GTX 690 Worth it?

[Box_Of_Rocks]

Or wait a bit and look at the new Asus ROG Ares II ;)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6561/asus-announces-ares-ii-video-card-dual-radeon-hd-7970ge-on-a-single-card

[Helltech]

Get two 7950s or two 670s if you want high end performance to price ratio.

[ismand95]

I would get a 680, save my money and then buy a 780 when the new series comes out :)

[Mrinsane]

wait it out and get this!! Post Link

[Blake]

dual GPUs on a single card should not be done, unless your have either:

1. more money then sense,

2. your going to a world record of some sort on a benchmark. AND/OR

3. you don't have the PCI-E slots

every time if you can get 2 versions of the card, rather then 2 versions of the card on a single card, they will be perform better, and cheaper, and cooler.

[Blake]

My opinion is to get the single best graphics card you can at this time. The 7970 M. Platinum is very hit-and-miss, so something like the GTX 680 Lightning Edition from MSI, or even just a reasonable ASUS GTX 680 would be a good plan.

Playing at 1080p, this card will probably last you two years, in my opinion.

The good thing about single card is that in two years time, you can probably sell it for ~$200 and buy the single best card for 2015.

I just realised someone else said pretty much the same thing, but I'll just reinforce it :P

I don't recommend a 7970 for only 1080p; a GTX 680 with 2GB of VRAM will do fine.

If you find you really need a second card, get a motherboard with 3 PCI slots. Put one slot in between two air-cooled 680s and you will be fine.

Don't worry about that, honestly.

This will overclock like a beast:

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=78169&vpn=GTX680-DC2-4GD5&manufacture=ASUS

This is a reference card, but still clocked very high and cheaper:

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=71942&vpn=02G-P4-3686-KR&manufacture=eVGA&promoid=1067

I recommend the bottom one and liquid cooling it if you want pure silence.

You can try this waterblock

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=75522&vpn=5060175583437&manufacture=XSPC%20Asia%20Co%2E%20Ltd%2E

please stop the bias, 7970 GHz edition = 680, +/- 2% or so. guess what should be recommended, the cheaper one, things might change next round, but currently this is the truth.

[Blake]

IMHO I would not recommend going for the 690. Get a 7970 or 680 and add another if needed a year or 2 down the line and save yourself a small pile of money. The card might be very fast and powerful now' date=' but say a year down the line the developers brings out new tech in games that is required to run at high-max settings. If your 690 doesn't have that then you won't be able to play at high/max I would recommend to stick with a 2yr upgrade cycle, e.g. 7970 / 680 or get the 89xx or 7xx cards that will be out in a few months. [/quote']

I'm sorry to interject but I don't agree with this. Check Tomshardware and tell me how well the old GTX 590 fairs against this generation of cards and then you should have a good idea of how long a dual GPU single PCB card will crush games at max everything. That being said, I'm not entirely convinced that you need the 690 as 1080p gaming can be done extremely well with the GTX 670 and you save yourself a good amount of walking around money. The % of gaming performance between the 670 and the 680 is so negledgable that it isn't worth the extra $100+ dollars in my opinion. If I was in your shoes I would either do a single 670 or if you're truly worried about future performance then SLI two 670's and you will not be disappointed. By all means it's completely up to you I am just pointing out another viable option.

never mention that site again if you want any credibility, your just lucky your correct in this case...

[Blankie440]

IMHO I would not recommend going for the 690. Get a 7970 or 680 and add another if needed a year or 2 down the line and save yourself a small pile of money. The card might be very fast and powerful now' date=' but say a year down the line the developers brings out new tech in games that is required to run at high-max settings. If your 690 doesn't have that then you won't be able to play at high/max I would recommend to stick with a 2yr upgrade cycle, e.g. 7970 / 680 or get the 89xx or 7xx cards that will be out in a few months. [/quote']

I'm sorry to interject but I don't agree with this. Check Tomshardware and tell me how well the old GTX 590 fairs against this generation of cards and then you should have a good idea of how long a dual GPU single PCB card will crush games at max everything. That being said, I'm not entirely convinced that you need the 690 as 1080p gaming can be done extremely well with the GTX 670 and you save yourself a good amount of walking around money. The % of gaming performance between the 670 and the 680 is so negledgable that it isn't worth the extra $100+ dollars in my opinion. If I was in your shoes I would either do a single 670 or if you're truly worried about future performance then SLI two 670's and you will not be disappointed. By all means it's completely up to you I am just pointing out another viable option.

I have impeckable credibility without your input on my referral sites. Toms hardware is known for many things but not being credible isn't one of them. Up your resource and intelligence level if you want to come at my credibility again.

[ShaunW500]

Yes and No, if you have the money go for it, if you just like to play it on 1080p GTX 680 with 2GB GDDR5 would be enough unless you are going for a higher resolution which requires more graphic memory.

