NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 Reviews

[Pantsu]

If CF doesn't work, usually it's AMD's lack of driver support that's the problem. Some game engines don't scale well on either SLI/CF, or most likely the developers simply don't care enough to implement the support. That's why multi gpu is reasonable only at point where you don't really care about how much money you are spending on graphics, and are willing to suffer the driver ordeal that is CF and SLI. Sure SLI is better, but I wouldn't call it good by any measure.

[Rollo]

If CF doesn't work, usually it's AMD's lack of driver support that's the problem. Some game engines don't scale well on either SLI/CF, or most likely the developers simply don't care enough to implement the support. That's why multi gpu is reasonable only at point where you don't really care about how much money you are spending on graphics, and are willing to suffer the driver ordeal that is CF and SLI. Sure SLI is better, but I wouldn't call it good by any measure.

I don't know if I can emphasize how incredibly misleading this is adequately.

I have been using NVIDIA SLi since it launched and I had 6800GT SLi. Since then I've had 2-4 GPUs in both my PCs always. I've had all the dual GPU cards but this one. I'e had three way, I've had Quad with three different GPUs.

I've done this on intel, nvidia, and AMD motherboard chipsets.

I've done this on XP, Vista, and Windows 7, the Ultimate, Pro, and Home editions.

I've done it with all single resolutions up to 25 X 16, and I've done it with 50 X 10 and 57 X 10 surround, and in 3d.

I am no "gaming wizard". I avoid tweaking config files when possible, I don't code, and I get pissed off when things don't work because finding solutions to problems eats into valuable gaming time.

I can say without hesistation the SLi "just works", it's as close to console gaming as you are going to get on a PC.

I have no clue what you've been trying to do that makes you think SLi is a "driver ordeal" but for people that want to play 1st and 3rd person shooters from the last 8 years or so, it is pretty seamless. There are literally 100s of profiles, and you can make your own if you can find a game that doesn't have one.

I can't speak for CF as I've never had it, but SLi was only an issue for me when Vista first launched.

[paulbagz]

So much fighting over this

Why can't we all just agree that Intel IGP is the best GPU evar?

-PB

[Final8ty]

I can say without hesistation the SLi "just works", it's as close to console gaming as you are going to get on a PC.

So your trying to tell me that i wont find anyone on the NV forum who disagrees and no SLI problem threads and that you don't need a 3rd party program to get the most out of SLI.
And i do remember saying that some NV users are in the same denial frame of mind as some apple users with the "It Just Works".

[Rollo]

So your trying to tell me that i wont find anyone on the NV forum who disagrees and no SLI problem threads and that you don't need a 3rd party program to get the most out of SLI.
And i do remember saying that some NV users are in the same denial frame of mind as some apple users with the "It Just Works".

I have no "3rd party program" downloaded/in use. Tell me, what am I missing out on? Super secret FXAA +SSAA+ TSAA mode x37?

Sure, you can find plenty of problems like "I am trying to run Windows XP Pro 64 on a Hitachi TV center panel and two 16X10 CatLeap Monitor of Radiances and I can't get my SLi's 460Ti and 560Ti to work. What am i doing wrong?!?! SLi sucks!"

Dude I don't know what to to tell you, always works for me across operating systems and various hardware. As a guy who's been through literally dozens of SLi sets on lots of different PCs, it just works.

Using computer monitors, and matched video cards, SLi always works for me.

And I can tell you this:

While I can link you to several reviewers saying "Crossfire is basically unusable" you never seem to see that for SLi. Go figure.

[Manicdan]

amd lets you mix and match cards. and even can make a gpu work with an apu
it must be because they dont know what they are doing.

[Final8ty]

I have no "3rd party program" downloaded/in use. Tell me, what am I missing out on? Super secret FXAA +SSAA+ TSAA mode x37?

Sure, you can find plenty of problems like "I am trying to run Windows XP Pro 64 on a Hitachi TV center panel and two 16X10 CatLeap Monitor of Radiances and I can't get my SLi's 460Ti and 560Ti to work. What am i doing wrong?!?! SLi sucks!"

Dude I don't know what to to tell you, always works for me across operating systems and various hardware. As a guy who's been through literally dozens of SLi sets on lots of different PCs, it just works.

Using computer monitors, and matched video cards, SLi always works for me.

And I can tell you this:

While I can link you to several reviewers saying "Crossfire is basically unusable" you never seem to see that for SLi. Go figure.

Don't generalise your personal experience and i can find plenty of SLI is crap/problems with these drivers threads on the NV forum, im rolling back, now tell me that i wont be able to, i dare you.

My CF experience has been rosey but i wont let that delude me of issues of CF for others.

[Rollo]

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/we...789c85aeb.html

[cegras]

You have no grasp of the concept of 'statistical significance', do you?

Bye the way, I'm still wondering what was the absolute numbers on the Steam hardware survey, since I can't find it myself.

[SKYMTL]

Bye the way, I'm still wondering what was the absolute numbers on the Steam hardware survey, since I can't find it myself.

Don't count my numbers as absolute fact but the last I heard, Steam had ~42 million registered users. I'm trying to find the link but I seem to remember Gabe saying that one in every 10 installs opted into the hardware survey. As such and based upon that, I'd say the absolute number is around 4 million....or larger than pretty much any other survey around. Even if it was 1 in 20, that would still represent 2 million systems reporting in.

While it may not be set in stone, I'd say that the Steam hardware survey gives the best indication of system specs and usage models around.

