Revisiting the GeForce GTX 680: GTX 1050 Ti-Class Performance for Less?

[Draconian]

Amazon shows the 1050 Ti going for anywhere from $210 to $300 U.S. Dollars.

 

[merikafyeah]

What is infuriating is that "all" graphic cards, old and new are way over priced. So even if you wanted to pick up an older card it ain't worth it.

Damn Bitcoin miners.

The only solace we have is that, historically, fair market value (FMV) has a 100% chance of leveling the field... eventually.

 

[Chuske]

I love articles like these but.....

You said this "Not only was it faster than the HD 7970, but it was also more efficient, quieter and cheaper when it first launched. It would be interesting to see how they compare today."

Then you compared it to a 7950? Why not a 7970 or 280x?

I know it's a very similar chip but the 7970/280x would be what, 10/15 % quicker?

Think they're similar prices on Ebay as well.

The article itself, aside from my nit-picking, is really informative, good job.

I had the 7950 data from a previous throw back type article. I'll test the 7970 soon!

Please test 7970GHz OC vs GTX 680 4GB OC .. Tahiti gpus can gain a lot by ocing ..

 

[herpaderp]

I've been debating whether or not to upgrade to a 1060. Seeing as how I'm probably close to 1050 already, I really can't justify spending $200 for that small of a performance boost.

Except the 1060 is 40%+ faster than a 1050Ti, so that would be an even larger gap compared to your 670. That's not a small performance boost, unless you're the type of person that needs to see a minimum of double the performance for the same price that you payed for your current card.

 

[hurrakan]

Also just so people know, the GTX680 boost's itself pretty high. 1150mhz as seen in his screen shots...

The bane of the 680 is thermal throttling. It is extremely important to keep the card cool so that it can boost to the maximum amount. Throttling starts when the card hits 70 degrees, so it is advised to set a custom fan profile to make the fan go to 100% at ~67 degrees.

 

[Darth Shiv]

It's nice to see how well the 7950 is holding up.

A GeForce 670 would probably also be quite a reasonable buy. Shouldn't be much slower than a 680.

And those 'buy for $100, pay $200 shipping' cards...

Yeah it's interesting but you also need to take into account a 1050Ti isn't exactly a gaming enthusiasts card. The 1060 and higher are a serious leap up from there and if you want AAA 1080p gaming, a 1050Ti is going to be found wanting on quite a few titles.

My 7950 failed so it had to be replaced but tbh I was more than happy for the forced upgrade. Fallout 4 smashed it for one.

 

[marcdecator]

I bought a gtx 690 for $650 a few months after it launched. The price continued to drop like a brick and leveled off around $72 at the end of 2019. The only comforting thought for my buyers remorse is "at least I didn't buy a gtx 680." The 680 started off at $550 but it kept a good resell value for a long time even while 780 ti was king, so at least there's that.
I would have much rather spent that money when the 1080 ti launched sold it during the bitcoin boom, and repurchase it the day after the rtx 2080 launched whilst keeping a few dollars. Or even better, put it in amazon stock and play all my games on igp at 0.60 fps for 10yrs. Cash out and buy a house, car, and fantasy gaming rig whilst keeping a few dollars. Hindsight's always 20/20.