Download July 2012 - Maximum PC

The Asus GTX 680
is fast, quiet, and
unassuming.
a single set of frequencies, similarly clocked
products would behave identically, but that
predictability may be a thing of the past.
Still, the differences are negligible. We’re
unconcerned with minor frame-rate differences, and even the 3W-lower idle power
won’t pay for a cup of coffee over a year’s
time. Compared to the factory-overclocked
XFX Radeon HD 7970 Black Edition Double-D
card, performance and power differences are
more notable.
As with other GTX 680s, Asus’s offering
supports up to four simultaneous displays
with one card, provided you’ve got the right
set of connectors and adapters. Like EVGA,
Asus ships the card with its own performance mod software, which Asus calls GPU
Tweak. GPU Tweak isn’t quite as easy to use
as EVGA’s Precision, and doesn’t yet seem
to support all the features of the GTX 680,
like GPU Boost adjustments. But it gets the
job done. The best part of GPU Tweak is its
custom take on GPU-Z, an excellent tool for
monitoring the state of your GPU.
Asus offers a three-year limited warranty
on the card, putting it in line with most other
mainstream companies.
In the end, the Asus GTX 680 is one fast
card, and is impressively quiet and efficient.
For once, we think the reference design is
good enough for most gamers.
9
VERDICT
Asus GeForce GTX 680
$500, www.asus.com
BENCHMARKS
EVGA GTX 680
Asus GTX 680
EVGA GTX 580 SC
XFX Radeon
HD 7970 Black
Edition
Price
$500
$500
$550
$580
3DMark 11 Perf
9,467
9,529
6,747
8,393
3DMark Vantage Perf
33,708
33,853
26,936
32,813
Unigine Heaven 2.5 (fps)
31
31
22
29
Shogun 2 (fps)
19
18
22
28
Far Cry 2 / Long (fps)
107
107
85
96
Dirt 3 (fps)
69
73
50
64
HAWX 2 DX11 (fps)
128
127
120
120
STALKER: CoP DX11 (fps)
39
40
28
39
Just Cause 2 (fps)
54
55
58
50
Batman: Arkham City (fps)
58
59
70
53
Metro 2033 (fps)
17
19
26
20
Core / Memory Clocks
(actual)
1,006 / 1,502
1,006 / 1,502
797 / 1,013
1,000 / 1,425
System Power @ idle (W)
122
119
140
124
System Power @ full
throttle (W)
316
318
344
349
Best scores are bolded. Our test bed is a 3.33GHz Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition in an Asus P9X79 Deluxe motherboard with 16GB
of Corsair DDR3/1600 and an AX1200 Corsair PSU. The OS is 64-bit Windows Ultimate. All games are run at 2560x1600 with 4x AA
except for the 3DMark tests.
maximumpc.com
JUL 2012
MAXIMUMPC
83