NVIDIA GTX 680M Thread - M18x R2 and M18x R1 Upgrade Discussion

Hello there people. I just noticed dell.de has as option in the m18x the 680m sli. Price is double compared to amd 7970 CF.
Lets just not talk about that.

First question.
1)On dell.de it says 680m sli 2gb gddr5.
Is it 2gb or 4 gb ? I heard the 680m should have 4 gb per chip. If its double the price, at least we should be gettin double the memory.
2)Does anyone own a 680m sli rig so that i c an see some benchmarks ?

 

the 4GB 680M will be added later on

as far as I know everyone's 680m SLI rig is in production at the latest

 

Dell reps have come out and told us that they will ONLY carry the 2GB version of the 680M. Clevo has a 4GB version that MIGHT be compatible, should you buy it and install it yourself.

Orders for the 680M SLI probably won't be in for several days more.

 

Well thats a bummer.

Perhaps one can find a 680m sli 4gb kit that will fit the x7200. Then there would be no reason to upgrade to m18x.

 

Not really. The cards are identical apart from the amount of VRAM, and 2GB is more than enough for running games at 1080p - it's enough for multi-screen gaming even.

Basically, there will be zero performance difference between the 2GB and 4GB cards unless you're running games with very high resolution textures across 3 screens - in which case, the cards won't perform quick enough to get playable framerates even if they have 4GB of VRAM.

 

That really depends on your setup, but if your only doing 1080 then the 2gig model will be fine.

As for me I refuse to pay for the 2gig model if I can get the 4gig. The price is almost identical so I want the top end model. Otherwise if were talking best bang for your buck then none of these cards hit that mark.

 

What do you need 4GB for?

 

That's right, Dell confirmed 2GB is the only option that will be available. That's also right that more VRAM matters in case of multi-display setups or very very high single display resolutions, and since m18x are 1080p, the only real different between 2GB and 4GB versions would be the higher price of the latter.

From what I've observed, the only game that actually approached 2GB of VRAM usage on 580M equipped R1 was Crysis 2 with the hi-rest patch.

 

That 4GB vs 2GB is better for multidisplays is a rumour that is very skewed

Look at the 2GB 680 vs 3GB 7970 reviews and you will see that the 680 still beats the 7970 when gaming on 3 screens.

Here is an example
Review: Three-screen GeForce GTX 680 vs. Radeon HD 7970 - Graphics - HEXUS.net

Question is: How much do we save on buying 2GB instead of 4GB 680M?

 

RJTECH sells the 4gig cards for 800 dollars.

Laptop Video Cards :: nVidia GTX 680M 4GB Mobile Video Card - R&J Technology, Clevo Barebone Notebook kits, Laptop and desktop system builder

Alienware on their website has the SLI (2gig version) for "upgrade price" of $1100. Single upgrade price for 550. Meaning that each card is over 550 since the upgrade price has already the 660m price included.

So the price increase is slight and lets face it if your paying top dollar for a 680m why not really get the best model out there.

Otherwise if you want best bang for your buck 7970 is the card you want.


As far as your argument of not needing 4gigs sorry but my 6990 Crossfire could not cut it with my 3 30" monitors (2560 x 1600 per screen).
I used hydra on my 6990 CF setup to create one big screen from these monitors but the gfx card just could not cut it.

So for me why should I pay top dollar on a 2gig card when I can get the 4gig version instead.


EDIT: Here is a link to my screens http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...=dellSearch&baynote_bnrank=0&baynote_irrank=2