NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M is a high-end DirectX 11.1-compatible graphics card for laptops and was announced during Computex 2012. It was the fastest GPU available for notebooks at the time of announcement and has a 28nm GK104 core based on the Kepler architecture. Compared to the desktop GeForce GTX 670, the GTX 680M also features 1344 CUDA cores, but the mobile counterpart operates at reduced core and memory clock speeds (720/1800MHz vs 915-980/3004MHz).
Architecture
The Kepler architecture is the successor to the Fermi architecture that first appeared in laptops with the GeForce 400M series. The GK104 Kepler core offers eight shader blocks, called SMX, that are clocked at the same speed as the central core. In the GTX 680M, 7 blocks are active leading to the 1344 CUDA cores. Although more shader cores are available in the Kepler architecture as compared to the Fermi design, the Kepler shaders are still expected to be up to twice as power efficient. However, due to the missing hot clock of the shader domain, two shaders of a Kepler chip are of similar speed to one shader of a Fermi chip (as the latter is clocked twice as fast). PCIe 3.0 is now supported by the mobile Kepler series and an optional Turbo mode can automatically overclock the Nvidia card by a theoretical 15 percent if the laptop cooling system allows it. The implementation of this boost mode is done in the BIOS, but it is ultimately dependent upon the manufacturer of the laptop.
Performance
The graphics performance of the GeForce GTX 680M is on average above the Radeon HD 7970M, thus making the Nvidia card the fastest mobile graphics card as of summer 2012. The GPU has enough power to run demanding games of 2012 fluently with Full HD resolution and maxed out graphical settings. Only the extremely demanding title The Witcher 2 will not run fluently in ultra settings. Battlefield 3, Skyrim, and Crysis 2, for example, are playable at the highest detail settings.
Features
The improved feature set now includes support for up to 4 active displays. Furthermore, high resolution monitors of up to 3840x2160 pixels can now be connected using DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a if available. HD-Audio codecs, such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, can be transmitted via bitstream mode through the HDMI port. However, as most laptops will feature Optimus, the integrated GPU will likely have direct control over the display ports and may limit the feature set available by the Nvidia Kepler cards.
The 5th generation PureVideo HD video processor (VP5) is also integrated in the GK104 core and offers hardware decoding of HD videos. Common codecs such as MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4 ASP, H.264 and VC1/WMV9 are fully supported up to 4K resolutions while VC1 and MPEG-4 are supported up to 1080p. Two streams can be decoded in parallel for features such as Picture-in-Picture. Another novelty is the inclusion of a dedicated video encoding engine similar to Intel QuickSync that can be accessed by the NVENC API.
The power consumption of the GeForce GTX 680M should be similar to the GTX 580M and therefore best suited for large notebooks (17-inches or greater) and desktop replacements.
