We all by now know that the GTX690 is comprised of 2 GTX680s all on a single slot PCB that should if by all rumors come true seriously dominate the GPU world. That is the basic quick mock-up of the new card, but that only scratches the surface of what really lies under the hood of this new product. Many of the technologies used in how this card is made are coming to light with this launch as well so this should be some interesting reading for you folks who love to read about tech. Well sit back a spell and let's dig a bit deeper into NVIDIA’s latest entry into the VGA foray and see just what all the fuss is about with this new Dual GPU monster called the GTX690.
Here we have it! The GeForce GTX 690, The pinnacle or flagship and crown jewel of the Kepler crown! This board is the Fastest and most efficient GPU ever built and being a card that is basically two GTX680’s on a single card we really cannot doubt that claim. We have tested the GTX 680 already and the performance, acoustics, thermals and power draw are all large step forward for NVIDIA.
Here we see the specs directly from NVIDIA and we would be lying to say it's not impressive as normally when we see a dual GPU card its not the flagship single GPU doubled up and is usually cut down or lower end model GPU to allow for a lower thermal output which can fit the thermal solution fitted to the card, not to mention the power the PCB can realistically deliver. With how efficient the GTX 680 is and greater thermal performance we have seen this is likely why NVIDIA was able to stuff two of these GPUs in this package.
The GTX 690 offers a full 3072 CUDA cores when combining the two GPUs add to that each GPU carries 2GB of framebuffer for a total of 4GB. Keep in mind that since this card is 2 cards basically in SLI mode which means that the framebuffer has the same information on both sets so the units will utilize 2GB total framebuffer and therefore depending on the loading of the card in some heavy texture loads we could see this 2GB get used up in the right situation (such as Skyrim with some hi res texture packs and mods). The base clock on the GPUs have been turned down a bit from the default GTX 680 1006 to a more conservative 915 MHz so just under a 100 MHz drop and the boost clock drops from 1058 to 1019 which means NVIDIA definitely got more aggressive with the boost clock to ensure that when available this card should be right at a SLI pair of GTX 680’s performance level. Memory on the GTX 690 is still at 6Gbps which means it should be right on par with 680 as well. One thing we notice is that the GTX690 is rated at 300W whereas dual 680’s are rated at 195W a piece which total out to 90W less than using a GTX680 pair but we find rather nice for such a powerful offering.
GPU boost is one of the new technologies we have already seen on the GTX680. This is NVIDIA’s way of modulating clock speeds to allow for higher “boost clocks” when TDP and thermals is still within limits and there is headroom to allow for even more performance from the card. The GTX 680 had a mild boost clock maximum of 52MHz which has enough for a nice little boost in gameplay but the GTX 690 really surprised us as it offers a boost clock of 104MHz over the base clock putting it within grabbing distance of the GTX680 boost clocks. The Kepler GPU is designed around a new generation of stream multiprocessing which in essence is a NVIDIA's way of refining the way it makes the cards work by removing the previously seen “processor clock” which was double the speed of the GPU clock and instead taking the GPU and completely revamping it to add more CUDA cores at the lower speed to allow a much better performance per watt ratio than could have been done with the previous implementation.
The ability to run 3 3D monitors in a very high resolution on a single card was first seen on the GTX680, but now with twice the power you can run at high resolutions with all the bells and whistles enabled and still get solid gameplay without hiccups or stutters. With 4GB of available memory Multi-Monitor support has never been better for NVIDIA fans and the GTX690 can run 4 monitors off a single card, 3 by way of DVI ports and 1 via the Mini Display Port. This also gives the user a wide variety of monitors to use such as the 30’’ Dell that works very well using the Display Port connection.
If I could just summarize this entire GTX 690 launch with one word that word would be simply WOW! Everything about the new NVIDIA GTX 690 just speaks volumes of how much research and development went into this card design, as it will change things on the playing field. From the outstanding looks of the stellar performance one can only surmise that NVIDIA has been for once actually holding back the bit so to speak as this card is what change is all about.