Not sure if this belongs in Other Hardware, or in the 600 series, but I am talking about EVGA GTX 680 FTW 4 GB and Classy.
 
This the first time in my own history that I've been on the cutting edge of a technology, ready to jump, and edgerly awaiting the release (*cough* 4GB FTW *cough*, and then *cough* classy *cough*).  I am thoroughly enjoying it!  Though, I am already going to loose some cash since I jumped on the 2 GB versions immediately when released hoping the new TXAA would overlook the 2 GB limit with no MSAA - whoops, guess not.
 
So branching out a little, to see what other manufacturers are working on, I stumbled onto this monster from Zotac.
 
http://www.techpowerup.com/163231/ZOTAC-GeForce-GTX-680-Extreme-Edition-Pictured.html
 





 
Nothing is going to steer me away from 2x or even 3x EVGA GTX 680 FTW 4096 MB cards in my current build.  Though they will have 8-phase PWM, I don't see myself pushing the limits of these cards since I have abandoned watercooling the GPUs in my builds due to the massive heat generated from my previous builds.   At least until I settle down in a house of where I can build a geothermal or basement cooling system to extract the heat.
 
But what struck me with this card is the serious departure from a reference design.  In the article, they tease about 2 GB speeds.  So the EVGA GTX 580 Classy is going to have to be a monster to compete with this!  I think they copied what EVGA did with the GTX 580 Classy. 

Nice to see hardware vendors pushing limits--- now if we can just get Software Devs. to follow suit, instead of console drivel ports - I will be more than happy !!

These would get... a little toasty in SLI. Pass.

Never been a fan of the Zotac design. I like clean and sleek and this card is far from that aesthetically.....yet another reason why I continue to buy EVGA products.

aka_STEVE_b

Nice to see hardware vendors pushing limits--- now if we can just get Software Devs. to follow suit, instead of console drivel ports - I will be more than happy !!

 
 
I'm with you brother.  Hopefully this will  push other companies (for braggin' rights...you know they care about it) to develop a card like this.  While they may not sell a ton of these...it's really fun to see!

If it still throttles like the reference cards, what good is a 12-phase VRM?  Be cool if they really changed the BIOS giving access to base clock, multi's (if it has them), boost overrride and overall voltage control for both GPU & memory.  We will have to stay tuned to see how far these manufacturers can stray from nVidia's reference design.

sailindawg

If it still throttles like the reference cards, what good is a 12-phase VRM?  Be cool if they really changed the BIOS giving access to base clock, multi's (if it has them), boost overrride and overall voltage control for both GPU & memory.  We will have to stay tuned to see how far these manufacturers can stray from nVidia's reference design.

They replaced the hardware limitation chip.
It's very likely they will have bypassed the clock throttling and core voltage at least, because there would be no point.
We shall see though.

I will be buying 2 gtx 680 classifieds if they sell for $650.00 or less.

As long as it keeps the Vid -card nice and cool for long hours or a good long hours of gamming hrs at a time then it would be worth it.

Unfortunately there are no plans to release this model in the US. However, it will be released in China. When it will be released in China is now the question. I have some people keeping an eye out for its release over there.

this spanks evga offerings so far!!!