Published in Graphics

Point of View/TGT GTX 680 Beast previewed

by on04 July 2012

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Preview:
The fastest factory overclocked Kepler GPU to date

Point of View \ TGT GTX 680 Beast has arrived and we can finally confirm it is the fastest factory overclocked GTX 680 card. GPU performance is at the next level thanks to the company's overclock, which boosted the GPU clock from reference 1006MHz to 1162MHz.

The memory was left intact, i.e. it runs at 1502MHz (6008MHz effectively). Many users look for overclocked graphics cards for the sole reason of not having to mess with it yourself, which is why we'd rather have seen Point of View \ TGT overclock the memory. Although we didn't do it yet, we're certain that overclocking the memory on Point of View \ TGT's GTX 680 Beast will go as smoothly as on the rest of the GTX 680 pack. Just like the reference card, the GTX 680 Beast comes with 2GB of GDDR5 memory.

As we suspected, TGT opted on the cooler we've seen on GTX 680 Ultra Charged cards. The cooler has three fans and not only does it keep the GPU cooler, it's quieter than the reference solution as well. The only potential downside of it would be the fact it takes up three slots. The central fan is a 9cm one while the other two are 8cm.

beast-the-card

The heatsink has five heatpipes – tree go towards the end and two towards the I/O panel.

Uc-cooler-1

GPU temperatures didn't exceed 71 degrees Celsius in Crysis 2, which is an excellent score considering the fans remained almost inaudible, even in long gaming sessions. The cooler did an excellent job despite the incredibly hot weather in Austria as of late.

temp load crysis 2

The card is powered via one 8-pin and one 6-pin power connectors (the reference PCB uses two 6-pin power connectors). Consumption is some 25W higher than on the reference GTX 680. Point of View / TGT used five phase PWM design, one phase more than on the reference card.

beast-power

The GTX 680 Beast comes with a rich selection of video outs an can run up to four displays simultaneously. Users get two dual-link DVI outs, one standard HDMI and one DisplayPort.

beast-test-setup

First impressions are excellent - gaming at 2560x1600 is a joy. However, it's the cooler that took the main stage, as it's really quiet and performs great. Point of View \ TGT GTX 680 Beast is not listed yet, but should be priced similarly to GTX 680 TGT Beast Watercooled Edition, which goes for about 560 euro. 

cry2560

mark extreme setup

Last modified on 11 July 2012
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