If i got the money i would go for GTX 690 but if dont i would go for GTX 680 and save up allitle more money later on for another GTX 680

if you are worried about heat on the two GPUs, there is always liquid cooling if u dare to go that route

Why would a intel i5 3570k ivy bridge bottleneck the gpu if I had 2 gtx 680s. So to not bottleneck you would need a i7?

[Bob]

I would wait and see what the 8000 series have to offer.

[MystiqThunder]

Here is the problem: Most people won't benefit much from cards like a GTX 690 because they don't have the right monitor set-up. If your gaming in 4K or 2560 at 120Hz, then it is a different story. So may I ask, what are you using for monitors?

You also said it yourself that you are going to game at 1080p. So, I think a good non-reference 670 or MAYBE a 680 presents most value. You will max out everything, I promise.

[MystiqThunder]

IMHO I would not recommend going for the 690. Get a 7970 or 680 and add another if needed a year or 2 down the line and save yourself a small pile of money. The card might be very fast and powerful now' date=' but say a year down the line the developers brings out new tech in games that is required to run at high-max settings. If your 690 doesn't have that then you won't be able to play at high/max I would recommend to stick with a 2yr upgrade cycle, e.g. 7970 / 680 or get the 89xx or 7xx cards that will be out in a few months. [/quote']

I'm sorry to interject but I don't agree with this. Check Tomshardware and tell me how well the old GTX 590 fairs against this generation of cards and then you should have a good idea of how long a dual GPU single PCB card will crush games at max everything. That being said, I'm not entirely convinced that you need the 690 as 1080p gaming can be done extremely well with the GTX 670 and you save yourself a good amount of walking around money. The % of gaming performance between the 670 and the 680 is so negledgable that it isn't worth the extra $100+ dollars in my opinion. If I was in your shoes I would either do a single 670 or if you're truly worried about future performance then SLI two 670's and you will not be disappointed. By all means it's completely up to you I am just pointing out another viable option.

Lets not argue here people :)

[Guest]

Here is the problem: Most people won't benefit much from cards like a GTX 690 because they don't have the right monitor set-up. If your gaming in 4K or 2560 at 120Hz' date=' then it is a different story. So may I ask, what are you using for monitors? You also said it yourself that you are going to game at 1080p. So, I think a good non-reference 670 or MAYBE a 680 presents most value. You will max out everything, I promise. [/quote']

This ^^^ - people get way too quickly wrapped up in I want the best graphics card that money can buy and forget that they are restrained by the rest of their system - if your monitor only runs at 60Hz then why bother?

And as for the new Asus card; you're looking most likely around the $1500 price tag

[Wats]

even a 7870 will max out everything, just get a really high end 670 or some random 680, id also like to add that some mobos support dual/triple gpus WITH 1 pci space between them for better cooling. Ex:most asus boards.

[Kilmer02]

Yes and No, if you have the money go for it, if you just like to play it on 1080p GTX 680 with 2GB GDDR5 would be enough unless you are going for a higher resolution which requires more graphic memory.

If i got the money i would go for GTX 690 but if dont i would go for GTX 680 and save up allitle more money later on for another GTX 680

if you are worried about heat on the two GPUs, there is always liquid cooling if u dare to go that route

3570k would not bottleneck at all. It's a 3770k without hyper threading. Gaming is way more often then not single threaded, which makes a 3570k cheap and perfect for the job.

[Mr.Seng]

there's so many possible solutions for graphics, it's completely ridiculous. Almost every comment is another unique way of doing things.

I think what's important to realize is that your graphics card decision relies on more then just cost and performance. What I mean is, if you want to be running crossfire/SLI or not and if you can even fit multiple graphics cards in your case. Maybe you have just enough space right now, but in the future you may want to use that space for something else?

Graphics cards aren't the only things that go into a computer, and they're certainly not the only things worth spending your money on.

The 690 is the best possible single Physical (cause it's a dual GPU) card solution. of course, with that comes the cost... So maybe you don't need all that extra performance? Maybe a single 680 or 670 would suffice? Or maybe not, and you want an absolute powerhouse rig but you're on a budget, in which case two 670's in SLI on PCI 16x slots is faster then a 690. When you get into 3 and 4 way SLI you have to start paying attention to the speeds of your PCI slots, cause that will definitely make a difference.

in conclusion; there are many ways to do your graphics! You've gotta figure out what's best/most effective for YOUR build!

[thegamezbeplayed]

I would defiantly recommend a 7970, if you absolutely need that kind of performance, get another 7970 in crossfire. It benchmarks better than 690, and is cheaper.

why would be defiant?

[thegamezbeplayed]

First i suggest finding the benchmarks for the games you want to play. and decide if you want the card that gets 90fps 70 fps and so on.. 1080p is easy for any cards these days