Andrew_K

I'm really hoping its GK110, but also really skeptical at the same time. Nothing would make me happier than to pick up three GK110's before the 4gb 680's are even released. Though, at the same time, it wouldn't seem like they would generate this much hype over a dual gk104 card... imho.

It wouldn't surprise me if it really is GK104s per card.  Demand for the current 680s, the new flavor of the month, are still rock solid.  Increasing the hype factor is good for business.  With AMD on the side watching the Nvidia gpu-purchasing frenzy and preparing to make their next move, it wouldn't be wise for Nvidia to release their better "hand of cards" when they are at an advantage.  If I was Nvidia, I would milk the 680s and 690s (Gk104) for a few more months.  Continuing to make more money on their current products doesn't hurt their revenue returns, and neither does holding their next best flagships.  Thus, the reason why something better (GK110) won't be released until September.  Around the time when the 7990s may actually be released, or the successor of the 7990 (an amd dual-graphic card that never physically hit store-shelves)...  You also need to take into account that their are two contenders in this little GPU-war.  So having the very best gpu out, at stores, at this very second, isn't smart for business.
 
In theory, if Nvidia released the 690, and say they released a 685 and 695 (GK110) versions a month later, one thing will be certain.  Demand of these 685 and 695 will shift upward, and the 680s will possibly go downward or stay stable.  Supply of these cards will go down, extremely fast, which will drive cost of manufacturing them and MSRP up.  Price will probably go up at Newegg and EVGA.  Wait time on these cards will go up too because they can only manufacture so many at a given period of time.  I guess a good question you should ask yourself is this if this were true:  Are you willing to pay around $900.00 for a GK110, and over $1.0k for a dual gpu version of the GK110, while Nvidia is still pumping out 680s.  Ignoring other factors like stability, performance, driver-maturity, OC, any manufacturing defects that possibly come up along the way with respect to time.  In the end, Nvidia gets what they want: More revenue returns from their fan-base, and those who are switching over from AMD to Nvidia, and avg customers, for a specific period of time.

lol.

Maybe it's the release of the next batch of HydroCoppers...

xrumer

I'm sorry if anyone takes offense to this (evga fan boys) its sad that nvidia will tell the flagship cards spec on Sat and Evga can't even release FTW specs before then.

I personally think the 680 4gb model will be a loss real quick with these early arrivals. 690 release details Sat, 685 to follow why get a 4gb model? That demographic will be so small if Sat brings 690 and follow a month later with the 685.

Just my 2cents

I'm a bit confused.  Where have you read that the 685 will be out in a month?  Or anywhere/anytime for that matter?

If the 690 is in fact revealed on Saturday, why would that reduce demand for the 680s?  History tells us that two 680s *should* handily outperform a 690, as the dual GPU cards are typically underclocked/neutered flagships, so demand for the 680s will drop very little, if at all (EDIT: and that includes the upcoming FTW models). 

xrumer

Q3 I meant ref. Videocardz.com

Of course I guess it all comes down to what you believe is a better set up. A single card with 2 gpu's or 2 cards in SLI that will produce excess heat plus potential SLI gaming issues.

They both run SLI. for me... heat means nothing really... all my cards go underwater. 
 
another thing with the 690 that is cuasing another hesitation is that your missing the history that nvidia has with the previous 590 gtx. you might want to start digging around in the forums and all over the internet about alot of issues many people had. 

I got another 680 to sli with so no 690 coming my way.

With this countdown, will nvidia be releasing any cards that day? or is it just going to be announcements for future kepler cards?

Indeed. It's probably just a release of info. I think more would have been leaked if it was the actual card.

So, assuming these rumors are correct. Can you sli a 690 with a 680 then, for tri-sli?

chefbenito

bhk1004

another thing... if people consider the 680 really a 560 replacement, then if the 690 turns out to be a dual GPU card... does that mean this is really a 560 2win replacement? 

My head hurts after reading that.

The 680 is a replacement for any GPU if u ask me, it is the fastest single GPU available.  IT is definitely not a sheared off gpu like the 560 is a cropped fermi chip. The 560 is an average gpu, never was number 1. The 680 is tier 1 flagship gpu so I don't see how the comparison is made. The 690 is and will be a dual gk-104 card probably out before the June launch of the 7990. This is all googlable btw. The 560 2win is a specialized custom dual gpu card which cannot sli with anything, whereas the 690 will be dual gk104s and will be able to sli with another 690 for dual card/quad sli configs. In like a year when we are talking about the bigger die sized gk110 dual gpu, my guess 790, it will be draw a ton of power and is likely to be stymied by low clock speeds as the 590s were.  2win is customized everything, the 690s will of course be reference cards at first.

+1 for that awesome intel stock CPU cooler in that case with the crazy lights lmao

you must have missed all the information and threads about the gk104 originally being slotted to be the 660 TI.. and then moved up due to take the slot of the 680 due to the underwhelming performance of the 7970s.

I'm confident it's the GTX 670 for these reasons:

• nVidia is really good with GPU harvesting. Given the less than stellar GK104 yields, imperfect GPU's are probably plentiful. It makes sense to recover as much as possible, something they've done for how many product cycles now?
• They have the 680 PCB which can easily accomodate a  partially disabled GK104 core. If it requires less power than a full GK104 core, they could trim a power phase saving on cost. In manufacturing, pennies count. Thanks to the 256-bit memory architecture, they have cost conscious components already on hand.
• There's a 28nm gap under GTX 680 big enough to drive a bus through. Fill it with something. Fill it with what you can as quickly and as cheaply as possible. Board and cooler in place + imperfect GPUs on hand mean they have all parts for a GTX 670.

My prediction, GTX 670 will launch using the same PCB, memory capacity, and cooler as the GTX 680. Launch price = $399 - $429.
 
