I,m trying to decide to get a 680 now and another later or go ahead and sink a Grand into 1 690. Any thoughts on this to help me get the best bang for the bucks. Or wait on the 685 Big Kepler ?
Thanks

Z77 sabertooth MB
Win 7 Premium
Corsair HX850 PSU

For GPUGRID or gaming only: two 680 is better solution, I think. It's hard to cool down dual gpu cards. It depends on free pci slots and free place in case also.

Nice mobo you got there Mark!
I would go for the 2 x 680 for not only the heat challenge but also that dual GPU cards generally also make compromises in performance, voltage regulation.
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Thanks - Steve

If you're talking about best bang for the buck. I would say get 2 Gigabyte 670s. I'm honestly not noticing that much of a disparity in runtime between my 670 and 680s.

The higher stock clocks and better cooling make up for the few extra cores. t 100$ less, that would be my recommendation.

Mark,

I am running one 690 signature, non-OC.
Intel E8300
8G
1 sata drive

Ambient room temps are 78 to 84
The case is open, for now, with a very small 3" fan blowing directly on the card.

Fan manually set to 95%
94% load is 72c
86% load is 66C

At-the-wall power draw is about 300W.

Once I got the temperature below 82C,I've had a consistent string of successful wu runs.

My RAC does not yet accurately reflect the true "maximal" performance because it has only been running about 1 week.

Within the next week the card will move to an Antec P280 and eventually get a sibling 690. I picked the 690 because I wanted as much in one box as I could afford.



Ken

I ordered an EVGA 680 signature 2 overclocked with 2 fans this morning. I'll try running it beside my current 570. Will I have to reinstall Nvidia drivers again with the new 680 ?

I have 1 590 and several 580s and 570s. Two 570s do more work than 1 590 but 1 590 does far more work than 1 580.

If you are limited on slots, the 690 is the way to go. If you plan to build a multicard system, multiple 690s will be a great build.

I am currently looking for another 590 because I have 1 more open slot on one of my computers. Prices are falling for all of the 5xx series cards so I can afford another 590.

Hope this helps!
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Thx - Paul

Note: Please don't use driver version 295 or 296! Recommended versions are 266 - 285.

mine 680GTX gives 450.000 PPD it is the same as 2*580GTX. I think the answer is obvious.