Nvidia GTX 680 details surface

It’s no secret that Nvidia is planning to release its GTX 600 range of graphics cards shortly, and apparently the company held an event related to the new cards yesterday (13 March 2012). It would seem that the event officially revealed the card and even handed out review samples, as GTX 680 pictures and detailed specifications have since begun turning up online.

Nvidia GTX 680

According to various sources, the GTX 680 will feature two 6-pin PCI-Express connectors and have a TDP of 190W. The card is based on Nvidia’s 28nm GK104 Kepler chip that is around 300mm² in size.

It will boast 1536 shader units, 2GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6GHz, and a very high core clock speed. Nvidia is reportedly claiming behind closed doors that its GTX 680 will deliver more performance per Watt than the competing Radeon HD 7970.

Of course, the average gamer is not as concerned with performance per Watt as they are with performance per Rand.

Nvidia GTX 680

Early reports suggest that the GTX 680 performs similarly to the Radeon HD 7970, winning in some games and benchmarks and losing in others. These claims come directly from Nvidia, however, so we will reserve judgement until the card is actually available and independent benchmarks have been conducted.

According to various leaks, the card will retail for $549 (R4,400), which should come as no surprise given Nvidia’s recent pricing history.

The company also recently chopped just over 10% off the retail price of the GTX 580, and the card is now available for around R5,000.