[cegras]

I agree. Apparently though, there was a just quashed bug in the Steam survey just recently where computers that had opted out would not get asked again, forever. So the sampling could be extremely low .. I haven't had a prompt for a survey in a very long time.

[Final8ty]

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/we...789c85aeb.html

Again your switching from your personal experience and applying it generally when i never said anything about you having issues personally and neither was it implied that because others are having issues you must be to, because i also said that CF has been good to me but that does not mean others wont be having issues, its clear that you cant make the distinction, I have no issues with you saying that you personally have no issues with SLI, but you cant apply that for everyone else.

[Final8ty]

The cost of these cards is ridiculous and no different than the ridiculous price of the special edition 5970, but they were the super duper edition and i remember the your crazy comments directed at the few of us who bought them but now even more people are willing to pay that for the standard edition, now that is crazy.

And I don't care if it should of been "you're" :P

[Stevethegreat]

BTW may I ask why those cards (the 690s) do not overlock well? Most reviews show a 10%-12% overclocking headroom (on air) which is not much better than the GTX 590's one (around 10%). I would think making a significantly cooler/less power-intensive chip whould had made it more overclockable.

Slap to it -also- the better cooling, yet -no- the results -instead- are still rather dissapointing. I believe that's one more feature (of GTX 690) that the new AMD powerhouse can aim at beating nVidia too...

[Mungri]

Well the latest beta drivers completely killed my SLI, second card wouldnt detect at all.

Rolling back to 296 didnt fix the issue, I had to go all the way back to 285.

After reinstalling windows due to getting a new SSD, 296 drivers started working again with SLI.

SLI + Nvidia beta drivers = Terrible. It does however work very well with every official driver which is what I think Rollo is referring to, but beta drivers just no.

[boxleitnerb]

amd lets you mix and match cards. and even can make a gpu work with an apu
it must be because they dont know what they are doing.

And that is good how? Asymmetric AFR is even worse in terms of stuttering than AFR with equally fast cards.

[Rollo]

And that is good how? Asymmetric AFR is even worse in terms of stuttering than AFR with equally fast cards.

Heh- I didn't even bother with that one. I figure someone who's CFing their 7970 with an APU sort of deserves what they get. I even wonder about the load balancing on those 6970/6990 tri-fire rigs. Theoretically three 6970s "has" to be better.

[Rollo]

You have no grasp of the concept of 'statistical significance', do you?

Bye the way, I'm still wondering what was the absolute numbers on the Steam hardware survey, since I can't find it myself.

Why do you assume that? Because I used anecdotal evidence?

Do you have a grasp of:

1. Not all people who report a problem on a tech support forum have a problem that they did not create.
2. Some people report problems they don't have. When I moderated there IP resolve would show me several "different" users were all the same user. Go figure.

I still go back to:

If it's such an ordeal to use SLi, why am I never having problems across dozens of rigs?

[Mungri]

The most common people who have issues with dual GPU are those who have never tried it.

[boxleitnerb]

Let's be honest here: SLI is not perfect either. There still is the water bug in Skyrim. Or remember the flickering bug in Crysis 2 in nanovision mode? SLI doesn't work in several games like Age of Conan or Settlers 7. And of course the stuttering. Some problems are caused by the applications themselves (in conjunction with SLI), true. That doesn't change the fact that these problems exist.

[SKYMTL]

I've had plenty of experiences with both SLI and Crossfire. No, neither is perfect but there are some hard lessons learned for both companies.

From what I have seen over the last two years, AMD's scaling is slightly better but they have far more bugs. HOWEVER, their bugs have been cumulative since issues from months ago continue to go unfixed. NVIDIA on the other hand has teething issues but for the most part their problems are fixed within a weeks, days or in the worst case a month or so. Sure, some hand around forever but we can't forget that some game engines just don't support multi card configs at all.

Something NVIDIA DOESN'T communicate very well is how their SLI profiles are updated. Instead of pushing out a stand-alone application profile like AMD does, they rely on NVIDIA Update or the use of the SLI Profile Update Tool. Not many people know this and as such their profiles don't get updated when NVIDIA rolls out a patch. Instead, they only get an update when installing a new driver stack.

[Manicdan]

Heh- I didn't even bother with that one. I figure someone who's CFing their 7970 with an APU sort of deserves what they get. I even wonder about the load balancing on those 6970/6990 tri-fire rigs. Theoretically three 6970s "has" to be better.

if you think you can pair a 7970 with an APU's GPU, then you know nothing about how AMD cards work and you just showed us all how ignorant you are on the subject.

[boxleitnerb]

@SKYHTML:
Aren't new profiles installed automatically by default?

[cegras]

Why do you assume that? Because I used anecdotal evidence?

Do you have a grasp of:

1. Not all people who report a problem on a tech support forum have a problem that they did not create.
2. Some people report problems they don't have. When I moderated there IP resolve would show me several "different" users were all the same user. Go figure.

I still go back to:

If it's such an ordeal to use SLi, why am I never having problems across dozens of rigs?

Anecdotes don't get anyone anywhere.

If ATI drivers are so terrible, why have I never had a problem on my 4850 for the past 2-3 (can't even remember anymore) years I've had it?

[Luka_Aveiro]

Anecdotes don't get anyone anywhere.

If ATI drivers are so terrible, why have I never had a problem on my 4850 for the past 2-3 (can't even remember anymore) years I've had it?

Wasn't the discussion about CF/SLI drivers...???