943 now. Didnt have that problem with 12.6 drivers and disabled ULPS.:confused:
 
Used to run three 580 3gb and vram usage was ~2gb most of the time if not lower. Currently I'm not seeing any game break 1.8-2.0gb, so I'm more inclined to get a couple of 670s 2gb and save over the 680 and 7970.

Love that there are multi monitor reviews out there to help with gpu decisions :)
 
Over 3gb usage:
Serious Sam 3 maxed out with 5760x1080
Max Payne 3 maxed out ( xcept for MSAA, due to game claiming "not enought vram) at 5760x1080
Metro 2033 with DOF at5760x1080
Over 2gb usage : Witcher 2, BF3
 
It all boils down to these factors:
- Memory size
- Memory bandwidth
- Real-world performance
- Power usage
- Price


All in all, it's a very detailed review. Thanks a bunch!
 
Great review... Has there been an update from amd that addresses the issues of crossfire/trifire and eyefinity since this review was done? Looking to get crossfire but if they haven't fixed it by now then it looks like it's time to leave amd
 
Nvidia all the way, no matter what. Crossfire is so ridiculously broken.
Doesn't matter if they come out with better hardware, their drivers are such kaka that it doesn't matter

Your hardware is only as good as your software allows it to be.

1 card - AMD is ok
2 cards - pfft....not, SLI for sure

Not even mentioning the greater amount of micro-stuttering on Crossfire, nor the plethora of games that Crossfire doesn't work on. Good game
 
this is outdated and needs to be revised. the 7970's are clearly the better choice now.
 
this is outdated and needs to be revised. the 7970's are clearly the better choice now.

If the drivers hold up for AMD. There crossfire and Tri-fire drivers just plain sucks period.

Single card AMD's are badass though!
 
Great review! just snagged x 7950s myself gonna slap water blocks on them and roll!
 
If I could just find someone that wants to let go of their 4gb msi 680 then I'd have my dream setup.
 
Guys, a bit off-topic : anyone knows how much four 7970 will draw power ? I'm finishing up my quadfire rig. My current rig holds 3x7970 @ 1200/1540 + i7 3930k @ 4.5ghz + 2x MCP 655 + x79 Xpower II. The rig is powered by AX1200. I'm adding a 4th card, and will be able to buy a 1500w silverstone around July, but for the time being, if I drop the OC on video cards to 1000/1400 and drop the CPU OC to 4.3-4.0 will I be able to get away with my current PSU ?
 
this is my 3 way SLI of Galaxy GTX680 SOCK @ 1306 Core 7400mem

YW3v2Qm.jpg


hot but killer !!!
 
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