Manufacturer | NVIDIA |
GeForce GTX 600M Series | |
Codename | N13E-GTX |
Architecture | Kepler |
Pipelines | 1344 - unified |
Core Speed | 720 MHz |
Memory Speed | 3600 MHz |
Memory Bus Width | 256 Bit |
Memory Type | GDDR5 |
Max. Amount of Memory | 4096 MB |
Shared Memory | no |
DirectX | DirectX 11, Shader 5.0 |
Transistor Count | 3540 Million |
technology | 28 nm |
Features | Optimus, SLI, PhysX,
Verde Drivers,
CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV
Play |
Notebook Size | large |
Date of Announcement | 04.06.2012 |
Link to Manufacturer Page | http://www.nvidia.com/page/home.html |
Benchmarks
Performance Rating - 3DMark 11 + Fire Strike + Time Spy
13.8 pt (15%)
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB -4%
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3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Score
min: 15255 avg: 15259 median: 15258.5 (20%) max: 15262 Points
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3DMark - 3DMark Cloud Gate Graphics
min: 26851 avg: 27684 median: 27684 (14%) max: 28517 Points
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3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Score
min: 3681 avg: 3763 median: 3762.5 (10%) max: 3844 Points
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3DMark - 3DMark Fire Strike Standard Graphics
min: 3952 avg: 4049 median: 4049 (8%) max: 4146 Points
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3DMark - 3DMark Ice Storm Graphics
min: 77067 avg: 110473 median: 110472 (15%) max: 143878 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 -2%
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3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance Score
min: 5804 avg: 6159 median: 5996.5 (14%) max: 7218 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 -2%
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3DMark 11 - 3DM11 Performance GPU
min: 5647 avg: 6074 median: 5897.5 (10%) max: 7214 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 0%
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3DMark Vantage
3DM Vant. Perf. total +3DMark Vantage - 3DM Vant. Perf. total
min: 19575 avg: 21164 median: 21533.5 (21%) max: 21952 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 4%
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3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX +3DMark Vantage - 3DM Vant. Perf. GPU no PhysX
min: 18266 avg: 20575 median: 20891 (19%) max: 21489 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 0%
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3DMark 03 - 3DMark 03 - Standard
min: 55426 avg: 68272 median: 71104 (37%) max: 72750 Points
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AMD Radeon HD 6790 -15%
ATI Radeon HD 5850 -5%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 29%
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3DMark 05 - 3DMark 05 - Standard
min: 26556 avg: 29052 median: 28444.5 (41%) max: 32763 Points
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AMD Radeon HD 6790 -5%
NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 -4%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 2%
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AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 90%
3DMark 06 3DMark 06 - Standard 1280x1024 +min: 18529 avg: 22479 median: 22760 (42%) max: 25378 Points
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 -7%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1%
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AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT 110%
Unigine Heaven 3.0 - Unigine Heaven 3.0 DX 11
min: 57.6 avg: 57.7 median: 57.7 (19%) max: 57.7 fps
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Unigine Heaven 2.1 - Heaven 2.1 high
min: 71.6 avg: 73.9 median: 73.1 (14%) max: 77.6 fps
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NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 10%
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SPECviewperf 11
specvp11 snx-01 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 snx-01
2.1 fps (1%)
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specvp11 tcvis-02 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 tcvis-02
0.9 fps (2%)
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specvp11 sw-02 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 sw-02
10.9 fps (13%)
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specvp11 proe-05 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 proe-05
1.4 fps (6%)
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ATI Radeon HD 5850 3%
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specvp11 maya-03 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 maya-03
13.5 fps (10%)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 -89%
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ATI Radeon HD 5770 -4%
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specvp11 lightwave-01 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 lightwave-01
17.4 fps (19%)
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ATI Radeon HD 5850 5%
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specvp11 ensight-04 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 ensight-04
22.7 fps (11%)
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specvp11 catia-03 +SPECviewperf 11 - specvp11 catia-03
6.8 fps (8%)
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Windows 7 Experience Index - Win7 Gaming graphics
min: 6.9 avg: 7.2 median: 7 (89%) max: 7.7 Points
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Windows 7 Experience Index - Win7 Graphics
min: 6.9 avg: 7.2 median: 7 (89%) max: 7.7 Points
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Cinebench R10 Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit) +Cinebench R10 - Cinebench R10 Shading (32bit)
min: 6669 avg: 8520 median: 8846 (42%) max: 10045 points
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Cinebench R11.5 Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit +Cinebench R11.5 - Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64 Bit
min: 40.34 avg: 45.2 median: 44.9 (19%) max: 50.89 fps
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LuxMark v2.0 64Bit - LuxMark v2.0 Room GPU
327 Samples/s (3%)
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LuxMark v2.0 64Bit - LuxMark v2.0 Sala GPU
614 Samples/s (2%)
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- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card

- Average benchmark values for this graphics card
* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
Game Benchmarks
The following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings med..
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings ultra.
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» With all tested laptops playable in detail settings high.
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