I'll make another prediction. There will be a GTX 680 Ultra variant using the same PCB. How do I figure? Because I'm Mel Gibson and I stared in Conspiracy Theory:

• Why let Intel have all the fun introducing "Extreme" products? Recall the days of the "Ultra." An enhanced model direct from nVidia, not a pre-overclocked reference spin-off from [cough] a board vendor. The introduction of GPU Boost should mean something. To me, it means nVidia has thought about having some control over GPU enhancement. Sure we'll still overclock base models; but why not have an "Ultra" product? Supply will be limited and it'll sell out with each restock.
• In addition, the 680 PCB is ready for an additional power phase and  connector. Why design it in? Did they think 680 would need it? With it, and how the cooler currently handles the GK104 core, all they need are capable cores. Cherry picking anyone? Fill in the missing power blanks:

Great, another dual GPU card to replace the 590, which did so well last year.
 
I really really hope nVidia learned its lesson from the 590's epic fail. This time I wont make the same mistake last time and I will wait for others to review this card first before I buy this card. I hope nVidia fixed the issues that plagued the 590.

Cyanide89

JaskarnSidhu
Great, another dual GPU card to replace the 590, which did so well last year.

I really really hope nVidia learned its lesson from the 590's epic fail. This time I wont make the same mistake last time and I will wait for others to review this card first before I buy this card. I hope nVidia fixed the issues that plagued the 590.

The only reason the 590 did so poorly was due to the stigma surrounding it. After videos hit the web of it catching of fire when overclocking, it was something they just didn't want to risk having to deal with.

There are no more issues with the 590 than any other card. 480... overheating. 295... overheating. 560... SLI. 460... lock-ups.

590... physically melting away inside your computer causing house fires. That's it.

 
Its way more than just that. The 590 was not over clockable at all, which is why the majority of users who buy such a high end card look for, the over clocking ability. Because overclocking physically blew out the vrams (due to them not being able to handle more voltage) nvidia locked out the voltages rather than rectifying the vram issues and allowing users to actually use the card as they intented. Yes, you could argue that what you see is what you get and that video card wasnt designed to be overclocked when in reality it was designed like every other card was designed by nvidia, to be pushed to the limits by its users if they wish. Nvidia took that option away from its users because so many of its cards failed when initially reviewed by reviewers. If nvidia truly wanted to create a card that they never intended or wanted to be over clocked, they would have locked its voltage from the very first card released and locked its clock speed and told its consumers from the very launch that this card would offer absolute no over clocking ability whatsoever. That didnt happen. They released a card which they didnt test throughly and even a modest over clock caused the highest RMA rate of any card Nvidia has ever released. Tell me that was their intention. They F***ed up and decided to take the quick and easy route of fixing the problem by locking the voltages.
 
I made the huge mistake of buying these cards right at release without seeing any of their reviews. Had I did my due diligence and seen some reviews I would have never ordered 2 590's and would have went with 3 or 4 580's instead. That was my mistake and it wont happen again.

Cyanide89

JaskarnSidhu
Its way more than just that. The 590 was not over clockable at all, which is why the majority of users who buy such a high end card look for, the over clocking ability. Because overclocking physically blew out the vrams (due to them not being able to handle more voltage) nvidia locked out the voltages rather than rectifying the vram issues and allowing users to actually use the card as they intented. Yes, you could argue that what you see is what you get and that video card wasnt designed to be overclocked when in reality it was designed like every other card was designed by nvidia, to be pushed to the limits by its users if they wish. Nvidia took that option away from its users because so many of its cards failed when initially reviewed by reviewers. If nvidia truly wanted to create a card that they never intended or wanted to be over clocked, they would have locked its voltage from the very first card released and locked its clock speed and told its consumers from the very launch that this card would offer absolute no over clocking ability whatsoever. That didnt happen. They released a card which they didnt test throughly and even a modest over clock caused the highest RMA rate of any card Nvidia has ever released. Tell me that was their intention. They F***ed up and decided to take the quick and easy route of fixing the problem by locking the voltages.

I made the huge mistake of buying these cards right at release without seeing any of their reviews. Had I did my due diligence and seen some reviews I would have never ordered 2 590's and would have went with 3 or 4 580's instead. That was my mistake and it wont happen again.

I completely agree that they shouldn't have had any issues when overclocking. Especially considering that they are both underclocked 580's. Regardless, two 590's should have been powerful enough to satisfy 2 or 3 580 cravings. But then there's the issues with Quad SLI... which did eventually get fixed.

Also, the 590's were and are still capable of marginal overclocks and slightly more with proper cooling and monitoring. 

 
Yeah exactly, i agree.
 
I just hope that this year Nvidia gets it right and their new dual gpu cards wont have the same issues the 590's did.

tzaar0723

xrumer

I'm sorry if anyone takes offense to this (evga fan boys) its sad that nvidia will tell the flagship cards spec on Sat and Evga can't even release FTW specs before then.

I personally think the 680 4gb model will be a loss real quick with these early arrivals. 690 release details Sat, 685 to follow why get a 4gb model? That demographic will be so small if Sat brings 690 and follow a month later with the 685.

Just my 2cents

I'm a bit confused.  Where have you read that the 685 will be out in a month?  Or anywhere/anytime for that matter?

If the 690 is in fact revealed on Saturday, why would that reduce demand for the 680s?  History tells us that two 680s *should* handily outperform a 690, as the dual GPU cards are typically underclocked/neutered flagships, so demand for the 680s will drop very little, if at all (EDIT: and that includes the upcoming FTW models). 

I think unless the 690s have 2 fans for heat and are of course 4gigs, which they're supposed to be 4gigs then i'd say the 680s would still be in high demand, and probably as much as it is now. A 690 would be............. what $799.00.