4GB GTX670 or 2GB GTX680?

G80FTW

G80FTW

Active Member
Now, I am finally starting to see some 680s on the market. Which is nice, but what seems to be even more rare are the 4GB models of each card. Specifically Im looking now at a 4GB eVGA 670.

So, after looking at a bunch of numbers it seems the 670 performs pretty much the same as the 680 (if you consider that the 680 is clocked slightly higher) so Im taking this as a guess that todays games are not using the full potential of either card. Could be just a driver thing, but Im left wondering how much of a difference could 200 SPUs really be down the road? I mean, looking back, 200 SPUs was like night and day in terms of performance. But that was comparing like my G80 to the GTX580. A couple hundred SPUs made a HUGE difference then (along with much faster and more memory of course). Will this too be the case in the future?

I made the mistake in 2007 of buying a 320MB card and I will never forget it. High resolutions really tax this card, and high resolutions with AA just forget it. I didnt think back then that 768MB that the Ultra was offering was worth the extra $200 or whatever it was back then, but now I know it probably was.

So I dont wanna make that same mistake again. I figure, if I buy a 4GB card now it should last me years down the road as even my 320MB G80 has. If I had bought the 768MB Ultra back then, I might not even be considering upgrading just yet as I have seen 8800 Ultras still being able to max out todays games pretty nicely.


So, I am very much now leaning towards buying the 4GB 670. And here is the price comparison:

4GB 670 = $470
2GB 680 = $500
4GB 680 = $630

So the 4GB 670 looks like it could really be the only option right? Such a cheap price and performs nearly the same as the 680 in todays games. 1-2fps differences is all I saw. And when your already getting 100fps, those 1-2fps are not even worth considering.
 
Last edited:
G80FTW said:
So the 4GB 670 looks like it could really be the only option right? Such a cheap price and performs nearly the same as the 680 in todays games. 1-2fps differences is all I saw. And when your already getting 100fps, those 1-2fps are not even worth considering.
Click to expand...
Yep I'd say you are correct. A 4GB GTX 670 is going to max out pretty much all the games out there for a long while. I'd say go for it! The 680 isn't much faster.
 
What resolution are you playing at/plan to play at? 2GB would be more than enough for 1920x1080. Anything higher, I'd go for the 4GB one.
 
Erm, just throwing this out there, but what about a 2GB 670? A single 680, in any game today @ 1920x1080 wont use 2GB of VRAM. Neither will a 670. And considering your current PSU, you couldn't SLI. If you're playing at 1920x1080 I can guarantee you will so no performance difference with a single 4GB 670 vs a single 2GB 670.
 
A few games will use 1 and a half gigabytes of vram on 1080p. But it is like metro 2033 and battlefield 3. A 670 is nearly the same as a 680, so the 670 4 GB should be right on with 680 2 GB, but that 4 GB probobly wont matter until you cant max games out on that card.
 
If you can afford it, i'd get the 680. No denying that it is better, even if it cuts kind of close. Sure you could overclock the 670 to match up with the performance of one, but then you're forced into voiding the warranty and shortening the lifespan of the card by doing so. Personally, I like a card that runs faster at stock clocks than on overclocks - as with other clocked components. You can do a lot with less than 2gb, especially if you're not running multi-monitor huge resolution setups. Think in terms of how much you'll need and use, and shop accordingly.
 
byteninja2 said:
A few games will use 1 and a half gigabytes of vram on 1080p. But it is like metro 2033 and battlefield 3. A 670 is nearly the same as a 680, so the 670 4 GB should be right on with 680 2 GB, but that 4 GB probobly wont matter until you cant max games out on that card.
Click to expand...

Yea but Im talking about future games. Im thinking that within a few years time, 4GB will be used even at 1080p which is what I will be gaming at. I think Im gonna go with the 4GB 670, it should perform better than the 2GB 680 at ultra high resolutions.

EDIT: Actually, I think I may just go ahead and spend the extra $160 or so and get the 4GB 680. As I said, I made the mistake in 2007 of not spending $200 more for the best card and I ended up seeing the difference in future titles. I just cant wrap my head around the extra 20GT/s or so more that the 680 can perform over the 670. It puts in perspective, as thats almost the difference of my whole card! My G80 is 27.6GT/s.
 
Last edited:
Regardless of which card you get here, you will have a gpu that will stomp all over most games and give you impressive performance. Go with the one that your budget allows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top