ASUS GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP 2GB Review

[siopao1984]

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Since the introduction of the NVIDIA Geforce GTX 680 (Kepler GK104) almost a month ago, the usual AIB vendors have started to roll out custom PCB designs and cooling solutions in an attempt to differentiate their products from the competition, and squeeze more overclocking mileage out of the reference board. Following in the footsteps of their higher end SKUs like GTX 580 and HD 7970, ASUS has released a DirectCU II TOP version which is a triple-slot, factory overclocked monstrousity (11.8 inch long).

Right off the bat, we can see that ASUS is serious about pleasing their intended enthusiast audience by equipping the card with 8+6 pin PCIe power connectors (as opposed to 6+6 pin on the reference design, pushing the power limit up to a theoretical 300W) and an asthetically pleasing black metal backplate for EMI shielding, prevent PCB warping and accidental short circuits. The archilles heel of the DirectCU II cooler is that although it does have a large heatsink surface area and the fans push a decent amount of air, taking up triple slots means forgoing SLi on some motherboard slot configuations, and definitely rules out 3-way or 4-way operation (since most PC enclosures only have 7 or 8 expansion slots).

At the edge of the card we get a dedicated solder points (VGA Hotwire) for voltage monitoring and control. We'll cover more on this in the later part of this review.

No change at the I/O Panel, with ASUS sticking with full-sized HDMI/DP ports and dual DVI (one of them single link only, meaning up to 1920x1200 @ 60 Hz). The obvious improvement from the previous generation GTX 580 flagship is that we can now run triple-display 3D Vision Surround from a single card (previously only possible on SLi setups), although it might be hampered on graphically intensive scenarios or higher resolutions by the puny 2GB of framebuffer.

Accessories wise, we only get an extended SLi ribbon connector and a 2x6pin to 8pin PCIe power splitter. We think that at this price point ASUS should have at least included some DVI-HDMI, HDMI-DVI, DP-DVI convertors.

Read more: ASUS GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP 2GB Review by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

Upon removing the DirectCU II cooler (held only by four screws), we see a drastically reworked PCB which admittingly looks similar to the one on the HD 7970 (ED: blasphemy!).



Here we see the business end of things - the 28nm GK104 die flanked by eight Hynix GDDR5 BGA memory chips in a 256-bit configuration. ASUS has pushed up the default GTX 680 core clocks by 143MHz (from 1006MHz base, 1137MHz boost), which they claim translates up to 11% better performance. It is also pleasing to note that there have no changes to the mounting holes or obstructions around the area to mount an LN2 pot for subzero cooling.



ASUS has reworked the anemic and cost-cut 4-phase power reference design to feature a more platable 8+2 phase PWM. The Japanese-made chokes, capacitors and MOSes are also typically found on their excellent motherboards and should prove to be more durable under extreme conditions.



The much vaunted DIGI+ VRM, which is usually rebranded CHiL PWMs, promises to deliver more stable voltages, increased efficiency and lower EMI.



Finally, the DirectCU II cooler that we get is similar to the one used on previous models. This brute force approach features five direct touch copper heatpipes and two 10cm fans over a large heatsink area.

[jimmy128]

slurpity slurpy!! another monster card

[siopao1984]

Software

Now at version 2.0.9.0, ASUS's GPU Tweak utility has gone a long way from being a buggy mess to something more usable and practical to monitor and adjust clock/voltage parameters in the likes of MSI's ubiquitous Afterburner tool. Curiously however, Nvidia's current Driver API does not currently allow adjustment of the core voltage above 1.175v, but thankfully the TDP cap on this board can be raised to a whopping 159% (a more generous 280W effectively from 175W). There is also the Live Update feature for the VGA Bios and driver.



To prevent GPU Boost (NVIDIA's adaptive throttling mechanism to cheat in benchmarks) from interfering with the clocks, we need to change this setting in the Nvidia Control Panel to keep the frequency constant during our test runs.





Thermals / Overclocking

Methodology: We set the fans to 100% and looped Unigine Heaven 3.0 on extreme settings for 10 minutes and took the maximum temperature from the ondie sensor. Ambient temperature was 18 degrees.



Default Clocks: 43 degrees celsius - very good





Overclocked (1328/1749MHz, no voltage adjustments): 47 degree celsius - excellent!





VGA Hotwire Vmods



Disclaimer: The mods performed in this section WILL void your hardware warranty (meaning no returns or RMA) and your precious graphics card can go up in smoke if not done properly. ASUS and VR-Zone shalt not be held responsible if anything goes tits up during your modding adventures. Increasing voltages will raise temperatures and power usage exponentially. You are advised to use decent water or subzero cooling in such scenarios.



If you have a motherboard like ASUS's ROG Rampage IV series (or variable resistor and voltmeter), you can wire up the voltage reading and control points as such.









You will have to remove the resistor marked PGR100 to remove the 1.175v Vcore overvoltage protection.





Short location PGR152 (pencil or solder) to allow voltage control via offset.

[siopao1984]

Test Setup



CPU: Intel Core i7-3960X @ 4817MHz 1.52v
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme (Bios 1103)
Memory: G.Skills ARES 2133Mhz DDR3 16GB Kit
Power Supply: Antec True Quattro Pro 1200W
Storage: Intel 520 series 250GB SSD
Graphics Cards / Drivers:
301.25
ASUS GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP 2GB

300.99 drivers:
NVIDIA Reference GTX680

296.10 WHQL drivers:
ASUS GTX580 DirectCU II 1.5GB

8.960 beta drivers:
MSI R7970 Lightning 3GB
AMD Reference Radeon HD 7970 3GB
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 OC Edition
AMD Reference Radeon HD 7870 2GB
ASUS HD6970 DirectCU II 2GB

Benchmarks

[siopao1984]

Conclusion



ASUS took the bog standard 4-phase Geforce GTX 680 design, re-engineered the PCB with more power juice and then slapped on their iconic triple-slot DirectCU II cooler to cool the sucker down. The transformation results in a graphics card primed for hardcore enthusiasts to break world records with ease.

Price:

Pros
8+2 phase DIGI+ VRM
Quality power components
Smashing gaming performance - factory overclocked +143MHz
DirectCU II - Massive brute force air cooling
Relatively easy to do hardware voltage modifications
Backplate to prevent warping/shorts/EMI shielding

Cons
Only 2GB of RAM - handicapped in higher resolutions / heavy texture scenes
DirectCU II - Takes up triple slots, removes possibility of SLi on some boards

[akomao]

cool! they made it FAT

and expensive. LOL


i like the backplate.

[chang87]

mother of..... WOW!!!

[JoanaRheyl]

wow! mao ni ang ASUS! gtx680 choya jd asus oi!

[Yazbuh]

Tulo laway lng sa dili ka afford hahaha