Some of our best and most passionate customers have told us (though forums, partners and directly) that they are frustrated with our position on GPU Overvoltaging.  So we feel that it is important to explain exactly what our position is and why we feel that it is important.
 
We love to see  our chips run faster and we understand that our customers want to squeeze as much performance as possible out of their GPUs.  However there is a physical limit to the amount of voltage that can be applied to a GPU before the silicon begins to degrade through electromigration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromigration).  Essentially, excessive voltages on transistors can over time "evaporate" the metal in a key spot destroying or degrading the performance of the chip.  Unfortunately, since the process happens over time it's not always immediately obvious when it's happening.  Overvoltaging above our max spec does exactly this.  It raises the operating voltage beyond our rated max and can erode the GPU silicon over time.
 
In contrast, GPU Boost always keeps the voltage below our max spec, even as it is raising and lowering the voltage dynamically.  That way you get great performance and a guaranteed lifetime.
So our policy is pretty simple:

1. We encourage users to go have fun with our GPUs.  They are completely guaranteed and will perform great within the predefined limits. 
2. We also recommend that our board partners don’t build in mechanisms that raise voltages beyond our max spec.  We set it as high as possible within long term reliability limits. 

 
The reason we have a limit on max voltage is very simply to prevent damage to the GPU chips.  At NVIDIA we know that our customers want to push their GPUs to the limit.  We are all for it, and as a matter of fact NVIDIA has always prioritized support for hardware enthusiasts by providing tools to access hardware settings and by supporting our board partners in creating overclocked enthusiast products.  Leading up to the GeForce GTX 680 release for example, we worked closely with developers of 3rd party overclocking utilities to make sure they fully supported GeForce GTX 680 and GPU Boost on the day of launch.

whyscotty

Will Evga still support those of us who has them?

maniacvvv

I have just made some phone calls...

It appears that Nvidia is attempting to keep the performance differential intact from its unreleased "original" 680 that was withheld at the 600 series launch.
From what I gather with people who know about such things, this may portend a much earlier release of the withheld card than was projected just a few months ago.

This appears to be all about Nvidia milking the customer to the last red cent (since AMD has fallen flat on its face) and removing the ability to truly push ones cards into higher performance levels is being done to simply increase the profit margin. 

It appears that Nvidia has forgotten the key to its overwhelming success. Providing the experienced user with the options to increase performance levels. 

Once you start removing features to increase ones profit levels, you are heading downhill as a company.
It appears that Nvidia is doing just that. In my opinion this is a serious mistake that may increase profits "now" but lead to issues should such behavior be contiuned by Nvidia.

+1 for profit margins, -5 for end users
Greed is a terrible thing, if allowed to become company policy. Nvidia may be able to get away with this given the current state of videocard development between AMD and itself, but further down the road could open the door to Nvidia becoming marginalized.

gregtheman

I am a self confessed Nvidia fan but I was bitterly disappointed with the locked volts on the 680's (I have 2 of them). I will seriously consider changing brands. Overclocking is a big part of my computer enjoyment and with Nvidia taking the fun out of it, this could well be my last Green Team buy :(